Woot, woot!! Look at me!  Two days in a row!

I had all these grandiose plans of what I wanted to take a picture of today, but, alas, the subject didn't cooperate.  So I'll try again tomorrow.  What I did get instead was some pictures of the ladybugs on our roses.  The aphids are really, really bad this year and I only have a few ladybugs.  They are definitely falling down on the job.

Today's issue of Digital Photography School had an article on color selection in Lightroom.  I'm usually not a fan of color selection, but I like to create them.  Enter Ms. Ladybug.

It was surprisingly easy to do in Lightroom.  Now I'll keep my eye open for possible images to use. 

Two years? TWO YEARS????

Okay, so I know I have never been the most consistent with posting pictures, but two years?  Really? 

Well, it's a new year... Yeah, yeah, one quarter into the new year, but still.  A girl can try.  

And to be honest, this photo wasn't even taken today.  But it's the thought. I rented a 100-400mm lens last week to try it out before our big trip this summer.  The weather was horrible so I really only played with it on Friday.  I drove around the neighborhood on the way to FedEx looking for things far enough away to shoot. There is this vacant lot a couple miles away and there are usually a couple of cranes and some egrets looking for bugs.  This fellow was the only one there that day.  I wish I could have had a different background for him, but I don't think he would have liked me coming out in the field with him.  And it kind of looks like the edge of a lake.  

The lens was really heavy.  Definitely needs a tripod or something to balance it on.  

Now let's hope that I can stick with this posting thing.  I make no promises about one a day, but I'll shoot for one a week.  Baby steps. 

A new year, a new try

Life around our house is about to get a little bit busier since I am going back to school two nights a week. One of my Resolutions is to take more pictures and put them up here. I'm not yet sure how the two of those are going to play together, but I imagine not very well. I think I will start small. If I post once a month, then I am doing worlds better than I did last year.

We just got back from Christmas vacation with my parents. After the official holiday in Phoenix, we headed down to their house in Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico. We had three days down there. The first two were gorgeous, sunny, clear skies, temperatures in the low 70s. Of course, those sunny skies made picture taking a little difficult, especially since high tide was mid afternoon. The last day was overcast, but super windy. I'll try to remember to put some of those pictures up.

Over on the bucket, I wanted to participate in the year in review for 2010. But coming up with only 5 photos that were my favorite for the year was too hard. I managed to narrow it down to 20. I'll do five a day. So here they are, in chronological order.

I really like this one. I want to know what is down the road. I hadn't had my camera that long when this was taken and was still shooting in .jpeg.


Another .jpeg. I found these beauties growing in the park next to our house. I was wandering around looking for anything of interest to shoot in the dreary February weather. I especially like the way that the bits of bark are on the tops of the mushrooms. They grew that way, no staging needed! I also remember I had to put my head on the ground and shoot upside down to get this. I need to think about that more often. It totally puts a new perspective on things.


My mom has these two fellas sitting next to her pond. They weren't turned this way, but to me it looked like one was yelling at the other. Kind of reminds me of trying to talk to Geoff when he is watching football.


My first attempt at creativity. While in Mexico for Spring Break, I loved the way the waves were flowing over the one simple shell. I have some pretty good sunset shots from this trip also.



I wasn't sure which lens I wanted to purchase, so I rented a couple from somewhere. One of them was a macro lens. I knew that I would love the world of macro photography, but had no idea how much. I purchased some daisies from a flower shop and had a ball. I love the color pop in this one as well as the hint of pink behind it. I was sold. (The lens now resides in my camera bag.)


That's it for today. I look forward to sharing more of the year in review. Hopefully I'll remember that I have a blog before 2011 is over.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Wait, what? I have a blog?

Okay, so clearly a photo a day isn't going to happen. So I tried for a photo a week. Well, that didn't work out so well either. One a month? Umm, no. So here it is, almost two months later and I am ready to post again.

I can't believe summer came and went without a single picture. I knew that I had been lazy, but not that lazy.

Well, today in the mail my new macro lens showed up. Total excitement! It's going to open whole new worlds of potential subjects. I should be able to shoot for days before my boring yard gets the best of me again. But until then....


A picture of Geoff's wedding ring. He told me to stop taking pictures of it because it was freaking him out.



Geoff's adorable baby dragon. I love this little creature. He sits on our mantle and it makes me smile to look at him. I don't like that I can see my reflection in his eyes, but that's part of the learning curve.

I have a few more from the backyard, but I think I'll save them for another day. Spread them out as far as I can. Maybe then I can post more than once a month.

What's wrong with this picture?

So a couple of months ago, I mentioned our little friend that was visiting our bird feeder. He brought his lady friend and they went to town. We moved the feeder. This is the result.
What's wrong with the picture," you ask? Here's a hint.
Need another one?

As for the little friend? He seems quite content with the situation.

Springtime in England

We hit the end of the spring tulip season when we were in England. All of the gardens were full of lush beds of the pretty little things. At Hampton Court, they were actually pulling out the blooms to get the beds ready for the summer plantings. It was very traumatic.

There were purple ones.


Orange ones.

White ones.


More purple ones.


Red ones.


Fields and fields of tulips.


Man, I love spring.

Elephants in London!

Our first day in London, we discovered these Elephants in Hyde Park. Little did we know that they were part of a large display all over London that were part of Elephant Parade, an exhibition to draw attention to the plight of the Asian Elephant. There are over 250 elephants all over London that have been decorated by various designers, royals, and artists.

Fortunately for my family, we didn't know how many there were, or that we could have downloaded a map of all of them. Otherwise, that would have been all I did in London.

Check back for more of the elephants I saw, including my favorite, the Born Free elephant.