Day 123 - Halloween/Selina

I didn't want to take a picture of trick-or-treaters for this one, so I tried something different.  The kids received a card from grandparents for Halloween with some pretzels, so I took the card and put it in the bowl of Halloween candy.  I think this speaks Halloween.  :)

 (F4, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 27mm)

Day 123: Halloween/Heather

This house is right down the street from where I work and I have seen it decked out for Christmas before but this is the first I have seen it decorated for Halloween. When I drove by and saw this the other day, I knew this was where I was coming for my shot. This is only a small portion of their decorations and they were adding to it this morning.

f8, Exp. 1/250, 46mm

Day 122 - Mystery Photo/Selina

Hmmm...to find a photo and let someone guess what it is.  Well, here you go.

Day 122: Mystery/Heather

My friend came up with the idea for this theme: we have to take a picture of something and the other has to guess what it is. Selina and I thought this would be a good time of year for this theme so here it is. Any guesses?

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 52mm

Day 121 - The Color Orange/Selina

Orange is so easy at this time of year.  Good thing someone brought cupcakes to a meeting at work today.  Make for a great photo session.

 (F5.6, 1/30 second, ISO 800, 36mm)

Day 121: Orange/Heather

I went around today and took pictures of various orange items. I wasn't really thrilled with most of them, but really like how this one turned out. I kind of had to laugh as I selected this one, however, as one of my friends recently pointed out a lot of my pictures tend to be of food. (hmm...any food magazines or restaurants out there need a cheap photographer?)

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 120 - Shadow/Selina

I didn't have a lot of luck with this one - it was a gloomy day so I decided I had to make my own shadows.   Jeff helped me out a bit and I think this is supposed to be a bunny rabbit.

 (F5.6, 1/30 second, ISO 800, 28mm)

Day 120: Shadow/Heather

I live in the Portland area. It's October. So naturally, it was raining today which meant I had to manufacture a shadow. That turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be-until I realized I could hold my hand near the kitchen floor and get a shot of it.

f4.5, Exp. 1/30, 60mm

Day 119 - Fall/Selina

Oh, I wish I had thought of this shot much earlier, but it is what it is.  After remembering I needed a fall shot, I walked outside at about 10:00 pm and tried to take a picture of the gourds in the window and the fall shovel I have hanging on the door.  None of these were my favs, but...

 (F5, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 42mm)

Day 119: Fall/Heather

We have a couple of trees in the parking lot at work that shed a lot of leaves. For the last couple of days, I was afraid the landscape company would come and clean up the parking lot before I had a chance to get a picture of them, but I got lucky and beat them to it. This wasn't my favorite shot but I chose it as it has part of the tree trunk in it and my favorite shot didn't.

f6.3, Exp. 1/160, 56mm

Day 118 - Triangle/Selina

After trying to come up with a few different ideas, Jeff suggested his dice.  He has so many to choose from; then Victoria decided she wanted to help.  So, not only do I have triangle dice in my picture, they are in a triangle shape as well.  :)  And if you look closely, you'll see some triangle shadows. 

(F 5.6, 1/30 second, ISO 800, 48mm)

Day 118: Triangle/Heather

My boss gave me the idea for this photo when we were trying to think of something that is triangular and he asked if a pyramid would work. I decided it would as I still have the pyramid-shaped Rubix cube from when I was a kid. The gold side has been completed for years but the other sides were given up on long ago.

f4.2, Exp. 1/60, 34mm

Day 117 - Tree/Selina

I love this time of year.  Unfortunately, I still don't walk comfortably, so I don't venture far for pictures.  As the kids and I were driving home, we drove by the library and the park and saw some pretty trees.  These weren't the best of the trees around, but it was windy and I was hurting, so these are what I ended up with.

 (F 4.5, 1/30 second, ISO 400, 33mm)

Day 117: Tree/Heather

There are so many gorgeous trees right now just along the 4.5 miles I commute to work. I tried to get a few shots on my way home, but it started raining pretty hard and I didn't want the camera to get too wet. Around 5:00, I noticed it had stopped raining and took advantage of the break in the rain to get some shots while it was still light out. These trees are on the street side of my neighbor's fence.

f5.6, Exp. 1/125, 62mm

Day 116: Carving/Heather

When I took my pumpkin pictures, I couldn't help but notice the giant carved bear next to the feed store entrance. Carving was originally set for another day but that became pillows instead. I made a mental note to remember the bear for when carving was rescheduled.

Unfortunately, the weather was really bad today and I had a hard time holding the camera still due to my hands being cold. I also had a hard time getting the full bear without a lot of background "noise" so here is a shot of his head.

f4.5, Exp. 1/100, 52mm

Day 116 - Carving/Selina

So, I had the kids save their pumpkins so we could carve them, with this theme in mind.  They had so much fun doing it.  Morgan is old enough now that he can take the top off on is own, so he did all his own work.  Victoria still needed help removing her top, but she did all the gutting (making funny faces the whole time).  They are growing up much too quickly.  My children being the goofy kids that they are, decided the pumpkins needed to wear Victoria's birthday mask.  Silly kids.

 (F4, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 23mm)

Day 115: Needle/Heather

I thought about raiding the craft room and using my cross stitch needles for this shot but ultimately decided to go with pine needles. This is my Norfolk Pine that served as my Christmas tree last year that I somehow have managed to keep alive.

f4.2, Exp. 1/60, 34mm

Day 115 - Needle/Selina

If I had really been on the ball, I would have had Victoria make a ribbon flower; she just learned the other night and it uses a needle.  Oh well, this was the best I could do.

(F5, 1/60 second,  ISO 400, 39mm)

Day 114: Glass/Heather

I knew right away what I wanted to use for this theme. I have had the little glass bowl since I was 4. Why my grandma thought this was appropriate, no one will ever know. My parents tried to get rid of it for years and I would never let them-even before I knew it was mine! I was devastated when we moved back from Arizona to find the movers had broken it. And I was thrilled to find the matching vase at an antiques and collectibles show in 2006.

I would love to know what this style of glass is called but so far have not been able to figure that out.

f4, Exp. 1/60, 29mm

Day 114 - Glass/Selina

I had so much fun with this shot.  Jeff helped out by shining a light in a few different places for me so that I could play with different angles.  I love this one!  This was done only with a glass vase, glass beads, and an LED flashlight.  Nothing was moving, but I love the "wormhole" look to this one. 

(F4, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 24mm)

Day 113: Starts with "R"/Heather

I thought of a couple of cool things that start with "R," but didn't have a race car or rocket ship handy. I took a couple of shots of a collage made out of boxes of Rice-a-Roni, and then took several shots of my collection of remote controls. This isn't the best picture but it is my favorite of the bunch.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 55mm

Day 113 - Start with "R"/Selina

Off to the trusty craft room again for this shot.  I took a picture of all the ribbons that were in one set of holders.  I have many more, they just aren't all in one place yet.

(F4, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 27mm)

Day 112 - Half Self-Portrait/Selina

I do not like to have my picture taken at all, so doing this was not so easy.  I was having issues taking a picture of just half my face too; but this is the best I came with.  I often hear there are resemblances to my mom and I can rarely see them, but there's something in this one where I can see it.

 (F5, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 46mm)

Day 112: Half Self-Portrait/Heather

I thought this was going to be frustrating and it was. At one point, I gave up on trying to get half my face and took a few shots of my lower half. They turned out interesting: from the perspective I took the shots, it looks like I have really little feet. I decided to try for a few more face shots and finally was able to get one I can live with. This is the left half-it's having a better hair day than the right.

f3.5, Exp. 1/30, 18mm

Day 111 - Impact/Selina

This theme should have been a few days ago when we had the car accident!  That's OK - as a last minute thought, I remembered that Morgan's church camp was themed "Impact" and he had a shirt with this theme on it.  So, while I couldn't think of any"thing" that impacted, I loved his shirt and the impact God has on us.

(F 3.5, 1/60 second,  ISO 400, 50mm)

Day 111: Impact/Heather

My first thought for impact was a car crash. But since I wasn't willing to drive my car into something for this, I had to come up with Plan B. I wanted to use a picture of the really cool logo my friend designed for ReUse Portland because recycling is something that definitely has an impact. But he didn't get back to me with whether or not he was okay with that before I left work. So, it was on to Plan C.

I was hoping to catch this the moment it hit the ground, but as I suspected, it fell too fast for me to focus and snap the shot. It was fun to try though. :) And the boys enjoyed cleaning up my mess when I was done taking pictures.

f4.5, 1/60, 70mm

Day 110 - MetaArt/Selina

With a couple of artsy people in the house, I thought this one could be lots of fun.  I have a couple of pictures in the house that the kids have painted as well as various other art pieces of theirs.  Victoria even sketched on this evening for me to try.  I ended up liking the colors of this painting that she did about 5 years ago (so she would have been about 5).  This picture and one that Morgan did both hang in the craft room.  How appropriate for this crafty household.

 (F2.8, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 50mm)

Day 110: Meta Art/Heather

This is definitely a case of art being subjective. The painter of this was me. When I was in college, the summer after my junior year, I stayed in Moscow. My roommate was taking an art class and I didn't like the idea of her walking across campus to our apartment at night by herself, so I started going to the art lab with her. One night, I asked if I could paint something too. So, despite how this looks, it was actually done by me in my early 20's, not when I was a child. Sadly, it does not look much different than my childhood drawings. Currently, this can be found hanging in my guest/craft room.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 109 - Pumpkin/Selina

I have been so anxious to get up to Greenbluff so that I can take pictures and bring home some very yummy apples.  The kids are so very ready to carve pumpkins too.  We enjoyed a great couple of hours with April & family and went home to a warm bowl of chili after we were done.

 (F 7.1, 1/320 second, ISO 100, 50mm)

Day 109: Pumpkins/Heather

While I know there are several pumpkin patches around here, finding one didn't work with my other plans for today. The other day, I made a mental note that they are selling pumpkins at the feed store about a mile or so from here. Knowing also that I could find them at grocery stores, I first tried Safeway but they didn't have any displayed outside and I know from a friend of mine that grocery stores frown upon random people taking pictures inside the store. So I headed over to the feed store only to find it closed and the pumpkins fenced in for safe keeping which was disappointing as I wasn't able to get a shot like what I had in mind.

f10, 1/320, 62mm (Landscape mode)

Day 108 - Apples/Selina

Oh, I love fall.  I love all the colors, the fresh apples, the pumpkins, the weather when it's still wonderfully warm in the afternoons.  I have so many ideas for apples, but I didn't get to go pick apples like I had planned for this one, so we stopped at the store and picked up some apples and decided to make some caramel apples.  The kids thought this was so much fun.  Tasted yummy, too!

 (F 4.5, 1/30 second, ISO 800, 29mm)

Day 108: Apples/Heather

Apples was originally planned for last Saturday as I was supposed to do something called the Fruit Loop Tour in Hood River and this is the height of apple season. Unfortunately, the outing was cancelled due to bad weather so apples got moved to today.

I am hosting game night tonight so I decided I would include apples as part of the snacks to make this challenge happen. I got a tray of Honeycrisps from Costco and then decided I wanted to do something other than stage them on the table. So I grabbed the apples, the camera and a basket and headed outside.

f4, Exp. 1/30, 29mm

Day 107 - Pillows/Selina

As a last minute change, I thought this was a pretty good idea, but I wasn't able to find a good shot that I liked.  This one will have to do.

(F 4.5, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 34mm)

Day 107: Pillows/Heather

Late this afternoon, Selina asked if we could do something other than carving for today. Since I had no idea what I was going to do for that, I was more than okay with it. After comparing notes, we discovered that sleeping was the only thing we had in common for our plans for this evening. So we decided on pillows as the replacement theme.

I didn't just want to use the pillows on my bed and decided on a couple of heart-shaped throw pillows instead. The blue one was given to me by a dear friend after James died and the other one my mom made for me years ago in an effort to steer in me towards a more girly decorating style. She failed, much to her dismay.

f4, Exp. 1/60, 29mm

Day 106: Half/Heather

I thought about what to do for this all morning. I was taking the theme quite literally and wasn't coming up with anything I wanted to use. And then I had an idea, and sent Selina an e-mail that I may stretch the theme a bit.

This is definitely not my best shot and proved harder to get than I anticipated. It is half of the top of a quilt I inherited when my grandma died. I inherited it because I am the crafty one in the family. I got this piece and another like it but we never did find the material Grandma intended to use to finish it. So, 3 1/2 years later, it sits unfinished and in two pieces.

That is going to change, however. One of my closest friends just took up quilting so Saturday after we are finished volunteering at Schoolhouse Supplies, we are going to go to the fabric store so she can help me pick out some fabric to finish it. It will be cool when it is finally finished to have something that has both my and my grandmother's stamp on it.

f3.5, Exp. 1/60, 18mm

Day 106 - Half/Selina

I know we have already had moon as our theme, but last night I noticed that the moon would be really close to half and sure enough it was.  I was really happy with this shot.

(F 5.6, 1/2000 second,  ISO 800, 300mm)

Day 105: Starts with "B"/Heather

Indian Summer is my favorite time of year and it never lasts long enough. As it won't be long before I am going to and coming home in the dark and the rainy season will make outside shots miserable, I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful day we had today and get an outdoor shot. I spent part of my lunch break driving around trying to find a cool, old barn but had no luck.

After work, I was volunteering at Schoolhouse Supplies, which is located on the campus of Portland's Madison High School. I was looking out the door, absently staring at the bleachers when I realized that was something that starts with "B." I had my camera with me so I went out and took a couple of pictures before the sun completely went down.

f7.1, Exp. 1/30, 48mm

Day 105 - Starts with B

While I was eating a snack tonight, I thought this was the perfect thing for "starts with 'b'".  I had blueberry bread.  :)

Day 104: Popcorn/Heather

I actually had a hard time choosing a picture for today as there were a couple I like. I decided to have some fun with this and take various shots of a bag of microwave popcorn. This is one I took after I dumped the popcorn into a bowl.

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 70mm

Day 104 - Popcorn/Selina

I knew what I wanted to do with this shot since I finally got an air popper.  It's not as good as I would have liked but, you get the idea.

 (F3.5, 1/200 second, ISO 1600, 18mm)

Day 103: Changing Leaves/Heather

The way things were going, I thought the leaves were all going to drop before this theme came up. The leaves started changing a couple of weeks ago but there are still plenty on the trees. Unfortunately, I smashed one of my toes last night and could barely walk today. Luckily, I discovered one of the plants in my backyard is starting to change. This isn't the picture that best shows the theme but it is my favorite.

f4.5, Exp. 1/30, 70mm

Day 103 - Changing Leaves/Selina

Ooohhh...it's fall and I love all the pretty colors.  However, walking far is still a bit of a challenge and I can't drive the car at all right now.  So Morgan and walked down the block a bit to see what we could take for pictures.  There were actually two that I had a hard time choosing from, and finally decided on this one since the theme isn't fall, but changing leaves.  You can see all the different colors of the surrounding leaves as well as a few different colors on this one in particular.

(F7.1, 1/400 second, ISO 500, 300mm)

Day 102 - Candy/Selina

We originally had this set for carnival today, but my niece's birthday party themed changed to Candyland.  So, we decided candy would be a great choice for this one.  I had all sorts of ideas, but finally decided on the shot of the awesome cake April did for her.  Plenty of sugar on there to hype up the entire school, but it looked so cool!

(F18, 1/200 second,  ISO 100, 24mm)

Day 102: Candy/Heather

Not long after I got my braces off, I treated myself to something I love but couldn't eat while I had them on: Jelly Bellies. I bought the big container from Costco, so it's going to take me a while to get through them. But having them made this a very easy challenge for me as all I had to do was dump some in a bowl and snap away.

f4.5, Exp 1/25, 70mm

Day 101 - Balloon/Selina

We needed to change the theme for this challenge because apples no longer worked for either of us.  I knew I had a birthday party today at Chuck E Cheese and thought balloons would have been a great choice.  Well, they would have had I remembered that I was supposed to be taking a picture of one before I left. Darn!  Instead, I decided that my option was to go to the Dollar Store to find some since we had yet another party the next day.  Worked out great, just not as good as a photo as I would have liked.

(F4.5, 1/60 second, ISO 400, 30mm)

Day 101: Balloon/Heather

Selina and I went back and forth on a theme for today, finally settling on balloon. I figured this would be pretty easy as most apartment complexes put balloons in their entrances to attract potential renters. Apparently, they do not do this when it rains. I had given up finding any and was on my way to the store to just buy one when I just happened to spot some out of the corner of my eye at a complex by the vet's office. Ironically, this is the complex James lived in when he first moved here.

f8, Exp. 1/80, 70mm

Day 100 - Portrait/Selina

After capturing a couple of incredible shots of Victoria this weekend, I thought maybe I could try for some of Morgan, but wouldn't you know?  He wouldn't agree to be my model.  Victoria was more than willing to try again and she's so very photogenic that I got several I could use for Christmas cards this year.  This one is one of my favorites.  Where did my baby girl go?  She's growing up much too quickly and just look at those dimples!  (Also note the very blurry background that would have been great a few days ago!)

(F1.8, 1/125 second, ISO 100, 50mm)

Day 100: Portrait:/Heather

I have taken a bunch of great portrait-style shots of the dogs in the past (mostly by accident) so I figured this would be easy: put the camera in portrait mode and take pictures of the dogs. Step one was easy. Step two-not so much. I had just given Charlie a new ball so they were wound up. I did find that I was able to use the ball to attract their attention where I wanted it, but was not fast enough to snap the shot I was going for. No wonder pet photographers charge so much!

Here is a picture of Sammy. Hard to believe my baby boy will be 8 next week!

f4.5, Exp. 1/60, 60mm

Day 99 - Starts with F/Selina

I raided the craft room again for this shot.  I have lots of silk flowers in the craft room so I thought this would work well.

(F2.8, 1/50 second, ISO 200, 50mm)

Day 99: Starts with "F"/Heather

I took my camera to work with me today because my co-worker collects frogs and has several in her office. I took several shots of them and also took a few of the fries I got with lunch just in case I wasn't happy with any of the pictures of the frogs. There were a couple of cute ones, but ultimately I liked this one of the fries the best.

f4, Exp. 1/50, 31mm