You Capture: Autumn

Whoa buddy it has been a while since I have done one of these. It has also been a while since I've picked up my camera.

These aren't very brilliant, but they did cause me to set something funny on the nikon and have to try to reset it. No idea what I did but everything came out over-exposed except for what I took before I killed my camera...obviously.

Anywho, I hope that you're ready for some good ole' turkey day coming up. We're protesting Halloween this year. Why? Because I don't want any candy laying around the house for months until we finish it. My holiday plight this year is how in the world to have a healthy holiday season, but that's another quandary for another day.

My welcome brigade.

Such pretty colors.  They make me miss the mountains.

Ok, you caught me, I really just needed to nap on the deck.

I've really been enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.  It was about 80 today, which doesn't seem like fall at all.  I say that now, and watch it drop to the 30's tomorrow.

I apologize in advance.

Next week the challenge is Halloween and/or silence.

You Capture: Fun

This week Teacher Beth at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com assigned: Fun. Let me tell you, this has not been a fun week for me, but I played with my camera and that is the whole point.

I'm aware that I might have taken this one too...literally.

But I had fun actually reading the user manual to my camera (dork) and taking this one manually (score).  I've determined my camera takes a 1000X better picture in manual.

Last time I shot in manual was with a real film SLR in my old photography class. Since it was my Dad's old Pentax and it was made in the 70's it has like 3 buttons (I've always wanted to steal this from him, especially his vintage leather camera bag).

My new, high-tech Nikon has so many levers and pullies and buttons I'm not sure I'll ever know what they all do. But...I've at least captured the daunting concepts of aperture and shutter speed on this puppy.

The rest is still a learning experience.

By-the-bye, I'm sorry I'm still under contruction. The remodel has been dictated a lot by Steven's schedule and since he got his new job I feel like I never see him. When I do, I hardly want to bug him about this thing.

However, you can bug him. That would be...fun.

And when you're not harrassing my beloved to fix this ding-dang-blog, please go check out all the fun everyone else had with You Capture this week. These folks keep me grounded on what is important and remind me that I really do need to live a little.

Mayhaps, for next weeks water challenge I'll spend the whole time lounging by the pool in my spf 75.

Yes, indeed.

 

You Capture: Best Shot

The assignment from Beth at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com this week was simply: the best shot from the week.  Mine was easy this week because I'm pretty sure it's the best picture I've ever taken.

Ta da:

I completely stumbled across this gem while baby-sitting my unofficial god daughter, Little K this past weekend.  I took a TON of pictures and most of them didn't turn out very well.  I've now learned the importance of having someone else there while trying to photograph the little ones that wiggle-and-a-shake.  K is 18 months so she does a lot of moving, everywhere, all at once, a thousand times before you've realized she's gone.  However she is completely brilliant!  What 18 month old do you know that can do the fist-bump greeting? 

It's completely unedited and I'm completely in love with it. Might be a great gift for the parents this Christmas. Yes, indeed!

I just love her and how good Steven is with her.  And I love when he tells me that I look sexy with a baby.  I just love him...period.

Well, that certainly is a lot of cuteness and love for one post. In truth, I love that too!  So go give some lovin' to the folks at this week's You Capture. 

Please and thank you!

You Capture: Depth of Field

As promised, you finally get the animal pictures from my trip to the zoo. Particularly enjoy the elephants:

(The most ferocious of animals: Oliver Linux)

(DOF with the bamboo.  I had a long lens on and he was far away.  I wish I could have gotten more detail on him.)

 (Toes...I like toes and wrinkles.)

(DOF spit up everywhere on this one.)

(And last butt not least, elephant butt, because it's cute to be curvy.)

That's all you're getting because the only other time I picked up the camera this week was to take this picture of the dog:

My goal was to steal a friend's baby for this one.  Conceiving a baby just for You Capture assignments didn't fly with the Steve-o (not entirely sure why).  I even bought some props for our friend's kiddo that would have been adorable in DOF.  Like--so adorable I want to kick some parents--adorable.  I also had the ambitious plans of trying it manual for the first time since high school photo class.  Silly people not handing over their children to me, psh!  Why else am I the unofficial godmother anyway?  Alright, I do give pretty killer clothes and presents.

Beth over at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com was fortunate enough to already have a beautiful baby boy on hand as a foot model for this one.  Check out her awesome toe shots!  I just want to kiss um.

You Capture: Yellow

I've come to the conclusion that yellow and I don't get along.  The You Capture challenge Beth at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com came up with this week was yellow and I have to let you know that I don't own any yellow because I look horrible in it and I don't decorate with it because it just doesn't work for me. My decorating color concept is, essentially, if I can't wear it, I shouldn't decorate with it.

I spent the entire week walking around thinking "just don't take a picture of a school bus"..."just don't take a picture of a school bus."  I'm pleased-as-punch to say that I succeeded by refusing the flirtacious glances of the big, yellow, bee-looking buses.  There was a brief affair with a little, yellow harlot-of-a-butterdish at Anthropologie.  I almost bought just to have something to photograph, but I decided it would be a waste of money since I don't really eat butter...and I shouldn't start eating it.

What I did come up with for You Capture resulted from a cloudy trip to the National Zoo on my birthday this Tuesday.  So here you go, some yellow mixed in with a lot of city shots (I'm saving the animal shots for next weeks Depth of Focus challenge):

In the DC area, the concept of yellow is basically "Danger, Will Robinson" aka: don't step here, don't fall down here, don't cross here, basically: don't be anywhere near here.  How depressing!  Especially when yellow really is such a fun, spastic, and lighthearted color.

 

I'm never more at home than when I'm in chucks and jeans.  I hope you feel the same.  Notice the "please don't fall down the escalator" yellow.

 

You can also catch glimpses of some entertaining defacement of public property. Definitely yellow and cheery.  It made me giggle.  The picture to the right is the inside of an escalator.  I've never seen the inside bits of an escalator before, and in case you haven't either...now you have.  There was also a man sitting in it.  Sometimes I wonder how you get a job like that?

 

The stripes were on a huge "please don't fall in the gaping and exposed escalator" barrier. I know, lots of dark pictures; sorry. I was underground.

 

This one I purposely made darker so that the yellow stood out more.

 

And finally, if you look to the lower left you will see a yellow baby bottle that was thrown across the metro tracks...that kid had quite a throw. It's a little evidence that life goes on...

The most "yellow" I experienced during the day was the joy of the kids at the zoo and their little phrases of pure sunshine. My favorites:

"They look just like big toys." 

"Why do they only have one hippo!" (A valid exclamation, I must admit.  You can't possibly play very hungry hippos with a singular hippo: obviously.)

"Mom!  I want to see the tigers again" 

"Oh, it smells, it really smells" to which the mother could only reply "I know the horses smell, honey, I know"

Now, please go check out Beth's post and all the other participants too!  Ignore my futile attempt at yellow, it was a hard one.

Spring!

As I promised you yesterday, here is more information about a photo challenge I'm taking on. Beth at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com hosts You Capture where, she assigns a weekly photo theme for everyone to capture on film. Last week the challenge was spring, and this week the even tougher challenge was Spring {again}: only different. I feel like I'm semi-cheating since I didn't do it last week, but I just found her blog this week...if I had known about it, I totally would have done it!

After the crazy winter we had in the DC area, I am very thankful for spring. I'm thankful that I can wear  colorful clothing and paint my toe nails and go outside and take the dog for walks without freezing.  The list could go on forever!

For the challenge, I've taken the opportunity to compile a photo-list of the things I'm thankful for this spring (think of it as a practice run for Thanksgiving):

1. As of this month, Steven and I have officially made it through a year of living together.  You want to know how I feel about that?  I'm more in love with him than I was 3 years ago when we started dating.  No lie.  I 100% live for the moments we get to spend together, even if we're doing boring tasks like grocery shopping.
2. My best friend left for Greece today.  She gave me these flowers.  I'm thankful for them because I love roses, but I'm also very grateful for her enduring friendship.  I know that she is going to have a blast in Europe over the next 3 months.  I'm a little jealous, truth-be-told.  She will be keeping a detailed blog of her adventures HERE under a fake pseudo-gnome.  No, really.
3. My birthday is in 5 days!  Those are my presents.  I'm so lucky that my Steven still wants to spoil me on my birthday!  Another reason to love him.
4. What would I do without aloe vera to save me from the soon-to-be sunburns?  Ouchies.  At least in the spring the sun doesn't hurt so much.
5. Dog drool.  Ok, not so much, but I love my critters and their zest for life.  I need to learn from them.
6. The flowers growing in our window boxes and the netting to keep the bugs out--got to love that.
7. The fact that this room is completely clean...it used to be filled with all the crap from our move and that crap has pretty much sat there all year...that is until Spring Cleaning!  I've ordered some furniture too, so we should have a living room soon!

Now, go check out Beth's You Capture HERE...and maybe participate with me next week.  The new challenge is yellow...it's going to be a toughie.

But, before you go look at her fabulous page, I want to know what you're thankful for this spring?