Summer Is.....

SKIMMNG.... Skimming is a boardsport in which a skimboard is used to ride on incoming waves across shallow water.

Sea World summer

Nothing says summer to me like a hot Saturday at Sea World

Fruits of Summer

New Discoveries

Summer is... for discovering new things!

Winners: Express

Well, I said there would only be one winner this time, but I was wrong. It was a three-way tie between Brittney, Shelby, and Teri.

Brittney's photo was Express Wonder.
Shelby's photo was Pony Express.
Teri's photo was Midnight Express.

Well done, ladies!

Scroll down to see a fun new challenge for the weekend!

CHALLENGE: SUMMER (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)

Okay everyone, I think a lot of us have been in a creative funk, with summer here and being busy with life...

SO, LET'S SHAKE THINGS UP AROUND HERE! :)

FOR THIS POST ONLY, we are going to post annonymously. Yep, NO NAMES. I created an account just for this, so we can all post using the generic name--just for fun! I thought this would help push us to really put our best foot forward since nobody will know who is who. So, let's give our best! AND, I am curious to see how voting turns out! :)

RULES FOR THIS CHALLENGE:


-TITLE IT! Please be sure to put a title since there is no other way to really identify who we will be voting for in the end.

-NO WATERMARKS! We don't want to give it away!

-PLEASE make sure you are signed in under the generic name--and then sign out again just after posting! :)

-KEEP YOUR DESCRIPTION GENERAL. You don't want to give it away!

-When you post your label at the bottom, only list the challenge name. We will go back and add names when the challenge is over.

-COMMENT! Let's see who can guess who is the right photographer! :)

SO HOW DOES IT WORK?

Where you usually sign in, you will use this login name and password:

LOGIN IS: mission24challenge@gmail.com

and then the password is: PHOTOGRAPHER

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL ME! I will get right back to you!


SO....now that the business stuff is over, here's the FUN!

The challenge is: SUMMER!

What is summer feeling like to you? What are you enjoying? What does it mean to you?

Let's get this party started! Hoping many of you can participate!

Featured Photographer: Blake

Bonjour, c'est moi Blake. Im sort of new to photography and I am glad to be able to see and learn from all of you! I am married to the most wonderful smokin hot wife. She took the picture above, isnt she pretty good! I also have two kids, ages 4 and 2 who I adore and love to just play with. When they go to bed I get bored. You have seen their pics on the challenges. I am currently in my masters degree online and my wife is a travel nurse so we move around every 3 months or so. Lately we have just planted soft roots in San Jose, CA and we love it for the scenery, weather and tourist attractions.

What are your hobbies outside of photography? Music, movies, gardening, guitar and especially blogging! I have enjoyed web design and a lot of other techy stuff online too.

Do you have a blog? Yes my family blog and a blog for attempting photography. I have others but you can find them from my profile if you are interested.

What camera do you use? I use a Canon SD1100 Si point and shoot. Overall I like it but when it comes to doing some advanced stuff, it lacks in manual control.

What is your favorite photography subject? I would have to say nature and my kids! They just love to have their picture taken now.

What camera equipment is on your wishlist? I am open to suggestion and I would really like a DSLR. I do prefer Canon though Nikon is good.

What is the best photography advice you have been given? Someone on here in a tutorial said to fill the frame and also rule of thirds. The last 2 tutorials have been excellent as well! Keep the good advice coming people I need it!

What editing program do you use? Picasa for now anyway.

Top 3 Photos: I dont feel I have a 3 best cus I am very picky and hard on myself but here are some of my favorite! This first one is my son looking through a fence on to Pier 39 in San Francisco with the setting sun on his right. Thanks to Rachel who pointed this one out I almost forgot about it.This second one you might recognize from a challenge. It is sort of hard for me to top since this was my first and just about only success in manual setting. I got lucky I suppose.

This one is in Santa Cruz looking through the fence in the middle of the pier down at the sea lions. The angle is somewhat interesting but the light across one side of his face makes this picture I think. I just cant resist posting this last picture which was taken of my son in a jumping blow up toy christmas last year, that is priceless (below).

Voting: Express

I'm pre-posting this so that I have one less thing to do today. I'm headed out of town to my parents' house, and I just don't want to deal with having to get this post up in the morning. Not like you needed to know all that.

Well, this was a tough challenge. I kept drawing a blank. I had very limited ideas, and none o them were good, so I didn't post (or even take) a picture at all. It looks like a lot of you might have been in the same boat; we didn't have many entries.

So let's just vote for one favorite this time, and we'll only have one winner (and hopefully I can get the tally right on the first try). Please vote by midnight!

Expression of Boredom

We took my son to the zoo today. We were able to see a bunch of orangutans, most of which were active and putting on a show but not this one. She sat up high and just looked at the others and the onlooking people with this bored expression. I can't say I blame her, sitting there everyday with people staring at you, not fun. Sorry about the reflection on the glass.

CC always welcome.

Express Sheer Joy

SOOC f/5.6 1/500sec ISO100- obviously a sunny day. ; )
Yesterday was my son's first experience at our local wading pool. As you can see- he loved it! I guess this is just another example of what Brittney said about babies (or toddlers) wearing thier feelings right out there.

CC ALWAYS WELCOME!

Late

...but I wanted to share it anyway. Since my USB cord is broken, we just decided to get a memory card-reader and am able to post my pictures again. So here was my daughter Lizzie, expressing extreme frustration and anger and shock that her big sister got her wet before she (Lizzie) was ready.

"Express-o"

I was in Island Park all day today with some family friends. Not a lot about the lifestyle up there includes "express"... except their coffee!

-CC-

Expression of Love

I love my wedding and engagement rings - not only are they pretty and just my style, but they are a visual expression of the love that my husband and I share.

Express Wonder

One thing I love about babies are their sweet, little, expressive faces. They never mask how they feel, from wonder to frustration...it's all there for you to see.

CC welcome

Midnight Express

It's Pretty obvious that this train does not run any more but at one time it might have been a midnight express train. It was not easy getting a night shot and then on top of that it started raining! But all turned out well and I was able to capture one good picture!

Express yourself

We were at the beach watching all the surfers. Being from Utah we have NO idea how to surf, so with all the "cool" surfers watching he grabbed the boogie board and headed out. I think he got more than a few laughs but he didn't care he is never afraid to have fun or to express himself.

Natural lighting straight out of the camera no photoshop can you believe it?

Isn't There An Express Way to Move?

Miracle of miracles, wonder of wonders, I was actually able to sneak a post in before moving day, which is day after tomorrow.

(D70, 50mm, f22, 1/80 sec, ISO 1250)

Here's our gigantic uhaul truck (27 ft total), which is currently taking up all of our driveway and part of the alley way that runs next to our driveway. Yikes. To look at our upstairs, you wouldn't even know we've been packing like mad people, but we're getting there. But seriously. Isn't there a quick and easy way to move across the state?

See you all on the flip side!

CHALLENGE: Express

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!

Challenge today: EXPRESS.

What does it mean to you? I am anxious for some diverse pictures this time!!!

Hope everyone is enjoying all this sunshine! I LOVE summer!!! :)

Now, get going! :)

Oh, and if anyone else has some word ideas, let's get them preposted so I can use them in the future. I explained that in the last Mission 24 business on Monday. So check it out! :)

Winners: Natural

Good morning everyone. Well, it looks like the votes were pretty spread out this time around again, at least at the beginning. In the end, however, Kristine pulled ahead with her daughter in a natural state, and Breezi and Shelby tied for second, with social commentary and natural curls respectively.

Congrats!

EDIT: Although I am married to a mathemetician, he apparently isn't wearing off on me, because I can in no way count correctly.

First place goes to Shelby, second to Kristine, and third to Breezi. Sorry for the mix-up.

Tuesday Tutorial

Good Morning Ladies and Gents, Today's tutorial is going to be on Filters Lenses.( They fit right on your lense, and you can only use them on SLR Camears.) I am going to share with you some information about 3 different kinds of filters you can buy for your camera. The First one is the Diffuser Filter, or it can be called a Diffusion filter. This filter is used to create soften images. The keywords are enchanting, romantic and dreamy. A diffusion filter diffuses strong light without affecting the sharpness and contrast of the image. These filters are mainly used in portrait work. ( Beware, pictures below are all of family!)

Kylah and Madyson with Diffuser lense

Kylah and Maddy without diffuser

The Next filter is the Polarizing filter, It is best used in very sunny weather. It can darken blue skies turning them deep rich blue and they are also great for removing reflections in water. So if you are shooting a river scene and you want to see detail in the water or on the river bottom, a polarizer will reduce reflection. They are also good with foliage, making leaves and such less shinny.

Kylah and Maddy with Polarizing lense


Kylah and Maddy without lense

Last but not least is the Warming filter. These useful items work to remove the bluish cast that can result from cloudy, overcast lightiing or shade. Snow has an exceptional ability to pick up blue cast so this filter works great for winter. ( Sorry....my pics were only from summer). The warming filter lowers the color temperature of your subject. Warming fliters come in various strengths and even slightly different colors from different manufacturers. If you have photoshop you can find these filters under Image>Adjustments>Photo filter. Once you are there you can pick the color of your filter. So down below are some different examples of warm filters.

Here is Whitney with a Warming filter



Without any filter


Kylah with a warming filter


Kylah with a touch of the Pink filter


So These are just different ways you can enhance your pictures. I know you can order filters on line or in any camera shop. Some are very expensive and some places like WalMart sell basic filters that are not expensive at all. Just shop around and have fun and take lots of pictures!
P.S. Can you tell I am missing my grandaughters???

MISSION 24 BUSINESS--all over the place! :)

Is everyone out there pulling their hair out? :) I know, I know...I completely dropped the ball today. I have no idea what day it is! :)

So, a few idea have come in on how we can make this run smooth.

It's called delegation! :)

---Mindy has offered to take on the sidebar area--arrange for the tutorials, etc.

---I know Janelle has been tallying the votes, but I would really like if someone could take over posting the voting post. Janelle, are you up for it? Or someone else? I am open...really.

--I will continue to pop in here and do the Mission 24 business, and add people to the blog.

---A few people have suggested that, just like the feature photographer preposting, we should do the same with words. That way if you think of one, you can just go in and prepost an entry for that word and we will randomly select one to post on Challenge Days. I think that is going to be the best thing. I HAVE EXPLAINED THE PREPOSTING BEFORE...SO IF YOU DON'T KNOW, PLEASE email me and I will explain! hollowayfam@yahoo.com

FOR THE CHALLENGES, please prepost using the date of 10/10/2010. I will then go in and change your prepost day to fill in the schedule and make sure it posts at 6 a.m. so the Eastern time zone can get theirs early enough in the day. Sound good?

-----I would love some ideas you guys have on how we can shake things up a little around here. I am feeling ready for some kind of change...whether that be for a week, or permanent. Something different...any thoughts?

OH, and IF YOU DIDN'T GET THE FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHER QUESTIONAIRE, PLEASE leave a comment or email me so I can get it sent to you! :)

THANKS EVERYONE for hanging in their during my big vacation...glad to be back! :)

VOTING: Natural

I know this is late. We will run this through tomorrow since we missed the boat. :)

Let's hear it! Vote for your favorite 2!

A Natural

135 mm, F 5.6, 1/200 sec

Sorry I've been MIA, after a week in Puerto Rico and another unburying, I have had no time to participate.

Natural things

I unfocused on the flower on purpose but I think it's too blurry. Any thoughts? CC

Natural Lighting

Sorry Melinda! Don't hate me for posting this picture!! I just loved it so much.

f/5.6 1/125th sec ISO-1250

Backstory: Melinda and I tag-teamed photographing a wedding this weekend. She had offered to do it for a friend and then called me in since both of us are a bit in-experienced so we would have more chances for some great shots. I took this one to practice with the lighting situation. No flash! That's a stretch for me. I think it would have been better if we could have turned off the light in the room also but it's an old place and there were to switches to be found.

All in all I really enjoyed the experience and I look forward to more opportunities like this one. THANKS MELINDA! (ps- to see some of the shots from the wedding go to http://gundersenphotos.blogspot.com)

CC ALWAYS WELCOME!!!

p.s. If any of you have some time I would LOVE your comments/input on my wedding stuff. I'm going to do some editing before I hand them over to the bride and I'd love your help!

In her natural state

My daughter, in the garden this afternoon after a light rain. Other shots are on my blog.
f/5.6, 1/60 sec, iso 100. Colors intensified using curves. CC

Naturally weathered

Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the 11 year Scout day camp, it was held out at this old homestead a few miles out of town and oh boy, what a photographers dream. There were so many things to take pictures of, while the boys were out doing scouting stuff, I was busy taking pictures. I did manage to get a few of them too! Anyway this is an old weathered window on an old barn next to the old house. I just added a tiny bit of contrast and a frame.

The Natural Reaction

I would imagine this reaction is very natural for being seperated from your birthday cake. :)


f/1.4, 1/400, ISO 3200

Light and Motion

Here is an example of a natural mess up and it worked out with natural light and natural motion provided from my son. In this case the natural mess up sure makes it look interesting. His head was suppose to be covering the washed out right hand side, but kids cant hold still for anything!

Natural: In triplicate

There are three natural aspects of this photo:

1. It's me straight out of the shower. No make-up -- not even any moisturizer on my face yet -- and my hair not brushed. I'd had my hair towel on for a few minutes, and then took it off before taking the picture. I'm very natural here.
   
2. I opened the blinds of the window to my right, and took the picture using natural light.
3. Th only thing I have done to the photo is crop it, mostly for modesty's sake. The photo is SOOC, and therefore, completely natural.

CC

Natural or Not?

OH yeah. I went there. I opened up THAT can of worms.

Right now in our country there is a huge debate on whether or not being Gay is natural. If it is instilled with you since birth or if it is a choice that you made.

As a member of the LDS church, I feel that it is definitely a choice that you make.

My Mom's brother is gay. I remember when I was 5 years old my parents sitting me and my brother down and telling us that he had/has AIDS. We've been really lucky that though some break through medical treatments and superb doctors he's still with us today, doing fine, feeling good. He's had full blown AIDS for 22 years now. We were always told to love the sinner, not the sin. I have been extremely blessed that we are such an open and loving family. There is no judging. We just love.

Anyways... Yesterday I came across a Gay Pride parade on my way to a quilt show. Interesting.

So there you have it... my thought provoking Natural or Not picture of Gay Pride.

Straight to the Hips

That's where this all natural dessert is going. At least it tastes good, right?

Natural Beauty

Okay I really didn't go to extremes in thought for this. We went for a family drive because that is what my husband wanted to do for fathers day.. and I really did try to think of something witty. But I loved taking these pictures. This is my first time being able to take a picture of running water and playing with my shutter speed! yea me!

I will have more pictures of this lovely drive (with three kids ahhh) on my photo blog if you would like to see! whatadandy.blogspot.com