Catching up on the weekend

Thursday, May 19:
It was my grandfather's 62nd birthday, but I had to spend it going from classroom to therapy appointments to a sleep study. Still, I managed to grab a quick snapshot of the chocolate flowers on Grandpa's chocolate-frosted chocolate cake. Guess what grandpa's favorite food is. ;)

I also used my webcam to take a terrible snap of what I looked like at that lovely sleep study. Beautiful, yes? LOL

Friday, May 20:
Took a quick pic of the machine all those wires were plugged into. They didn't let me go home until 2!

Saturday, May 21:
I honestly only stepped outside that day to take one snapshot that wasn't even well thought out. I only took the picture because I was rather interested in all the conflicting lines.

Today, May 22:
Still not in the most photographic mood, and again I was noticing a conflict outside my house. This time, there was a conflict between the seasons. Some flowers in my garden looked as though they'd been dried out by the harsh winter, yet they were surrounded by the lush greenery brought about by spring. I just don't get it!

"WHERE'D YOU GO?!"

That's probably what you guys are asking. Well, I have almost literally gone nowhere, and I am now officially making my return to my 365 Challenge.

I owe you guys 32 photos, but today I will only post a few that I took over the long hiatus. Sandra and I have decided that it would be best to tack the days onto the end of the year instead of posting all of the photos I took or neglected to take since (1) I must definitely say I did NOT take a photo every single one of those days, though I did take one most of them, and (2) I have been extremely sick, and by the time I get well enough to make up for the missed photos, I will have a ridiculous amount of photoshoots to work on.

Let me catch you up a little.

Ursa has finally stopped looking for Roxy and now spends her time calling out to the other dogs on the block.

Daisy, my ironically named orchid, has passed on due to overheating.

I felt better for all of three days. Grandpa hit the shutter release for me because I have managed to lose my remote.

I learned how to draw with Soft Pastels for Drawing in Color class

I expressed myself in collage form for that same class using my photos and song lyrics. (Tears of a Clown and Mad World)

I finished a Drawing project in one class session, basing it off of Monet's style and JMW Turner's painting.

The friend whose maternity photos I took had her baby. Yay!!!

And, finally...

Today, I had a stalker. He watched me that intensely for over 5 minutes. The little creep.

Otherwise, I have attended more doctors' appointments than classes, begun physical therapy, gone through withdrawal from medications, come down with a sinus infection that's currently plaguing me, spent an entire day with my grandfather at the hospital, been told I am a carrier of a blood disorder, and (holy cow, GOOD news) been informed that I am an Honor student. Now I am going to be observed for two different sleep disorders this week. Life is... something. On the plus side, I've begun a tutorial that may very well become a small e-book for you all that explains (as thoroughly as I possibly can) the Photoshop toolkit.

Thank you for hanging in there with me. I pray I don't let you down again. :-(

Pup Pup Pweez Come Home

My darling dog is back on her feet and wanted to enjoy the fresh air, so we gave her a long overdue bath and let her hang out on the back porch.

SOOC

The poor dear. She kept going out on that porch anyway because that's where she and our neighbors' dog Roxy like to play. Rather, liked to play. The neighbors moved away the day Ursa hurt her foot. She just doesn't understand why Roxy won't come play with her. She'd keep looking for Roxy and crying.

SOOC again, different lens. I thought the flare was interesting.
She's still looking for Roxy. :(

The weather today was wonderful. We spent the day riding around and sitting on the back porch.

SOOC yet again. It's almost that time of year!!!

While we were out, we went to Best Buy, where my grandparents decided to buy me the best photo printer in the place. It's made specifically for photography, and I am in love with it. It's wonderful!!! So of course I printed like crazy today. On the other hand, I haven't been on the computer much. These are a couple of the photos I managed to edit. Hope you like them!

A Beautiful Morning

Actually, it was an ugly gray day, which was perfect for my camera. I'm extremely pleased with my photos today. In fact, I'm just pleased today, period. It's been a nice day.

I woke up to my grandfather telling me he was leaving with or without me, so I threw on some clothes, grabbed my necessities (money, camera, laptop, let's go!), and headed out. We went to breakfast [aka lunch] at a Mexican restaurant that I love, then Grandpa decided to explore a bit. We went to the beautiful park pictured above, where I got to chase around two gorgeous ducks.

Then he found a covered bridge that was technically fenced off, but since there was a trail around the fence, we went anyway like the rebels we are. Grandma, on the other hand, waited in the car. "Mama didn't raise no fool!"

Today's challenge: Illustrate symmetry.

There should be more days like today. :D

All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go

 Couldn't decide which orientation was better, so you get both. 

Yeeeeah, I have to be honest: yesterday, I did not take a photo. No, I wasn't uninspired or anything. I was just having a terribly manic day-- seriously, I went from maniacally happy to so angry that I couldn't see straight anymore for no reason whatsoever!-- so I thought I should just force myself to sleep. In place of yesterday's photo, I thought I'd share the only picture I managed to edit.

The beautiful Ms. C, whose senior shoot will be an entire portfolio in itself. :D

I don't know what's wrong with me, but after yesterday and today's equally extreme health issues, I'm really worried. It's probably a medication problem, in which case it'll be over soon (luckily, I have a dr.'s appointment this week), but if it's not, I don't want it to jeopardize what I've been trying to build these past few weeks (/months?). Please bear with me. I'm trying my best!

On the plus side, today was a wonderful day otherwise. There was a huge cross in the sky made of strange dark clouds, and I reheheally wish I'd had my camera on me to capture it. It was so amazing to see. Hopefully, someone else experienced the great anomaly, too. Otherwise I may be sicker than I thought... LOL


Goodnight!

Finding the Time

It's been a crazy week! An amazing week. It couldn't have gone better. :D I have to thank Renee for bringing me and putting up with my constant in-and-out behavior. She was a doll.

I had at least one photoshoot pretty much every day while I was in Indiana. Between those and all the running around I was doing, there wasn't time to check my e-mails every day, let alone edit and post photos, so now that I'm home, I've spent the day working on a few. Here are my favorites for each day of the week, and then yesterday's quick "thank goodness I'm home" snapshot. I'll post today's shot later tonight. :)

Sunday:

Mr. J hamming it up

Monday:

Ms. M and Mr. P's little bundle of joy

Tuesday:

Little Mr. J sleeping in a basket

Wednesday:

Ms. R enjoying my flower

Thursday:

The ever-gorgeous Khalila making me jealous with her beauty.

aaand Friday's snapshot:

Mmmm, Chinese food awaited us when we got home!!! Thank you, Grandma.

The Greatest Day I Should Never Have Had

As you might have guessed, today was a great day. I woke up to my grandparents ready to walk out the door, so I slipped on some shoes and hurried after them, camera in hand and purse on my shoulder. We went out to breakfast (or lunch, seeing as we're an hour ahead of ourselves now) and then did some shopping all over the place. While I should have been writing that Art History paper, I was busy playing with photos. (Whoops.)

Of course, my grandfather is no better than I am. He kept finding awesome places for me to take photos. One of those locations was the river near the Y bridge.

  

Another was the same river quite a few miles away, behind his job. Where just last week was a small park, there was river. Geese were swimming in the parking lot!

            

The, after some running around, I bought my very first flash unit (for my DSLR, that is)-- a Promaster 7500 EDF--, some things I had been looking for last week but couldn't find, and an orchid for a project my friend asked me to take photos for. I love orchids! They're beautiful.

Know what else is beautiful? MY FLASH! I'm so excited!!! Um... now to get to that paper...

It's a Two-Post Day!

So I took over a hundred photos yesterday and then completely forgot to post any! I need to get on the ball here. Gosh! lol. I decided to post twice today because I have so many photos to post that it would only confuse or overwhelm you.

Firstly, I forgot to tell you all that I did get an A for my portfolio and therefore an A in the class. WOO! *relief*

Speaking of classes, I have a paper to write on a 16th century piece of art for one Art History class, so I headed to my town's museum. They have an amazing room that was literally taken from England and put into the museum. Inside it is all 17th century art with the exception of one beautiful triptych placed right in the center. The piece is called Adoration of the Magi by Joos van Cleve. I really love it for all its intricate detail and slight oddity.

click for large size

While I was waiting for my grandmother to pick me up from the museum, I took a few quick snaps outside (photography inside is extremely limited, so I'd rather not take the chance). They remind me of my darkroom prints, so even though I'm not sure why I like them, I'm quite pleased with them.

After the museum, I felt like making a photo that was somewhat out of the ordinary, and for some reason this is what I did. Hmm.

The Tear

Alright, post one complete. Sorry about that!

The Bokeh Challenge

f/5.3, 1/160 sec, ISO 640, 42 mm

Sandra challenged me to try her bokeh method, so I busted out the Christmas lights and wrapped them all over a bunch of champagne glasses that were sitting out on the table like they were just waiting for me. It was a lot of fun, but I definitely need more practice.

f/5.3, 1/30 sec, ISO 640, 48 mm

I didn't feel like editing today, so I cropped these photos to 5x7s and slightly burned the edges. Otherwise, this is what they looked like in-camera.

f/5.6, 1/100 sec, ISO 640, 55 mm