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Fall in Northern California

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:38:30 GMT

Its already October 19th! Time flies! It is really starting to look like fall around here. We went to Lake Tahoe and Hope Valley a while back just as trees were beginning to turn. Some were really golden others were still green. It would have been fun to go back and visit them all again... but, like everyone else, I have been busy.

I always like Fall. The cooler temperatures are great. I usually have more energy to "fall clean" (vs. spring clean). Hopefully I will get out for more exercise! It really felt like a work-out on our hike.

I hope everyone is well. I have enjoyed everyone's posts. Happy Autumn!

Santa Barbara... Hmmm, nice place!

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 13:49:27 GMT

I had a few days in Santa Barbara. What a beautiful city. We had nice weather and walked our legs off. I hope everyone is enjoying the end of their summer. We have had a few days of breezy weather that had a touch of Fall in it. Where does the time go?
I sent my Canon in (not too long after this trip) to have adjustments on the focus mechanism and now it feels like new again. It was hard to ship it off (I admit, I am attached), but the Canon Service department is very nice and didn't mind when I called to see how things were going. The turn around time was good.
Hope you are are doing great!!

Chihuly is in SF

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:31:43 GMT

If you love pretty colors and shapes and displays and glass - the Chihuly exhibit in San Francisco is for you. There were many rooms filled with displays. I went through twice and could have done it again. I highly recommend it if you like "still life" photos. The lighting was great - but glad I have a 5D. I used a high ISO but got these all hand held.

We were so interested in the process of how these pieces were created that we bought the DVD. Chihuly and his team certainly had fun creating these works of art.

I am familiar with some of his work but there were displays of baskets that I had never seen before. It was lovely.

I hope everyone is having a good summer! Thanks for all your inspiring work.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:47:41 GMT

Okay... one more batch of travel photos. I highly recommend a trip to Zion national park, it is sooooo beautiful. I think we were there at a perfect time for spring green colors. I would like to go back for the fall colors.
The smoke has cleared here where we live. Yay. I hope the fires are out soon and everyone will feel safe at home. Three weeks of very very smokey skies felt weird. The first thing I did when I saw blue sky this morning was go out for a walk!
I hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Monument National Park

Zion National Park

Vacations

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:34:13 GMT

It is nice to go through vacation photos once you are home and already super-busy. Looking at the photos helps bring back some of the relaxation. The US has some incredible places to visit. We went to the Grand Canyon, Zion and areas around Page, Arizona. We took a tour into the famous slot canyons. I got some great photos, I included one in this post that shows what it was really like - full of other people wanting beautiful photographs. So I mostly shot above peoples heads, and so did everyone else. I tried to set up a tripod but it was just too busy. The photos are all handheld. Not bad... gotta love the 5D. This is my first group of photos... they make me want to go back.

Has anyone ever noticed that their 5D gets a little soft. I am going to send mine in for a "tune-up". It is soft or else I need new glasses. I hope everyone is having a great summer.
Grand Canyon

Horseshoe bend outside of Page, Arizona
Slot Canyon

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Thu, 22 May 2008 03:42:24 GMT

Hi everyone, It has been a while since I last blogged. Busy life. Just like everyone else. We had some odd things happen. We found termites in our floor! We had to take out all the wood flooring and replace it with vinyl flooring that thankfully we are very happy with and really helped with the appearance of our home. But taking out flooring meant moving all our stuff to the one room, replacing the molding and painting the walls. This is the deepest spring cleaning I have ever done!! It feels good. And it feels good that our house is almost all put back together. It has been a two month process. I also had to upgrade my computer. Which was traumatic! BUT - wow is my new computer faster.

With everything going on we did manage to fit in a nice little vacation to the Southwest US (pictures to follow next blog) and in March I was able to attend a lighting seminar presented by Neil Van Niekerk http://planetneil.com/tangents/ in San Francisco. He was a very good teacher and the group that attended with me had fun. I am including some photos of the very patient couple that served as our models. The class was held in the Presidio in San Francisco, then moved to the beach and then to Fisherman’s Wharf.
Besides learning some great techniques, getting to spend time with enthusiastic photographers was inspiring.

You should check out Neil’s websites and blogs, he is very generous with his knowledge. He is a kind man and has a great photographic style.

Hope you are all enjoying our spring. I have enjoyed everyone’s posts!

Neil offering instruction to fellow lighting student.

Senior Portrait Session

Sat, 02 Feb 2008 04:50:15 GMT

These photos of Josh were taken last October, on a beautiful day. I had such a nice time spending the evening with this young man and his mom.
I never got around to posting them, but now with all this winter weather and a little more time indoors I thought this would be a good time to share them. It was hard to pick my favorites, we had so much fun that we took over 300 shots before we were done.
Josh will be a 2008 graduate. (Congratulations, Josh.)
I am becoming a real fan of Lightroom. Even though there are a few features that I would like to see added to the program, for the most part my work flow has benefitted from this addition to my software collection. For Josh's photoshoot I was able to tweek photos and then automatically generate a professional looking web gallery.
One of my favorite blogs is www.lightroomkillertips.com. There is alot of great information there, presents, online videos and fun links to other inspirational sites.
I hope everyone is staying warm and dry!

Welcome 2008

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:18:59 GMT

Greetings everyone. I have enjoyed reading everyone's posts these past weeks. I hope to stop by and say hi soon.

I would like to dedicate this blog of photos from Lake Tahoe/Fallen Leaf Lake to my father. He gave me my first camera when I was in highschool. Being a photographer has brought me great joy. My father passed away on Christmas eve morning after a long illness. I was very involved in helping my mother care for my him and I am blessed to have been able to spend so much time with him. The sacredness of the Christmas season was a comfort to my heart. He will be missed but, I know he is fine and that we will see each other again.

These photos are from some short trips we were able to take this past summer.

I hope all my California friends survived the storms. We were without power for 3 days!
Take Care everyone!! Bless you!

Southern California and Data Recovery

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:09:34 GMT

I am posting some random photos from my brief time this summer in Southern California. Most of the photos are from Sanata Monica, one is from the bar at the hotel in Beverly Hills where Pretty Woman was filmed. I only had coffee at the bar but I thought the glass was pretty. It was a very elegant hotel. But the staff was kind and tolerant of visitors. The palm tree shadows are from Beverly Hills, too. I am such a tourist!! Taking pictures with my big ol' camera... I thought the architecture was very pretty. Kind of Disneyland-like.

I guess we were very fortunate that any driving we had to do was not during high traffic times. So getting around was not bad. I did find I really liked palm trees especially lining the streets and was very impressed with the Santa Monica beaches. They are big!!! And long!! We walked for miles! There were lots of little kids taking surfing lessons, which was pretty cute. Ooh and I love the colors. I hope I can go back there some day.

I wanted to give a quick testimonial about some software called Data Rescue. Mac users can use it. The other day I spaced out and accidentally threw into the trash all the files I had just downloaded on to my desktop. I started playing with the images before backing them up (which is what I usually do). I looked at my screen dumbfounded when I realized what I had done. I did a search and found this software and was able to recover the files of the CF card!! (I hadn't reused the card yet) Whew. I will be more careful in the future, more mindful.... but glad to have Data Recovery just in case.

I had a mild panic today when I realized how soon Christmas will be here... time does fly. I guess this is a good day to be looking at photos of beautiful beaches! Greetings to you all.

First time in Chicago

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:01:00 GMT

In September I got to go for a quick trip to the Chicago area. We took a train into the city and explored and walked for hours and hours.
What a beautiful city!
We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, walked through the shopping district, through the Millennium Park, lots of other places and the finally to Sears Tower. We walked several times across and next to the Chicago River. It was a gorgeous, clear day - and I dressed way too warmly.
I was so impressed with the architecture the new and the old.
I am glad that we are now a two-cell-phone couple. I got separated from my husband several times because I was taking photos, but never got really lost, thankfully.
We actually stayed in a suburb of Chicago that is home to the second largest mall in the USA. Wow. It is big. I only bought coffee because I was overwhelmed.
Greetings to you all.