Quick goodbye

So, I didn't take this picture intending to use it for this challenge, but it sort-of works. A friend of mine has these gorgeous cherry poppies in her front yard. They are a beautiful bright/deep red on the outside and a surprising dark violet inside. This one had only opened the day before and was already wilting.

Glow: Blushing bride

What bride-to-be (or new bride) doesn't glow when she puts this on for the first time?


Taking this picture was kind-of fun. I was playing around with my camera, and I had the blinds up in the bathroom window, with an overcast (but still bright, just not sunny) day outside. The white background is light and snow on the ground outside.

Taken with my brand new Canon EOS Rebel XSi. Stats: 1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 400. I adjusted exposure a teeny bit, saturated color, and then threw a glow layer on in Picasa.

Gratitude: A real nativity

Sorry this is so late. It's been a busy couple of weeks for me, but I really wanted to post this. My mom got me this nativity set for Christmas, but gave it to me on my birthday (11/22) to open. I love the Willow Tree brand and the simple figures, and I really wanted to get this nativity set, but there's no way. It would have taken several years, buying separate sets, for me to be able to afford it. I'm very grateful (1) that my mom was so generous and thoughtful to give this to me; (2) grateful to have a "real" nativity set now (the only other one I have is tiny -- small enough to fit in the mini zen garden we have); and (3) thankful for everything that a nativity scene reminds us of.

About the photo: I used flash, but I didn't want to. I'm using a camera that is a step down from what I was used to, and it doesn't have image stabilization. If I turn the flash off (which is generally my preference), my pictures usually turn out blurry. With the flash on, they're more washed out, but not so blurry. I adjusted color and exposure, saturated, increased shadows, and put a brown border around it.

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Native: Tradition

This is a rushnyk. It's a Ukrainian word that literally translates to "towel," and is pronounced /HROOSH - neek/.

My husband lived in the Kyiv, Ukraine area for two years before we knew each other, and became familiar with a native custom there. As part of the wedding ceremony, a rushnyk would be laid on the floor in the place where the wedding was held. The new husband and wife would -- on the count of three -- simultaneously step onto the rushnyk. Tradition was that whomever touched first was the head of the house. Inevitably, in any home where he asked who stepped first, both claimed credit. Before he left Ukraine, he purchased a rusknyk of his own, to have for when he got married. At our reception, he explained the tradition, and then we did it. Of course, I touched first, but if you ask him...

See my runners-up here, along with a full view of the rushnyk.

Additionally, though I took "grunge" pictures within the time frame, I didn't get around to uploading or editing them until tonight, and I think it's waaaaay past the statute of limitations by now, but you can see them here if you'd like.

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Autumn: Wind and leaves

I liked a lot of the photos I took for this challenge, and had a hard time choosing just one. My kind and loving husband didn't like any of them. He actually said this was his least favorite, but it was my most favorite. I was sitting on the couch inside my warm house, watching the wind blow the leaves outside. I grabbed a sweater, some shoes, and my camera, and ventured outside. I took some pictures, but the wind had died down. It was blowing the leaves around, but only close to the ground, which was not obvious enough for a photo. So I scooped some up, threw them into the air above me, and took this picture. I like it because it shows the colors of Autumn, but it also demonstrates wind (even if I faked it). My husband's comment was just that the leaves looked like they were falling vertically, not blowing aimlessly.

You can see the rest of my photos here, though my husband said "they're not [my] best crop of photos." (Wow, he's getting kind-of a bad rap here, huh? I'm just making fun of him.)

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Halloween: Edibles

I didn't get a very good picture of my daughter in her Halloween costume, so I'm opting for edibles for this photo. At our church Halloween party, she wouldn't stop. She was on the move the entire night. I made these brownie pops for a book group meeting, where we discussed -- wait for it -- Frankenstein. If you want more on that, click here.

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Fear or Scare: Troll

Several months ago, I told my husband that if we ever had a challenge that was "scary" or something like that, I was taking a picture of this face of his for it, because it just totally freaks me out. I'm not sure what freaks me out the most about it -- the expression itself (including the eyes), or his ability to hold it -- unfalteringly -- for several minutes at a time. It's creepy. It's his "troll face."

For comparison:

Smile: Still smiling

Recognizing that this is not a stellar picture, I still really like it, for a couple of reasons. If you look closely, you can see a pretty yucky scratch coming straight down from my daughter's right eye. I clocked her pretty badly yesterday morning. She had her finger stuck in something, and in my rush to help her free herself, I accidentally scratched her face with my ring. After that. she wanted Daddy to comfort her, not me. Yet later that afternoon, she was still smiling for me. She'd forgiven me. The other reason I like it is because after not taking hardly any pictures of her in the last two months, she still recognizes a camera, and still smiles for it. She poses and looks happy and makes me smile.

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Kiss: Rain-kissed Autumn

I took this picture during the "kiss" time frame, but had too much going on, so Blake said I could still post it.


I stepped out my back door to go somewhere, and saw this single bright red leaf next to a green spot of weeds poking up through my bricks. It needed its picture taken. If you click the picture to enlarge it, you'll be able to see the fresh raindrops barely kissing the leaf.

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Restore: 5th Generation

Without going through tons of scrapbooks, I knew of a few scanned old pictures that I already had on the computer. There's really not a ton of difference between the before and after here, but I really like this photo. My birthday is in November, so this was my second Christmas. My great-great-grandmother (yes, you read the right -- two greats) is holding me.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I brightened and saturated the color and edited out a few blemishes, but that's about it.

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Broadway: Just the way it is

Isn't this the way of Broadway? Wicked is a musical based on a book based on a movie based on a book based around socio-political satire.

I have the book (I'm a third or so of the way through reading it, but I'm focusing on a different book at the moment), and I'm going to see the show in November for my birthday.

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Rachel Tribute: Calculator

I'm glad we can use past photos for this challenge.


I chose to use a photo that I took back in April for the challenge word "One." It was a word that I chose (in honor of my daughter turning 1), but I was having a hard time thinking outside the box of an idea to shoot for the word. This photo reminds me of Rachel for several reasons:

• She suggested photographing a calculator, which this obviously is.
• Way back at the beginning of the year, she taught me that I could still take good photos (up-close ones even) with "just" a point-and-shoot. This photo shows detail, texture, and focus. Before Rachel, I didn't know about the macro/flower function.
• Rachel encouraged me to not be afraid to edit. This was one of the first challenges I started editing pictures for.
• Rachel's pictures always have great color in them. This is a really great blue.

I really liked this photo when I took it, and I never got a chance to use it. so I'm glad I do now.

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Me: Simple daisies

I wasn't going to do this challenge partly because of my camera, but partly because it's hard to sum yourself up in one photograph, even if a picture is worth 1000 words. This afternoon, however, I saw this vase of daisies sitting on my TV console, and realized that they were perfect for this challenge.

Daisies are a simple flower. They're pretty and cheery, yet understated and not the "go to" flower. They require more thought than just heading straight for the rose bouquets. I like their simple beauty. They're applicable for this challenge because I think of myself as mostly a simple girl. I don't need my husband to bring me roses; daisies would be nice every now and then (though I bought these for myself). I don't have fancy clothes or fancy home decor. I didn't need a fancy wedding; the mantra my husband and I kept repeating was that we wanted "simple elegance." So I guess the daisies work well for ME.

Less: Camera-less

Obviously I'm not 100% camera-less, because how would I have taken this photo otherwise? However, my good camera is broken. It's a Canon Powershot, and I got a "Lens error. Restart camera" message. My lens is permanently extended. I've done a little research and found that this is -- unfortunately -- common and unfixable. So I'm back to using a not-super-great camera, because I can't afford to buy a new one right now. Here's how not-super-great my substitute camera is: you can buy it brand new on Amazon fo $79. Yeah. :(

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Time: Keeping good time

I loved this challenge. I had a lot of ideas. I didn't execute a lot of them -- I mostly took pictures of clocks, but I had some good clocks. The above clock is in the center court at my local mall. It's a really beautiful clock.

(See my runners-up here.)

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Caution: Toddler living here

Normally I would laugh about this on its own, but not today. My Wednesday has a Monday complex. I woke up this morning to find my daughter's poopy diaper in the crib next to her, with most of its contents smeared on Donald Duck. Later, while I was preparing her lunch, I found her sitting on the floor in the doorway to the pantry, with half a box of baking soda around her. So I put her in her high chair while I finished making lunch. Then I ate mine, then I got the camera, and finally the vacuum cleaner. I took pictures in the hope that maybe later I'll laugh about it. (And I have no doubt that I will. Later.) But here's the bigger problem: things happen in threes, right? So...poopy diaper, baking soda, what's next? She'll probably yank on the cat's tail while I'm not paying attention and get her dues from him. Oh yes, we're babysitting a cat for a month. My daughter likes to pull his ears and tail.

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Cool: A great way to cool off

On our way home from camping on Saturday morning, my husband and I stopped at Dairy Queen to grab a couple of Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie Blizzards. It was a great way to cool off (though with today's humidity, I could have used it today instead of yesterday).

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CYC: Vintage checkers

Another shot from the Whitney store in Kirtland. There is an old-fashioned checkers board set up on a table there, with two sets of checkers, these reddish ones, and yellow ones on the other side you can see here. Both are made out of corn.

About the photo: I desaturated the colors a little, warmified, and added a film grain. I tried to make the vintage era stuff look a little more like a vintage era photo.

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You can see all my runners-up here.

(By the way, last night I was leaving the grocery store, and I saw a great opportunity for a "shadow" photo. There were thin wisps of clouds crossing in front of a nearly full moon. I dutifully pulled out my camera, and began snapping away. They came out miserably. Does anyone know how to do night photography, especially without fancy lenses? Is that even possible? That would be a really great tutorial subject.)

CYC: Abstract basket

I have a hard time with this word, because whenever I think of "abstract" I think that you're not supposed to be able to tell what it is you're looking at. However, I took this photo with the word "abstract" in mind. It's an old-fashioned (probably hand-woven) basket hanging from the ceiling in the Newel K. Whitney store in Kirtland, OH.

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CYC: Fresh after rain

This photo could work for a few different challenge words, but I chose "fresh." I was at an outdoor shopping center with my mom on Wednesday, and it had been raining a little off and on that day, but never enough that you couldn't comfortably walk through it. I saw these flowers in a huge pot along the walkway, and I heard them call my name and beg me to take their picture. I loved the colors and the freshly fallen raindrops, both in the center of the flowers and on the petals.

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