Day 126- My Precious!

Yes, dreams really do come true! I have been holding on to this news for a week- allowing time for my D5000 to arrive at my daughter’s house (as a semi-surprise- she knew I really, really, really wanted this camera for my birthday and that I would give her my old one). My husband surprised me by giving it to me early- I am still in shock! By the way- I did not get the kit lens- he had it bundled with a Nikon 18-200 3.5 zoom- awesome!

I have been playing and playing with it, learning all the fantastic features.  It has so many choices for settings. Today I played with setting up the custom user settings. One I set up for sudden action (like a rabbit runs by…) with shutter priority, AF-continuous, dynamic area mode, burst mode, and a custom auto ISO (you can set the minimum and maximum ISO the camera uses in this setting). I am changing and saving new settings as I learn about them.  I will say that, although I started with a custom aperture priority setting to take this photo, I ended up switching to manual, my comfort zone (manual could be part of a custom setting too).

And yes, I forgot to change white balance AGAIN when I took this photo!

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Day 123- Tea Party

My grandmother had a collection of unmatched teacups of various patterns- mostly Shelley English bone china.  Setting the table with some cups from my grandmother’s collection was fun this morning- and I photographed them for Kim Klassen’s Texture Tuesday challenge.  The textures I used were love and sweet treat.

f/2, 1/400, ISO 500, 35mm

kimklassencafe

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Day 122- Grandfather Clock

I always wanted a grandfather clock when I was a little girl. My dollhouse had one, and it seemed that all the books I loved took place in houses where the grandfather clock chimed throughout the story. My mother remembered that and bought us one about twenty years ago.  I love it and used it for today’s Macro Monday shot.

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Day 113- Beside Myself

When I started collecting Blue Ridge pottery, I concentrated on plates to hang on the wall. Soon after, it became all things Blue Ridge within a few favorite patterns. Eventually it became a quest for the harder to find items in these patterns- especially a creamer and sugar.  I never found a creamer and sugar in one of my favorite patterns, but did buy a really cute set in a pattern I wasn’t familiar with- in shades of browns, orange, and yellow (my patterns are mostly in the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow).

While my family was visiting a couple weeks ago- the unthinkable happened.  I opened a kitchen cupboard and a pyrex bowl fell out and landed on my Blue Ridge sugar bowl- and broke the handle!  I’ve kept the pieces and will fix it someday- but it won’t be the same.  Very upsetting.

My daughter’s wonderful in-laws, Moira and Wayne, were there for the visit too, and we all had a great time co-grandparenting Miles and Baby Henry.  The house has been very empty for the last week-  we miss them all! Thursday a package arrived in the mail in a Harry and David box- a gift from Moira and Wayne.

LOOK!!!!

Can you believe it????? I am beside myself with happiness!

Thank you, Moira and Wayne! We are very blessed to have you in our family!

Melinda2 Comments

Day 110- Early Start

Busy day ahead-  so starting the day with a photo and a smoothie!

f/2.5, 1/200, ISO 2500 (hey, it was still dark outside!), 35mm

I had to play with this a little more in post-processing than I planned. I brought up the blues in my drink to make it look a little more appetizing! It is really kind of a brownish pink (lots of mangoes in there, along with strawberries and blueberries)- but it tastes yummy!

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Day 107- Beware. . .

Beware! Installing dark colored granite bathroom counters is not a good idea if you use a powder type makeup!

f/4.5, 1/80, ISO 2000, 85mm

We installed this counter and chose a beautiful dark green, because we fell in love with it.  A couple years later I switched to a powder based makeup (which I love), but this is often what it looks like by the time I’m finished.  It isn’t quite as bad as it looks in this photo though, because there seems to be bokeh mixed in with the powder (plus an interesting heart shaped bokeh in the top middle…).

I spent a lot of time stalking my mama hummingbird today, but the only photos I got were of her in her nest.  The one time I caught her flitting about, she had quickly resumed guarding her egg(s) by the time I got my camera. Hence, the makeup brush photo from this morning. . .

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Day 104- Love and Silence

The house is silent today- an empty nest. I thought of photographing the emptiness, but that made me too sad.

When I started this project, I considered that it would be a good way to document some of the family heirlooms, so that my children would remember what they were and which family member had owned them. So here is a photo of my mother’s mother’s Wedgewood.  It may even have been my great-grandmother’s- I am not sure.  Anyway, it belonged to my grandmother and my mother- and now it is ours. I’ve always thought it was beautiful, even though one piece is cracked.

I used two of Kim Klassen’s textures in post-processing:  love and silence.

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Day 97- Bright and Early

Three more days until 100 Days of sticking to this commitment of a photo a day! I think I have learned a lot and am not totally panicking every day about what to photograph.  Today is going to be a busy day with the grandbabies, some special guests for lunch and in the afternoon- AND then our son and our son-in-law’s parents are flying in tonight.  So today, I chose to get up early and quickly snap a photo of some daffodils I bought at Trader Joe’s yesterday.  There- I’m done for the day!

f/5.6, 1/160, ISO 1000, 85mm

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Day 87- Spiral

It’s Macro Monday!

I was outside shooting some tiny flowers and tiny waterdrops when the phone rang. When I hung up, I discovered my macro photo of the day- the phone cord (yes, we still have a phone with one of those…)! Simple and, um, retro!

f/5.6, 1/100, ISO 2000, 85mm

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Day 80- Getting ready . . .

One more day until my babies arrive! The rooms are being rearranged and babyproofed, the cupboards are stocked with Miles’s favorite foods, and the teaching and art supplies are being organized for playtime.

It is Macro Monday and a perfect opportunity to photograph new crayons before they are used!

f/5.6, 1/80, ISO 2000, 85mm

Melinda3 Comments

Day 79- Waiting . . .

The grandbabies are arriving day after tomorrow! It will be Baby Henry’s first trip to California, and we are getting things ready for him and his big brother.

It is so hard to wait!

f/2.8, 1/125, ISO 400, 35mm

 

Melinda3 Comments