Its a Party . . .

Sweet 17 to Ms. Allyson.

She was so happy to have friends over
and while it wasn't about the presents for her . . .

for someone, it apparently was!
After all, in about a week he turns 2.

123456789 . . .

10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 . . .

counting down the hours until Allyson is SEVENTEEN!
thought I would give her (sort of) a bouquet of flowers
(and I'm tired tired tired of photographing winter)

Pink . . .

sadly, if I were riding this, I would be green! This is my entry for the color challenge of pink.

weather ! ! !

Had a play with one of my beach shots and a touch of topaz. My sister and I tried our best to capture a shot of the lightening that ensued as the storm moved in the evening this picture was taken. I like how the topaz adjustment accentuates the ominous tone the sky.

Weekly photo challenge . . .

cloudy with a chance of . . .

. . . Disney !
its all about the clouds this week
both in the photo challenge and outside.

Where has time gone ?

How did we get to the end of February already? Wasn't it just yesterday that we celebrated the New Year? I guess with the on going snow storms, never ending digging out, school cancellations, and usual winter hibernation, I've barely noticed that we are careening straight towards our daughter's 17th birthday. SEVENTEEN! Come on, when did that happen? Admittedly, I believe life is best sustained with a certain amount of denial! So, as we come to terms on how she is going to celebrate it this year, I'll post a final Valentine - since that too has passed with complete abandon.

just saying . . .

Topaz Adjust is just plain fun. I look forward to adding a little punch to a larger variety of photos once I get a better grasp of the program.

[these are from the July '09 Scott Kelby Photo Walk]

piddling . . .

Last Saturday I took my son to work / participate at the Tae Kwon Do testing. Regardless of whether or not I have a child testing, I always ALWAYS take my camera - if for no other reason than to practice. And I can never get too much practice.

Since my 28-75 lens is acting wonky, I thought I would pretty much just use the 70-300 and see what I could do with it
- even though the lighting in the Do Chang is nothing short of lousy.

I quickly found that the best photos were the "detailed" shots,
however, I was surprisingly pleased when I uploaded my pictures and ended up with some excellent close-ups of students
(which I can not post because they aren't my kids).

The master instructor from my son's school jokingly called me the
camera mom and was interested in seeing some of my pictures
as well as inviting me to go into class with my camera and take pictures
(that he can perhaps ultimately use on the school's web site).
So perhaps I'll get even more practice
and as a side note - drive my son even more nuts!
[a win/win for me!]

fun fun fun ... ... ...

It's snowing - - - again!!!

and the kids are home from school - - - again!!!

so I'm playing with some pictures - - - again!!!

I'm test driving Topaz Adjustments - and loving them.

Inspiration . . .

I am inspired by several photographers on the 2Peas photography board - especially a young lady, Amanda (NDJane), who has a instinctively imaginative eye. She can do a storyboard unlike anyone else, and adjust a routine head-shot into something electric. My efforts to assimilate a tad bit of the styling she incorporates into her work, pales in comparison. I pitched the idea to my son, and being the sweetheart that he is - he indulged me on Valentine's Day.

Happy*Valentine's*Day . . .

Shout out to the home team . . .

Happy Birthday to my sister.

Hope it is full of fun and happiness.

The birds & The bees . . .

After taking two teens to pick-up Valentine treats for their sweeties - I am forced to acknowledge a pattern in our family dynamics. Plain out, the men are more into the romantic-sappy-sweet approach to Valentines Day, while we girls lean more towards 'direct and to the point'.

When I lingered in the card aisle, the kids wondered what I was doing - apparently with all my gagging at 'over-the-top' jewelry commercials, it never occurred to them that I might still give their father a Valentine.

It is also obvious to me that father and son are not as different as they would like to think. When given the option to wait and give his girlfriend her roses (not arrows!) and chocolates this weekend rather than at school - our son elected to take them to school and give them to her today. Apparently dad isn't the only one that doesn't like to wait to give gifts.

FAT Tuesday . . .

I've been using some of this time iced/snowed inside to finally weed through the vast number of Disney pictures from last summer. While going though Epcot shots I came across the window of masks and quickly thought of New Orleans' Mardi Gras. Either out of celebration of the Saint's Super Bowl win, the up-coming Mardi Gras (Feb. 16) or the whole Fat Tuesday concept - I was compelled to play with this particular shot. If the weather doesn't let up, we're going to be having Fat Wednesday, Fat Thursday, Fat Friday!!! I can take the snow, its the ice underneath that is restricting us to the indoors. {curse this global warming!}

Its coming . . .

The other evening I was informed by our budding Valentino that he needs to go to the store later this week and get chocolates (the good stuff), and a rose.

Both Allyson and I though he said 'chocolates and arrows' [go ahead and run together "a rose" --- topped with a southern accent - yea!] to which she had to ask if he was doing the whole cupid thing with a diaper (mixed with howling laughter). If you have kids, you know how the rest of the conversation/yelling/screaming went.

Flash . . .

Working on using fill flash on an otherwise uninspired weekend. We were lucky to miss the massive snow storm, however, what we missed in white, we got in rain and dull blase skies and lots and lots of mud. Blah! I need some sunshine, at least a couple days worth. In the meantime, I'll keep trying to figure out fill flash.

Grateful . . .

that we didn't get more snow over the weekend.
(sorry to those who did!)

cute ! . . .

I've been itching to photograph these since she got them - - - - which was before school started - - - - and she still hasn't worn them - - - - which is starting to add to the list of things that frustrate me.

... honestly, how can anyone resist the cuteness of this ?

My daughter doesn't do PINK. Actually, she used to love pink and purple and then she didn't, and now she kinda does. It must be a prerequisite for middle schoolers to go all black and eventually make their way back to color.It has taken a couple of years in high school for us to get to this level of pinkness.

pink eye . . .

been there, done that!
Not this time though, just keeping an eye open for "pink"
- this month's photo color challenge.

sign of the times . . .

seems all we've been getting lately is snow!

When my son was in grade school he got the snowman sign for me from the Santa's Workshop sale. To be completely honest, I kinda hinted to one of the other volunteers to corral him in that direction rather than a ceramic frog or floral tape measure or something that would just go in a drawer and later be discarded. I volunteered for this school event and it was so darling to watch the kids shop with the intensity of buying a diamond ring. I have loved each item dearly - regardless of the fact that I could have gotten it cheaper at the dollar store. Awe, memories.

Picture taken at the crazy slow shutter speed of 1/5;
[f/5.6; 70 mm focal distance and 1600 ISO].

Signs . . .

Sign Sign everywhere a sign
Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign

or Bill Engvall's ..."here's your sign!"

[from my Scott Kelby Photo Walk]

and a local sign I pass every day.
The accompanying dino has been perched on this sign for a couple of months now.
Through rain, sleet, snow.... must be a postal worker
or the golf course's warped sense of hired muscle to enforce their rules.