October, 2009 Archives

Finally I have proof!

Proof that they do get along sometimes!
Brother and Sister

Another Old Favorite

I was just going through some of my older pictures on my flickr account and came across this butterfly picture. It’s been one of my favorites since I took it last year at the Cleveland Zoo in the butterfly house. I always loved the effects and the colors in the background but didn’t even realize that effect had a name until I started to learn more about photography. That is called bokeh and it’s something I’ve always admired in pictures by other photographers but I never even considered trying to achieve because I didn’t realize it was an actual thing. Now that I’ve learned more about it, I’m going to attempt more pictures that employ this effect. I’d love to examples of how you have employed bokeh in your own photography. Feel free to link to your shots in the comments.

Butterfly

Lost Weekend

I took this picture of Riley last week on our hike. It’s one of my favorites from the day. Unfortunately, later in the week she came down with and was diagnosed with H1N1 and I ended up catching it from her. I’m happy to report neither of us sprouted a pig’s tail or snout and we’re both improving but need another day or two until we will be completely over it. Needless to say, the flu had a big impact on our weekend plans. A trip to the pumpkin patch turned into movies at home. A planned lunch out turned into tea and crackers while snuggling on the couch. Not so bad, really. Corn mazes always make me uncomfortable and itchy and the whole time I’m going through it I’m trying to figure out how many mice are likely to be in there with me. The number never works out to my liking.

The only disappointment was that I was forced to reschedule a photo shoot that I had planned for today. I look forward to getting the session done later this week and enjoying the Halloween weekend. What are your plans?

Riley by fence

Snake on a Path

Before the sickness of ‘09 hit our house this week, Riley, my mom and I went on a hike at Buffalo Rock State Park. My plan was to get fall color shots and enjoy the beautiful day. The park didn’t have as much color change as I had been hoping for but we were still able to enjoy the walk and our time together. This little fellow (or lady. I didn’t get that close!) was crossing our path as we walked back to the car.
Snakes on a path

American Girl

R1

Finding perfection

Technically speaking, there are so many things wrong with this picture. The biggest problem is that her face is so out of focus. Critically, I keep ripping this picture apart in my head but my heart loves it. I love her eyes in this picture and how the shot captures her personality and to me, that makes it a perfect picture.
R2

Farm in Southern Wisconsin

I took this while driving up to Milwaukee last weekend. I was drawn to this farm and the color of the fields so I made my husband quickly pull over the car so I could get in a couple of shots.
Wisconsin Farm in the Fall

Past jump shots

I’ve always been fascinated by the water tower in Hebron. I wonder how many times the water tower has been repainted to reflect what is now a 57 year old high school basketball championship.
DSC01106

They liked me, they sorta liked me!

My parents recently moved to Morris, IL and every year the town holds a huge corn festival. A few weeks before the festival I was visiting the website for information on events and discovered that they were having a photography show and competition as part of the festival. I decided to take a chance and enter pictures in a few categories. Since I’m cheap and it costs money to print and mount 8×10 pictures, I chose to limit myself to four entries. I settled on domestic animals, city scenes, transportation and flowers. I had no expectations, I just looked forward to seeing my photographs on display with other local photographers.

Imagine my surprise when I walked into the show and found that two of my photographs had ribbons on them. I was shocked and excited. I didn’t think I had a chance, so it was nice to get the recognition for my work.

My photo titled “Looking North” earned a 2nd place ribbon in the Transportation category.

looking north

I also earned a 3rd place ribbon in the domestic animals for this picture of Bella. Isn’t she the cutest?

Bella

Thanks to the members of the Morris Camera Club and The Grundy County Corn Festival for putting on the contest.

Lake Geneva

A pier in Lake Geneva, WI. This was taken on a drizzly day with a fairly flat, gray sky.
Pier