Chell's Photography

Time to change Blogs

2008-09-29T19:08:00.002-04:00

I have decided that I need to downsize my blogs. So I will not be usign my Zobbie photography blog instead. Feel free to stop by and check it out...

My new Photography related Blog

Wild things doing the Wild thing...

2008-07-11T18:15:00.005-04:00

It has been too long since I posted a POTD so I decided to post some of my pictures from a recent trip to the zoo while on vacation.

It was mating season for the Lizards. And the turtles.

This guy was more interested in posing for us then finding a mate.

The butterfly exhibit was great. There were so many pretty species.

Miss G is turning one

2008-06-23T20:07:00.006-04:00

My friend's little girl is turning one in a few weeks and she wanted some cute pictures to display at the party. So tonight we did some trash the cake shots for her. (we were going to do them last Saturday but miss G got sick!!) This is my first time using my seamless and my first time doing trash the cake, and I was using my 24-70 lens. So not perfect shots but still fun!!

A lens compare

2008-06-22T14:57:00.014-04:00

So I decided to do a compare of all my lenses (Well except my fishy...)

I used Denver as my subject, isn't he cute. I set my camera on my tripod and just swapped out my lenses. I shot in AV mode and left my aperature on 5.6 for all these shots and ISO 200.

I have to tell you I am a bit disappointed in how my new 24-70 2.8L performed. I woudl have thought it would be sharper. What do you all think.

These are all SOOC and all I did is convert from raw and shrink them down for the web.
Again these are all at 5.6 and 200 ISO shot on a tripod

Here we have the 50 mm 1.4 lens 1/40 sec

Here is my 100mm 2.8 Macro lens @ 1/20 sec

Here is my 24-70 2.8L

@ 24mm 1/100 sec

@70mm 1/25 sec

These are from my 18-55 EF-S 3.5-5.6 "kit" lens

55mm @ 1/50 sec

18mm @ 1/100 sec

These next 4 are al shot with my 28-135 mm IS 3.5-5.6
With IS turned off
28mm @ 1/30 sec

135mm @ 1/13 sec

With IS turned on

28 @ 1/30 sec

135mm @1/13 sec

Last is a lens I rarely use and I can see why.. It is my 80-200mm 4.5-5.6

80mm @ 1/15 sec

200mm @ 1/13 sec

My new lens arrived

2008-06-18T14:32:00.007-04:00

And I didn't have any people to use as subjects and the dog wanted no parts of it, so you get flowers.

It is hard to tell how much I do or do not love this lens without having been able to use it on any people yet but I like the feel of it.

Oh I finally got some of the dog, doesn't he look thrilled?

Windows and a building update

2008-06-15T20:51:00.000-04:00

I was going through some photos I took last month and came across one I took from inside the satirwell of the parking garage at work.
First is the original one

This one I used the fill light slider to see what it woudl look like. Aside from being really noisy I love how it gives it a completely different look.

As I mentioned in a previous post they are putting in a new building at work. This is what it looked like a few weeks ago. I need to take some new ones this week some time.

I love how the fish eye made the lamp post look curved. I am addicted to the fishy lens..

Some lillies from the yard

2008-06-14T20:51:00.000-04:00

More orange flowers for my cousin to see.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I was a good one I wrote about it on my other Blog for anyone that is interested.

Happy Flag day to all of you

2008-06-13T20:25:00.003-04:00

And Happy birthday to me..

In honor of the 14th being flagday here a few favorites I took back when I was in HS just learning how to use a SLR. (Ugh that means they are almost 20 years old now) They are from scanned negatives that I developed myself and then carried around with me for years so they have taken a beating over the years..

Architecture and Art??

2008-06-12T20:20:00.008-04:00

So there is all sorts of interesting art and architecture where I work but that is a post for another day. However I have also noticed some rather peculiar art and interesting mix of buildings on the campus of Ursinus where I go to school part time.

There is a mix of Modern and old builgings.

Then the strange art

This is the view from sitting in the middle of the piece above.

Oh and this poor tree is a result of the nasty storm we had the other day.

Hey that is where the library is, I knew it had to be around here some place

Oh and i HATE that this stupid statue scares me when I have to walk by it at night. I always think it is a real person sitting there!! It looks harmless during the day but at night the knitting needle wielding statue startles me far to often when I round the corner where she sits.

UGH!!!

2008-06-11T21:29:00.003-04:00

It finaly happened the cheapest station around went over $4.00 it was $3.99 just last night.

Speed Shooting

2008-06-08T17:27:00.007-04:00

Today was another HOT & HUMID day in the area but these two adorable little girls wanted pictures taken for their Daddy for Father's Day. So we moved pretty quick before they melted into complete puddles.

They were troopers and both did Great.

Of course when big sis started to get a little silly little sis had to give her the "what is your problem?" look.

I was liking the sunflare on this one.

We even got a few with their gorgeous mom too. How can dad not love pictures of his two precioous little princesses and his beautiful queen. That Matt sure is one lucky man.

But when the little one decides she is done she lets you know it...

Thanks Chels it was a fun shoot...

Stuck in a rut

2008-06-05T19:32:00.004-04:00

Yep I am stuck in my flower filled rut.

I was playing with some lightroom presets on these.

Snooks BBQ, WORTH the trip

2008-06-04T19:49:00.000-04:00

When I went to NC for my cousin's graduation he was insistent we went out for good BBQ. So he took us to his favorite place. When we pulled up I was a bit nervous by the looks of the place. But let me tell you I am glad he took us there. The food was great. aside from great BBQ I Loved their hush puppies and the service was second to none. Just sweet people. Oh and you can't forget how good that desert was. Yummy!!

Still Stuck on Flowers

2008-06-03T20:40:00.000-04:00

Well I just can't seem to stop taking pictures of all the flowers in the yard.

Here is one of our Hosta's about to bloom,

And our last Clematis started blooming today. Odd how they are all on different schedules this year.

Peeking up skirts...

2008-06-02T20:27:00.000-04:00

SO yea I know last week was the flower theme but well I just couldn't help myself. I posted soem shots for Macro Monday in the post below this and there was one I loved and I went back out to get some more. Of course by the time I went out to take more they were in full over head sun so I just shoved my diffuser/ reflector into the bush above then to reduce the harsh light. Here is what I got.

Macro Monday

2008-06-02T10:28:00.005-04:00

Okay so I tried to post these in the gallery and it woud not let me so i just decided to put them here.

More from my cousin's Graduation

2008-06-01T20:53:00.005-04:00

I had a chance today to go through the shots from my cousin's graduaution a few weeks back and realized that thankfully just because he has a Master's now his sense of Humor is still intact

Here is my other Cousin Jamie and her Husband who I caught in a tender moment.

Here is where I get busted for snapping their picture.

POTD - A flower recap

2008-05-31T19:45:00.000-04:00

Well I had planned to wrap up the week of flowers with the color Yellow but since it is raining I could not get out and get any shots of the yellow flowers in the yard.

So here are a few that I had taken through out the week that have not been posted yet.

POTD Flowers- Pretty in Pink

2008-05-30T21:39:00.001-04:00

Well I decided another day with a color theme couldn't hurt. Here are some pinks for your viewing pleasure.

POTD Flowers- Red

2008-05-29T20:53:00.002-04:00

And this post of flowers is brought to you by today's sponser, the color Red.

I kept it simple so I would be able to name the flowers i am posting.

First up one of my all time faves, the Gerbera Daisy

And then we have some pretty lillies that just started to bloom today...

And not exactly flowers but still red, here are some wild strawberries growing by the side of our deck.

POTD Flowers- The whitish family

2008-05-28T20:45:00.001-04:00

Okay so these are not all completely white but close enough.

Pat yes the ones from yesterday have grassy-type leaves that are big and broad

here are some dogwoods

Here are a few wild flowers from my back yard

And this is a clematis from a couple weeks ago, I just really like it..

POTD Flowers- Purple

2008-05-27T21:02:00.000-04:00

For those wondering the 2nd and 3rd pics from yesterday are of a perenial called Kelaidis AKA Mesa Verde iceplant. (well it is supposed to be a perenial, we will see if it comes back next year or not.)

For today we have some shots of a variety of purple flowers. these are varieties of Clematis

No idea what these are.

POTD Flowers- Orange

2008-05-26T19:51:00.003-04:00

My cousin Mentiioned needing some pictures of orange flowers for their downstaris family room So I took a few today to see it is it anything she would be interested in. Thyey painted the room Brown with an orange colored accent wall.
Now I just need to get her to take a look at them.

POTD Flowers - After their prime

2008-05-26T12:29:00.004-04:00

So for my first flower post this week I decided to post some after their prime so to speak. The first three are from our Clematis vines now that some have lost their petals and the last one I am sure you all recognize. I think they look better larger so click to see a larger image.

I really lied the shadow in this one I took like 10 shots to finally get one in focus since it was so breezy.

Trip to NC #1

2008-05-22T20:15:00.003-04:00

Here are a few of the pics I took last weekend while in NC for my cousin's graduation with his Master's from Wake Forest. Here are a few shots I got on campus the day before while he was giving us a tour of the gorgeous campus.
Spending time with my family makes me happy.

Some family shots

2008-05-21T20:19:00.000-04:00

One of my coworker's had his father visiting from India so I volunteered to take some family photos while his dad was in town. This was a relaly fast phtoosession since it looked like it might rain at any minute and I had to get home and pack for my vacation the next day.

His little girl was such a good subject. I look forward to getting a chance to do more pictures of her in the future.

So many cute kids

2008-05-11T14:55:00.000-04:00

There is not a shortage of cute kids around here between work and church I get to photograph quite a few. Here are 2 more from the weekend. Those 3 year olds sure don't like to give eye contact...

The story of a camera case make over

2008-05-08T20:04:00.001-04:00

I have had some questions about stickers for my case. I don't really have a preference of what kind are sent to me. I think the only thing I really won't put on the case are political type stickers, cause that just doesn't fit what I have done. It can be something from the area you live, something that you just really like, a college from your area, your favorite sports team, something that makes you laugh, your favorite cartoon character and so on. I wish 2peas sold a sticker in the cafe press store but they don't. I have thought about trying to make a fellowship of the lenscap sticker too. I will probably order some I saw on cafe press also but I am having a tough time deciding which ones

Well here is the progression of the case. It is complete for now till I have new stickers to place on it.

Where I started, just a plain old desert tan pelican case

Work in progress, first I got inserts for it

The work continues, I took 3 different colors of spray paint to it

Note to self wear gloves next time...

Complete as of today, here are some shots with the stickers in place.

Now I just have to hope my friend that gave me the case doesn't keel over when he sees the makeover I did on it.

For anyone that needs my address again you can send me an email at 2peas.chellshocked(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send it off to you..

Random stuff I shot with my canon

2008-05-07T20:20:00.001-04:00

I had a few people ask me about where I took my pictures from yesterday's post. they were all taken at Historic Valley Forge National park. The ones with the cool background is a little area next to an old church that is part of the park. There is a lot of great settings at that park but it can get crowded in the summer so it is tought to get shots without people wandering in and out of them.

Now for today, nothing terribly exciting. I took my Canon to work to today to do some shooting. This is from the top level of ther parking Garage of the area where our new building will be placed. I thought I would track the progress just for fun. As you can see we used to have a parking lot where the building will be placed. I work in the building to the left in the picture.

Here are a few of my co-workers. And yes one of these guys is the guilty party......

And I FINALLY finished painting my camera case. Here it is. Tomorrow I will start putting the stickers on it. I don't have that many to start with so it might look a little bare but means I have something to work on for a while. Thanks again to the two Peaple who sent stickers for my case, Val and Gypsy Girl and those that I know are still looking for the perfect one.

A loving mom

2008-05-06T20:16:00.007-04:00

I got to shoot some pictures of my classmate and her two kids this weekend. She is a single mom working part time and going to school part time. I admire her and it was fun to meet her kiddos and take some pictures of the three of them. Her son "C" was a great subject. His little sister "K" was a typical 3 year old and didn't really want her picture taken and wanted none with her brother..
We snuck this one in before she decided she wanted nothing to do with him.

This one she had no idea he was behind her..

I even convinced mom to get in a few shots with her kids..

Couple of flowers

2008-05-05T19:42:00.002-04:00

We have this flowering vine that has bursted with blooms in the last few days so I decided to capture a few.

Warning Pet with attitude

2008-05-04T19:00:00.001-04:00

I thought I would try to get a good shot of Grover and get a print made for my mom for Mother's Day. Sometimes things do not go as planned.

It is probably a good thing I don't know what he was thinking but here is what I imagine was going through his fuzzy litle head.

How Dare you point that thing at me.

How is this for a pose? (notice the little tongue sticking out)

Must you take pictures of me while I eat the plants I know I am not supposed to be eating.

You call that a treat it takes like !@&@^!#%@!()$#_

Okay fine just take my picture and get it over with..

First communion Shots

2008-05-03T20:14:00.003-04:00

Today I was given a chance to shoot first communion pictures for my coworkers little girl. She looked so pretty. I had never done anything like these before but here are a few I got. Hopefully it is what her mom was looking for.

A few more from last weekend

2008-05-01T14:17:00.003-04:00

Here is a few more from last weekend. Someone wasn't in the mood for his 2 year old pictures but we still managed to get a few cute ones.

Here they were trying to get him to smile by asking "where are your teeth?" this is what we got as a result

sweet kisses

2008-04-26T20:54:00.005-04:00

These shots were not ones I was trying to capture, just little moments that happened during the sessions. I thought they were sweet.

As you can see kids and family shots are not my strength, but I am trying and hopefully one day I will get it right..

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-22T23:18:00.002-04:00

Here are some flowers in honor of Earth day..

Aaron and Erica

2008-04-19T22:12:00.005-04:00

Well the work on the camera case continues but nothing worth showing today. I promise to keep you all updated though. Hopefully the painting will be done tomorrow and I can start placing the few stickers I have on it..

In the mean time here are a couple pictures of another a niece and nephew. Being an Aunt is the bestest thing...

Erica calls M & M's Nummy Numms

Baby Aaron was not in the mood for pictures, perhaps he was trying to hide his baby acne from the camera..

Work on the camera case begins...

2008-04-18T21:13:00.006-04:00

I took these with my P&S because I didn't thing spray paint and my DSLR were a good combo,

I gathered my supplies

These will eventually make it to the outside of the case when the painting is done.

Note to self wear gloves next time...

just some random stuff

2008-04-17T20:23:00.004-04:00

This is a picture of a Tulip right before it bloomed.

This is my Sweet, silly niece Biz. Doesn't she have the cutest little Dimple

Look at those eyelashes.

Her older sister maddy who has some of the funniest expressions.

Not to be out done by her older brother David.

Look at those eyes.. He is going to be a heartbreaker before long...

My dog is NOT photogenic

2008-04-12T21:09:00.006-04:00

I never would have believed it was possible but sadly my dog is just not photogenic... My mom pulled into the driveway after visiting my grandmother and I happened to be outside with my camera and I thought it would be a great chance to get a shot of the dog since he was somewhat confined in the car. Sadly he just is not a very good subject no matter how many treats are involved. (Oh and for those wondering here is a minature long haired Dacshund, he has one brown eye, and one blue and brown eye, he is a nut but we love him.)

I think I will stick to flowers.

Luckily I am headed to VA to visit some family and will have some willing subjects there.

budding Spring

2008-04-10T21:33:00.004-04:00

I went to the park today to take some pictures of my friends little girl but she was not in the mood as you can see here.

I saw these really cool buds though.

Then I was taking pictures of some dafffodils and didn't notice this till I started editing them that I had a little friend on this one.

Those Pesky Wabbits

2008-04-01T17:04:00.002-04:00

So the rain stopped and the sun came out and I thought I would click off a few shots of the flowers in the yard before class. Sadly the rabbits annihilated all the flowering plants today. You can't even tell there was any plants there. So here are a few more from the other day, and now I just need to wait for the tulips to bloom, which I noticed we have some coming up in odd places and some missing from where they should be coming up. I guess the squirrels decided to do a little landscaping of their own.

Love seeing signs of spring

2008-03-30T20:49:00.002-04:00

Here are just a few signs of spring in the front yard.

I guess now that is it getting warmer I will be spending hours working on the landscaping...

Chubby Cheeks

2008-03-28T14:00:00.006-04:00

My friend Lindsay has two adorable little kids. I got the chance to shoot 6 month pics of her daughter this week, and will be doing a set of 2 year old pictures for her son as soon as it warms up a little along with a family portrait before they up and move to Alaska.

This little munchkin as the cutest chubby cheeks, actually 2 sets of chubby cheeks. She is one of the happiest babies who is always full of smiles and VERY squirmy so it took a lot of tries to get shots of this little wiggle worm but mom is happy with them. I would have preferred not to use the flash but the lighting was not good enough to get high enough shutter speeds to stop her in action..

Color coordinated for Easter

2008-03-23T17:45:00.003-04:00

Who says only girls care about matching..

Here is another shot from the easter egg hunt yesterday. It may have been cold and snowing but this little boy had hi outfit down...

Easter egg hunt

2008-03-22T20:35:00.005-04:00

Since I don't have any kids of my own I have to use others when I get the chance. Today we were at a service project followed by and easter egg hunt and I really liked the colors in this shot.

Babies Galore

2008-03-20T19:39:00.014-04:00

So Last weekend I shot my first newborn, my little Nephew AJ. For 3 days old he was very alert. I owe a big Thank you to Ginnie for helping with my PP. Photoshop and I are not very good friends so I was thankful for Ginnie helping me out with these.

While I was Over at Ginnie's today one of our other friends brought her sweet little girl, KJ, over for some baby pictures. Ginnie and I both were snapping away. here are a few that I was able to caprure today. This little angel is 3 weeks old and was very well behaved for pictures.

Signs of spring

2008-02-24T18:59:00.010-05:00

As I was leaving for Church this morning I noticed one little crocus peeking up the snow on the ground. So I decided to go out this afternoon and capture a few signs of spring I could see. By the time I got out the snow around the little crocus had melted.

I am not sure what this ground cover is called but it is starting to perk up and turn back to green.

Even the tree out front there are small buds starting to pop out.

Sadly the back of the house has no signs of spring yet, things are still pretty brown and dead but I know in the coming weeks there will be more signs of spring to be seen.

All but the first one was taken with my Macro lens. I am excited to use this lens whenthe flowers start to bloom. I might even break out the tripod to get them a little sharper.

More Macro fun

2008-02-23T21:05:00.007-05:00

It is cold and wet here so I didn't venture to far with my 100mm macro lens but I did take a few outside and then headed back in to get a few more shots of the beaded fruit...

This is not a Macro but taken with the lens. I wanted to try ot get a silhouette.

This is the edge of a pinecone that also has glass beads and golg paint on it.

My new Macro Lens

2008-02-20T14:10:00.014-05:00

As I mentioned earlier on 2 Peas I have a bad case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

Well as part of that I ordered the 100mm Macro leans and I am in love with it. I really had nothing interesting to shoot with it and of course I didn’t dig my tripod out so they are not as sharp as the could be but here is some of what I shot today. These are all sooc, and I just shrunk them down for the web, no cropping or PP since I simply didn’t have time. I can’t wait till there is some more interesting things to shoot with it. Not to mention what I can get using a tripod and shutter release.

What do you think CC always welcome. (You can click on images to see it larger)

Beaded Fruit

Smurf figureine

Froggy eyes

Seed pod from the evil weed outback

Oh and some of you might remember the shots I posted of the handmade Kaleidoscope I have
and were trying to figure out what it would look like looking through it. Well I tried to take a shot of it but it did not work out as well as I had hoped but here it is…

Work on the camera case begins

2008-02-16T20:50:00.006-05:00

I have been finding it hard to get motivated to take pictures again. I have been doing a lot fo reatial therapy lately. Ordered 2 lenses, bought some sheets to use as backdrops, got some plexiglass, and someother misc things.. I have also started to work some on my Pelican case redesign.

So I have a few stickers to start working on my camera case. I bought the spray paint tonight (But need to wait till it warms up some so I can go outside to work on it) I also have gathered up a few stickers that will be a start for the case. Here is what I have gathered so far. (please ignore the poor focus and such...)

POTD Off topic

2008-02-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

So I will admit I am feeling a little blue today so I really didn't get creative with my shot for today. Last night I discovered my kitty cat, Joey, was bleeding from the nose. As far as we know there was no trauma but he then started to walk funny, and needless to say I did not get any sleep last night because I was so worried about him and I kept getting up to check on him. See how pitifull my baby looks.

He is 15 so I realize there is a chance we might have to put him down if it is something serious but so far the vet has not been able to figure out why he is bleeding. They have ruled out any type of infection from bloodwork and no tumors from the head xray they did but he is there over night for observation. Even the dog has been looking all over the house for him to "play" with. I just want him to come home and be okay and look like he did in this picture from the summer. (he is an indoor kitty but when we are out doing yard work he likes to sit under the deck and watch and he is like a dog and will come inside when he is called)

On a happier not I got a new monitor for my computer and it is nice and sharp, I just need to calibrate it still. My grandmother wanted a newer monitor for her computer so I gave her my 19 inch and bought myself a 22 inch widescreen.

POTD Aperture - Pens

2008-02-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

I want to thankall the peas that so kindly offered to find and send me a sticker for my case. Let me know if anyone that wanted to didn't get my address. I Peamailed or emailed everyone, I think.... I am excited to see how this adventure turns out..

Today I only had a few minutes between work and class to take a picture. I was in my hobby room and saw my markers in their holder and decided that looked like a colorful and cheerfull picture for a chilly gloomy day. I really am looking forward to longer daylight hours just so I can get some natural light and outdoor shots.

POTD Aperture - Tweety

2008-02-06T20:20:00.000-05:00

Okay so user Gypsy Girl came up with a great idea for the outside of my camera case. She suggested having all the POTD peas send me a sticker of some sort from their state for me to use on the outside. So if anyone wants to send me something to use on my case let me know and I will get my address to you. I think it would be an awesome way to make my case more personal. I promise to post pictures when I get the outside done. My friend that gave it to me is anxious to see what I do with it too.

To answer a few other questions about my case.. It is very heavy when full but has wheels and is actually the largest carry-on size not that I see myself dragging that on a plane. I use it mainly for when I travel by car and need to take a lot with me, or if I head out on a location shot and want to take a lot of stuff with me and I will leave it in my car and run back to grab stuff I need. It also works out great if I need to get a higher vantage point because I can stand on it.

For today's picture I just decided to shoot my Tweety bank that sits on a shelf in my hobby room. When I was a little kiddo my grandfather always used to call me his tweety bird and after he passed away I started to collect Tweety things.

An update for my camera case

2008-02-05T21:45:00.000-05:00

So there were a few questions about the weed picture I posted yesterday. I have no idea what kind it is but it grows SUPER fast and when it is genn it has huge prickly leaves. The root has this ball on the end that is the size of a basketball which is why I have only gotten around to digging one out.
Here is a picture of most of the plant

and one more close up

On another subject. I got a pelican camera case a few months ago from afriend of mine working in Iraq that decided it was too small for all his gear so I said I would be happy to give it a new home since he was upgrading.

AS you can see it came with foam in it which worked for a while but I saved up and bought the inserts as you can see here.

Now all I have to do is give the outside a face lift because desert tan really is not very expressive. I use the case mainly for storage of things when not in use so it cam be kept in one place but ion the occasions I wheel it with me I would like it to have a bit more flair. I think I will try spray paining it with Krylon paint for plastic and some bumper stickers....

Weeds

2008-02-04T21:37:00.000-05:00

So I was playing with my aperture settings again and decided to take a picture of this seed pod on a giant weed growing in the backyard. This was my favorite one. Kinda boring, boy do I want spring to get here.

POTD APERTURE

2008-02-03T21:50:00.000-05:00

A few answers to questions about my purse. Yes it is all different colors of leather and the brand is Lucky Brand, and I picked it up at Marshall's.

For my take ion the theme aperature I tried to take a picture of a wind shime in my back yard but the wind kept blowing and they all came out a little fuzzy but hopefully you can see I was trying to use a different aperture setting.

these were all shot with my 50mm lens ISO 100

This is at 1.8 1/4000

This is at 3.5 1/1000

This is at 9.0 1/125

POTD Diagonal

2008-02-02T20:57:00.000-05:00

So with all the focus on horizontal and vertical this week I was feeling kind of bad for the diagonal lines out there. SO I decided to take a picture of my purse because I love the pattern on it.

POTD Kaleidoscope

2008-02-01T21:17:00.000-05:00

This week's theme has been a challenge for me. I saw my Kaleidoscope sitting on the table by the window and decide to try to get a couple of shots of it for the POTD theme. This was made for me by a friend year's ago and I have always really liked it.

POTD off topic

2008-01-31T21:43:00.000-05:00

So I had class tonight right after work so I had no chance to go out and shoot something on topic. I thought I would try to get a good picture of my dog, as you can see it didn't work out. I thought this one was funny and decided to post it. I know technically it is not good but sometimes you just need a laugh.

As far as my bowling pictures from yesterday. Yes I did get to play and we had some people that had never played before so it was pretty funny. If you want to read more you can see my other blog here.

Bowling Blog

Okay I am off to watch Lost.

POTD Bowling.....

2008-01-30T20:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all your comments yesterday. To answer a few questions first. I am not sure what my uncle is going to use the pictures for so I will give him options. Also Maine Tourmaline is the state Gemstone for the state of Maine and comes in a lot of colors, it is really pretty when it is turned into jewelry. Maybe I will post some pictures of the jewelry in the future.

For my pictures today they are nothgni thrilling. My team at work went bowling today so these were the only pictures I got a chance to take. The lanes are horizontal right???

Horizontal vs vertical

2008-01-29T16:35:00.000-05:00

These are some pictures I took of maine Tourmaline specimens for my Uncle and I can't decide if I like the Horizontal ones showing the whole stone or the vertical versions better that only show a portion of the specimen. I still need to work on color and some other tweaks also but one thing at a time.

Horizontal vs Vertical

2008-01-28T13:46:00.000-05:00

Here is my take on the theme for today. Now these might look like a seemingly innocent and even boring set of steps. But these horizontal little guys are very against my vertical self and are constantly fighting my vertical status when ever I step foot on them. So that is where my horizontal VS vertical comes in for the day.

In other words I am a first class clutz and have mastered falling up and down steps with flair.

My word for the day is "Gotcha"

2008-01-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

My dog, Grover, is one of the least cooperative subjects so I tried to get a shot of him sleeping this morning but his hed popped up just as I snapped the picture hence it not being quite in focus.

I decided to add a little texture to it and play around and this is what I came up with. One of these days I will gets a good shot of him.

Oh and yes he does have one brown eye and one mostly blue eye. I didn't do that it is all mother nature's doing.

I'm Bored

2008-01-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of one of my neices at her Uncle's wedding reception. As you can see she was more than ready for the night to be over.

Whangdoodle

2008-01-25T17:35:00.000-05:00

Most people know Julie Andrews for her acting and singing. The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins comes to mind for many I am sure. But many do not realize she is also an Author. One of my favorite books as a kids was written by her. It was called The last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. It was a great book for the imagination, which I had and still have a very vivid one.

So I grabbed my most recent copy of the book off the shelf I took a few shots of it then played around a little with them.

Words take 2

2008-01-24T17:43:00.001-05:00

So these first two I took a couple fo months ago but still thought I would share them.

This first one makes me feel sorry for the kid that thought they were going to Mcdonald's.

When I saw this sign I thought it was an odd combination of things to advertize together.

Now for one I just shot... The worst 4-letter word there is

Words...

2008-01-24T17:11:00.000-05:00

I thought this sign gave new meaning to shotgun wedding...

Makes you wonder if the person that installed this sign actually read it.

Someone was a bit confused... Actually these are all towns in Maine.

Cannon announcces a new rebel Add that to my wish list.

2008-01-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

Well in a pre PMA annoucement Canon announces the newest member of the Rebel family. The 450D. No mention of a replacement for the 5D yet and PMA is just a week away. Does this mean we are going to have to wait till fall. *sigh* ... You can read about some of the features of the 450D here... 450D

Let it snow...

2008-01-18T19:55:00.000-05:00

Okay so my wishing and waiting for warmer weather really didn't pay off as I would have liked and yesterday we got our first snowfall of note here. There was not much daylight left when I got home from work but I quickly grabbed my camera and went out to take a few shots just the same. I really need to borrow some kids so I have more interesting things to take pictures of. I tried to get some shots of the dog but he was not cooperating.

For my friends married to a dentist

2008-01-18T09:51:00.000-05:00

Since I know a few people married to dentists or husbands that will soon be dentists I thought I would post this instructional video. Who knows maybe you can put your cameras to even more uses. Okay lets be honest I just thought it was amusing and fitting for this blog.

Waiting for warmer weather

2008-01-16T21:50:00.000-05:00

Today has been a really cold day so I thought I would post some pictures of flowers to help me think of warmer days.
These were all taken in my front yard last summer.

Jamie's Wedding

2008-01-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

This coming Saturday my cousin Brad is getting married and my family is coming in from out of town. As a result it had me thinking about Jamie's wedding and I was looking at the pictures I took while I was at her wedding and thought I would post some. I was not their official wedding photographer but I took A LOT of pictures. Isn't she a pretty Bride.

Snow pictures

2008-01-10T21:17:00.000-05:00

So on my recent trip to Maine over the holidays there was more than one snow storm so I decided to take my camera out around my Dad's house and take a few shots.

This is one of the crab apples left on the trees lining the edge of his property.

Here are some others from around my dad's house:

These Shots I took waiting for my step mother to meet me for lunch in Hallowell.

Will get to posting pictures eventually

2008-01-07T13:26:00.000-05:00

I have a bunch of pictures i took over the Christmas break but have not had a chance to go through them and get them on uploaded but thought I should get an entry out here. So I often get asked what equipment I am looking at buying so here is part of my wish list. I decided to stop at 10, but the list has quite a bit more on it.

1. Canon 5D
2. A replacement 50 mm 1.4 lens
3. A fisheye lens
4. A 300 mm lens
5. A good Macro lens
6. Inserts for my Pelican Case
7. Studio lights
8. Background stands
9. Light kit for shotting Jewelry and other small items.
10. Replcaement reflectors.

New Blog for 2008

2007-12-20T14:49:00.000-05:00

I am hoping that in 2008 I can start paying some attention to this new blog I set up and put some of my photography here. I also hope to start updating my webpage more often also.
It can be found here: