30 April, 2011

Make a photograph dominated by the color green today.

Despite the sporadic snowstorms that keep passing through our city, more green pops up daily. Though we've done no gardening this year, many of our plants are coming back to life. These leaves belong to one of our Dwarf Columbines, which did splendidly last year despite their rough start the year before.

29 April, 2011

My days are being spent indoors right now. Today, I ventured outside long enough to sit on the deck and soak in some sun for a while, as it seemed a shame to waste such a nice day sitting around, blowing my nose. Don't know what this bug is, but it's persistent; it usually doesn't take me so long to shake a cold.

I caught sight of this beautiful view in the afternoon, during the sun's downward trek. By taking this shot through the sliding glass door, I turned the sun from one smallish, intense ball of light to a much larger piece of the photo. Sans the power lines, I actually really like the way this picture turned out.

28 April, 2011

Make a black and white photograph today.

The deck was the furthest I ventured into the outdoors today. Nothing new to report, I'm afraid.

27 April, 2011

My family and I basically spent the day sitting around, only expending energy where absolutely necessary. We're all pumping the Vitamin C right now with the hopes of kicking this nasty bug in short order.

26 April, 2011

Illustrate the word "choice" in a photograph today.

Unfortunately, the bug that my family members have been wrestling with decided to pay me a visit, causing me to wake up with an incredibly sore throat. I still managed to get out and about with my family long enough to pay a visit to Sonic, though.

25 April, 2011

Make a photograph that features a circle today.

I will admit that this isn't exactly my best work. This was a shoot and run situation; quite literally, given that I was on the track. I'm thinking that this photo probably needed to be color, since the contrast isn't particularly good on this one. What do you all think?



This bonus shot wasn't actually meant to be artistic--its purpose is to show off the really awesome weather we had today. In half an hour, our area received rain, gropple, hail, and snow. I have lived in this state for twenty years and am still amazed and amused by our weather. Just when you think you've seen it all, Colorado hits you with a storm like this one.

24 April, 2011 - Easter

Make a photograph that emphasizes converging lines.

We practically jogged into church for the Easter service, since a certain member of our family got a late start. (In her defense, she felt rather crummy due to a cold.) After church, we headed home and took a couple hours off before heading over to my grandparents' for dinner.

During said break, I took a few moments to get my daily shot. Since I couldn't find a cross to fit my mental image, I decided to make some with some nails from my toolbox.

23 April, 2011

On the evening of the twenty-second, my youngest sister discovered a lump behind her ear. Needless to say, said lump made us pretty nervous. On Saturday morning, we got in touch with our family doctor and were told to take her to the ER.

Fortunately, the lump was diagnosed as a swollen lymph node. Much better than most of the alternatives.

Needless to say, I wasn't feeling particularly creative, so I got the best shot I could while we were in the waiting room and called that satisfactory.

22 April, 2011

I am incredibly behind on my blog. My apologies for that. I'm going on a posting marathon this evening to get caught back up.

Make a low contrast photograph today.

'Twas another day of staying at home, except for one quick trip to pick up a prescription. I couldn't really come up with anything interesting for this challenge, so I figured this would do.

This is the sky shot through the textured window at our front door.

21 April, 2011

Make a photograph that features water today.

This shot was wonderfully cooperative. It barely took any effort to get the correct lighting set up and only four shots to get this particular image.

20 August, 2011

Another vet visit. Me, the dog, and the vet all made it through in one piece.

19 April, 2011

In search of some nice dress clothes appropriate for Easter Sunday, my sisters hit the clothing section of Wal-Mart today. Unfortunately, they struck out, but I managed to get my daily shot while they browsed the racks.

18 April, 2011

I took a gamble and ordered some hiking pants from Cabela's last week. They arrived much earlier than promised (one of many reasons to love Cabela's) so I had a chance to see how my gamble paid off not long after placing my order. Against the nature of internet shopping, this particular order actually worked out quite nicely! I'm very happy with my new pants and looking at purchasing some more while they're still on sale.

17 April, 2011

Due to an incredibly late night, most of the family slept in until well past noon today. As such, we did not get out and about. However, I somehow managed to get a plethora of decent photos, despite the lack of excitement. As such, I'm sharing two photos with y'all today.

16 April, 2011

Today's shot is a good reminder that accidental shots can be positively gorgeous. I spent time getting plenty of random shots, searching the house and backyard for potential photography opportunities and even took some pictures of the pups playing in the backyard, but none of them were particularly unique. A few hours after giving up on getting anything worthwhile, I spotted my mom's dog basking in a ray of sunshine.

Because today is Saturday, I did decide to play with the photo on GIMP even though I was satisfied with the original. Fortunately, I do think the edited version turned out well.


(Because I like the original, I am sharing it with you as well.)

15 April, 2011

I'm starting so suspect that I'm developing some strange love of photographing shoes. Twice in January, I posted shots of shoes (22 Jan, 27 Jan); I also photographed a shoe in February as a commission for LH.

Though I kind of wanted to photograph my trusty Swiss Army Knife for todays's challenge, I felt that such a subject would be rather similar to my photo of the really neat scissors from yesterday. Also, I rather wanted to take a shot that would essentially prove LH's presence at my place. Though she has a really funky flash drive that could have been a fun representation of technology, I really like the colors of her newly painted Converse and thought they would make a neat photo.

However, I'm not entirely sure that shoes count as "something technological". I suspect they're more likely to qualify as fashion than technology. Opinions?

14 April, 2011

There is actually a story behind this photo:
LH recently acquired a new vehicle, previously owned by her parents. By now, y'all know that I'm pretty obsessive over the cleanliness of car interiors and, because I enjoy detailing vehicles and felt this one could use a deep clean, I arranged to detail her car for her. (At the same time, we arranged for her to hang out at my house and spend the night with us.)

So, when she arrived at my place, I pulled my various tools out and proceeded to clean... and clean... and clean.

It was immensely satisfying to see the finished product.

During the detailing, though, I found an interesting array of objects hidden in the seats, on the floor, under chairs, etc. One of said objects was the pair of scissors displayed below. Because the scissors were so neat and traditional looking, I just couldn't resist taking pictures.

13 April, 2011

Pistachios really do make a lovely snack. In fact, when I was in third grade, I remember that they were all the rave. I can't say that I was raving over them yesterday afternoon, but I did enjoy munching on them after my customary kitchen cleaning.

12 April, 2011

Focus in on an interesting texture and make a photograph today.

Though all of the colors in my dog's coat are quite interesting, I find that they're made even more fascinating by the curls along her back.

11 April, 2011

Make a photograph [that] features a subject made of wood today.

As I knew today would be a ridiculously busy day, I decided on my photo earlier than usual. I find that wood has such amazing character that even a simple fence can look great on film, if done right. Though I usually leave my exposure preset alone for my photos (and rely on GIMP to help me tidy up shots), I decided to take the exposure down a bit for this image. I'm glad I did, as it deepened the tone of the shadows a bit and prevented overexposure on the lighter portions of the fence.

10 April, 2011

Forgot to take a photo until the evening, so I grabbed a bottle of my favorite soda and snapped a shot.

9 April, 2011

Illustrate time in a photograph today.

I put a fair bit of thinking into today's challenge. Just about everything I came up with was actually an illustration of age or a clock. Flowers. (Yeah right. Like we have those here in Colorado in April.) Weathered fence. Clock. Eroded concrete. Our oldest dog. Sundial. Clock.

Clocks, being a measurement of time, seemed very much to me like photographing a tape measure and claiming you photographed a human. I just couldn't accept that particular subject. However, after much contemplation, an idea finally clicked.

Most of you probably know that I'm a Doctor Who fan. If you didn't before, consider yourself enlightened. As I thought on time and how to represent it, a quote by the Doctor himself popped into my head. (For those of you that don't know, the Doctor is a time traveling alien. It sounds weird, but it's actually awesome.) These were the Doctor's words: "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff."

So I give you my illustration of time: a ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey yar-- *ahem* stuff.

8 April, 2011

Make a photograph that features a grid of some sort today.

It's the floor tiles. In the main hallway. At the gym.

7 April, 2011

No matter how clean a kitchen is, it just doesn't feel complete without a shiny faucet.

6 April, 2011

Make a photograph of something shiny today.

One merely had to look at the messy interior of my car to deduce that I hadn't detailed it since December. For weeks, my goal had been to get my car cleaned out; today, I finally succeeded at doing so.

Unfortunately, the sun had ducked behind an army of clouds by the time I got to the picture taking stage, so the sheen of the tire wasn't quite what it could have been but I think it still counts.

5 April, 2011

Focus on an edge today and make a photograph.

This is kind of a "down the rabbit hole" shot. A few years ago, our neighborhood was invaded almost overnight by rabbits. (In fact, said invasion occurred shortly after our coyote population was rendered non-existent.) For most of that time, the rabbits avoided our backyard, due to the rather noticeable presence of dogs. However, apparently there are now so many bunnies that front yards just aren't enough to sustain the population, so they've expanded their territory to include backyards. (Which has resulted in many a close encounter of the unfriendly kind with our dogs.) To expedite movement between yards, the rabbits have dug a series of tunnels under each fence. This here is one of said holes, positioned at the edge of our front and backyard.

Yes, I have a habit of intentionally avoiding literal interpretations of the daily challenges.

4 April, 2011

I noticed today that we have a few green leaves growing on our rose bush! I was very excited to see that little bit of green, since the city is still incredibly brown.

In the past, I've had a hard time forcing my camera to focus on something as small as a leaf, but managed to get this shot with a bit of finagling. Project 365 really is a fantastic way to get to know your camera--a year ago, I would not have been able to get the photo I wanted.

3 April, 2011

I managed to catch this first shot before we even headed for church this morning. While the pups were playing in the backyard, I played spectator and enjoyed their antics. I often pull out the camera and try to get photos of them goofing around, but don't always get pics worth looking at more than once. This one appealed to me, though, so I decided to share.


I am technically considering this next photo my official shot of the day, though. Mostly because the quality's way better. And it's garlic. Who can resist an artistic picture of garlic bulbs?

2 April, 2011

Make a photograph of a symbol today.

Today being Saturday, I decided to have fun with processing my daily photo. Let me tell you, it looks much better now than it did before I put it on GIMP. (Yes, the color on black and white effect. Redundant, I know, but I like it. I was also curious to see how well gold stood out on greyscale. Not quite as awesome as red, I think.)

1 April, 2011

Illustrate attraction in a photograph today.

Now, I'm not entirely sure that this photograph meets the Daily Shoot requirement, however, the assignment led to the rabbit trail that resulted in this shot. So I'm posting the link and assignment anyway.

Basically, as I sat around contemplating a way to meet the challenge ("Compasses, birds flying south, magnets...") my mind wandered to the exchange student I've been asked to pray for. Which led to me thinking about the way America has long been an attraction to many folks (often refugees). Which resulted in me staring at New York on a map and thinking of Ellis Island as something of a magnet.

Rabbit trails don't like being straight as an arrow. Neither does my thought process.