Grateful the wedding is over...

...and my life can return to just busy instead of insane. My brother in law got married this past weekend. A few more of the pictures I took are up at my blog.



This picture is of my in-laws watching the bride walk down the aisle with her father. I love the emotion on my MIL's face.

ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/60 sec, sooc. CC.

Pumpkin girl

My daughter was very interested in the pumpkin the other morning. I took this with auto settings and with flash (thus the harshness of the shadows).

The P family

My neighbors wanted some family pictures and tonight we finally had an evening with some good light.


f/6.3 1/60 sec, 100 ISO, cc

Other images from the shoot are at my blog.

Extra! Extra!

I took this portrait of my daughter on the way to dinner with her grandparents (my in-laws).

I also wanted to say thank you for giving us this week to take pictures we like for challenges that speak to us.

Organization

Many edges on these crystals.

f/7.1, 1/500 sec, iso 100. cc

No.

Heartbreaks come fast and frequent when you're a kid.

Image was taken in automatic mode, with flash, then cropped and converted to bw. CC

Celebrate like the Simpson's

Celebrate the birth of your country by blowing up a piece of it.
f/20, 10 sec, iso 100. Cropped. cc

Wildflowers at dusk

f/5.6, 1/80 sec, iso 400, sooc

One of my favorite things about summer is seeing all the beautiful wildflowers. This picture was taken at dusk in a park near my house. CC welcome!

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

Everyday cat

ISO 100, 1/25 sec, f/5.6, cc

My brother recently pointed out that I never post pictures of my cat to my blog. Every morning she comes in and cuddles with me, and lately with my daughter as well, until we get up and she feels more free to meow until I feed her. I love that time with her, and yet I never think to do anything to commemorate it.

Like Blake, runners up are at my blog.

Ampelmann

In what used to be East Berlin most of the walk/don't walk signs are ampelmann. While I was there last week, I purchased the bag pictured above. I took other pictures of ampelmanchen on street, and a bunch of other signs (including one for the U2 uberbahn at Zoologisher Garten--how cool is that!) many of which will be posted at my blog along with other pictures from my trip.

iso 100, f/5.6, 1/25 sec.
cc

Sweet as honey

Sadly, this isn't eligible for voting 'cause I took it over the weekend at a local farmer's market. I'll gladly take cc on it, though. It's sooc, iso 100, f/5.6, 1/100 sec.

Rough coat

This looks like an image out of a scientific paper to me, which is probably why I find it appealing. It's a coconut shell I had hanging around, holding change (and other odds and ends). Taken in natural light with a 50 mm macro; ISO 100, f/8.0, 4 sec exposure. Changed to bw and boosted the contrast. cc

I'm very happy to actually be participating this time. I took a bunch of pictures for the fluid challenge only to discover I couldn't download the images. The problem's fixed now (obviously) but too late (grr). Anyway, I wanted to share the pictures I took, which can be seen here along with some other pictures I took for this challenge.

Spring brings change

This is one of the many seedlings currently waiting to be transplanted into my garden. It is always amazing to me how much a seedling changes as it grows.

50mm, iso 400, f/5.6, 1/80 sec. sooc. cc

Learning to balance

This challenge is a somewhat poignant one for me. Today marks nine months since my daughter was born, so it's in some sense a balancing point in that she's now been alive outside my body for the same amount of time she was alive inside my body.

She's also recently started pulling up on furniture, learning to balance herself. I know she's getting ready to walk (though I'm hopeful it'll still be a few months before she figures out that trick).

Anyway, the picture is of my husband helping my daughter stand. It was taken outside our apartment building in natural light on a cloudy evening. Settings: ISO 400, f8.0, 1/100 sec. I used the wrong white balance, so I played with the colors using the curves function in gimp to make it look a little more natural and more saturated.

cc, as always. If anyone wouldn't mind commenting on the white balance/color corrections, I attempted some different stuff on other photos that are posted on my personal blog. Thanks!

Hot Chocolate

It is a gray and miserable day in Indiana, a perfect day for hot chocolate!

Photo was taken under a white florescent light (and white balance was set to reflect that), 1/6 sec, f/8.0, ISO 100. I adjusted colors with the curves function. I used Nestle Rich Chocolate and spiked it with cream. cc

A wise face

Continuing the gardening theme, this woman has a fabulous garden, and a face that I think speaks to wisdom gained by years of hard work and happiness.

Many of the international students in my University bring their parents over for the summer, and many of those parents spend their time gardening. Last year my husband and I were quick to realize that the most prolific gardens were those cultivated by people using non-western techniques (including this woman), so we started to watch what they did and emulate them.

About the photo: iso 100, f/5.6, 1/400 sec exposure. I should have taken it slower and with a higher f-stop given the lateness of the afternoon. In any case, I cropped it, turned it to sepia with the "old photo" function in gimp, and increased the contrast. CC, as always.

One red cent

ISO 400, 3.2 sec, f11, florescent lighting, sooc

This was one hard challenge.

Ironically enough, this photo required two of us to take (my husband and myself). My husband had another idea, "No one," which I've posted on my personal blog (since I had nothing to do with it except agree it was an interesting picture).

Vintage Sci-fi

ISO 100, f5.6, 2sec; used curves in gimp to intensify colors.

My husband regularly tries to convince me to get rid of this stack of old science fiction paperbacks. There's just something about the smell and the feel of these old books that I find comforting, bringing back memories of long summer afternoons spent curled up on my grandparent's couch.

cc

garland

ISO 400, 1/100 sec, f5.6, indoor with flash, sooc.

My mom grew these peppers in her garden last summer and strung them on fishing line to dry. If we'd had a Christmas tree, we would have used these for our decorations!

cc