White Balance Nightmare

I got a little bored the other night during a lacrosse game and decided to take a photo of the light standard against the blue sky. After looking at it I now know why white balance can be a nightmare at stadiums. Look at the different color temps of the the actual bulbs. Supposedly they are looking into improving the lights at our stadium which would be nice and not so nice all at the same time. Nice because we could actually get photos without a flash of a running back making a dive into the endzone and see his face, or capture that very common airborne catch in the corner of the endzone. Both photos are near impossible with the light dropping off at about the 5 yard line causing the endzone to be pitch dark. The reason the coaches have gotten behind this is the receivers say they can't see the ball in the dark endzone.

Why you ask did I say it would be not so nice, well because as it is now you have to have an idea of how to work a camera to get a good photo and with great lighting everyone will decide putting their camera on sports mode they can capture an award winning photo translating into even more crowded sidelines. In the mean time I have a much bettter appreciation of the bad lighting after seeing the bulbs in action.

Unexpected Beauty

I have been trying to turn over a new leaf and keep the house clean but today I found a bonus from being a day or too late to toss what was some beautiful tulips. The bonus was I found them to be absolutely gorgeous as they were shrivelling up. They appeared to me at least to look like art created with broad brush strokes. You just never know where beauty will appear next.

Waddler

Thought for the day...Even when you waddle they can't help themselves they have to stop and watch your back end.

Childhood Memories

We all have them, things that instantly transport us back to more simple times of our childhood. It might be a restaurant, a book, a song, a special food or a smell. The restaurant that every child I grew up with would relate to was a place called Jaimie's ( Not exactly sure of the spelling) but the cool thing about it was it was a special place we only got to experience on big days like birthdays. To get service you would raise a little flag on a rope on a pulley system, it was always one of my favorites until it experienced a fire and I sort of remember it being rebuilt or moved or something, but it was never the same.

One wonderful thing about this time of year, besides my birthday is that my neighbor has honeysuckle growing all over his fence. When I was younger, our elementary school fence was also covered in honeysuckle, we all loved to suck the honeysuckle juice from the blooms. The minute the honeysuckle begins to bloom I remember those days I would stand by the school fence enjoying the smell and the taste of honeysuckle. Where has all the time gone?

Gone to the Dogs

Well I suppose you could say this place has gone to the dogs but I just couldn't help myself, so I am posting this image because I like it and it sort of freaks me out. Enjoy!

Wild Dog

Playing around the other day and found myself trying odd things. The dog was running wild due to the airsoft gun just out of the yard being shot by kid. The dog refused to sit still anywhere near me but I caught her standing still and shot her through a bush. Not the basic photo but I think I like it, throw in there the special lens I used to keep only the dog in focus and everything else is softly thrown out of focus. Didn't have too much else to post so her she is, my wild dog.

Details Again

I know I keep hammering this home but details are all around us and in general we never notice them. There I stood at a fairly exciting softball game with beautiful light and all of the sudden I noticed the ball that had been thrown down after a third out. It wasn't so much the ball but the whole scene that caught my eye.

Simple and yet there is something there.

Pleasant Accidents

Sometimes in life you set out to do something but you you find yourself with a final result which is not what you intended and it becomes a pleasant surprise. That is exactly what happened today. Playing around with some fresh flowers I discovered my first shot to be totally different from what I intended but I kind of like, what do you think?

Vacation Reflection

I made this friend of mine stand still for a moment specifically to catch what I thought was an interesting image in his glasses. The best part is that it was pretty bright on the beach and my vision any where from my eyes to my finger tips is not quite what it use to be so I really didn't see the detail that was captured in the glasses until I downloaded the file. The empty morning beach, the beautiful blue ocean and sky. I apologize for my reflection ruining the scenery but the rest of the scene was so pretty and the glasses reflection worked just as I had hoped it would.

Poppies

I love poppies, there is something about a flower that is so bright and cheerful and yet so dainty. Poppies have that crepe paper look about them and yet as the wind blows they dance with joy.

Still Cleaning

I spent most of yesterday cleaning out a cabinet and countertop in the kitchen, yes it took me most of the day. Actually truth be told, I spent about two hours cleaning off the countertop and purging old meds from a cabinet only to be told by my daughter I had not done a very good job. She then took over and began to toss everything in sight. To appreciate the depths of the mess around here I must give you a visual, there is a little plastic thing that you can screw between two 1 liter plastic drink bottles. You fill one before you attach it to the other. You then swirl the bottle in the air and it creates a tornado effect in the bottle with the water as it drains into the other bottle. During my clean sweep I deemed this little plastic piece to be of the utmost importance, seriously you just never know when the mood to make a tornado with left over bottles might hit ya'. My daughter on the other hand, tossed with total disregard for the entertainment value the little plastic piece held. Such a sad moment in my day. I have no idea what other things went in the trash but I am sure my funtimes will be a lot less fun without all the things that have disposed of.

I did come across some fun things and rather than just toss, I took photos of them. So todays photos are of old, very old bottles of Testor paint. I just love that stuff! I am proud to say I tossed after I photographed.

Tail of Two Photos

Taking photographs is a lot like life, there are always different ways to look at things and depending on your view you might have different feelings. I am including two photos of the exact same scene just seconds apart. The lighting is pretty much the same so that doesn't really affect it but the perspective and the composition of the two frames leave you with a different feel. The one on the left surprises me because I am not at first sure of what I am seeing, it also leaves me with an uneasy feel but I keep coming back to it. The one above (horizontal) has a nice diagonal line pulling the viewer in and it is a little more clear what it is and has a much more peaceful feel about it. I am not a huge fan of tilting photos but in this case it sort of works. It doesn't hold my attention as much as the vertical, maybe because I can more readily recognize what is going on and move on from it, not sure. Bottom line is both photos have merit but the one that make me more uncomfortable actually holds my interest since I don't really get it at first. Maybe that is why we can't help but rubber neck while passing an accident on the other side of the highway, why we can't get enough of celebrities doing stupid things like getting dwi's when they have drivers to take them where ever. Maybe it is just me because I have a curious nature and want to know more about things I don't understand. Sorry for getting a bit deep there but I am about to commence on cleaning out major sections of the house and am looking for a distraction to put the whole process off for a while. Happy Tuesday!

More Life's Lessons

There is something that has been missing in our culture's make-up. It is slowly creeping back into our lives courtesy of our slow economy. The movin' and shakin' has slowed down because all of that keeping up with "the Jones" cost money. People are playing more board games, using their hobbies to occupy themselves. The gentleman in the photo is one of my all time biggest heros. He is always there for me and that is pretty amazing since he is a very, very busy person. He really has important things that take up his time but some how he always finds time to help me out, even during very critical times in his life. He loves to garden and takes great pride in his yard. The fact is that he has so many huge things going on that gardening gives him an escape. I suddenly realized that seeing him in his element doing what he loves is really a photo I needed to make. I would have liked to work some beautiful light in to the image but I had to work quick so I just slapped the flash on, dialed it down and let the ambient do its thing in the background. Basically I am reminding you to stop and capture the important moments and people in your life. With the simple fact that everyone has a camera and is really getting caught up with photography don't forget to catch those moments that will have importance down the road.