Spookiness

The challenge for this months Clickin Moms blog circle was to capture "Spookiness".
Originally I thought I'd probably take photos of the local Halloween displays and costumes. But my plan changed one sunny afternoon.

You see, I had an appointment with my realtor to look at a vacant property that was very old, rundown and heavily overgrown.

I was early for our appointment.....when she called at the last minute saying she could not make it, but I was free to walk the property and explore it's vacant old house. Cool - because I love exploring abandoned buildings!

There is a certain charm about this old place. The house is severely neglected, and the city is demanding the structure be demolished, but some of the old wood would be worth reclaiming.

As I'm walking around outside the building I'm seeing small signs of someone having been there recently, like a bowl with dried up milk and cereal,  empty cans that have not rusted yet, drug paraphernalia.... all signs that someone is likely squatting on the property.

As I walk around through the brush and approached the front porch I'm looking in the windows to view the interior. And then I see smilie face balloon through the window!! This totally creeped me out knowing someone had indeed been in the house - recently! The helium balloon was still floating,  so it had to have been placed there recently!! I was way too spooked to go inside the house and look around because I was afraid I would encounter someone inside there.

I'll apologize now for only having instagram photos, but they were all I had from this experience.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now treat yourself to some more spookiness by visiting Holly's awesome blog!!

Humanizing the Non-Human

This months blog circle challenge at Clickin' Moms was  "Anthropomorphism" to "Humanize the non Human." To make objects look and feel human.

Our dogs are definitely members of the family and get treated as such. They enjoy home cooked meals (the RAW diet), they have an active social life, they even go wine tasting with us. Yes they are very spoiled, but they are oh so sweet!  I also enjoy dressing them up much to my children's chagrin! :)

Ruby actually enjoys wearing clothes. Being an Italian Greyhound, and a breed with little to no body fat, it's important to keep them warm. So Ruby has an extensive wardrobe. One of her cutest outfits is her giraffe costume, but her daily wear is polar tech fleece by DogGoneChic.

Ruby and her sister Hazel

The cold wet weather is here but Ruby stays snugly warm in her DogGoneChic fleece!

 Sometimes both girls will get dresses up.  Hazel definitely does not care for it!

And because the dogs go everywhere with us we decided to buy them an RV so we could all travel together. They even have their own bed!

Thanks for stopping by. Please visit Holly's blog and see her lovely interpretation of anthropomorphism.

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Motion Blur

This months CM's blog circle challenge was to capture Motion Blur. I've been utilizing my iPhone a lot this summer and I found it's harder than expected to capture a descent motion blur shot. Surely there must be an App for that!

If you look closely you can see my little dogs buzzing around me. Normally they are very calm and snuggly, but for some reason here they are having a major spaz attack.

And then one afternoon I came home and discovered the dogs had gutted a stuffed toy and shredded a tennis ball! I wonder who the guilty party was? 

Normally the girls are very well behaved! Really they are!! :)

Thanks for stopping by. You can follow the blog circle and see how the incredibly talented Holly captured motion blur.

Blog Circle Challenge - Cell Phone Photogrpahy

This months blog circle challenge at Clickin Mom is Cell Phone photography! I love my iPhone!! We took several road trips this month, like little mini vacations. I had a great time shooting random images for this challenge and processing them with various apps.

The fourth batch of Robins to hatch this year!

Stopped to have lunch at a local Mexican food restaurant where the neighboring chickens like to hang out!

Grabbed some lunch at a french bistro and they had this unique bathroom.

Hanging out with friends enjoying the summer sun and captured this amazing flare with my iPhone.

A cool place to rest

I love this gate! Such a creative use of old gears and other old parts!

Pink Bubble Gum Cornflower in my friends yard.

Beautiful scenery along the way.

Thanks for stopping by! Now treat yourself to some amazing cell phone images taken by Holly!

Blog Circle Challenge - Shallow Depth of Field

This months blog circle challenge over at Clickin Mom's is shallow depth of field.  This is absolutely one of my most favorite aspects of photography! I love how a shallow DOF can isolate your subject and make it more prominent or more the center of focus in the image.

This is our little dog Hazel. And yes, we are those kind of people who sometimes enjoy dressing up their dogs! LOL

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please hop on over to Holly's blog and see her amazing images focusing on shallow depth of field!

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Beautiful Ugly

This months photography challenge at CM was to capture something ugly, yet beautiful.  I'd been looking forward to this activity for weeks and enjoyed this months shooting so much, and I had so many ideas in my head. I did a ton of macro shooting. Shooting everything from ugly toadstools/mushrooms growing in the pasture, to pollen dust on the ferns, spiderwebs covered with dew....focusing on lots of tiny details that are ugly in a normal sense, but really beautiful when looked at in unique ways.

However, it was during a recent road trip this month that really changed my perspective of the ugly. I spent hours driving through some really desolate areas. What I once viewed as ugly, brown, boring,
landscape became something really, really beautiful!!

Beautiful skies..... golden fields...... and wide open spaces.

And out of nowhere I come upon a huge wind farm and lush green fields and lots of rusty gold.

And cows grazing with wind turbines in their pasture!

And old abandoned buildings that I desperately wanted to explore, but did not want to trespass, so I just took a quick snapshot from the road and continued on my way.

And as I continued my journey on down the road,  I enjoyed a renewed sense of beautiful ugly.

Tumbleweeds, isolation, vast open spaces, blue sky and glorious clouds....and untold beauty at every bend!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now hop on over to Holly's blog and see her wonderful interpretation of Beautiful Ugly!!

CM Blog Circle- Shooting Through Glass

This months CM blog circle photography challenge was to shoot through glass. 

While on a brief trip out of town I decided to focus on some of the sites in the downtown area. I started my morning off at a local bakery. Who can resist the smell of fresh baked bread? 

During my stroll around the city I came upon a quaint little church and noticed the sunlight shining through this beautiful stained glass window.  It was impossible to photograph it without the reflective glare of the power lines overhead. At first I found them to be very distracting and almost deleted the photo, but the more I looked at the image the more I decided to embrace the geometric pattern.

As I continued my walk and enjoyed a bit of window shopping, my eyes were captivated by these yellow submarines and hanging bits of confetti!

Thanks for stopping by! Now pop on over to Holly's blog and see her creative interpretation of this months challenge!

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Interesting Perspectives

This months blog circle challenge over at ClickinMom's was to focus on interesting perspectives in photography. This assignment really had me stumped as far as originality goes, and was it to be a creative or a technical challenge??

I know about the vanishing point. Like railroad tracks that seem to meet in the center as they vanish into the distance. Or the roadway the vanishes into the horizon. And then there's the forced perspective or optical illusions where you can have someone look as if they are holding the sun in the palm of their hand.

Well I didn't go with any of those examples! Instead I experimented with my 16-35L lens and was curious what type of perspectives I would get with such a wide angle. I was amazed by the distortion the lens creates when combined with distance & proximity to the subject.

Due to my positioning in this image, the tall tree almost looks as if it's part of the smoke stack. I could have moved myself slightly so the tree would be in a different position but for this experiment I wanted as many trees in the background as possible so I maintained my position. Plus I liked that I was able to capture the sun flare at this position. I shot this in a portrait orientation.

In this next shot,  I maintained my same body position and all I did was turn my camera to the landscape orientation. The front end of the tractor looks so much wider! And look at all the trees in the background! They are leaning over so far.... it's crazy!

Here I took a picture of the tractor from a distance.  The trees look fairly straight. The yard does in fact have a slight slope.

In this shot I simply walked closer to the tractor trying to keep my body at the same angle. I was surprised by how much bend or distortion is created. This is most noticeable in the tree and I also think the tractor looks as if it's leaning slightly.

I am not sure I did this challenge correctly, but I had a fun time discovering this unique characteristic of this lens!!

Now pop on over to Holly's blog and see her interpretation of "Interesting Perspectives"!

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Food

This month's challenge over at Clickin Moms was food. Food photography takes a lot of preparation and planning. And since I've been out of town for a couple of weeks I didn't really have the time to devote to this months project.

One of my favorite foods is fruit! And I especially love Granny Smith apples, whoever I found it more interesting to photograph the Red Delicious. I liked the color variations and patterns in the apple peel and the way the light reflected off the red skin. 

Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Please hop on over to Holly's blog and see her wonderful presentation of food!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

CM Blog Circle Challenge - Close Up Portraiture

This year in an attempt to keep myself motivated with my photography,  I've joined a lovely group of women from ClickinMoms who are doing a monthly blog circle project. Each month we will have a specific topic or subject to photograph.  We will each link our blog to the next person in the circle and follow it all the way around.

This month's challenge focuses on close up portraiture.

These photos were all shot with the 35mm lens. It's not my lens of choice for portraits, although some people like the distortion and quirkiness it lends to an image.

I'm still working on processing and trying to find the perfect black & white conversion.

As the blog circle continues, please head on over to Holly's blog and see her images from this months challenge.

Welcome 2013