59/365 - Through the Chain

I saw this moss covered beauty a couple weeks back and really wanted to photograph it - but it was behind a chain linked fence! Today I went out and decided to take a picture of it anyway. While there I got the idea to get my lens as close to the fence as possible and take some pictures through the chain link. I'm happy with the result even though this particular photo isn't perfect. I might have got a link from the chain in this picture, but I don't care. I chose not to crop it, perhaps I should have...

Day 39 - January 28, 2011 - Interstate Bridge

I chose this picture today (taken yesterday) because I love all the lines and textures, the green reflection of the bridge in the water and the clouds. It's not the best angle to shoot this bridge, but I was focusing more on the sky and the picture as a whole.

Day 22 - January 11, 2011 - Frozen

I had a ton of work to screen print and ship out today...(stupid drop shipments. I'm so done with you!) and I knew that it would be dark by the time I got done working so I had to get some early camera time. Today was rushed and the only thing that caught my eye was this little plant. It had a few droplets of water still on it from the day before, but the droplets had frozen overnight and were little ice balls. Kind of cool.

Day 21 - January 10, 2011 - Only Two

It was a sunny day today, with fluffy clouds painted across the beautiful blue sky. Everywhere I looked I saw a picture just waiting to be taken. Unfortunately, my kids had a two hour late start and I had a lot of work to do. I brought my camera along as I ran errands, then dropped the last boy off at school around noon. I made my way to Portland to pick up supplies for work and probably passed a half dozen bridges along the way. The bridges, the water, the boats, the buildings, and Mt. Hood all looked amazing with its shadows and sunlight. I saw so many things to take pictures of, but I never stopped.  I don't know my way around Portland well enough to know where to go to get the shot that I want and I was on a schedule. I even saw a cloud that looked like a jellyfish. Once I got home I took some pictures and everything I took pales in comparison to what I saw earlier. It's disappointing, but I always have tomorrow to try again.

Day 19 - January 8, 2011 - Macro Failure

I forgot how simple and beautiful macro shots can be, so I went outside this morning with the intent to take some. Funny thing is, that I don't know my camera or lenses well enough to know how to take them yet. It has a macro setting, but has a hard time focusing on the part I want it to focus on. Then I change lenses and I can't zoom in enough, so I change back and it won't focus on the subject again. Pretty frustrating. I'll just have to practice a lot more, which is fine. That's what this whole blog is about - using my camera everyday in hopes of becoming a better photographer. Practice, practice, practice. So after I failed miserably with the macro shots, I took pictures of anything and everything and here is a picture of "anything". :)

Day 17 - January 6, 2011 - Bridge across the Coumbia River

We got a break in the rain for a little bit this morning and I had to drop some books off at the library, so I decided to bring the camera and tripod along. I went down to Vancouver's waterfront and took a few pictures of the I-5 bridge and other things in the area. The sky was overcast and things looked blah as far as color goes, so I decided to shoot in JPEG and in RAW just to see the difference I guess. The color is more enhanced, but I'm going to need to experiment more with RAW files before I get a better understanding of what I'm working with. Anyway, this is an HDR image shot in RAW and then edited.

Day 13 - January 2, 2011 - St John's Bridge

A little over 16 years ago, my husband Anson, and I stood under the St. John's Bridge in Portland, Oregon and took our engagement pictures. Back then Anson was the one into photography and took the pictures. Today we went back under the same bridge and I was the one with the camera. We should have taken a picture of ourselves there (I didn't think about it until now), but the sun was going down quickly and it was about 32 degrees outside and my fingers were frozen and red by the time we left.