Random Day

Today is officially random day as I have nothing specific to share today. I came across this photo and let's see if anyone can guess what it is. goodnight.

Sands of Time

Sands of Time...just kidding, nothing serious here just a quick shot of sand, but not just any sand. This is the sand from the local softball diamond. The team is really beginning to work out for the season and as the sun began to set there were some shadows hitting the sand. At closer examination you can see all of the little cleat marks in the sand. I suppose wherever we go , whatever we do we leave our mark some how, good and bad.

think it over

Boots

If you live in Texas, at some point in your life you will find yourself at a party where people are wearing cowboy boots. Last night, despite the lovely dresses the girls were wearing, they had adorned their feet with boots. I asked some to display their boots for me and the response I recieved was great, except for the lone boy. He obviously is a real boy and hasn't a clue how to strut his stuff, again we are in Texas. He has no style and seriously how hard is it to put your boot out with the others? He totally missed the point.

Bouncing Light

I love the fact that light bounces all over the place. Often it isn't really obvious but light bounces and shows up in the strangest places. I was fascinated at a late afternoon football game as it appeared that there was a spot light shining on the person standing right on the 50 yard line. Weird since the sun was setting behind him but then I realized the setting sun(west end) had hit a white sign at the opposite end of the field(east end) and was bouncing back (towards the west), landing directly on the spot where the 5o yard line met the sideline. With that mentality I was entertained one day at the park as I realized the underside of a bridge had light bouncing back up onto it from the water. Light can be a powerful thing, put it to work for you.

The Eyes Have It

A funny thing happens when you photograph someone with light coming from over your shoulder, especially coming from a window or some other natural light source. The eye captures a photo all itself of what is behind you. In this case, not a perfect example, look closely at the iris of the eye and you will see a reflection of the outside. Trees and sky are clearly recognizable from the reflection. I suppose reflections play a large parf of life don't they and our eyes never miss a thing.

I Have a Confession

I love weird socks! There I said it, I can't deny it. I appreciate people who can where socks that speak to them despite what fashion rules might say about weird socks. I regularly wear holiday socks whatever the holiday is. I have Christmas socks, valentines socks, fourth of July socks, I even have the free socks the bowling alley gives out with the American flag on them. I can't force myself to throw them out, I think we have three pairs from a group outing to the bowling alley. In addition to weird socks, I like to mix my socks up. They have to be mixed up with certain socks, not every color mix would work. For some reason I have a strong affinity for mixing my purple and my red socks. I know, you may never read anything else I write and I wouldn't blame you but at least I am honest. Tonight at a local basketball game I couldn't believe the other team was wearing wild socks. I have seen different socks at soccer games, especially the more important games but I was totally taken with these odd socks, I am not sure everyone wearing them felt a great love for them but they sure grabbed my attention.

What a Difference a Week Makes

Just a week ago we were enjoying nice warm temperatures, just what I love. I found time to capture a few images of the fall flowers around. Good thing too since last night a huge freeze hit, which isn't bad by itself. It becomes a bad thing when moisture comes with it and you get ice and sleet. Schools closed, cars wrecked and anything that was in bloom froze. Lucky for you I have these kale photos to bring color back to a grey day. The light was directional and it was late in the day so the colors are vibrant. Two slightly different plants with the bottom plant having great texture.

Explanation Needed

I must admit I don't have the faintest clue as to what is what when it comes to wrestling. Give me lacrosse, football, basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, golf, volleyball, basically anything with a ball but this wrestling is not as clear to me. I get that as long as you keep your backend off the ground you have a fighting chance to win your match. As to how you get there, I really don't get, so with that I give you two photos, feel free to explain to me what in the world is going on in either of them. In the first image looks like the guy in blue top is trying to pull guy in yellow over so he can pin him but in the meantime I think he might be breaking his neck. In the second photo the guy on the bottom is definitely going to need a chiropractor in the morning, seriously look at how he is bowing out his back with all of his weight between his feet and one elbow.

Going Somewhere

Awaken by a really odd dream this morning, I should have known how the day would go. I won't bore you with the details but will share this photo with you. This photo symbolizes an opportunity, a direction, a decision to go somewhere. You don't always know exactly where stairs will lead you but most people go up the stairs anyway. If these are unknown stairs you can't really see from below what might lay at the top of the stairs, you have no idea what awaits you once you get up there and let's face it if there are a lot of stairs you are likely winded and don't really pay much attention to where you end up once up those stairs. I suppose this is where trust and faith come in that all is well once there.

Color in Photos

I look back at old family photos and don't give a second thought to the fact that up to a point they are all black and white. I can only imagine the excitement when color photos became common place. I recently took a photo of leaves on the ground after a light rain, I also converted that image to a black and white file. The difference between the feeling from the two photos is, to borrow a phrase, like night and day. One is a basic photo, nothing fancy but alright, the second has a dark and moody feel(click on the image to see larger version ). Do you agree?

Nothing

Today is all about Nothing. I woke up today with big plans and expectations. That all changed with the sound of a door closing. Almost symbolic, the door closed as if the door was closed on all my plans for the day. What entered through the doorway was one sick puppy and I don't mean a dog. This was my 24hours of doing whatever but it became my day of being part nurse. Still not sure what has hit here but when someone goes to bed and stays there all day with no interest in tv, you know it's bad. So instead of all the cleaning and organizing and whatever I had planned, here I sit typing a bunch of jibberish about nothing. All is not lost I will leave you with something, just still not sure what that something will be... oh I found something to leave you with. I would like to know how in a vertical wall of stone and very old concrete, I swear this wall was part of the works program from FDR's day, sounds a little familiar actually if you go back and read the history. Short version, economy was crashing, banks were struggling, jobs were scarce and in comes new president who created jobs, basically buiding things and I think a lot of the parks around us have buildings that were part of this work program. Which brings me to my How question, if these stones have been around since then (1930's) and the concrete has withstood the test of time, how did this little plant find a place to grow and sustain itself in a vertical wall five feet above the creek?

Reflections

I found myself with a few minutes of idle time and a creek so I made the most of the situation and began to think as I made some photographs. I caught some decent reflections of trees around the creek and thought about the fact that we never see ourselves as others see us. In other words the only way we can see what we look like is from a photo or a reflection. Reflections are not always accurate and I honestly feel that the camera doesn't always tell the truth. Depending on a lot of factors the same person may not look anything like the real deal in a photo. I won't even go into the post processing that can alter a person's appearance. Reflections can deliver a myriad of different looks and they are not always positive reflections. How odd it is that we see the whole world with our eyes but will never see our own face, which is what we are instantly recognized by.

What's Wrong With This Photo?

The first thing some folks might say is that it is out of focus, which isn't really accurate. I intended for only the cat's head to be in focus and for the rest of her to be lost in the grass, softly blurring away. If you said that the cat isn't centered, well that would be wrong also since the cat isn't suppose to be dead center, that would be boring. The real problem with this photo that really gets to me is that the cat is looking out of frame, in other words the cat's gaze out of the frame also takes the viewer's eye straight out of the frame. Too bad because I really like the way the focus works on this photo but those eyes are killing the photo. Better planning next time I suppose, I won't even go into how fast this cat moves and never sits still (am I winning any sympathy yet?).

Toe Dip

For fun I decided to try my hand at photographing some jewelry, unfortunately I did not get my hands on any super fancy diamond necklaces but I did play around with different backgrounds for earrings depending on the color scheme of the design. It was fun and after one of my people saw what I was doing, made fun of me, then they wanted to try too, moving the light around until we got it just right and snapping photos, rearranging the jewelry until it looked just right. So you can call this my time of dipping my toe into new waters. I would love to be able to accurately recount the set up but I think there was a speedlight left and one right.

Loch Ness Something

I wouldn't call it a monster but I love shooting swimming because you get some cool looks freezing the water in motion. I wish I lived out west where they swim outdoors with the beautiful blue water making photos even better but I am stuck in the cold tundra and indoor (badly lit) swimming. Anyhoo, this photo makes me smile. Oh and he did place first in the race.