Fairytale Castle

With my daughter's 11th birthday tomorrow, I have princess castles on my mind. I guess I can understand. I'm still impressed with castles even though I'm not eleven.

This picture was taken from Mary's Bridge. After touring the castle, we went to the bridge over a canyon to see this amazing angle on the castle.

Spending 2 weeks in southern Germany with my camera was quite frankly the funnest photography I've ever taken.

Nature's Colors

Outdoor Photographer Magazine has some fun themed contest. The one ending today is called Nature's Colors. I love looking through all the amazing photos from photographers all over the world. The entries are so different and the color that are captured are simply amazing. Take a look at the gallery. It's fun and inspiring.

This is one of my entries in to the contest. The yellow contrasted against the green leaves brings me feelings of happiness. I encourage you to go look through this gallery or galleries to past contest. It's a great site.

Happy Halloween

Forgetting we're under a smidgen of snow, Happy Halloween! We've had a nice fall. We decided for the first time to go to a pumpkin patch and pick out our pumpkins a few weeks ago. The kinds had a ton of fun and even let me and my husband carry their pumpkins back to the car.

I took my camera along and had fun getting some shots. I need to get out more with my camera. It's really a craft that the more you do the better you are at it.

I'm still getting used to the new camera as well. Most of it's the same, but every camera takes pictures a little bit differently.

New Office Space

My husband has new office space and is excited to get pictures on the wall. With his new space he wants something different. I took this great picture of my daughter that we both have hanging in our offices. I actually posted it last year here.

I've been wanting a more artistic one of my son as well, but I hadn't taken one until now. We went to Denver this summer and went to the park. I saw the empty bench overlooking the water and told him to go look thoughtfully at the water.

It's so interesting to me that it often takes me months to decide I like a picture. I love this picture. I mentioned to my husband that I was going to hang this in my office and he immediately wanted a copy as well. It should be here next week, and I can't wait.

Summer Gardening

I've been having a good time in my yard this summer. Although I've let it become more natural and reseed itself, it's been fun watching where flowers will pop up.

Not only do I love gardening, but I could spend hours out there taking picture of the flowers in the garden. It's good to have two hobbies that overlay so well together.

I love the bright red blooms on this plant.

Changing Pictures

Summer is nearly over; school starts on Monday. I've been out a bit with my camera. Summer has been really busy and the camera hasn't really gone with us many places. It's also been pretty cold, so we have not done as much hiking or camping as we did last year.

Instead of being behind the lens most of summer, I've been learning quite a bit out layers, altering colors, and using the want in Paint Dot Net. I even made a tutorial on line on Squidoo that explains how to make this black and white effect while leaving some color.

I do have a few ideas for some photos, and I'm hoping as school starts and we get back in to a routine that I'll have a little more free time (before the snow falls) to go out on my own and get some pictures.

Paris Carousel

We're having a very busy summer here. I'm not taking as many pictures as I would like, but I am getting out with the camera.

While the kids watch a movie, I like to work with paint.net and see what effects will do to a picture. I changed this carousel photo to sepia and then left all of the red; which is only on the bottom and the hot air balloon.

As a color piece, this wasn't as eye catching. There was just too much going on in the picture. Now with the sepia tone and only one color it really became a neat scene.

Weekend in Wyoming

We took a trip up to Yellowstone. On our way there, we drove through Teton National Park. The mountain peaks are absolutely amazing.

Grand Teton Peak was covered by clouds, but this smaller peak with it's reflection in the lake below was just perfect.

The whole family has their own camera's now. Most of the family was out of the car taking photos. My son was in the car reading comic books until we kicked him out for pictures.

Memorial Day Weekend

We took some time off this weekend to relax. I took tons of pictures. Every family member has their own camera now. It was a lot of fun to go into the city and have all of us taking photography.

One of my favorite pictures over the weekend is this butterfly picture. I love the shape of the wings. The way they're resting they are shaped like a heart.

Two more weeks and we'll be going on another little vacation so I can take more pictures.

Weeping Birch

More photos with my new camera. I was playing with some of the lenses in the front yard. I love the contrast of white against all the green of spring.

This tree is one of my favorites in the yard. I honestly think it's beauty made us want the house even more. It's dying and probably should be removed soon. From this angle, it looks amazing though.

I'm certain that once it goes, it will be replaced by the exact same tree.

Happy Mother's Day

It's a little late for Mother's Day, but my gift came last night. My wonderful family bought me an Olympus E-520 SLR camera! I'm so excited to get to spend the summer using it. I'm really happy with staying with the Olympus. Knowing the basics to their camera already has really helped.

Last night was mostly spent taking pet pictures. They weren't that impressed with it. However, after dinner tonight I went into the front yard and took some pictures of my gardens. There's not much blooming yet, but these gorgeous purple flowers have sprung up.

I love the new camera. The pictures are so amazing with it. I'm so ready to start the new season of photography with this camera!

Spring Bubble Fun

We went to see some of my husband's family this weekend. My sister-in-law is a super sweet aunt and bought the kids these bubble makes that would make hundreds in seconds. With three of the kids hard at work the bubble were everywhere.

My daughter, being the budding photographer, asked me to take pictures of it with her camera. This one turned on neat. I might have spent more time working on reflections that they were making or setting up a different shot had it not been so cold. I spent more time enjoying the bubbles through the window than outside.

Roses

When my husband bought the roses this weekend, he also picked up a nice full orange one. I put up a white back drop and started taking pictures of the flower.

I had fun setting this one up to photograph. Once I was done, I opened it on the computer and did a little editing. I put a little more orange in a background layer in paint.net as to add some depth to the flower.

Inspired

I went out and took pictures yesterday. My husband bought some roses from the store for me. It was kind of dreary outside, so I decided to do some still life photos with them. They turned out really well, and I had a lot of fun.

We went out to dinner and after we got home, the rain just started pouring. It was somewhat hard to convince myself to go outside, but I had a great idea for one of the roses. I laid it out on the bench in the front yard. They turned out amazing. I turned the background black and white to leave the focus on the rose.

I finally feel inspired again. I had so much fun taking photos again. Even out in the rain and it was pouring down, I remembered how much I love taking photos.

Easter

Happy Easter! I got these flowers from church. One of my friends is a florist and will bring in flowers to decorate with and let us take them home. I had so much fun taking pictures of these flowers. They are so elegant.

My goal is to get out and take pictures this weekend. The big question is whether they will be great spring pictures or more winter scenes. I may just opt to do still life Easter eggs.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Promises

As it snows a little more outside, I find the need to see the promise of spring through this rainbow photo. This picture was actually kind of a surprise to me. I was trying to capture the raging water of the river and notice the rainbow coming off the water to perfectly.

Finding rainbows to photograph has always been really fun for me. Most of the time for me, the rainbow looks so more more magnificent in real life that I can't take the right shot to bring out the right color or size of the arch. This picture turned out really well.

So, I will continue to look through my rainbow pictures hoping for the promise of brighter days.

More Fun with Paint.net

I think this is one of my favorite photos that I've altered graphically yet. I turned the green parts of the peacock feathers black and white and left the eyes of the feathers bright and colorful.

The lack of color on the background creates more texture and leaves the eyes of the feathers to really stand out. I'm having so much fun experimenting with paint.net

The snow has started to melt. I was even outside without a coat on today. After talking with my husband, I think we're going to go to Yellowstone right after school gets out. I'm so excited. There's going to be so many photo opportunities with my camera.

No More Snow!

I have lived here long enough to know that it still snows in April, but I really need it to snow, warm up for a week, snow again, warm up for a month, etc. It's been cold and gloomy for far too long. We went to a friends house for dinner last night, and she had a picnic despite the weather. (We did not eat outside in the snow though.) I also realize that we've gotten much less snow that a lot of places so I will count my blessings on that one. I'm also getting some extra housework done since we're stuck inside instead of playing outside.

So after shoveling the sidewalk this morning, I looked through my summer photos to warm up. I think snap dragons are my favorite flowers to have in my garden. I love this picture with the purple flowers in the back ground out of focus.

I can not wait to go back out and take pictures in my gardens again this year.

Learning New Things

I'm slowly learning the graphics program called paint.net. It's a free graphics program that can be downloaded at www.paint.net

I have to admit that I'm very much a naturalist when it comes to my photography. I guess I feel like it's cheating. I need to work at getting the best picture while I'm doing it; not later.

At dinner this weekend, my husband mentioned that several on my floral photos would look really cool if I made the background black and white and left the flower in color. Since it's colder out this month than it was in January, it seemed like a good project to work on to work on my graphics skills.

This yellow tulip picture is my first go at it. It was really fun to play with the picture and create a completely different piece of art from it. Working with the layer functionality this effect is actually pretty easy.

Look At the Butterfly (And Not How Long Since I Last Posted)

I can't believe I haven't posted since February. It's amazing how fast time flies while you're not updating your blog.

I think I'm mostly avoiding posting because I was really hoping that starting the blog would get me to take tons of pictures. Every time I think about posting, I realize that I haven't taken new photos in a really long time. I know that some of it is the weather. I love photographing outside. I've gotten some really great winter scenes, but I love photography in the summer (or spring and even fall...)

Although I'm bummed about not doing as much photographing that I would like, I do love looking through my archives to do an entry here. There picture was of the butterfly was taken in my yard this fall. Butterflies are always gorgeous. If the sit still long enough to be in a picture then the photo turns out awesome just because you caught a butterfly on film. Most of the pictures of this butterfly turned out blurring. I really like this one though.

It reminds me of a time I was talking to a coworker about my photography. She was admiring a picture I had on the calendar. I was talking about how many of the flower I actually took to get one photo that I felt was awesome. Some of that is experimenting. Some more of it is the fact that I've learned a lot about exposure, aperture, shutter speed, etc. It also show the patience for getting the shot of the moving butterfly.

Rain

I love photographing in the rain. The lighting is so much different. There is so much natural light, but any issues with shadows are gone.

The other great aspect of rain is the way it makes the leaves look. The leaves are so vibrant in this picture.

This photo way taken in my yard. It always amazes me when I get gorgeous photos without leaving home. I love my yard and it's so fun to find pictures on the macro level that seem to take me out of the yard and some place completely different.

Extinction Sucks

Time has definitely gotten away from me. Late winter colds have hit the family, and I haven't had much time to think about much else except keeping everything done to a bare minimum.

The whole idea for me when I started this was to post NEW pictures; thus getting my out with my camera more often. I shouldn't be to hard on myself though, I'm more of an outdoors photographer and get out very little in the winter.

Looking at the bright side, it's just as fun to pull from the archives. When I go through old photos I always find new ones to fall in love with. We were on vacation and went to a natural history museum where my daughter insisted on getting this huge sucker. Because we were on vacation I was a huge sucker myself and let them get them. We waited in the lobby while my husband ran up to the room to get something and I got this candid shot of her eating her treat. I'm not sure if you can see it, but it says "Extinction Sucks." Landscapes come much easier to me, so when I take a photo that I like of a person I'm also so excited.

I'm taking an oath to myself that I will take new pictures someday soon, and I will get better.

Feeling A Little More Sane in a Crazy World

The world seems really busy around me; moving a little too quick. I'm trying very hard to slow down though.

This photo shoot that I did, in my front yard, was one of the funnest I've ever done. It was challenging to have items in the shot that were motionless, but showing motion around. I love this picture because it looks like I'm picking the flower off a marry-go-round that's spinning out of control. With the lenses I got for Christmas I should actually be able to do a little longer exposure with my camera when I do a shoot like this.

These marigolds in my yard were really thick this year. They grew from seeds from the plants I had the year before. They were so think in the flower bed this year that it was so beautiful. I let the them die off in the garden this year, and I hope they come back this summer as well.

Six More Weeks of Winter

As always, the ground hog saw his shadow and there will be six more weeks of winter. (Or in my case probably three more months.) I'm getting a little stir crazy for some great summer landscapes to enjoy. I do enjoy the winter landscapes, but this time of year it's not always gorgeous and white but more yellow and muddy.

I took this picture of Steamboat lake this last summer while we were camping. I'd gotten up really early and went for a hike with my camera in hand. There was steam rolling off the lake as the sun rose. I took some really neat reflection pictures, but with the bark beetles in the area, the trees make it hard to take a nice landscape picture. It's so extremely sad to look at the forest with the beetles killing so many of the trees.

So, while we're still fully into winter, I will be planning some great camping trips and can't wait to take my camera along during the warm morning hikes.

That's Better

Unlike the last entry shows, our dog Izzy usually does a really good job posing for me when I've got my camera. It's harder for her to pose with the family, but when she's by herself she can sit patiently while I change lenses, angles, and lighting.

This night was actually hysterical at how much she wanted to by the subject matter (or at least get all my attention.) When I'd change subjects, she'd actually get between the camera and the other person or animal and get in the picture.

I really like this picture. It shows so much emotion. Her ears show so much of her feelings.

Say Cheese

I'm more of a nature and landscape photographer, but I sometimes try to see what I can do with people and animals.

My son and my husband were having a really nice moment, and I thought it would make a nice family picture and be really sweet. I started taking them and was checking out the lighting. Then the dog realized I had the camera. It's amazing to me how much she likes to be in the picture. I asked my husband to make her go away. He assured me that it would be good practice to have her in the picture. I assured him that it's really hard to get good pictures of people and animals.

So, here's the proof that it's really hard to take pictures of animals and people at the same time. The very first picture the dog appears doing the fake school smile thing. It was a great laugh to see her like that after the discussion my husband and I had.

Busy Times

It seems that my daughter's birthday was just yesterday. Time seems to be flying by with school and work back in full swing.

I had a really great photography trip planned in the Black Hills this weekend, but my husband's family is too sick to have company. I was excited to take some winter photos of the Black Hills, but it looks like it'll have to wait until February.

We're trying to figure out where to go now since we have everything set up to have the weekend off. The kids like to go to a city so they can go to museums and stay in a motel. I'm not against a weekend like that, but I'm anxious to get out and take some landscapes photos. It would be good practice for me to try to get some city pictures in as well. At least we're getting away from it all for some great family time.

Winter Hike

Over the break, I took a short hike by myself. It was really peaceful on the trail all by myself and so beautiful. It was early in the morning, so the sun hadn't been able to warm the snow off the branches yet. There was about an inch of snow that had fallen that night.

The way the snow laid across the branches looks skeletal creating a really interesting composition.

Over all, it was an amazing winter hike. My family is trying to spend more time enjoying the outdoors than we have in the past. I think we're planning to go out again this weekend and spend more time out having fun. I have lots of new lenses to try out too.

New Skills

My husband bought me lenses for Christmas. The step up ring came in the mail on Friday, so I got to try them out today. One of the lenses he bought me was a polarizing lens. Since I was anxious to try them out, I didn't do too much reading before we left this morning. Of all the reading that I have done, I know that they make the sky stand out more.

After sledding a little while with my family, I wondered off to test my new lens. I can definitely say that it does make the sky much bluer and the clouds stand out a lot more.

It was a great time to go out and take some pictures. We left pretty early in the morning and there was about an inch of snow covering everything. The sun hadn't melted any of the snow off the trees yet.

Tomorrow I'm going to read all the books that came with the lenses and go from there.

Worked Like a Charm

We got my daughter a camera for Christmas. Besides all kids needing good hobbies, I wanted her to enjoy going out for photos a little more. I needed a partner is crime. In fact, on her birthday we allowed her to pick the activity for the day. She picked going up to Vedauwoo (pronounced vee-da-voo) to go take some pictures. It was pretty cold, but we did take some pictures.

We ran into a frozen stream and went out on it. There were layers of bubbles that were trapped inside. It was an awesome effect. My step-up ring didn't make it to me yesterday, so I'm still waiting to use my Christmas present. Hopefully it'll be here tomorrow, and I can go out this weekend to use it.

Back to work tomorrow. At least it's a one day week.