You Capture - Vibrance

Beth over at I Should be Folding Laundry had another fun photography challenge this week. The prompt was Vibrance which has a couple of different meanings but I went with "relatively high on the scale of brightness" for my shots this week. I felt like a kid in a candy store this week with playing around with all of the colorful and VIBRANT items I found in the house. It makes me crave spring weather even more.

 Playing around with some very colorful Solo cups.

I can't wait to fill them up with margaritas this summer!

 Stacks and stacks of these vibrant colored cups.

 I had lots of fun stacking them and building very tall towers.

My husband walked by and was trying to figure out what in the world I was doing and then he guessed...

a photography challenge?

Yup!

 And the I snapped a few pictures of my favorite colorful buttons and brads.

Real Red

Kiwi Kiss

Pacific Coast Blue

Pumpkin Pie

 These buttons put a BIG smile on my face.

They are so cheerful and I love putting them on my cards that I make in hopes of making someone else smile.

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Sweet Shot Tuesday {3*29*2011}

We spent the weekend in Chicago and while there are a million things I love about the city, the architecture is up there on my list. I got up early on Sunday morning to walk around and take some shots of the beautiful and unique buildings. It was absolutely freezing but you can't tell from the blue sky can you? This was one of my favorites and I angled the shot to capture both buildings in a unique way.


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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.

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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.

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