Day 21: Faceless Self-Portrait

Now this I can do and have fun doing. I am an active person. I have been involved in sports for as long as I can remember, beginning with ballet classes when I was three or four. I also loved our backyard play place as a child. I still try and stay active, though it's tough when I've been in this place for so little time. My husband and I are planning on joining an ultimate Frisbee team in the spring, but since it's winter, we're settling for hitting the slopes with our ski gear every once in a while. When I'm around the house I like moving around. I'll go outside and take pictures (if you couldn't tell yet), and I've been wanting to do some zumba to keep me in some sort of shape. It's not too hard at home thanks to YouTube and plenty of space, but I need to put my book down in order to actually get started. Maybe I'll push myself into it today. Wondering why I went on this long schpeel about being active? Well, the photos will answer that question. Yes, photos. I liked two so much I'm using both of them. One is me in the "fearless warrior" yoga position. I love yoga. It stretches you out and can be a great workout. My guy friends didn't believe me until I did yoga with three of them. Given it was p90x yoga, but I still fared much better than they did after a 10-minute session. And the whining...anyway, the last one is of my awesome aerial ninja skills. I hope you do notice my beautifully pointed toe...it's a bit of a habit after being in gymnastics for like 7 years.

Day 20: Bokeh

Déjà Vu! Aren't we feeling smart, already knowing what "bokeh" is? If you're out of the loop, take a gander at my previous posts and find the one titled "Bokeh." It will clue you in. Also find it if you need a refresher...I'm a little too lazy to explain the whole concept right now. At some point I will take some portraits and night pictures with bokeh in the background, but it is not this day. This day we fight! and take daytime bokeh pictures to satisfy the masses.

Day 19: Something Orange

I don't have much orange around the house. Quite frankly I think it's an ugly color, though when paired with other colors sometimes it's not so bad. Fortunately for me, I collect shot glasses (as I mentioned earlier). I do have a couple orange ones: one from Cozumel, Mexico and one from Palo Duro Canyon which is close to Amarillo, Texas. My parents and I drove up to Colorado last fall to attend one of my cousin's weddings. We took the road through the panhandle partially because my baby sister goes to West Texas A&M (19 miles from Amarillo in a town named Canyon). Canyon is named for the canyon. Imagine that. We decided that on the way home we would make a pit stop at Palo Duro Canyon. I hadn't seen it since I was a small child. I think I was younger than five. After driving around and taking some cool photos, we decided to check out the souvenir shop. Of course I looked for shot glasses. The one I settled on was made out of clay from the canyon or something like that, giving it an orange hue. And that's my story about how I got something orange for my house.

Day 18: My Shoes

My shoes. Ha. All my shoes? 'Cause I'm a bit of a stereotypical girl when it comes to shoes. Now I do have a decent collection of heels, but the shoes I wear more often are flatter and more comfortable. I've been wearing my water resistant winter boots lately because of, well, the snow. However, in warmer weather, I'll go for my Toms more often than not. They're so comfortable! I also run a lot when the weather is nice to me, so I have to have a couple pairs of sneakers. These ones are my favorites. They're new, colorful, comfortable, my favorite brand (new balance), AND they were on sale. What's better than a great pair of shoes on sale? Okay, a lot of things, but still. I get so many comments on these shoes. People seem to love the chartreuse (I know, they look more yellow in the picture) and fuchsia mix like I do. It's unexpected and fun. 

Day 17: Technology

I think we have all figured out by now that technology advances at an exponential rate. When super smart genius people invent certain items in technology, those items increase a field of study and help those super smart genius people become super smarter geniuses and invent more items at a quicker pace. Technological innovations are all around you. They're like spiders, except you don't swallow them in your sleep. Not all technology requires electricity as a power source either. Ever take a good look at a corkscrew? That's technology, and yet you operate it mechanically. Well, most of them. I'm sure there are fancy expensive ones that work by themselves now. Anyway, I went around the house and took some pictures of a few of the technology items in my house. My favorite picture is of this clock. It was given to me by my lovely in-laws for Christmas or something one year.

Day 16: Long Exposure

I love doing long exposure shots. One of my favorite photos from my wedding is a shot I made our photographer do. My husband and I stood in a gazebo, and one of my sisters ran around us with a sparkler. The photographer set his camera so the shutter would be open for 30 seconds. All you can see of my sister in the photo is a sparkler line. It's really cool. Now I haven't done any long exposures with people yet, but I love taking nighttime photos, and this is best done with a shutter open for a prolonged period of time. Tonight it was cloudy so I didn't capture any awesome stars, but the clouds look beautiful themselves in their mauve and deep purple tones.

Day 15: Silhouette

Pretty much everybody knows a silhouette when they see it. In essence, a silhouette is created when a subject is back lit in such a way that it appears to be naught but a shadow. The detail is low and the contrast (difference between light and dark hues in a picture) is high. They are some of the more artistic photos as they play mostly with light rather than the particulars of the subject.

Day 14: Eyes

The first thing I always notice about people is the eyes. It makes sense: the eyes are halfway up their face, you make eye contact when introducing yourself and when making conversation, you make eye contact when saying goodbye...now I don't always remember the color of the eyes, but I remember if they seemed kind or threatening. I also remember the makeup if it's a girl who wears it. Or a guy. That happens too. Here is one of my husband's beautiful eyes. Even though he can never remember their color, I know they're a blue with a bit of green and a little brown spot on one.

Day 13: Myself with 13 Things

For those of you with triskaidekaphobia, today is not your day. Actually, this year is not your year. So sorry. As I said before, I am not a fan of self-portraits, and today I had to take 13. Therefore, I kept this one light and fun. You'll find a bit of my personality in these photos. I could have been all dramatic and taken more artsy photos, but that would take too much time and I have too little care for self-portraits to do such things. Enjoy my lively photo shoot with a few of my favorite things.

Day 12: Sunset

I have found that sunsets in Washington can't hold a candle to sunsets in Texas. Literally. They don't have hands. Every once in a while you get a good one, but especially in Spokane, the sun often dips below the horizon without painting brilliant colors across the sky. I don't know what it is about Texas. Maybe the souls of the wildflowers escape into the atmosphere upon nightfall and their colors transform the sky into a reflection of the very wildflowers they belong to. I don't know. All I know is, unless you're somewhere spectacular such as the Grand Canyon or Hawaii, you won't find a better sunset than in the plains of Texas.  That being said, here is my attempted capture of the sun going down in Spokane.

Day 11: Something Blue

Now I don't have nearly as much blue in my house as green, but there was a sufficient amount to supply me with some good photographs. This particular blue "something" is a mug cozy. Apparently that's what they're called instead of koozies. I guess it's because they're cute and look cozy. One of my younger sisters knitted it for me for Christmas. Isn't it cute? I need to learn how to knit so I can make more.

Day 10: Childhood Memory

For those of you creeped out by dolls, this post is not for you. For all the rest of you sane people who don't watch Chucky, ignore the first sentence. This is about innocent childhood memories. My dolly, whose name is Baby Janie, has been in my possession since pretty much my birth. She has seen her fair share of good and bad days. Both her arms have been ripped off at points, but thanks to my grandma, she never lost them forever. I tried putting makeup on her with gel pen and pierced her ears with sewing pins, both in elementary school. It's amazing she is in as good of condition as she is. My dolly was there to comfort me when I was sad, and she also helped me become that weird girl at sleepovers because I couldn't sleep without her and my favorite baby blanket. I still have the blanket too. I packed her in (carefully) with my belongings when I moved up here. I wouldn't leave her for the world even now.

Day 9: Someone You Love

Or rather, someone I love. Now I love a lot of people in my life, but since my wonderful husband drove me around just so I could take pictures today, I guess I have to choose him. ;) We drove along Long Lake and took a tour of Bowl and Pitcher finding places to stop and photograph. I probably enjoyed myself a little more than he did, but since he is easily amused, he kept busy. This particular picture is from the overlook at Bowl and Pitcher.

Day 8: A Bad Habit

I told my husband I was gonna take a picture of a bad habit today. My first thought was biting nails, but he had a better idea. He plays Halo a lot, especially the new Halo 4. Not that it's a bad habit for him, but gaming is a terrible habit for a large group of individuals. He told me I should take a picture of him playing video games, so I did. I even had him help me decide which photo to post. Upon seeing them, he said something along the lines of "you can make anything look artistic." I guess that's my calling in life.

Day 7: Fruit

I love eating fruit. Fruit is good. I really like bananas. The problem is I only like them when they're still green, and they're not green for long. My solution? Banana bread! Or muffins, depending on my mood. The muffin recipe I have includes chocolate chips, so usually I prefer those. My hubby likes banana bread though, so I usually make that as a surprise for him. The bananas we have right now are too ripe for me, so I'll make them into something if he doesn't eat them first. Another problem with bananas is they're hard to photograph, especially if you don't have a schmancy studio, which I don't. But that's okay. I'm really good at improvising with backgrounds and lighting.

Day 6: From a Low Angle

Low angles are fun. They're a mini adventure of sorts. You have to search for something that lends itself to being captured from a low angle then crouch down as low as you can to take the shot. Sometimes I take the camera strap off my neck and stick the camera near the ground to see if I can get a lucky shot. If you take enough photos, you'll snag one eventually. My favorite low angle subject is through the branches of trees. Each one is unique, and I just love the way the branches protrude. Leaves or no leaves, the photo always looks beautiful.

Day 5: From a High Angle

Okay, so I cheated a little on this one. I took this picture a couple years ago. I really wanted to share it, though, and there's not much around here worth taking a picture of from a high angle. Not unless I want to drive a ways. While on Spring Break with my family in 2011 we had many spontaneous adventures. This is from our time in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We woke up in the morning to see hot air balloons surrounding our hotel. One of them was piloted by an Air Force vet. We walked over to the balloon to get some pictures, and the pilot engaged in some small talk. He found out our brother is in the Air Force and offered to give us a tethered ride in the hot air balloon. Of course we said yes. Though it was tethered and doesn't count as an actual hot air balloon ride, it was still the opportunity of a lifetime. This shot was taken from the basket. My parents and some other onlookers are on the ground below.

Day 4: Something Green

My favorite color is green, so I had the easiest time with this assignment. I have loved the color green since elementary school. It's a beautiful color, and you can find it everywhere. Walk outside right now. Green is all around you. Even if there's a blanket of snow you can still see green peeking through the trees. The computer I am working from is green. Green is everywhere in my house, so I just found those objects and started taking pictures of them. This is my favorite shooter. My husband and I collect shot glasses from places we visit, and this particular item is from our honeymoon. We took a cruise through the Caribbean and got this one from Grand Cayman.

Day 3: Clouds

I love clouds. I think I've said this before, but my sister and I love taking pictures of them. We've started sending them to each other via text. You may get a brilliant ray of sunshine behind one and a bright blue sky behind another. Each one is different, and some look like familiar objects. I actually had a hard time narrowing down to this photo because there were so many images I liked after my shoot today.

Day 2: What I Wore Today

Sorry I missed a post yesterday. I was busy shopping and watching the NFL playoffs. Oops. I will make up for it today by doing two posts. I'm doing yesterday's right now. It's about what I wore. I'm a girl all about comfort. Sure, sometimes I like to dress up and look cute. However, when hanging out at home, I'd rather be in sweats. That's exactly where I was yesterday. I wore my comfy ACU sweatpants, a thermal long-sleeved shirt, and a grey sweatshirt.

Day 1: Self-Portrait

Now I'm not a fan of self-portraits. For one thing they seem vain, and for another it's really hard to get the lighting, cropping, shutter speed, aperture, etc. right when you're photographing yourself. However, I'm willing to comply for the sake of this challenge. Here is my beautimus self-portrait. Just don't forget, fellas. I am a married woman.

30 Day Photo Challenge

I found this on Pinterest a while ago and put it in a file for safe keeping. It's rather self-explanatory. Basically there's a list of 30 pictures to take, and you span them out so there's one each day. My next post will be number 1, and we'll continue on from there.

My Baby

Sonic has a new and bigger play pin now. He is nocturnal and made a lot of noise at night, so my husband built him a 4'x4' home out of plywood and 12" planks around the perimeter. Now he has a lot of room to move, and I don't have bars in my way for taking pictures. It's a positive change for all of us. We have also started feeding him real people food in addition to his yummy cat food diet. So far he likes banana bread, popcorn, and goldfish.

Close-up Photography

Close-up photography shouldn't be confused with macro photography. Macro photography can be taken only by certain lenses and by definition is only when a subject is photographed greater than life size. Those crazy photos of flies and other insects with their compound eyes are macro photographs. Close-up photography is simply taking a picture of something from a close range. Since I have no macro lens (yet), all my close range photos are close-ups.

Baby's First Real Food

Documentation of baby milestones is something every parent should desire. My parents used both photos and videos of us, and they are all still around today. It's fun to look back on things we can't remember ourselves. Since I currently do not have children, I live vicariously through my in-laws. My sister-in-law came downstairs yesterday and asked me if I would take pictures of my nephew's first time eating his real food: a banana. Of course I said yes. I took about 60 photos, deleted 10, and chose favorites from those. In case you were wondering, he loved it.

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM

I got my telephoto zoom lens in the mail today! My wonderful husband got a bonus at work and decided to buy my lens with some of it. Now I can zoom in on things from far away. This will really come in handy. For those who aren't camera savvy, this does not mean I'm getting rid of my old lens. Each lens has something else to offer. The one I just received does really well when you need to zoom in on something far away, but it doesn't do so hot with close-up shots. You can only back out so far. To give you an idea of what this lens does, take a look at the photos below. The one on top was taken with my original lens on max zoom. See the tree standing alone in the back? Remember it. Now look at the bottom picture. That picture is of the same tree with my telephoto zoom lens zoomed in all the way. How 'bout that?