More Pics

Max and I spent yesterday at my parent's farm trying to find unique things to for me to photograph. My favorite pic is this mockingbird hopping out of a little bush. I just love how fast my 20D Canon can continuously shoot. My old camera could never have reacted fast enough to capture this shot. The money I spent for the Canon was definitely worth it.
Been working on sorting through my photos from Easter weekend so I can finish adding them to my two websites. I ended up with quite a few nice ones. Hopefully I can finish posting them today. I've finished sorting through the pics for my Fiance's Dad's Easter egg hunt and burnt multiple copies to CDs to hand out to his side of the family. Now I just have to do the photos for the CDs for my side of the family and decide which photos that I want to post to the websites and I will be finished.
I feel sort of guilty since I haven’t done any wedding planning, added anything new to our wedding website, or even done much housework since I got my new camera. I've been concentrating too much of my time on my photography, and as much fun as this is, I really have actual work that needs to be done. I guess it will all get done eventually though, so no worries :)

Southern Flower and Plant Festival

I repotted my Aloe, but haven't decided whether I want to move it back outside since the weather has gotten warm again. I might just leave it inside this year. I've gotten kind of use to having a little green in the apartment. I can't wait until we can decide on a house so I can have a garden again. My patio at this place is only so big. Although I could do what the German couple beside us has done. Their patio looked like a jungle last year. I don't know how she fit all those plants in her apartment over the winter.
My mom, sister and I went to the garden show at the farmers market last Saturday and I bought two strawberry pots and a few herbs. I figured this way I could have more different types of plants in a smaller space without having a million different little pots to keep watered. The very first garden I had as a small child was a little herb garden in the corner of my mother's flower garden, so this has brought back lots of good memories.
My fiance should be happy with this arrangement too. He loves to cook and now he has all the fresh herbs he wants at his disposal.

Slideshow

I’ve added a slideshow of the photos from my portfolio to the home page of my photography site! Eventually, I want to create links from each photo in the slideshow so you will be able to click on a photo and go to the corresponding portfolio page in my photography site, but that will be for later. Right now it’s just a showcase of my photography. It took me a while to figure out the Javascript, but it seems to be working for the moment :)

a state of relaxation

The elephants were always my favorite animals during my childhood visits to Riverbank's Zoo and nothing has changed over the years. They are amazing creatures with so much character.

The image of the elephant trunk slightly curled is the subject of this photograph. Because of the curled nature of the trunk, a line is created for the viewer's eye to flow around the image. The horizontal lines also lend a relaxed state of balance, creating an image of a creature at rest.

The excellent focus of this photo brings out the detail in the rough texture of the elephant's skin and the bristly nature of the fine hairs on his trunk. The zoom lens enabled this shot to be taken at such a distance without losing the detail of the texture of the skin. Furthermore, the sidelighting helps to emphasis the cylinder shape through the shadows cast on the right side of the trunk.

This image is simplified by the depth of focus and the tight crop which leaves only the trunk itself for the viewer to focus their attention. The red clay ground in the background of the image compliments the deep colors of the elephant's skin tone. However, the greens of the pine on which the elephants were snacking, slightly detract from the subject but add extra context to the image.

I was very pleased with how this photograph turned out. It captured the sought after relaxed nature of the elephants.

To view a larger version of this photo, click here.

sometimes

sometimes,
when the rush hits, the
overwhelming sense of being
Lost,
of losing the sacred part of me -
overpowers.
They look but don’t see
the quiet,
hiding under the jumbled
emotions,
too afraid to brave the outside.
I look into his dark eyes,
the lone eyes seeing past the
confusion,
helping me find my way
back,
keeping me Here.

Max

I’ve been kind of depressed all day today. Even being at work and away from all that’s going on really didn’t help any, at least not as much as it usually does. I’ve been home by myself with just my little dog for about an hour now and I feel much better. It’s truly amazing how animals can uplift your spirits. Just sitting in the same room with Max makes me feel at peace with myself. He’s such a sweet little dog and he always knows when I don’t feel well. He wants to just sleep at my feet or in my lap whenever I’m not having a good day. Animals are such precious gifts. It’s beyond me how people can be cruel to them.
I made a pan of cornbread (his favorite) and we’re just relaxing and watching TV. He really is a lot of company. Everyone should have a pet. It would make the world a much better place.

Happy Easter

Took lots of pictures at both of the family get togethers on Easter Sunday. My niece and nephews had lots of fun egg hunting. This was one of my favorite pics - the boys comparing their Easter eggs after the excitement of hunting the backyard for eggs.
I just love holidays, especially when children are involved. To watch their faces light up with excitement is the most fun. Every hoilday always ends up becoming a major social event for my clan. Getting to spend time with and to talk with family members that I don't see often is definitely the highlight of the holidays, at least for myself.
Hope everyone had a very happy Easter.

Easter Weekend: Trip to the Zoo

Our trip to the zoo was very successful. I have enough pictures to keep me occupied for quite a few days. I’ve spent most of the afternoon working on sorting through them and adding a few to the website. There are quite a lot left to weed through. I definitely love my new camera but I think I will need more than one memory card. The 2GB card I brought with me was full of pictures after the first 2 hours :) But I’ve already come across a few things that can be improved upon the next time I take a photo trip, so I’m very pleased with the outcome of the trip.

The “Photo of the Month” for April has also been posted to my photography site. If you want to comment on my rendition of this very curious baby giraffe, you are more than welcome to do so.

In addition to the Zoo pictures I also had a chance to upload some of the photos from my visit to my parent’s farm to my scrapbook and my photography website. More to come over the next week or so as I finish sorting pics.

Zoom Lens

Here are some pictures taken at my mom’s farm today. The purpose of these photos were to give me a chance to practice with my new zoom lens before my trip to the zoo tomorrow. It took me a quite a few shots to become accustomed to the lens :)

All of the pics were shot with the fully automatic features of the camera. Hopefully I will be able to use more of the manual features soon. These two photos were taken using the preset action mode.

The horse is my little sister's Paint, Slew. She is an appendix-bred quarter horse with which my sister barrel races. The dog is my mother's pomeranian, Lassie. More pictures will be posted to my scrapbook and to my photography site - hopefully tomorrow.

Digital Photography Forum

My desire to improve my photography skills has prompted me to join a Digital Photography Forum in order to share my photos with other amateur photographers and to get input on my images. My gallery in this forum can be found through this link. Feel free to comment on or critique any of my images. If you are not a member of the forum you can send your comments directly to me through my website. All comments and constructive criticism are welcome and appreciated.

I've been playing with the settings on my new Canon 20D and this image is the outcome. The apeture settings are complicated and it took me a while to get the angle of the shot the way I wanted it, but I'm very pleased with the turnout. The possiblities that this camera has opened up to me has greatly increased my appreciation of photography. My own personal critique of this photo can be found here. This photo also has the distinction of being the first image taken with my new camera to be added to my photography website.

The extra lens EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM has arrived. I have yet to try it out except for a cursory examination. The zoom on this lens is quite amazing - at least to my limited knowledge. My trip to the Columbia zoo on Friday will be vastly improved due to this lens.

Starting a Craft Business

I was looking through some of the other blogs a few days ago and came across Heidi's Paper Musings. If you haven't seen it you should check it out! In her "about me" she says to "Take a minute and dream a little….about your ideal workplace. What would it look like? Who would you work with? What would you be wearing?" That really got me thinking and her blog inspired me to consider starting my craft business now instead of some time in the future. For the longest time I've wanted to start my own business selling crocheted items like baby blankets/afghans and layettes sets for baby shower gifts, but I never seriously thought about doing it right now! When I thought about it, it was always something I wanted to do someday - very far into the future. I've been wanting to sell some of my work for the past 6 0r 7 years, but it was always something that I thought I would do one day. But why not now? So I've decided to take her advice and start seriously working toward my dream.

My ideal workplace would to be able to work out of my home at my own pace. I'd also like to work with my sister and/or mom or maybe a few of my best friends. To be able to do what I enjoy and to work at my own pace would be definite perks, and a flexible work schedule - to be able to take a day off or work in the evenings instead of the mornings would be so nice. But I'd like to still get to know my customers (love this aspect of my job, especially the little children!)

I raided Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite things to do) and got some soft baby yarn to practice the patterns I'm making up.

So, I started working on creating some patterns for some baby afghans. I came up with a very cute one the other night. And other one which might need some more work... need an idea for the edging. The uploaded pic is the finished pattern for the cute one. I like how the fan edging is turning out. I'm only about halfway done with a completed afghan. It has taken me a few tries to get the effect that I was aiming for but as soon as I'm satisfied I will upload a photo of the completed baby afghan.

New Additions to Website!

I've added more analyzed photos from Kalmia Gardens to my Photography Website as well as created a link from the About Me page to my Photo Scrapbook.

I really enjoyed our trip to Kalmia. This was my favorite photo from the trip. It was hard to capture this photo but after numerous tries this was the outcome.

Unfurling of the Frond
This unfurling frond was found deep in the woods of the Kalmia Garden Nature Area. Among the numerous trees and flowering shrubs, the simple elegance of the fern catches the hiker's eye.

The subject of the photograph is the new leaf of the fern unfurling into the spring world. The merged colors of the background compliment the bright colors of the fern's new leaf growth. The fine hairs on the stem and leaflets give texture to the image.

As the focus of this image, the new growth of the fern fills almost the entire image. The curvature of the frond encourages the viewer's eye to flow around the image and eventully focus on the tightly curled leaflets at the lower right of the photograph.

The image is simplified by the short focal length used to take the shot, which has caused the background to be completely blurred out. To improve this image the focal length could be widened so as to bring the tips of the fern's leaflets into focus.

While exploring the natural beauty of the earth, simple aspects of nature are usually overlooked for the awe-inspiring, attention-getting plants and the small, simple flora are disregarded.

New Digital Camera!

The digital camera I ordered from Best Buy was delivered Thursday morning! I ordered a 20D Canon digital SLR. The last few days have been filled with learning all the cool features of my new camera. I've barely scratched the surface of the things this camera can do! I'm going to have so much fun next week :)

The extra lens EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM has yet to get here, but should be here in time for Easter weekend.

A few of the pics I've shot so far with the standard lens Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 EF-S zoom lens :

As you can tell Max was getting tired of posing and was getting aggravated with the camera flash :)

Wedding Etiquette

The engagement announcements I ordered came in over the weekend. I'm extremely pleased with how they turned out. They were ordered from The American Wedding Album. The company did a very good job and the announcements were delivered much quicker than I expected them to be. The announcements still need chiffon ribbon tied around them, which I will order soon. Now I just have to decide if I want to try to address the envelopes with a calligraphy pen, or if I just want to fudge it and write them with a regular pen. I bought a beginner's calligraphy kit and had a fun time trying it, but I would definitely need a lot of practice to have anything I did turn out OK.

Hopefully we'll take our engagement pictures over Easter weekend. I want to include a photo of us in the announcement. I don't know if this is against proper etiquette but I don't think it will matter much. Not much about my wedding is going to be normal anyway. I'm more interested in make our wedding fun and unique rather than following some outdated rules of etiquette.