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
 

A little bit random.

Hi!

Cooler weather has finally arrived and boy am I happy about that.  Hopefully fall is here.  As I breathed in the crisp air my energy level went up and I went a little photo crazy today. 

First is my favorite pic from the day - flowers from our neighbor's garden.  Still pretty. Photographed here with my Lensbaby Plastic lens.  (These flowers remind me of morning glories, but I'm not 100% sure - are they?)

I get to travel to Duluth, MN this weekend and needed to get my oil changed before I left.  Check out this cute little guy I found while in the waiting room...

My cat's energy seemed to skyrocket as well when the temperatures dropped.  I was playing around with Ellie and caught this fun photo of her as my 'ghost cat'.

 

Finally, I wanted to try a few more shots of my colored pencils.  Changing the background improved the shot a bit, although I couldn't find any white paper to use so I still think I can do better. Probably you'll see this again someday!

 



I won't post again until Monday night, but I am hoping to get some amazing shots during my visit to the North Shore Lake Superior in northern Minnesota.  (My favorite place!)  So I should have good photos to share.  See you then.

See on,
Julee

9-11

I watched the History Channel tonight, now feeling pretty somber.  Watching footage of the fireman walking up to the buildings - I felt such sadness.  Nothing else seemed quite appropriate to post - so here is our flag. 

(I captured these both last weekend.  One at the ribbon cutting ceremony for a National Guard training center, and the other at the Watertown car show.)

God Bless.
Julee

Lensbaby Macro.

This evening I tried the macro attachments for my Lensbaby.  Once again I was amazed by my success pretty much right away.  Previously when I had tried shooting indoors, macro, still-life type photos, I had no luck even in auto.  The photos were bad, and I truly mean bad.  Most probably because I did not have an actual macro lense and was trying to shoot with my 300 mm indoors, but still - macro lenses are expensive so I tried to make do.  (But the Lensbaby macro attachments came as part of an accessory kit which was free with the composer pro lens, so definitely a great deal!)

Tonight's 15 minute photo shoot started with me trying a semi-educated manual setting, getting an all black photo.  Whoops.  Then I turned the flash on and got an overexposed photo even at 1/32 flash power.  But then I adjusted the exposure compensation to -3.0 and there it was.  Crazy.  Easy.  Fun!  (I only attached the 10X macro attachment which got me about 4 inches from my subjects - I could have added another 4X macro attachment - incredible.)  I know the photos are not perfect, but to me they're definitely close enough. 

 

As you can see I tried several different angles and arrangements of the colored pencils figuring I would like one best.  Nope, no favorite.  I did a bit of Photoshop editing to the top photo, changing contrast and playing with brightness and color saturation to give it a more painterly look that I liked.   Also, in retrospect I should have switched to a more neutral background rather than the red background I had in place.  I suspect the colors might have stood out more in the bottom picture if I had done that.

Learning...

See on.
Julee

Watertown Car Show.

Day  two with my Lensbaby, and a Saturday which means I have free time to play.  Turned out there was a car show in town and while I do not typically have much interest in cars, my father-in-law brought his car down and with all the bright colors and old fashioned cars I figured I could capture something interesting.

I even had one guy who owned a Ford Galaxie ask if I was a professional.  Sorry, nope.  But I had been photographing his car for about five minutes because I loved the color so he asked if I would send him anything I got.  He said he always appreciated seeing his car through someone else's eye.  How about that.  (So I tried extra hard for another few minutes trying to get a great photograph.)

These first three are my favorite Lensbaby shots, although if I hadn't told you I was at a car show, I suspect the content of the first picture would have been a mystery.  (Or maybe it still is?  There was a maroon car next to a yellow car next to a white car.  I kind of blurred everything rather than leaving a spot in focus.  But I really enjoyed the colors and spots of lights that came through.)

There were, of course, tons of people walking all around.  Had there been less people there would have been all sorts of fabulous shots of gorgeous cars sitting by one another, but the shot below was my only shot of a group of cars with very few people.  Awesome colors!

Here is the probably the best shot I got of the Ford Galaxie.  I think this was shot with a 'regular' lens rather than my Lensbaby.  I did not have success creating any shots of this car with the blur of a Lensbaby

 

For some reason I liked this shot.  The gray car was so strong looking, kind of reminded me of Doc Hudson from the Cars movie, although I'm not really sure why.

 

 

The front red car in the shot below is my father-in-law's '65 Corvette.  This was the best shot I got of his car, all of the others shots were just a bad blur.  (Sorry.)  But it's a great car.  Very shiny!

 

 

Wishing you a day filled with bright and shiny!

See on,

Julee

 

Sunrise.

This shot was actually taken Friday morning on my drive to work.  I often come across lovely sunrises, but this I had never seen before.  The clouds must have been perfect to show off rays of light emanating from the sun.  It was spectacular. 

I hate pulling over to the side of the interstate for photos - I try to wait until I get to an exit so at least cars aren't whizzing by me at 85 mph.  But I've learned with the sun that you have sometimes just a couple of minutes before it moves enough that the beauty is gone.  So I pulled over.  But this time the angle of the shot was such that I could just roll down my window and capture the view.

I had more Lensbaby fun at a car show yesterday, but Ellie cat is laying on my foot trying desperately to get my attention, so I'm going to go play with her for a bit then I'll be back and will post again.

See on,
Julee

My new Lensbaby.

So between the summer heat, where I avoid being outside as much as possible, a switch to a new job, and just a slight lack of excitement about taking photos - I haven't looked hard for photos or even taken many shots in the past month.

Earlier this week I decided to try and kick start my brain's creativity and reignite my excitement for my photography hobby with a Lensbaby Lens.   My mom brought these lenses to my attention a while back.  I hesitated because with my camera, a Nikon D5100, I have to shoot completely in manual mode in order to use the Lensbaby.  Plus use of a Lensbaby requires manual focus, and I just wasn't sure my eyes were up to manual focus.

The ability to shoot unique and creative photos finally won out and I got a great deal by ordering through the Lensbaby website.  I got a book on Lensbaby and poured over the pictures to find my favorites.  I kept leaning toward the Composer Pro lense with the double glass optic.  (Which is a less expensive and slightly older option - but I just liked the blur in those pictures better.)  Plus I picked up the optic kit and the accessory kit. 

I am very intrigued by the pinhole optic - hello Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day - I've got seven months to practice until I can post my photo for all the world :)

With the accessory kit I also got some macro lenses, a wide angle, and telephoto attachment to expand my options. 

After a rough first hour when I was convinced my camera could not shoot with the flash in Manual - google fail - the lenbaby website mentioned the custom menu where I quickly figured out how to use my flash.  No successful pictures my first day, but today, day two, boy did I get a couple of beauties.  I couldn't believe that full manual, an odd, bendy lense, and yet I loved the uniqueness in what I captured.

 

I am just thrilled with my fountain photo.  Especially for day two with Lensbaby, first venture out shooting in full manual.  Sure felt like creative success! (I can see how that I did not quite capture the top of the fountain, but I still love the photo.)

 

 

I think this is the flare that I read about.  Whoops I wasn't paying attention to the location of the sun.  But I kind of like it!

 

This last picture was some awesome twisty grapevine.  I loved how there is mystery for what is behind the branches.

See on,
Julee