I love quilts. Any shape, any size. The more colorful, the better. I love pieced quilts, appliqued quilts, Amish quilts...any quilt. I have a very small quilt collection but am on the lookout to expand it. I've even made a quilt. Yes, I...Jenny...have actually made a quilt. It was a small one but I made it myself. I do have lots of quilt books and would love to be able to sit down and make all the quilts I have earmarked, but I know that isn't possible. In my small collection two of my most prized quilts are ones that my mother gave me that were made by my grandmother. These are not pristine, prize winning quilts. Rather they are quilts made by a farmer's wife and well used on the farm by the family. There are worn spots in them but I don't mind. It adds to the character of these pieces of family history. This shot is a close up of one of those quilts. I just love the fabric with the little palm trees. These quilts were probably made during the 30's or 40's and it's facinating to see fabric like this being used in such a hard time. I'm glad that I have two of these quilts so I can pass one along to each of my daughters. I hope they cherish them as much as I do.

Settings: ISO 400, F 4.0, SS 1/8 (amazing that I handheld this and still got clarity in the shot), focal length 28mm. Unsharp mask and saturation boost in PSE5.

Don't Stand So Close to Me.

This week's theme is objects that tell something about you. Well, my first photo this week will tell you something that I'm not so sure I want to admit to. Yes, I have had to purchase lovingly referred to as "old lady glasses." I thought a few years back when I had my Lasix surgery that I was free from glasses and contacts. The world was my oyster and all I had to do was see it. Well, that joy was short lived. Being firmly implanted in my forties has made a difference. I just plain can't see things that are too close to me. So I have my stash of glasses pretty much all over the house. I buy these "readers" by the 3 pack at Costco just so I can have some in just about every room of the house. I have even (gasp) taken to wearing them on a suede string around my neck so I don't lose them. You see, even though I have at least 9 pair running around here, I can never find a pair when I need them. It really is a pain having to find a pair of glasses in order to read a recipe or label. But they are necessary, especially when working on the computer. I will survive...and I promise I won't get a chain to hang my glasses on yet, for at least another couple of years.

Settings: ISO 400, F 4.5, SS 1/250, focal length 55mm. B&W conversion in PSE5.

Really officer, it's for a message board assignment.

That's how I had it all prepared in my head. Would have worked, right? I decided while out and about I'd take a shot of my view out my front windshield. Don't worry I wasn't going fast. But it is a good thing I got the shot as I was drifting toward the side of the road ever so slightly. Who'd have thunk that taking pictures while you were driving could be dangerous? I'm just glad none of my neighbors were out as this was taken in my neighborhood. Next time, head to a totally different town where nobody knows you...and take along someone to hold the wheel. As you'll notice I cleaned my windshield for the shot as evidenced by the fresh solution on the left hand side. Also, if you click on the image and enlarge it and look really close you will see I need to stop for gas. Oh, so that's what that little gas pump light is for. While I'm at it I need to dust my dashboard. Settings: ISO 200, F 5.6, SS 1/350, Focal length 18mm shot in RAW.

I'm also throwing in a shot I took of just a basic road cone. I did a color pop on this and wanted to see what you guys think. Settings: ISO 200, F 5.6, SS 1/750, focal length 103mm, shot in RAW and color pop in PSE5.

Around town

OK, I'm giving you guys a break and giving you some real shooting. I went around town shooting this and that. I took this picture just kind of for fun because I liked how graphic the "open" sign looked. I decided to do a selective coloring conversion on this shot and I really like the effect of the brick in the B&W along with the bright color of the sign. PP'ed in PSE5 with B&W and selective coloring. Upped the saturation of the color a bit too.

Settings: ISO 200, F 6.3, SS 1/125, focal length 200mm. Shot in RAW.

Ummmmmm...OK.

OK, I promise this is the last of my potty humor photos here (that's not saying I don't have more in my stash though). This one was just too good to pass up. I had to do a bit of playing around with the picture (OK, a lot of playing around) because the shooting conditions as they were basically were terrible. Picture a small federally run visitor center bathroom on top of a volcano (Haleakaka). There is this crazy lady in the dimly lit, small stall trying to take a picture of the sign above the toilet without making fellow tourists think there was funny business going on (OK the giggling may have been a tip off to the funny business). I likened this accomplishment to a Tom Cruise like moment in Mission Impossible. OK, maybe just more like a crazy mom with a camera everyday moment, but you get the picture...and so did I. Anyway, I don't think this sign needs any explanation. I am glad they put it there though, because I was sorely tempted to just dip me out a sip of cool water. I mean, doesn't everyone think of the toilet as just another water dish? ;-)

Settings: ISO 400, F 5.6, SS 1/30 (hence a lot of camera shake that forced me to beautify this in PSE5), focal length 78mm. PPed in PSE5 using plastic wrap filter among other things.

Snicker, snicker

This sign is on Maui on the famous (or infamous if you've ever driven it) road to Hana. This sign has elicited many giggles and grins from my children every time they see the picture. If you are having trouble seeing the joke, just pronounce the A's like "ay" and the i's like "E". Sorry, it's bad I know...but of course I had to take a picture of it.

Settings: ISO 200, F 6.7, SS 1/180, focal length 105mm. Stylized and saturated in PSE5.

Signs of the times

I love signs. My family thinks I'm a little off my rocker because I'm always stopping to take pictures of interesting or unusual signs. These images speak to me (no pun intended). I guess it's just my sense of humor coming out in my photography. This photo was taken on the Big Island of Hawaii in the lava fields. The lava is from the most recent flow on the island. The lava flowed over Chain of Craters road on it's way to the sea leaving me with some interesting photos and probably leaving more than a few tourists scratching their heads (or grinning like me).

Settings: ISO 400, F 6.7. SS 1/180, Focal length 45mm. Image SOOC.

Trying to see in black and white

I haven't had the chance to post any pics in a few days so I doubt anyone will be disappointed that I'm not on task for today either. I'm trying to work on my black and white conversions in PSE5. This is a shot I took last night in RAW and I did the conversion in the RAW workspace. I like the bit of grain the 800 ISO that I used gives for this shot, but I'd like to know if you think it works. I'd really appreciate any HHCC on this that I can get. I love the look of B&W, I'm just not sure if I know what a good one looks like. I figure if I can get landscape and scenic stuff to look good, then I can move on to work on portraits. I posted a second shot here of the bear statue by the river (frozen). I wanted to try out a daytime shot too. This is one of my shots I accidentally took with the WB set at tungsten which made the photo blue. Who would have thought that this would make it good for a B&W conversion? This pic was taken in JPEG, hence the problem with the tungsten setting. It was converted within PSE5.

Settings for branch shot: ISO 800, F 5.6, SS 1/20, focal length 90mm.
Settings for bear: ISO 800 (oops), F 5.6, SS 1/4000, focal length 18mm, WB tungsten (oops again).

My view these past couple of days

This is the view outside my office window here at home. This is where I spend my days working and playing. I have this beautiful maple tree there. This week it has taken on a whole new look. An ice storm that hit Monday and Tuesday has transformed my whole neighborhood into this icy wonderland. I love how it looks and just can't stop taking pictures. This is a study of my maple tree outside my window. The ice makes such a beautiful sculpture. The first shot was taken with my fisheye lens out of my office window. In the last shot you can see a reflection of other branches in the ice. Way cool.

Icy steps - 5 ways

Today I combined my facination (or obsession) with icicles with the challenge of photographing an object from 5 different angles. These are the steps that lead from the driveway sidewalk to the deck on the back of our house. The snow on the house melting has given me some beautiful ice art. Unfortunately this is also the pathway that my 2 driving teenagers like to take into the house. As you can tell, they have to find a new path as this one is quite hazardous at the moment. Oh well, they are young and will survive. I just like looking at the pretty ice myself. All photos were taken in AV mode and ISO 200. The skies here are grey today so the WB may be a bit off but I wanted to post these SOOC to see what ya'll think. Critique away!

Botanical on ice

Finding nice green stuff outdoors right now is hard to come by...so I did the next best thing. I found some frozen green stuff...namely a holly bush at the corner of my house that has been the recipient of some dripping water from my gutter. All that snow has to go somewhere where it melts. I love icicles. They are so pretty and pure. The dripping and then freezing water also makes for an interesting take on this week's theme of botanicals. I lowered the saturation on this shot to go along with the icy feel of the weather.

Settings: ISO 200, F 6.3, SS 1/20, focal length 200mm.

Wishing for summer

As I sit here in the snow, good botanical shots are hard to come by. I have a brown thumb so I really don't have any good looking house plants. So, we are going to go to days gone by in the summer when my purple coneflowers were blooming. I was lucky enough to catch a butterfly sneaking a meal on my coneflowers and took full advantage. This is the best shot I got and I absolutely love it. I have it framed and on display in my home. I'm really proud of this shot. Don't let that scare anyone...give me any HHCC you have for it. You won't offend me, really.

Added: At top is the pic after the crop suggested by Mom2Drew with the original below. Which do you like better?

Settings: ISO 400, F 5.6, SS 1/250, focal length 300. SOOC

Pink-eye???

OK, I'm running out of good material for my titles I guess. I took this photo with my fish eye lens...therefore the bad pun. I apologize for my cheesiness. Not sure what this flower is called, but I absolutely love them. They are on bushes and just burst with color. I took this shot at sunset which caused it to have some noise that I had to clean up in Noiseware. I promise, this is the last of my Maui pics that you have to be subjected to. The plants and flowers of Hawaii are one of my favorite things to photograph though so I have quite a collection built up. Heck, plants and flowers anywhere are my favorite things to photograph. Maybe because they don't give me smart remarks or eye rolls when I want to take one more shot.

Settings: ISO 200, F 4.0, SS 1/15, focal length 11mm. Taken with 10-17 fisheye lens. Lighting and sharpening adjustments in PSE5 and noise reduction in Noiseware. Still looks a bit dark though.

Haleakala Silversword

This intriguing plant grows only on Haleakala on Maui. It is a facinating plant that only flowers once in it's lifetime, near the end of it's long life. This photo was taken in a little garden that has been set up on the summit of Haleakala. There is a big effort being made to bring this plant back after becoming nearly extinct years ago. I think it's just a beautiful plant with such an interesting story, it's definitely worth saving. For more info here's a link: http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/noframe/t172.htm

Settings: ISO 100, F 10, SS 1/250, focal length 78mm, SOOC with no edits.

I'm baaaack!

Back from beautiful Maui where the weather was less than perfect, but a heck of a lot better than home. We had some cloudy, rainy weather but that's OK. Cloudy and in the 70's is better than sunny and 15. This photo was taken on a hike DH and I took at Haleakala. If you aren't familiar Haleakala is the volcano on Maui. It last erupted a couple hundred years ago so It's officially not dormant yet. It's a beautiful place and the summit looks like landscape you would see on the moon. Really beautiful. This picture was taken of some shrubbery and rocks overlooking a portion of the crater. Unfortunately the background is not that interesting because clouds rolled into the crater as we were hiking drastically limiting our view. We cut our hike short because of the clouds rolling in figuring we weren't going to see much if we kept going.

Settings: ISO 100, F6.7, SS 1/180, focal length 90mm SOOC - no edits done

All fluff, no substance

I was rewarded with an inch of new fluffy snow this morning. No wind to blow it around so everything was nice and pristine which gave me the opportunity to revisit my favorite curly bush. I just loved the way the snow lay on the branches, accentuating the curves and bends. The contrast of the wonderfully white, fluffy snow against the roughness of the bark is heavenly.

Settings: ISO 100, F5.6, SS 1/125, Focal length 68mm, Manual shot in RAW. Post processing using the steps given by Benjamin Kanarek.

Hard water

Finally...it feels like winter. We had a beautiful snowfall...and now it's melting as quickly as it came. I'm glad I had the chance to get out and snap a few shots for the water challenge. I love snow. I remember the fun of making snow cream as a kid...yummmmm. Everything seems so peaceful in a snowfall. It really gives you a sense of peace. I'll be posting a few shots over the next couple of days. I loved the texture of this shot with the nice white pristine snow against the rough texture of the tree stump and the stuff (I have no idea what it is) growing on the side. We have these stumps around our fire pit. They came from a group of 3 trees that blew over in a big storm a few years back. They make nice cheap seats for the fire pit...and sometimes interesting photographic subjects. I'm adding a B&W version of this shot. I like the color, but the B&W has such great texture. Trying my hand at B&W conversion.

Settings: ISO 100, F 5.6, SS 1/45, Focal length 78mm, shot in manual in RAW. Lighting adjustment and defog in PSE5.

My hometown

I finally got to get out and about today and snapped a few pictures around my town. One of the most famous sights to see around here is our castle. It was built by a single man, working alone without machinery. He built this castle on the riverbank using river stones that he gathered himself and making blocks using cement that he formed in milk cartons. It is a fully functioning home and events are held there all the time and a very popular haunted house. (It reportedly really is haunted) It is a really cool place to visit and tour and quite unique.

Settings: ISO 100, F 6.7, SS 1/125, AWB, focal length 42mm, Orton technique applied.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Be careful what you wish for. This winter has been unseasonably warm. All I was wanting was a nice snowfall. Well, we did get the dusting of snow but also what goes with snow...cold. I really wasn't wanting that part to tell the truth. It did afford me the opportunity to get outside and get some nice icy pictures anyway. This shot is of icicles hanging off the cover for the hot tub. I took it with my fisheye lens to try to get a cool effect. Didn't get quite what I was after but I like the shot anyway.

Settings: ISO100, F 4.5, SS 1/250, 17mm focal length. Shot with Pentax 10-17 fisheye and lightened in PSE5 with duplicate layer on screen. No other edits done.

Home Sweet Home

I love my house. I love the fact there is plenty of room for all of us. I love the fact that we have woods behind our house that is park land that will never have houses on it. I love being able to see wildlife out my window, even though I live in a metropolitan area. Although living with nature can be a challenge, deer eat just about anything, it is definitely worth it. I am a lucky person that gets to have this all right outside my window in my back yard. This buck was hanging out in my yard today with another buck just a teeny bit bigger than him. It's unusual to see bucks, and to see two together is really unusual. Usually I will see a buck with a herd of females. I'm guessing these guys were bachin' it and don't have their harems yet. Photo was taken out my dining room window as I didn't want to go outside and scare them off.

Settings: ISO 1600 (very cloudy day ouside), F 6.3, SS 1/15, 200mm.