89/365 - Driving Home

This was literally all I had time for today. I was driving home from work at midnight and had no picture for today. So, sideview mirror it was.

At least the rain was good for something.

88/365 - Spring

This shot was really interesting to me. I used my lensbaby with both macro lenses stacked on it - so it was 14x magnification. And I was shooting an Easter lily, which is white.

I am not really sure where the green came from. One of those cases, perhaps, where the camera picks up things the eye does not.

Like flies. They look black until you get on top of them with a macro lens.

87/365 - Night Lights

It's the glass on an old office-door window. There was enough street light coming through to get some nice color and reflection. But since I am trying to make friends with my flash, I used it too - set on 1/32 power with a bounce card. Which the lensbaby picked up as a cool zooming effect on the beaded glass.

It reminds me of a macro shot of a purple echinacea flower.

86/365 - Tea Party

Julia went to a birthday party for one of her friends today. It was a very fancy tea party, and all the guests made very fancy hats to wear.

Julia happily models hers for the camera.

85/365 - Sapping

This shot today was SOOC - straight out of the camera. I did no processing on it whatsover. And that makes me feel good. Why? Because digital photography makes it easy to see what you are going to get, and it makes it easy (and free) to correct immediately. And what you can't correct immediately with the camera, there's always photoshop. And sometimes that may make for sloppy camera work.

With film, you get what you get. And that perfect photograph is more elusive. But, had I shot this on film, I would have been happy with it exactly the way it looks.

74/365 - A Sweet Shoot

I spent the afternoon working on more photos for Buttercup Confections here in New Hartford. I think I may prefer natural lighting instead of flash, but since flash was all I shot today, I have to use one.

I think the lighting looks very artificial here, but at the same time there is something about the shadows I like - it's like candy enjoying a late summer's evening. Or something.

73/365 - Lace

I have been inspired by a photographer named Michael, who lives in Korea and has been doing a lensbaby workshop. His macro work is incredible. So, I went out today with my lensbaby and both macro lenses on it.

Now, the thing about using the lensbaby with no aperature ring and two macro lenses on it is this: Getting something in focus is a bit of a crap shoot.

But when it works, it's worth it.

72/365 - Dropping In

Well, it was wet out today. It rained on and off yesterday and today, so the world outside is very saturated. There are water drops everywhere, begging to be photographed. So, I complied.

These particular drops were tricky. They are sitting on very small columbine leaves, about an inch off the ground. They are low enough that I couldn't get a good angle on isolating them, which was a little frustrating because that is my natural tendency. But, not being able to do what comes as instinct forced me to think a little differently about the shot. What I like about it is the veins in the leaf you can see through the drops.

Plus, there is something a little ambiguous about the drops. They could almost be fish eggs or insect eggs on a leaf.

I was outside today looking for evidence of spring, and found it in a single white primrose plant growing in the backyard.

Each flower was covered in drops of rain, but primroses are small and I had a lot of trouble isolating something to my satisfaction.

I like the straight shot well enough, but thought the infrared processing was kind of neat - it reminds me of a string of lights you'd hang in a gazebo in the middle of a garden.

70/365 - Peekaboo

Today I photographed three beautiful little girls. The baby was playing peekaboo with a pink Easter hat.

Maybe I will get myself an Easter hat this year.

79/365 - Double Vision

Today was a busy day - fun fair, gallery sit, work. I knew I'd be out of the house from about 9 a.m. until close to midnight, so I brought my camera. I had a few minutes to spare at work, so I played around with these windows and the reflections.

I'm not exactly sure why, but the results remind me of a scene from Great Expectations.

78/365 - First of the year

Well, it was warm enough today that when stopped by Dunkin' Donuts for my daily fix, I went with iced. And as I was standing outside, wondering what my picture was going to be for today, I figured why not? It is a harbinger of spring.

77/365 - Two for Tea

Julia and I went out for tea this afternoon while Thomas skied with Grandpa. There is a little organic tea shop and herbal apothecary in New Hartford called Passiflora. So we headed there and shared a pot of English breakfast tea. And it was served in a purple tea pot, which made Julia's day.

She took it all very seriously, and insisted on pouring the sugar and milk and stirring by herself. I love her little hands, studiously working at opening the sugar packets.

76/365 - The Pine Cone Pickers

I told Thomas and Julia that we were going to have a pine cone picking-up contest today. The idea was that they run around in a frantic display of sibling rivalry until nary a pine cone was left on the grass and a winner was declared (thus causing the loser to collapse in a heap of tears). They lost interest after about 5 minutes. Which is probably a good thing, because I didn't know how I was going to console said loser.

It's no Potato Pickers, but I was thinking van Gogh when I took the picture.

75/365 - An Old Friend

The snow is melted. There is still not much growing besides the daffodils, but it was warm in the sun today and I got outside to start a little spring cleanup. I was excited to haul the wheelbarrow out of the potting area. I am very attached to this particular wheelbarrow.

When my husband and I bought our first house in Wyoming, we bought the wheelbarrow, too. I was so proud - I had a house with purple window boxes and a red wheelbarrow. Surely that made me a grownup.

The wheelbarrow came with us when we moved back to Connecticut and it is one of my prize possessions, an old friend for 12 years.

75/365 - Truffles

I needed to try taking some pictures of truffles and candy for Iliana, a woman in New Hartford who owns and operates Buttercup Confections. I was not expecting food photography to be easy - it's a pretty complicated thing. And I know I will have to figure out how to use a flash. But for today, I just wanted to get a sense of what it might look like.

I just used natural light from a northern exposure and shot at 5.6 with my 55 macro. I don't even know if I should be using a macro lens for food photography, but I love the backgrounds I can get.

I had read that if you use lights with food, it gets hot and hard to handle. Even without lights, it wasn't too long before the chocolate got melty from me handling it. So I ate it.

74/365 - Sprinkles

Julia and Thomas decorated a cake for Daddy's birthday today. Thomas was done in about 30 seconds, while Julia continued on diligently, sprinkle by sprinkle.

For so many reasons, I am not thrilled with the photo - Julia's hand is blown out, I wish her eyes popped a little more, I wish there were more sprinkles for a little more color. But, it will have to do for today.

73/365 - It was a rainy night

Today was one of those days that just doesn't allow much time for taking pictures. I took one shot of my daughter - she is crying, "Mommy, please don't take another picture of me."

I took my camera to work, thinking I might have time to shoot something. But I did not. So, on the way home, I took some shots while driving in the rain. Remarkably difficult to do. I'm a little late but satisfied that I got something.

Better Late Than Never

If I could express myself eloquently with words, then I probably would have started a blog long before now. I am 72 days into my 365-project. Day 1 would have been the logical starting point for a blog, but that is too far in the past. So, I will simply jump in with Day 72.

I was determined today to get a shot using my lensbaby with the 4X and 10X macro lenses stacked on it. So, I went out to the garden store and found these orange and purple violas. The colors popped out at me on an overcast day. I hope they warm yours.