Lake, Storms, & a Drop-In Visitor

I feel like this past week was kind of a bust as far as photography. I had a great idea to go to the lake, which is a few miles down the road and has a great trail around it. Problem was, by the time we got there the storms were bearing down on us somewhat and we only had about an hour.

I got a few good shots & experimented more with photo editing. I'm just using Picasa now but if I'm still interested 6 months down the road I'll probably invest in Photoshop.

This shot is one of the few flowers blooming down by the lake. Here in Texas it's been over 100 more days than normal so most of the prettier flowers have died as far as I could tell:

This is one of the shots where I tried to get that vintage-y look to it. It was pretty plain before but I think it looks neat now:

A palm tree base that someone apparently took down. You don't see a lot of these trees around here. I'm guessing it gets too cold in the winter for them:

In this one Audrey was trying to show me the tiny flowers that she picked and when I took a shot, Ella walked over in the shot. So, it looks like one of those shots where she's the same size as the flower. Or, I'm squishing your head:

The "I'm 10 and contemplating the universe" shot, aka the Mom thought it was cool for me to stand looking in the distance with the storm clouds rolling in:

Of course when we drove back home the sun was starting to set and this is the best shot I could get with the clouds & the rain in the distance:

A night shot & some fooling around in Picasa:

The day after the storms I was working at my desk and heard birds going crazy. My desk backs up to the back of the house where we have lots of windows facing the backyard. There were 2 birds chirping and flying back and forth between the house & our tree (the one in the picture above), and swooping down towards the dog, Ace. Here is the little guy on the roof:

And his friend in the tree:

When we ventured out after the ruckus we found a nest that had been knocked down and a dead little baby bird (awww) on the ground which I'm guessing came down in the very high winds we had the night before. The birds had flown away to make a new nest somewhere:

Good luck little birdies.

Crave?

So, you see, over the last week this is turning more into a 'me learning photography' site. Just cuz. I'm mildly obsessed and I can't get enough. I'm reading everything I can and trying to get the difference between apertures, ISOs, and such.

Anyway, this was taken a few days ago. I seem to do the best at flower photos but I'm trying to at least get the hang of indoor and people shots. At least I have my little freckled one to practice on:

Don't believe that innocent look. She's guilty of something. *note the slight smear of chocolate on her mouth.

So, remember that online photo site, MCP Actions? Yes, well the theme this week is crave. I am really trying to think outside that box but I keep coming back to chocolate. I like this shot from the muffins Ella made for Father's Day. The blues are so pretty & I want to do something similar but it's zoomed way in and too grainy. We are going to head up to the store today to get more chocolate chips and make a 2nd batch. 1. Because they are hella good & 2. So, I can get a good shot for this week's entry.

So, Audrey's favorite pose as of late is this. I think her Aunt may have had something to do with this but I have at least 10 shots over the past week of her doing this. Could be that her mother's dorkiness is shining through too.

I had an idea for the crave theme with Ace dog & his birthday bone but he just looks too sweet.

This one was a little better but still not it. Any thoughts on cravings? I'm open & willing to make food to get a good shot. For now, I'll just go with the muffins unless I get a better idea.

TTFN.

E & Flowers

Today is Father's Day. Ella made chocolate chip & oatmeal muffins for breakfast. While we were waiting for them to cook I noticed that our 2nd sunflower had fully opened up. Here is a nice majestic shot of it. It's probably a good 7 feet tall. I had to stand on my tiptoes to get this close.

Here is another shot of that Arizona sunflower from last time. Not the greatest shot but was trying to get that bee on the top.

Ella was just sitting on her scooter and I nabbed a few shots while she wasn't paying attention. This one has a soft focus :

This one is warmed up:

This is probably my favorite for the day. I played around a bit with the color palette available:

In sepia:

The look I got when she noticed I was taking pictures of her:

And then one more where I told her to stop looking at me and just play around:

Back?

So, things got pretty hectic for a while. I'd like to say I'm back but I just don't know. The summer is upon us and I do have more time but let's just see where this goes. Over the last few weeks I started screwing around with my MILs camera she told us to play with and got some cool shots so this is what I've been up to & wanted to put them somewhere.

This was taken in my garden this morning. These flowers, Arizona sunflowers, are just so pretty. I love the colors and couldn't pass up this opportunity.

This one was taken a little earlier in the morning. I think because the background looks so dark it almost looks like the flower is giving off light:

I have several of these flowers in my garden to ward off pests:

I joined a group yesterday that has themes each week for photos and encourages everyone to join. It's called MCP Project 52. This week's theme was Make it Tasty. The picture below is one of the shots I took but not the exact picture I used.

Another pretty flower. I have lots of yellow flowers & I like to shoot my yellow flowers in the morning:

Ok, so sometimes I mix it up a bit with some purple. I'm a little picky. I like color schemes in the garden so I tend to pick blues, yellows, & purples. I love those colors together.

Here is a picture of Ella & her good friend, Meredith. It was a beautiful evening and they just finished practice. I wonder what they are talking about. Probably something about the crazy woman who won't stop snapping pictures behind them.

This is Meredith's little sister, Ava. She's so cute. Her hair reminded me of the roaring twenties so sepia seemed to fit. It almost looks like she is setting up for a day at the beach, doesn't it?

Well. That's all for now. I'll be out and about taking pictures and learning new techniques. We'll see where it goes.