Scavenger Hunt Sunday [3*27*2011]

While I was able to take lots of pictures this weekend, this is getting posted late because we just got home after spending the weekend downtown Chicago. Better late than never but I didn't want to pass up this opportunity to join Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday. And actually most of these pictures were taken on a quiet Sunday morning in the Windy City.....it was freezing while I was out shooting!

 This is an old abandoned property about 10 minutes away that I've wanted to take pictures of for a while. This is one of the smaller barns on the property but the house and the barns are all abandoned and falling apart. All of the windows are missing, the roofs are caving in, and the doors are wide open or missing. I didn't get too close because I didn't want to get in trouble for trespassing, knowing my luck that would happen.

 Here is my grouping of 3 swirls on some benches downtown. I actually took a lot of pictures of 3 but I liked the simplicity of this one the best. It's not the best shot ever but this is what you do in a rush I guess.

 I took a cooking class at the Viking Cooking School with my co-workers for a team building activity and I took a bunch of pictures during the class. This hummus dip and the pita chips we made was one of my favorites, doesn't it look delicious? Sorry, I was behind the camera that day so you won't see me in the shots.

 Things that make you go hmmm...... would include one of my favorite buildings in the city. Every time I see these round buildings with the parking on the lower levels and the apartments on the top, I have to wonder, how in the world can they back into these parking spaces without driving off the edge?!?! This would scare me to death and I wouldn't be able to do it. What if I hit the accelerator a bit too much. No - thank - you.

"Me" time - there wasn't much of that this week since I spent lots of "us" time with my hubby while downtown. I did manage to get up early on Sunday morning to walk around and take some pictures. I only wish I had more time to do that but this is one of the shots from my "me" time photography adventure.

Linking Up:

You Capture - Youth

Each week I look forward to seeing what the photo challenge will be at I Should be Folding Laundry and this week was no exception. We were to capture "youth" and the first thing that popped into my mind was children of course but then I thought I should try and be a bit more creative. I had thoughts of trying to capture the notion around the "fountain of youth" which would be my drawer full of lotions and potions that are suppose to make me look youthful for the rest of my life. I ended up throwing that idea out the window and decided to share some pictures from my niece's 4th birthday as well as a shot from a baby shower I attended this past weekend. What can I say, children are adorable and I loved how I captured something so very different in these shots.

 Here's a shot of Emily enjoying herself at the baby shower. I really love the look on her face and her blue eyes shining through thanks to some sunshine that day.

 What's a birthday party without a cake cupcake? My niece turned 4 and she is not shy and relished the partygoer's singing to her and then of course it was time to blow out the candle. What did she wish for? Nobody knows but I'd guess it has something to do with princesses or something very girly.

What did the birthday girl want to do for her birthday? Go bowling of course so that we did. I love this shot of the girls so intently watching the ball slowwwlllyyy roll down the lane. Thank goodness for those bumpers!

Over the Moon for the Supermoon

I've always wanted to attempt to get pictures of the the moon and last night I knew that getting a shot of the "Supermoon" was my opportunity. Scientists called the moon last night the "Supermoon" because it's the biggest, brightest moon that has been seen in almost 2 decades. The moon was the closest to the Earth since March 1993. It was 14% bigger, 30% brighter, despite being 221,000 miles away!

So before I pulled out the camera and the tripod I knew I needed to google "how to shoot a picture of the moon" so I had some idea of the best settings so I didn't ruin this opportunity. Here's some of the recommendations: ISO 100, f/8 to f/16, tripod, timer, mirror lock-up and that should do it.

Well then I got all set up and went outside to discover there were tons of clouds. I was able to get a few decent shots with the clouds and here are a few of my favorites.

 But then the clouds parted and at around 1:00 am I was able to get a much clearer picture of the Supermoon, 221,000 miles away. It was breathtaking but I learned that taking pictures in the pitch black is trickier than you think - I couldn't see my camera and some of the buttons/functions (like spot metering) that I don't normally use were hard to find. I ran back inside and got a flashlight and we were back in business. I hope you enjoy these shots as much as I did taking them.

Did anyone else capture shots of the Supermoon - do share!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday [3*20*2011]

It's time to go on a Scavenger Hunt - all you need is a list of items to find, your camera, camera phone, and your creativity! Thanks Ashley from Ramblings and Photos for another great week of hunting.

Camera Phone

I got to use my cool new Hipstamatic app on my iPhone for this picture of my much loved black cherry cowboy boots. They are so comfortable and I love the color. The 60's effect adds to the look of the boots.

 Camera

My beloved Canon 40D has become my BFF and I love taking her with me everywhere. She is big, bold, and delivers some spectacular pictures. She brings out my creativity, imagination, and helps me to see things from a completely different perspective. It's funny how a camera can bring out our best. This is how I can be seen - behind my camera snapping away and loving life!

 Shoes

On Saturday I went to a friend's baby shower and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures (or a ton) for my friend Megan. I am hoping to make a small scrapbook of the event for her. She is a wonderful friend and she will make an absolutely fabulous mom. I can't wait for the baby girl to arrive and take tons of baby pictures for them. She will be so fun to "practice shooting" pictures of. BTW - have you seen Me Ra Koh's brand new photography book on photographing babies first year? It's fabulous and I highly recommend it. I am attending one of her photography workshops in May and I can't wait!!! Anyways back to shoes - or booties.

 Chairs

I was laying on the floor taking pictures of my pups when I noticed the bar stools at our island and I knew I wanted to shoot the design on the back of the chairs. I searched for months to find chairs that didn't cost a fortune but had the style I was looking for. Thanks to Pier One I finally found them and I love them. The design still calls to me and I enjoy eating breakfast here on the weekends and read the paper.

 Imperfection

The wires in our backyard are a bit of an eyesore but unless we are willing to give up electricity, cable, Internet, and our phone line - they aren't going anywhere! It really bothers me and I try to block out the wires but I couldn't help but notice the doves on the wire in the late afternoon. What a way to make the imperfect wires into something a bit more pleasing to the eye.

So there you have it, another fun week of prompts and another fun date with my camera. Let's see what next week has us hunting for.

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You Capture - Emotions in Black & White

This past week I was in Colorado Springs for work and I took quite a few pictures of the beautiful mountains and then I turned them into Black & White.....and then I realized this week's You Capture prompt was "emotions in black & white". Oops! That means I have to do a bit of digging in my archives because it's almost bedtime and I have no one around to take pictures of. I think I'll plan a bit better next week and make sure I read the prompt carefully. I pride myself in being very detailed but this week I missed the mark but that's OK, life will go on and I'm sure you will all forgive me for pulling out the archives this week.

These pictures are of my neighbors that have learned to like my camera, they are my photography guinea pigs and before a Bears game this past year, they actually ASKED me to take their pictures. I happily obliged and I love how they are showing a variety of emotions in these pictures. They are silly twins in deed.

Here is E posing with her Cheetos, yes she really wanted me to take pictures with Cheetos - whatever works!

And then there is her brother who is taking the more serious approach to these photo session.

Here is L with his serious game face....what can I say, he really loves the Bears! Football runs in this family's blood and we got together with them for every Bears game this past season. It was fun but we are still upset about the Playoff game, let's just say we aren't Cutler fans around here.

This is one of L's famous looks, it reminds me of a "whatever" look that teenagers give their parents.

One last "serious" game pose before the game begins......

That's my neighbors, 2 adorable twins that have learned to love my camera...most of the time!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday [3*12*2011]

This past week I was in Colorado Springs on a business trip and therefore my ability to take pictures was pretty non-existent. In fact I had to use my iPhone to capture the pictures that I did get, and I also had to dig into my archives. I know that's cheating a bit but a girls got to do what a girls got to do. I promise to do better with next week's challenge but I just didn't want to miss Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday challenge.

Vanishing Point

Don't you love how the mountain is "vanishing" behind the sunset? The view from my room was breathtaking and I didn't want to pass up a chance to snap a photo even though I had to use my iPhone - not too bad.

Square Crop

I dug out a photo from our trip to St. Lucia in October and I thought this flower would look perfect as a square. Not as creative as I would like but what's a girl to do.

Under

Saturday was my niece's 4th birthday and we went bowling. I just loved my husband's "under"hand technique. Yes, lame again but I wanted to capture at least one shot from the party for the challenge.

Welcome to the Jungle

or the rain forest.........Another capture from our trip to St. Lucia. I just loved the foliage there. 

Calm

I took quite a few shots last week for the book prompt but I decided to use this shot this week instead. Nothing says "calm" like a bible reading does. This was the first Bible I received and it was from my Grandma which makes this extra special to me. I will treasure it forever.

Linking Up to:

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

For about the past year I have wanted to photograph my peacock feather that was given to me from a very special person at work and decided that this week's scavenger hunt was the perfect time to do so. Those colors just won't screaming at me until I do. This week was a bit more challenging for me plus 2 days of headaches bordering on a migraine didn't help. I did however have a photography lesson on Friday so let's see if it resulted in some better photography.

1 - Diptych - Huh??? I had no idea what that was but a I looked up the definition and here's what it said. A diptych is a photograph that uses two different or identical images side by side to form one single artistic statement. The two images can literally be in contact with each other, or separated by a border or frame. After reading the definition I was still lost but thanks to Faith at Simplicity and her wonderful blog post this past week I was able to figure out what it was. Still confused, check out Pioneer Woman's blog post on the subject as well.

And here enters my beloved peacock feather......just love the vibrant colors and the texture.

2 - Books. I have a ton of books since I love to read and tried a number of different ideas with this but I kept coming back to how beautiful the pages were, especially since they were different shades of cream. I now tend to read books with my Kindle but I have a ton of books on my book shelves from used book sales that I still need to get to. So many wonderful books and so little time......

3-  Fill in the blanks prompt. Oh wow, all of my original ideas were all over the board and I ended up with a good shot for this since my house is full of these evil girl scout cookies, they are just the best!!!

When I think about how girl scout cookies are in my tummy, I just have to have one or two for breakfast!

4- A taste of Italy.
I suspect there will be a ton of pictures of pasta and other delicious Italian foods, but I wanted to snap shots of wine instead but with a major headache, I had to pull this from my archives from the holidays. I just didn't want to open a delicious bottle of wine and not be able to drink it - that would be a mortal sin in my house! Good wine should never go to waste.

5 - Reminders. This one stumped me because my to-do lists aren't very pretty to shoot so I started looking around my house and once I laid my eyes on my beautiful palm plant, I knew I had to shoot it. I got this plant from my Grandmother's funeral in August 2009 and every time I look at it I think of her. I usually am not successful with plants but this one is thriving in my dining room. I honestly feel like she's here with me every time I look at it or water it and that brings a smile to my face. I miss and love you Grandma!

Linking Up to Scavenger Hunt Sunday at Ashley's blog.

You Capture - Technology

I love flexing my creativity muscle and these photography challenges definitely do that for me. This week's You Capture challenge was technology. At first I thought - what in the heck can I do to make that look interesting but I thought really hard and came up with a couple of ideas. I'm eager to see what the rest of the group came up with but this was as creative as I could get this week. Each week I always see at least one or two pictures that I want to try myself which is always a good thing.

When I hear the word technology, I am instantly grateful for my iPhone, blackberry, and laptop - what did we ever do before these were available? It wasn't all that long ago but I'm not sure how I would function. I am someone who needs to stay very connected and having information at my fingertips is something I love. Have you heard about families that give up technology for a week or even 6 months? My husband and I would NEVER survive. Besides, how would I blog and share my photography with the world? Not a challenge I am willing to take on.

 Next up is my camera collection of course! Well actually I as cleaning some drawers out this past week and found some cameras that I didn't know I still had. The closest one is my Lumix point and shoot that stays in my purse at all times, followed by the first digital camera we bought in 2002 with a whooping 3.2megapixels, then 3rd in the row is my film camera from college, and last but not least my Canon Rebel DSLR that I bought about 5 years ago. I've recently moved from the Rebel to the Canon 40D so if anyone is looking to buy a new camera let me know - I'm looking to sell the Canon Rebel along with 3 lens. It was fun to look at my old cameras to see how the technology has grown.

Next I decided to capture the inside of my husband's car. His car seems to have all the fun stuff but my favorite feature is the screen that shows the radio stations, etc. Does anyone love XM or Sirius Radio as much as I do? What a great invention!

 Last but not least, as much as I love technology, I HATE all of the wires, chargers, and cords that come along with it. We have a box in our office full of all of them and I had to label the cords to be able to locate the right cord as quickly as possible. I thought I would take the chaos and try to capture them in a fun picture.

Interested in seeing what others came up with - check it out here.

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