June 29th, 2010

'The Faces of Auburn' -- recognize anyone? I don't. I didn't really know what to take a picture of today and I have thought this mural in downtown Auburn was cool, so I went down to get a shot. You can't really get a good shot of something painted like this, so it is mostly just show and tell. Aren't they cool? Adds a little something to the run down part of Auburn. Today's theme was actually "words", which I used a few days ago because I mixed them up; so I took a picture of the Cavanaugh Hardware sign. Poor Cavanaugh's. I thought it looked like a sad store front in comparison with the past.

June 28th, 2010

Water. I decided I wanted to try a water droplet tutorial today, to do something different. (Was it just me or were there a lot of T's in that sentence?) Well I did everything the tutorial said but my space was different and nothing worked out quite right so I ended up abandoning most of its suggestions and came up with this. I'll have to keep experimenting. If it were warmer outside I would have messed with the hose. Grrr.

June 27th, 2010

I took my camera to the movie theater today in hopes of getting some 'words' for today's theme. We went and saw Toy Story 3 at the earliest matinee time (matinees are now $8!). This is kind of a bland shot, I was hoping for a giant cardboard Toy Story setup somewhere to take a better picture of but I didn't see any. This was a really good movie! But I have no doubts in Pixar. The short was really cool too -- as always. (Day and Night, look it up). I left the second movie thinking "I am never giving away my old toys!" and after this movie thinking "I need to play with all of my old toys!" (They were getting pretty depressed that Andy didn't play with them anymore). This one made me cry more than Wall-E, UP, and Toy Story 2 -- all of which I cried in. I am hoping they come out with a DVD trilogy of 1, 2, and 3 so I can get them all together!

June 26th, 2010

Today's theme was R E D. We ended up going back to the farm in the picture below to pick strawberries. The picture below doesn't show the actual strawberry field but it is right next to it. It was a really sunny day, and it was pretty easy to fill those tiny flats they give out now so we weren't there too long. I snapped this as we were mashing them for strawberry shortcake. I just now realized that none of my pictures were that clear. If I uploaded this ON Saturday maybe I could have redone it, but that is clearly not the way I operate.

June 25th, 2010

I am a copy cat Dad! I was in a different spot though. And I found a fence post with wheat grass. Today's theme was landscapes, so after I ran we took a drive down West Valley Highway looking for a good landscape shot, and also for a place to pick strawberries. We found a place to pick strawberries, and I found an okay landscape spot.

June 23rd, 2010

The past few days I have been less than creative. Some pink roses...

June 22, 2010

Today Megan and I went down by flaming geyser to take some pics. I was the driver so it was hard to see things to photograph because I was looking at the road, and since it was such a nice day the road had a lot of traffic. So we would like to go back early in the morning on bikes or something. So I ended up posting the honey shelves at Mosby's which for some reason I really liked. We also messed around with shutter speeds, trying to get smooth velvety water. This was my best attempt so I decided to post it. Then once we got back to her house Megan was watering some plants and a little tree frog jumped on her watering can so I told her to hold still because I had to get a picture. By the time I got back out the frog had jumped on her back! So I ended up getting some good shots of the little frog with his feet stretched out all over her butt (he hopped around alot). He ended up settling down into a fold in her shirt, and I liked this picture the best because it was clear, and his eye was visible. She made a new friend! (Which she eventually left in the grass).

June 21, 2010

So I have been trying to nab a picture of this car all week, and it was finally parked outside a house down the road when I was in the process of picture taking. (Usually when I think about taking a picture of it, it is of course not there. I think this is the coolest Volkswagen! And today's theme was supposed to be green, so I am going to say that this aquamarine color almost counts.

June 20th, 2010

I know I know, two pictures of the dog very close together. But atleast I took them during the daylight hours and not right before midnight. I thought this was a cute portrait, and one of the only ones that was in focus because he was twisting his body so much.

June 19th, 2010

Otherwise known as Graduation Day (for AMHS & ARHS) and it was a rainy, gloomy day. I actually thought it was kind of funny that this graduation had poor weather, because mine had beautiful weather and its always easy to laugh when you aren't the one sitting in the rain with nothing but a cardboard mortarboard on your head. Anyways, this was my third Mountainview graduation, so all the pictures I took are beginning to look similar. And I also didn't want to play favorites with the people I photographed. So I chose a picture of the soaked choir. I liked the umbrella colors with the blue ponchos. I should also mention that I was an excellent photographer that day: I got Katie her pictures on CD the same day, and I emailed Max and Michelle Celis their pictures the next day, and I sent one out on facebook to someone. I felt accomplished! Go Class of 2010!

June 18th, 2010

Today's theme was mail, and I wasn't feeling very creative. So I took what I got IN the mail today -- once I realized they both had gold embossing; and went with it. This is Cassady's graduation announcement and my passport! Woohoo I can leave the country now! Thanks Dad!

June 17th, 2010

Okay time to catch up and stay caught up. I took this picture in the morning because SOMEONE went out to play in the backyard and came back coated in burrs. (bur or burr?) I liked this shot because he looks a little sheepish.

June 16th, 2010

So I felt that this was orange enough for me. It has orange tones anyways. I had focus issues but I decided I liked it anyways, even though you can tell what it focused on and what it didn't, and there are some stems in front of the lens in the middle. Oh well! I like the colors.

June 15th, 2010

Today's theme was "Books", which I actually didn't even realize until today, because I hadn't looked yesterday. So what luck? I ended up taking pictures at Scholastic Warehouse. You can't get and more books that. I was dealing with poor lighting though, so they weren't perfect shots, but we might go back later in the week and then maybe I will try and get some more creative angles. I liked this one because it has four different sections going in diff directions. The picture books are zigzagging at a diagonal, the posters along the wall are going to the same vanishing point as the books, the warehouse shelves are parallel to the floor, and then you can see the vertical aisle lines on the left. So complex! But not a great picture.

June 14th, 2010

Forgot to take a picture today! So I thought I would fill in this spot with a picture of Miss Sassy.

June 13th, 2010

I opted out of today's theme (drinks) because I knew I didn't have anything capable of making a cool drink picture. So I took this picture of a Columbine instead. I liked this shot the best because the pot is still visible in the background, so you can kind of tell how far out this stemming bloom is reaching from the actual plant.

June 12th, 2010

So this isn't blue which is today's theme; but it was taken at Blue C, so that counts right? Anyways, my ISO was in 1600 DAD cause the restaurant was so dark, so i apologize for the pixels. Anyways, this is just the cliche plate shot. There was a few more than this pile, but it was overall surprising small. A delicious dinner though! And we had green tea mochi for dessert. MMMM!

June 11th, 2010

Today's theme is toys. Last week I saw a photography image in a magazine of a gumball machine in front of a bright colored background, and a doll peeking through the glass from behind. It was one of those dolls with the large eyes from the sixties. Anyways the picture was really cool in a creepy artistic way. So for today's theme I used it for inspiration, and filled a gumball machine with bright-colored polly pockets to act as the gumballs. For some reason I thought the duck added a nice touch in front of my aqua bedroom walls. I also used a glass terrarium with my American Girl doll to play around with different compositions. Couldn't decide what I liked best, which is why I posted four. And I dont like how the post looks because they are all different sizes. But oh well.

Tell me what you like the best!

June 10th, 2010

Just your typical reflection. This rain is hampering my creativity!

June 9th, 2010

Poor Poppy.

I took my point and shoot on a walk tonight, and this poppy was getting beaten by the rain. It was a very stormy day today, and the ground is really waterlogged. I'm on high slug alert right now!

June 8th, 2010

"Don’t you get it? she’s the house! she’s the plain white shutters, the sparkling glass windows, and the perfect white picket fence. she’s the ordinary stuff. But you... you’re the red door. and when people come by, yeah, sure, they see the house. but for some reason, they always end up looking at the door. it’s always in the corner of their eye. you can’t ignore a red door. "
-Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

Okay so that was the only quote I could find about red doors. They always say it takes a bold person to paint a door red.

Anyways, it rained on me so this was not a crisp shot as you can tell by the numbers (and when you make it bigger, which I suggest NOT DOING!), but I added a new Photoshop skill to my belt which I learned myself -- even though a lot of people do it; so I am proud of it.

June 7th, 2010

Today's theme was RUST. I took my camera along on Murphy's walk and we went down all the alleys looking for rusty things. I was surprised about how many cars in this neighborhood are completely rusted over. I would have liked to get closer to the one on the top and bottom because it was in pretty bad shape; moss everywhere, and something that looked like lint hanging off of the luggage rack.

Makes a pretty good picture though.

June 6th, 2010

So I took my camera out last night on our walk hoping to get a picture of something interesting, and then we saw these two dogs running down the middle of R street. They were a little skittish and went from yard to yard, and then crossed the busy road the leads up to Lea Hill without even looking. Mom followed them across and we ended up getting them cornered in this tiny laundry room in the apartment buildings by the bridge. They whined and paced and the guy that was helping us went inside to calm them down while Mom got her car. We took them back and put them in Pokey's pen behind the garage and they spent the night in the dog house. We called animal control and they were going to come by for a pick up since no one responded to my signs or craigslist ad. When the lady came by she said she had located the owner (an old family friend) who had called her on the way over. She said these were Basenji's and they are African show dogs, who have zero street smarts, and her mom used to breed them. The lady that had called her was a friend of her mom's and she said they lived in auburn and had lost their two Basenji's the night before and they thought they might have already got hit by a car. So i was so relieved! These dogs were so close I didn't want to split them up in the shelter, and they were already so scared. All's well that ends well! And we feel like good Samaritans.

June 5th, 2010

Saturday was a hard day to choose a picture from since I took about 500. (I will post the majority of my pictures somewhere else). Anyways, Ocean Shores was a lot different than how I remembered it, and I loved all the nautical themed houses with beach debris everywhere. I was hoping to find some cool shipwrecked items of my own beachcombing, but I could only be so lucky. I also loved the fences that were covered in objects like this one and I was hoping to get some shots of one before I left -- this ended up being right next to a beach entrance that we used so I snuck into their yard to get a good pic.

June 4th, 2010

We spent this past weekend in Ocean Shores (with beautiful weather!) and it was alot of fun. This was our first night, and I didnt take too many pictures because the light was waning. I liked this shot alot because the sunset was reflecting on Shayne's face and his huge blue eyes!

June 3rd, 2010

Today's theme was numbers, so I did a little fish eye action with our clock. At 8:00 PM the lighting is pretty poor though..

June 2nd, 2010

Today's Theme: Yellow! Not that great of a picture though. Better luck tomorrow.

May 31st, and June 1st 2010

Oops! I thought I had a picture for one of these days-- apparently not. I am going to start doing better I promise!

May 30th, 2010

Silver fish. They are actually a pair. Rainy days give me no motivation to take pictures.

May 29th, 2010

Saturday was the Carrie Underwood concert in Everett! None of my pictures turned out great because it was just my point and shoot and it was hard using flash because the exposure was too bright on the heads in front of me and it made the stage dark. But I really like this picture -- It shows her talent! She played the piano and the guitar during her performance, while dancing around in killer high heels. I looooved this concert, it was so much fun! She is so cute and she is a really good entertainer. The music and effects were really good, and I even enjoyed the opening acts ( I even met Sons of Sylvia:)) I want to go again!

May 28th, 2010

So this is one of my new college addictions (aside from my love of tofu and falafel). These are just like Odwalla drinks, I think i had every flavor they made. They actually tell you how much of each fruit is in each drink (Ex: 1/3 of a grapefruit, 27 acai berries, etc). I highly recommend them. Although they are kinda expensive...

May 26th, 2010

The day my camera ventured outdoors! I liked the cast sun rays. The sun actually illuminated a swarm of gnats over the pond, but luckily you can't see those.

May 25th, 2010

So I said my pictures were going to be bad because it was my finals week. So this day-- (I cant even remember which day it was, Tuesday?) I just took a picture of my study space, no interesting angles or anything. This is where I spent the majority of my time, and when you get three hours of sleep a night for five days how creative can you be? I have never been more mentally exhausted in my life than I was this week.