Miles’s first “fruit juicee”, an Anderson family tradition:
Miles and Henry play TOGETHER now!
Miles playing in the new sandbox:
Henry, eating a snack and looking cute:
Day 206- At the Playground
Miles
Henry, looking like his dad in the first photo- and EXACTLY like his mom in the second!
Day 205- First Day at Yellowstone
My day began at 2:30 am when I could sleep no longer. We left the house around 3:45 for the drive to the Oakland Airport for my 6am flight to Bozeman, Montana. Allegiant Airlines is my new airline of choice, because of its (relatively) cheap and DIRECT flights to Bozeman. I was there by 9am, Mountain Time- amazing!
Surprise! Miles, Henry, and, oh yes, Caitlin met me; I’d expected Justin and Miles, but he had to go into work. We went out for coffee, did the grocery shopping, went out to lunch at Miles’s favorite Mexican restaurant in Livingston, and then drove on Yellowstone. Shortly before we arrived at Mammoth, Miles and Henry were both asleep. Miles continued to sleep for 20 minutes in the car while we unloaded the groceries. I snapped this photo with my iPhone- I love the light and shadows on his face.
It was now naptime for Henry and quiet time for the rest of us. Here is a photo of Miles showing me his “construction” he did during his time in his room- a replica of where they live, complete with the Roosevelt Arch. I only took a few photos today- and very few are in focus. These boys are moving targets!
After an early dinner, I babysat the boys while Caitlin headed off to a preschool board meeting, and now Justin is home playing his guitar while I, bleary-eyed, am uploading my photos. A wonderful (but long) day!
Day 204- Les Fleurs
Last flower macros for awhile- I’m leaving for Wyoming in 13 hours to visit the grandbabies!
All photos were taken using my speedlight- the first two with a tripod as well.
Day 203- Together Again
It has been over thirty years since these three college roommates have been together!
Susan and Carol were best friends in high school, and we all roomed together at U.C. Davis. After college, Carol and I shared an apartment in Santa Rosa- and she introduced me to my husband (long story. . .). Susan married Chris and moved to Wisconsin after a few years. I haven’t seen Susan since Carol’s wedding, but, when we got together today, it was like no time had passed.
We talked and laughed- and laughed and laughed. I think this photo shows how much we enjoyed being together- what a fun day!
Day 202- Flower Frenzy
A Trader Joe’s bouquet- hooray!
Here’s an image taken with my beloved 50mm 1.4 lens:
And another (which is my favorite for today):
I’ve been playing a bit with creating textures in Photoshop. None of mine are good enough to stand on their own yet- so here is one of today’s flower photos textured with one of my amateurish textures paired with one of Kim Klassen’s fabulous ones.
I couldn’t resist getting out my macro lens. Here are two versions of a macro shot- one with a black and white conversion.
Day 201- Sur la Table
On the table was yesterday’s theme. Photographing myself eating a salad lunch seemed like an easy idea- until I tried it. The tripod was set up in the kitchen from a shoot from last week, so, when I realized I couldn’t hold the camera and the fork AND press the shutter, while keeping it all in focus, I used the tripod. Even so, it was a bit tricky getting the focus right, because I wanted a shallow depth of field.
f/1.6, 1/125, ISO 800, 50mm
FYI the bokeh is coming from the clear glass salad plate.
Day 200- H is not for happy. . .
Well . . . guess what? The date of the Scott Kelby Photoshop seminar was changed, and we weren’t notified. Read the details here.
However, it was one of those glass half full, lemons vs. lemonade, silk purse out of a sow’s ear kind of days. We made the best of things and amused ourselves taking photos around the Capitol, hanging out at Carol’s, and going out to dinner at Il Fornaio.
Here is Carol, photographing the Capitol.
See you in August, Scott!
Day 199- H is for Happy
Begins with H is the theme for today. I ended up going with HAPPY, because I have been intending to photograph this cheerful, plaster sun, given to me by my friend, Carol for my birthday. Carol and I are going to attend a Photoshop seminar given by Scott Kelby tomorrow in Sacramento, and both of us are certainly happy to be able to participate in a whole day of Photoshop classes!
The weather in Benicia is overcast and gray today, which may explain why I chose to process this image as a stark black and white (which does diminish its cheerfulness, I’m afraid).
Day 198- Flower Love
Eating lunch and spending an afternoon with friends in Eline’s amazing garden this afternoon provided me with a myriad of photo opportunities. It was hard to choose what to photograph, and, of course, I didn’t want to miss any of the conversation!
Here is a view of some of her beautiful lavender.
There were flowers inside as well- gorgeous!
Day 197- Taking Care of Business
I haven’t been keeping up with the Flickr challenges lately, so this morning I searched for something in the house that would fit the topic, keeping it clean, AND would also be something that I have never photographed (a much harder challenge). I was delighted to discover that I have never photographed paper towels!
We had an early dinner with friends, and I brought my camera just in case they had a dog (starts with D), so here is the adorable Missy, who was only too happy to pose for me knowing that she might just get a treat afterwards!
Day 196- High Noon
Just having fun at noon today with bright sun and shallow depth of field using my 50mm 1.4 (at 1.8 in both shots). . .
Day 195- Warm Black and White
I only ventured as far as my front yard today for photography. Here’s a shot of some oleander against the fence. I played with some black and white presets, but ended up creating a warmed up monochrome, using split- toning in Lightroom- and saving that as a preset.
Day 194- Got Wings?
Occasionally, when my husband has appointments in interesting places, I ride along in hopes of photo opportunities. Today. we drove to Alameda.
We parked along the shoreline and . . .
looked across the bay at San Francisco. There was a a big fog bank over the city, so it was difficult to get a clear view. I played a lot with this photo in Lightroom. It ended up looking best in black and white; adding a lot of contrast to it in color caused it to look unrealistic.
I wasn’t planning to go with a Flickr theme today, but fate intervened. Within a few minutes I had three contenders for things with wings.
This great white egret was calmly standing by the water near where we parked.
A brown pelican flew by while I was shooting across the bay.
And then- a Southwest jet flew by!
Day 193- In the Car
What a topic! Well, here is a shot of my beads from Hilo Hattie’s in Kauai. Hawaii is just about my favorite place, and this is from our last trip there. We spent Christmas there with our daughter, son-in-law, and his family quite a few years ago- and these beads always remind me that there IS a Hawaii. It helps me relax in traffic.
And here’s a bonus photo, taken last night upon returning from our anniversary dinner out. I just had to play with my new 50mm 1.4, so here is a shot of some agapanthus in the front yard. I took it at f/2.8, but even so, there is a lovely, soft, blurry background.
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