More cats.

My poor cats, chased around for days with a camera.  It is a tortured life they lead - NOT.  My husband and I tossing toy mice around the house, waving fabric fish-on-a-stick all around trying to get some nice cat action, talking to them, running around to fetch the mice to retoss. 

Not rough kitties.  The least you could do was give me a big leap, or a smile, or something...

And no.

Unfortunately I'm not a great photographer, and my cats are obviously not interested in posing a bit to help me improve.  But I was able to capture one cute shot of Ellie:

On this third day of trying to photograph these guys I got out my Nikon V1 - which excels at fast continuous shooting.  Turned out there was no need for that speed since the cat did nothing speedy.  Although that was probably a good thing since it turns out that the Nikon V1 is not great in low light.  (I had my external flash unit on, but if I pointed it at the cats the photo was overexposed.  I was constant messing around with the angle of the flash trying to get it right.  But as soon as I had it set the cats would into a different room where the lighting was different, and I would have to switch around the flash angle again.)

I suppose photography is not supposed to be easy.  But in some ways my 'cheap' old tiny camera (the one my husband so kindly dunked in a lake a few times during a canoe trip) took more reliable photos without much work on my part. 

But it's kind of fun having a 'fancier' camera.  (I have to keep telling myself that because I'm having some dust issues right now, which means downtime cleaning.  Yuck.  All because of the interchangeable lenses.  My little camera had more telephoto power than all my current lenses, no cleaning required.)

Right before closing down for the night I got a decent shot of Bailey.

This was actually the shot I submitted for my third photo challenge.  To the photo challenge group which I'm now kind of down about because the group dislikes my photo of the flower in front of the fountain. (The photo is not doing well in the voting.)  I might actually come in last. 

Bailey should do a bit better since this was taken with a 'normal' lens.

See on.  And be happy about things you love despite what others might think.
Julee

Whimsical scarecrows.

In front of an old elementary school that is just a half block from my house sits these two fun scarecrows.  Adorable!

I am beginning to get antsy for some fun Halloween shots.  Folks in my community do not tend to be over-the-top wild with Halloween décor, but I'm going to search and hopefully find something spooky in the coming weeks.

I am earning a solid 'average' in the first photo challenge I entered.  Voting results aren't released for a couple of days yet, but I don't think I"ll come in last - wahoo!  The next photo challenge that I'm hoping to enter is on cats.  I have two cats, two cats that proved entirely uninterested in helping me capture a super cool cat photo so far.  Hopefully they can rest up tomorrow and give me their best.

(Here is Ellie giving me her best "I'm bored and definitely not going to attack those fish until you put the camera down" face.  And yes, immediately after I pressed the shutter button she totally attacked the fish.  But my SD card is almost full so it takes a bit to record each photo and she was done by the time the camera was ready for its next shot. Darn it.)

(Bailey - actually kind of a cute shot - this is my cat that moves only at hyper-speed, so it's tough to capture any picture of her.  Apparently after 30 minutes of chasing her with a camera she gave up.)

See on.
Julee

Apples.

Fall is apple season, and nothing tastes better than freshly picked apples.  I've been wanting to visit an apple orchard, but the closest one is about two hours away and my schedule has not allowed me the free time to fit it in yet.

But on my walk this morning, what did I see just two blocks from my house?  An apple tree with tons of apples.  It was a just crab apple tree, but the apples sure looked delicious - like miniature Fuji apples.   I did not however, pick any to eat.  Good thing I had one apple left at home to enjoy.

I caught photos of the apples right after a rain using my favorite Lensbaby lens. 

They sure look good enough to eat. 

I might be able to make a visit to the apple orchard to pick some of my own next weekend when we are visiting Sioux Falls.  (Although it is harvest festival day on Saturday, which means tons of people and kids - but maybe I can borrow a niece or nephew and still grab some neat photographs.)  This orchard also has a pumpkin patch and I also want some pictures of pumpkins for my fall collection. 

See on.
Julee

Renewable.

Success. 

And what a fun afternoon!  Despite feeling a bit of pressure because it was the last day to submit a photo in the DP Challenge "Barns, Farms, and Rural Landscapes," I remained determined to keep trying right down to the deadline if necessary.  Really, I couldn't find a rural photo worthy of submitting to the challenge?  I live in South Dakota for goodness sake, one of the most rural states in our great country, how can this be so hard?

I had a plan of taking yet another route home from work then stopping at any landscape view that seemed interesting.   But before I got to my planned exit I happened to glance at some windmills in the distance.  (Windmills I rarely take notice of even though I think they're awesome.  Many days they just blend into background.  Thankfully today they stood out.)

I decided that windmills would definitely make my photo unique so I turned my car the opposite direction from what I had planned and just drove towards the windmills.   After about 5 miles I turned on a gravel road that I hoped would get me close.  It took about three more miles, but suddenly I knew I had my shot. 

This shot is with my beloved Lensbaby.  I loved how the concept of renewable, and how our state's contribution to renewable was represented by this photo.

I also love hay bales and just a quarter mile down the road I was able to capture this beauty.    

From watching other photo challenges on DP Challenge over the past year, it appears that 'blurred' photos aren't always the favorite and so I also got a few shots with my regular telephoto lens.  (Plus it is hard to tell on the camera screen how well my Lensbaby shots come out, so I figured I would try to have a 'safe' shot that I knew I liked.)

I feel like a champion.  Finally staying focused enough to capture a shot I knew I could find, plus overcoming my fears and starting to participate with the photography community. 

See on.
Julee

Dream state.

Today I drove the long way home trying to find a rural photograph to take.  (DP Challenge has a "farm, barn, or landscape" challenge and how can I live in South Dakota and yet not manage to submit a photo?)  And yet I was unsuccessful yesterday and today.  Tomorrow is my last chance. 

Part of my hesitation was my lack of familiarity with how to take a landscape shot with my Lensbaby.  I know the zone plate and pinhole optics will do a good job, but what will a pleasing composition look like with those lenses? 

So tonight after supper I headed out to the back yard to try the optics out.  The neighbors have this neat, old shed - and this time of year it is still surrounded by foliage.  I figured it would do.  And I was actually really pleased.

 Dreamy.

Except for the dust spots I thought the photos were neat.  Darn dust.  I just had my sensor cleaned two weeks ago, and I cleaned the others parts just last weekend although I admit I wasn't exactly sure how to do it properly. (For today's photos I chose the two photos that showed the least dust, but if you are able to double click and get larger pictures you'll see in the upper left quadrant some dark spots - that's the dust.)

If I can find a good shot tomorrow I guess I'll also have to improve my photoshop skills in order to remove those imperfections since I suspect I won't get the issue resolved before tomorrow's photo session. 

See on,
Julee

I tried. Also, the day of wasps and a cow on the loose.

All I have to say for today is that I tried.  I went out for almost three hours and shot photos with my lensbaby.  My intent was to look for interesting landscape shots so I could enter another photo challenge. 

It was an exciting outing.  My journey started with a wasp in my car and me frantically pulling off the street into a gas station to get it out.  Then I headed out into the country.

I first came across a cow on a hill and I thought maybe that would be good.  Well the cow walked behind the hill before I even got close to the fence.  I got back into my car and in my rearview mirror I see a wasp hanging onto my sweatshirt.  (LOUD SCREAMING HERE - the screaming was not helpful.)

I truly had no idea I had become so terrified of wasps.  I jumped out of the car - which was on the side of a fairly non-busy road, but I kept trying to make sure that watched for cars as I jumped around in a desperate attempt to get the frightful inspect to let go.  OMG it must have taken five minutes and several swipes before he let go.  I was stunned by the ridiculous amount of fear I was feeling.  (Possibly because it has been a really long time since I have been stung?  I don't remember how much it hurts so my assumption is it must be terrible.  If you've been stung lately, how bad is it?  Worse than a biting fly?  Probably quick and not so bad.)

Finally I got started driving again although I was a bit distracted by phantom bugs crawling up my pantlegs.    (Luckily the wind picked up and this was the last of the bug scares for today.)  As I turned a corner heading towards some other interesting hills there right in front of me was an escape cow on the side of the road.

Awesome.  I stopped and she looked right at me.  She was standing at the edge of the highway so I did what any rational person would do.  I rolled down my window and shot two quick photos as I drove slowly be.  Too bad I'm not better with my lensbaby yet because the picture didn't turn out all that well, my focus spot was on the grass.  (Spoiler alert.  Non-fabulous was pretty much the theme of day.)

I tried some photos with a soybean field and a pond with some dead trees but eww, the lenbaby configurations I tried - just not right. 

I drove home at that point and decided to try my luck and macro with the landscaping around my house.  We had just a couple of flowers left in bloom, but I also played with leaves and berries.  I struggled a lot with focus primarily because of the wind.  I had my tripod and I took lots and lots of shots just to get these few that were semi-presentable. (I really kind of like the leaf picture, I suppose it's my favorite shot of the day.) 

So I guess I have more learning to do.  Composing landscapes is definitely more challenging with my lensbaby.  But I'll get it eventually.  Till then I'll keep practicing and enjoying the occasional success. 

See on,
Julee

Duluth, Minnesota

We had a fabulous trip to Duluth this past weekend.  This was our first trip to Duluth where we stayed right in Canal Park and it was great.  We parked our car Friday afternoon and didn't move until noon on Sunday.  My husband had a good inline marathon race, although the strong headwinds slowed everybody down so no personal record was for him.

(But he finished without a visit to the medical tent, so I call that a win!)

Since my husband got on a bus to the starting line a good four hours before I would see him at the finish, I enjoyed some coffee at Caribou Coffee and then wandered around Canal Park looking for photos.  I found some colorful vehicles for rent, and figured I would give my Lensbaby a try.

Interesting...

One of the most well known landmarks of Duluth is the Aerial Lift Bridge.  We hung around the bridge a lot, and even visited the Corp of Engineer Museum and learned all about the history of the bridge.  I got to see lots of ships go through, but the most impressive were these giant, 1000+ foot ships.

The bridge at night was cool, especially with the nearby moon.  I had my Nikon V1 with me for this shot and it just could not get the moon in focus.  Oh well, still neat.

On Sunday it was dreary and really windy which led to some wonderful waves on Lake Superior.  I wanted to drive north to get into the wilderness at least a bit, but we kept getting distracted by the waves on the lake.  (We stopped about three times just to look at the waves and surfers.  Surfing in Lake Superior - brrrrrr.)

We made it up to Two Harbors where we decided to head toward the lighthouse.  We had a blast walking out along this long "Navigation Device - use at your own risk" and then hung out on the rocks and watched the waves for over a hour.  

(This was kind of a lensbaby shot gone wrong, not quite the right manual settings but I thought it was a neat effect and made the end of the pier look really far away.  Double click in some browsing softwares and you can get a better view.)

 

 

Here was a better shot of the 'navigation device'.  What you can't see are all the waves crashing wildly on the other side - we had to run in places to avoid getting wet.

(Unfortunately this photo doesn't do the experience justice.  The crashing of the waves made it feel just like we were at the ocean.)

It was also near Two Harbors were I found a nice little grove of birch trees.  I love the paintings I see of birch, and so one of my goals is to capture my own picture that I will frame.  This grove was too small, and not terribly beautiful, but I figured I would play with my lensbaby and see.  I kind of like it.

This morning we traveled up to Enger Park and climbed the Enger tower.  We got lucky and there were some excellent low clouds adding interest to the photo of the city from above.

See on,
Julee