Indiana Shutterbug's Ramblings and Photos

William's Family Session

2011-05-01T20:19:00.007-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I shot William and his family. Here are a few of the selections.

I'm still here . . .

2011-04-22T08:21:00.007-04:00

Just been busy with my day job and shooting sessions when I can. I know it's been quite a while since my last post but in that time I have been working on building my portfolio with a couple newborn sessions and a few family sessions before Christmas. I had another family session a couple weeks ago and will be doing a Senior session tomorrow. Here is one I took of my husband.
The Senior I will be doing is my grandson who is finally getting around to getting pictures taken before he graduates in a few weeks. I'll post a couple after that session and try to post more often on here, what good is a blog if you don't say anything.

Here are a few samples from the sessions before Christmas. All photos copywrite Saddleback Hills Photography

The studio is almost done

2010-09-13T05:31:00.005-04:00

Although I still have some finishing touches (trim, baseboard, base for my desk, etc), here's a sneak preview.

My Office -

The Studio -

The Dressing Room -

The Prop Store Room -

It's been a year already . . . . .

2010-03-15T05:34:00.004-04:00

I showed you the pictures when she was born, now Allyssa is one year old today. We celebrated her birthday yesterday with family and friends. Here are a couple of the (300+) pictures I took - the before and after of the cake demolition. I've seen massive destruction of the baby cakes, but Allyssa was very delicate (albeit messy) with hers.

It's been a while since my last post . . .

2009-11-08T08:44:00.012-05:00

We have been spending every possible moment working on our building and seems like it is taking forever. We are working on the steel now and getting what the 2 of us can do by ourselves. Sometimes on the weekend, we enlist some help. We pretty much have the interior framing done but can't finish it until we are watertight. The steel is going up slowly, thanks to the ever present wind we have. Seems like it is calm during the week but come the weekend when we have more time, the winds kick up.

Every weekend we try to line up some help to get the roof on. So far, still no roof, going to try to get help again next weekend. I don't see any way that Dan and I can do it by ourselves. The last pictures I posted were taken on Labor Day weekend so I'll just date the pictures and you can follow our progress.

9/27/09 - Painted Doors and and trim going on around garage doors

10/5/09 - Interior Framing

10/21/09 - Stairs to Mezzinine storage area

11/6/09 - Steel going up

11/15/09 - More steel but still no roof

We've been busy . . .

2009-09-20T16:37:00.005-04:00

I sat here 2 weeks ago and typed up the entire post with the Labor Day weekend update and then LOST the whole thing when I hit the "Publish Post" link. Frustrated, I walked away. I have spend another week in Mexico since and am finally getting back with the update.

In the pictures, you will see a man named Harvey, he is my neighbor and a great guy that gave up half of his holiday weekend to help us. He enlisted his 2 sons, their friends and another friend of his, Seth. With my SIL, Matt, and his friend Joe, at times, we had 10 hammers in action. I'll let the pictures tell most of the story.

My SIL Matt getting ready to anchor a truss.

L to R Harvey, Matt and Joe.

Trusses up and most of the purlins in place.

Harvey, Seth and Joe spend most of the afternoon in the air.

Joe, Seth, Matt and Harvey taking a much deserved break.

By Sunday afternoon, the roof framing was almost complete.

This view is my studio end, the 15 lite door is for the studio and the 9 lite door beside it will go into the garage. The 2 windows to the right will be in the office part and the other one in the studio.

Since Labor Day, we have been framing some of the areas that still needed it, painting doors and adding some of the trim pieces, getting everything ready to have a "Steel Hanging Party" Hopefully the same crew will show up and be ready to help. This project is taking longer that I had hoped but at the rate it's going, I'll have plenty to keep me busy this fall and into winter.

Ready for the Trusses

2009-08-31T18:15:00.006-04:00

Moving right along. Saturday was my birthday so I spent it doing exactly as I wanted, working on this project. My son-in-law was back to help out and with the help of a man-lift that we rented for the weekend, we got the headers in above the garage doors. Those bad boys were about 40-45 pounds each and there was 9 of them going 12.5 feet in the air. We worked out a system where Matt (SIL) and Dan (DH) were on the ladders on each side of the man-lift that I used to hoist the boards in the air, then we just slid them into place.

On Sunday, I ran around in the lift marking and cutting the tops of the posts and setting the "hurricane" straps in preparation for the trusses. With any luck and the assistance of our neighbor (who sometimes gets to bring construction equipment home from work), next weekend's update will show trusses, windows and doors in place. Seems slow going when most of the work has to wait until the weekend. Once we are enclosed, we will have more jobs that can be worked on after work each day. You know, the "little" jobs like building interior walls, electrical, insulation, drywall, mudding and taping said drywall, sanding, painting, etc, etc. Now, I'm tired just thinking about it. What's really bad is when we are in the middle of a project like this, even in my sleep I'm "working" and wake up exhausted.

I Missed the Concrete Pour

2009-08-23T20:43:00.006-04:00

Due to another last minute business trip (second weekend in a row), I missed the concrete pour for our new garage/studio. Since I would be in Detroit, I asked my husband to grab my camera and click away to document what I missed. He took all except the last one in today's post.

Some friends of a co-worker agreed to float the concrete for us. Here they are doing what they are good at.

Now, with the floor height set we could frame out the windows and garage doors today. That's my husband in the last picture taking a break. There's no stopping us now. It is just taking longer than we expected. I may still be putting finishing touches on the studio at Christmas. Hard to believe it is almost Labor Day, not to mention me having another birthday next Saturday.

Garage/Studio Update

2009-08-09T18:25:00.004-04:00

Just a quick post but I wanted to update everyone on the project status. Below is where we are on our garage/studio. If not for my son-in-law (Matt) and his friend (Joe) we would be where we are now. Those two strong young men lifted and stood our posts (the biggest was a 24 ft 6 x 6) up in the holes while we braced everything a couple of weekends ago. They came back yesterday to help nail some of the girts in place. As you can see, we are not done with the girts yet but at least we are building now. With luck, maybe we'll be pouring concrete next weekend or the one after. Pretty much all my daylight hours after work in spent working on this project. Since my husband is home all of the time, he is working outside when he is feeling up to it. We would love to have it enclosed by Labor Day. Wish us luck!

On the move lately . . .

2009-07-12T10:10:00.006-04:00

I know, it's been over a month since I posted. My posting seems to be getting worse instead of better. OK, here's why - my job - first on June 15th I flew out to San Antonio then drove on down to Eagle Pass to visit a supplier across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico. On this trip I made sure I had my camera with me. Below is a shot I took in the Cultural Plaza in Peidras. You can see the rest from there in my Flickr set - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157619764283963/
Then, instead of flying home on the 19th as originally booked, I was asked to fly on to another supplier in Obregon (Mexico) for a week. The visit was tiring but the trip home was the real adventure. To make a long story short. I left the hotel in Obregon at 6:00 am on Friday and arrived home at 2:00 am on Sunday. I missed my connection to Atlanta, had to spend the night in Mexico City (due to weather my plane was late arriving). Finally made it to Atlanta and missed yet another plane (because the airline lost the tag on one of my bags and I had to get it retagged). I managed to get a seat on the last flight to Indianapolis and finally got home at 2 ;00 am. Here is a photo I took in a small town near Obregon called Cocorid. More from the Obregon set are here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157620613988276/

I spent the next week back in the office counting the days until our summer shutdown then was asked to take a trip to Canada to one of our customers. Since I would be driving on this trip I definitely wanted my camera at my side. The location I was going to was Milton, Ontario which was about an hour north of Niagara Falls so I decided to take the scenic route home. Here is a panorama of the escarpment at Milton. More at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157621100069337/

I started back home last Wednesday morning, stopping by Niagara falls for a couple of hours. The skies were overcast then sunny so the light was constantly changing but I got some decent shots. Here is one of them and the rest can be seen here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157621238671012/My next stop was the Naval and Military Park in Buffalo New York. Didn't take too many there, but here is one with the rest in my Flickr set - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157621230302102/ From here I headed west to Erie, Pennsylvania for a quick stop at the zoo. I love the face on this guy. His "friends" are shown here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157621230724056/I spent the night in Cleveland, Ohio and then hit the Botanical Gardens before driving the last 6 hours home. Here is one of my favorites from the gardens. There are plenty more here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157621233953950/Now, I plan on taking the next 2 weeks off work to see how far we can get on the studio/garage. We still don't have the holes finished to set the posts and really are no farther than the picture in my last post. Hopefully, at the end of my "vacation" we will have more to show for our efforts. That's it for now, I need to gather some tools and go to my daughter's house to remodel a bathroom.

We finally broke ground on the Garage/Studio.

2009-06-06T07:09:00.008-04:00

I haven't posted in about 3 weeks since we FINALLY have gotten started on our building project. So, if I'm not at work, I usually outside playing in the dirt. On Memorial Day weekend, we rented a sod cutter to remove the turf and layed out the visqueen vapor barrior. Then Tuesday we had 20 ton of pea gravel delivered as a base for the concrete floor. The picture below is pre-gravel (that's my husband in the picture).

Last weekend we rented an auger to start the 23 holes we needed to dig. The problem is that the auger only got us a 36 inch deep, 12 inch diameter hole. We had a little over half of the holes done with the auger when my husband heard and felt his back go "pop". Now we had to return the auger on Tuesday morning and 9-10 holes to go so we called in assistance from our son-in-law. He was a tremendous help, after we finished with the auger then we needed to start widening and deepening the holes by hand. This is going to take us a little while. Just remember we are both in our mid to late 50's and doing most of this project with our own hands. To set the posts per code, we need these holes to be 52 inches deep and about 15 inches in diameter. We made decent progress last weekend but then the rain hit. Our area received 2-3 inches of rain over 2 days. I snapped this next picture with my P&S before leaving for work the next morning. You couldn't even see the holes anymore.

Since then we have been pumping water out of the holes so we can get back to digging. It looks like it will still be a couple weeks before we can get the posts in the holes and get the inspector out here and get the OK to pour the concrete floor. Once that is done, the weather shouldn't slow us down too much.

I did take a few minutes yesterday morning to relax and take a few pictures. The temperature was on the cool side so we had heavy dew and a tiny bit of frost as seen on the strawberry below.
I thought the dew drops on top of the tips of the strawberry leaves were interesting. What do you think?

The daisies are still blooming so I shot them also.

I'd better wrap this up since I have to run to town this morning and then get back to digging holes. It's not much "fun", in fact it's hard work but will be sooooooooooooooo worth it when my studio is completed.

Playing with macros

2009-05-17T20:08:00.003-04:00

I took off a couple hours early from work on Friday so I decided to play with some macro shots. Nothing spectacular, but not too bad either. What do you think?

Allyssa's 8 weeks old today

2009-05-10T19:24:00.002-04:00

Here are the latest photos of Little Miss Allyssa taken today at 8 weeks. My daughter and family came over for Mother's Day but my son didn't make it. I told him I wouldn't hold it against him. Both of our kids live within a half hour so it's not like we never see them.

Just a short post tonight since I didn't hit Powerball last night (nobody did) so it looks like I have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll have better luck on Wednesday. LOL

Yes, I'm still here

2009-05-09T20:30:00.003-04:00

It's been about 2 weeks since I posted and I don't have a really good excuse, just very busy at work. I would love to say I've been busy on our building project but everytime we get the ground almost dry enough to break ground, it rains again. We have a utility pump set up to remove water from the area, but still can't get it dry enough to remove the sod.

Yesterday I took the day off work to give myself a 3 day Mother's Day weekend and have been playing in the workshop. After seeing the 2 sided Senior sign that Marie was selling, I decided to make my own. I am almost ready to paint it, and will post a picture when I get it finished. I decided to go ahead and make it now since my Granddaughter called the other day and told me that she had a couple of friends that still hadn't have senior pictures taken. I told her that I would help them out, especially since they will be graduating in a few weeks. I am looking forward to shooting my first twins. I don't know if they are identical or not, but it could be interesting working with them.

While I was in the workshop, I decided to start the other project that I have been wanting to do. That is make some oversized building blocks for toddler props. I want to do a set with A,B,C on one side and 1,2,3 on the other. I also want to make a few more blocks with interchangable letters to use as initials or a short name.

After I put the tools away, I noticed the sun had finally come out and was lighting up the Irises so nicely. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots
and then one of my gold cats decided he was going to cooperate for a few more shots.

New Props

2009-04-27T19:45:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the email thread last weekend that mentioned the giant teacups at Walmart, I made myself go to town and look what I came home with. At $20.00 a pop, 2 is the most I could rationalize. They had several different styles so I snapped a picture on my cell phone in case anyone else was interested in seeing what was available. They also had the giant cups in a tulip style. There is another picture below of that selection.

While still in the garden shop, some colors caught my eye and I ended up getting some "pre-school" sized props. I picked up a rake, hoe and shovel with matching gardening gloves.

Teacup selection at Walmart -

Tulip cup selection (also $20.00) -

A Funny thing happened today

2009-04-25T21:57:00.003-04:00

It's been almost a week since I posted but it has been a rough week. We finally launched our new program for the Subaru 2010 vehicles. The company I work for assembles the interior seats for the assembly plant up the road. My job involves all of the component parts that go into the seats and making sure they meet print specs.

With the weather being extra nice today (low 80's) I spent most of it outside. Even though the ground is still too wet to start construction, I tried to remove some of the sod from the construction sight but the Bobcat started sinking into the mud, so on to plan B - get on the mower. I did get the 4 acre front yard mowed in the areas that do not have standing water, now the backyard needs done. While working out back, I noticed on of my cats about 12 feet in the air sitting in a tree.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered that Prince (the cat) was actually duplicating a photo I created last fall for one of my Daily Challenges. Check out the first picture, the challenge was "Incongruent" so I digitally placed a cat in a bird's nest.

The next two pictures were taken this afternoon of Prince actually sitting in a bird's nest. I just had to head for the house to grab my camera. This was just too funny to miss. I don't know why he climbed the tree but I think it might be to stay out of the path of the dogs. We had let 6 Collies out to run and Prince might have thought it was safer up in the tree.

We had put the dogs back in their runs and as soon as I shot these pictures, Prince came down out of the tree and followed us to the house.

Prom Night

2009-04-19T10:22:00.004-04:00

I got a call yesterday afternoon (about 4:30) from my son asking me if I wanted to run into town to take a few shots of my step-granddaughter and her friend before they went to the Prom. He told me that they wanted to leave at 5:00. So being a good Grammy and wanting to capture the ONLY time I've ever seen Krystan in a dress, I packed up my camera and strobes and headed for their house. I got there about 4:45 and had the lights set up in about 7 minutes. I never was really happy with the lighting, but didn't have any more time to play with it. So now I have about 8 minutes to try to adjust the lighting and get some shots in the living room. I told them I wasn't going to promise anything but would see what I could do considering the backgound was picture frames and DVDs in bookshelves. I did what I could to remove the background (there was no time to grab a backdrop and stands) and insert a digital background. So here is what I ended up with (not my best work but at least something to remember the night.)

Artscow Dog Tags

2009-04-14T18:14:00.011-04:00

I received an email a few weeks ago advertizing the Artscow Dog Tags with free shipping and since we raise Collies (both rough and smooth) we decided to order some of the tags for the dogs, just in case someone "escaped" the yard. Since there was a email thread today discussing Artscow and the dog tags were mentioned, I thought I would post a photo of them. They are just over 2 inches long, 1 1/8 inches wide and about 1/8 inch thick, at least for the double sided ones. We used a jpg of our logo on one side and added our address and phone numbers in text to the other side. In the picture, I cloned our numbers and address some just for security's sake. And as I said, for the price with the free shipping I thought they were a decent value. I have also ordered a door mat and playing cards with the second picture below on them. They should be here any day, so I'll be able to provide feedback on them also.

Finally Blooming . . . .

2009-04-13T21:36:00.002-04:00

Just a quick post tonight to show everyone that it's finally getting to be spring in north central Indiana. I picked these yesterday and decided to shoot them this evening.

Easter Get-together Family Pictures

2009-04-12T20:43:00.004-04:00

My "daily" postings have become more of a twice weekly but I am still posting at least.

Last week I received the new strobes that I had ordered and then had to learn to use them since I had never tried strobes. Here is my daughter with her husband and all of the girls for their first official family portraits. The girls are Ashley (13), Destiny (8) and Allyssa (4 wks). Obviously all Steelers fans as you can tell by the second picture.

My son and his fiancee, Becky, and all of their kids (5 total) were also here (but did not want their pictures taken) so I really couldn't spend a long time shooting. We also had a couple of birthdays to celebrate (Bailey, 13 on the 20th and Krystan, 18 on the 16th). We had a house full (6 adults and 8 kids) but I think everyone enjoyed the visit. At least the weather was about 60° and sunny.

I know the lighting is not perfect in these but I don't think it turned out too bad. C&C welcome as always.

If only the rain would stop . . . . .

2009-04-06T05:25:00.007-04:00

Then the ground would dry out and we could get our project started. Saturday we bought the paint for the studio and I went with Option 6. Like my husband said, if it doesn't turn out like we hope, we can always repaint.

Since it rained all day Sunday, I brought out my old buddy 'Woody' to keep me company and be the victim of my imagination. I also bought another one of those wooden puzzles - the motorcycle - so Woody could go riding. I found out the 9" manikin fits perfect on both the motorcycle and the horse.

I'll sure be glad when we can get outside and work so I can quite torturing everyone with the manikin pictures and switch to construction pictures.

Can I please get your opinion?

2009-04-01T20:24:00.004-04:00

Paint is on sale this week so I trying to decide what color I want to paint the office and dressing room in the studio. In the pictures below you will see the countertop I have bought to make a desk with the cabinetry/file cabinets below in black. The clock for the wall is also pictured. I have purchased the ceiling hanging light fixture which has a brushed nickle finish as does the door hardware. There will be 2 windows and a full glass door in the office. Whichever color I choose for the walls, I will go the same color in a lighter shade for the ceiling (12 ft). I plan to paint the studio walls and ceiling in pure white. The floors will all be a medium oak laminated wood.

Now I would like your input, which wall color would you pick to go with the desk and accessories? I have narrowed it down to basically 2 colors in 3 shades each. Please help me choose.

Option 1

Option 2
Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

Option 6

No Portraits Yesterday

2009-03-30T05:09:00.004-04:00

Last weekend I shot the one-week old portraits of Allyssa and this week I was all set-up to do the whole family, but due to some "bug" going around, my oldest granddaughter, Ashley, was not feeling up to par. We'll have to try this again in a couple of weeks. With any luck, the weather will be good and we can try some outdoor shots.

Speaking of outdoors, my original plans for this past weekend was to hop on the Bobcat and start scaping the grass from the garage/studio building site, but that didn't go right either with cold, rain, wind and even snow flurries. Now we have to wait for the ground to dry out again. I'm starting to wonder if we will ever get started on this project, but then again I've been in Indiana all my life and should know how wet and unpredictable spring can be. We'll just watch the weather and wait and work when we can. My goal is to get this project completed before summer so I can spend my free time working on taking Senior Pictures. I've decided I really like taking portraits and would like to shoot both indoor and outdoor venues. So maybe "Saddleback Hills Photography" will have a future and keep me busy doing what I love.

So, being bored this weekend, I decided to play with "Woody", the green screen and digital backgrounds. It just goes to show that there is always something to take pictures of. What do you think of these?

Swimming under Water

Going for a hike

Getting Sunburned on the Beach

A Walk in the Park

Woody's Family

2009-03-25T21:08:00.002-04:00

I've been playing with manikins again. As you can see, I have picked up some in different sizes, now I have a whole "family". As soon as the weather gets better, I plan on taking the family outside for some adventures.

A update on the studio/garage - This last storm through our area missed us so the ground is continuing to dry out. If this keeps up, hopefully this weekend we'll get the building site cleared of grass and get the corners staked, so we can get the post holes dug and start the construction.

Newborn Shoot for Allyssa

2009-03-22T22:23:00.006-04:00

Since my daughter is recovering from Gall Bladder surgery, I took my camera and props to her house. Allyssa was sound asleep when I got there but soon woke up hungry. We managed to get the basket pictures between eating and deciding she was still hungry. I didn't get as many pictures or poses as I had wanted due to additional visitors being at the house and Allyssa's unending appetite today. Here are some of what I shot, CC welcome and appreciated.

Allyssa and parents are back home

2009-03-21T21:45:00.002-04:00

Allyssa will be 1 week old in a few hours and is spending only her second night at home. Angie was released from the hospital today for the 3rd time in a week, this time minus her gall bladder. Let's hope nothing else disrupts getting settled in. I had originally planned on taking more formal portraits of Allyssa and her proud parents here at my house tomorrow but now that she is recovering from surgery, I'll go there to see what I can get.

Check back tomorrow evening to see pictures (yeah, I know I'm getting behind again) and I'll try to start posting more frequently now that spring (and Allyssa) are both here. I look forward to your feedback on my first official newborn shoot.

What next??

2009-03-18T20:58:00.002-04:00

No picture today, just an update. Yesterday Little Miss Allyssa went home but today she is back at the hospital. Oh, not for her, her mommy, my daughter had a sudden gall bladder attack. I found a text message this morning telling me that Angie, Matt and Allyssa were back at the hospital. Yesterday was also their 2nd wedding anniversary. They were getting ready to go out to dinner when she suddenly got hit with the pain. Around midnight they went to the ER and about 5:00 am she was admitted and will probably have surgery Friday.

My husband picked up the big sisters, Ashley and Destiny, after school, told them to pack a bag and brought them to our house. So no time for pictures tonight. Right now, trying to get the homework finished and get them to bed (so I can get to bed). This old woman (me) hasn't been getting enough sleep this week and I'm tired. You can run on "new baby adrenaline" for so long. Good Night

An Opinionated Little Girl

2009-03-16T20:59:00.003-04:00

I just had to post this one. She looks to be showing us what she thinks of her new surroundings. LOL Actually she seems to be very comfortable and even tempered. I have heard minimal crying and very little fussing at all.

I just had my Canon P&S with me but it actually takes some pretty decent pictures for only 5 mp.

I had to get the cap off to show how much hair she has. Hopefully she'll keep most of it.

They are leaving the hospital tomorrow so I probably won't see her again until the weekend. By then she will have changed quite a bit. It's been 8 years since I had a grandchild this size. The oldest grandson is 16 and driving now, gee, I'm getting OLD.

Presenting Allyssa Madison

2009-03-15T20:27:00.002-04:00

Well, here she is at 8 hours old. You can't see the head of thick brown hair here, but she has a lot of it. She has quite a few little scratches from her own fingernails, but other than that pretty much a perfect little girl. From what Angie is telling me, she eats like a little piggie, which is a good thing.

I didn't get a picture of her and her 2 big sisters but I will after everyone gets home and settled.

Check out the long little toes on this kid, and they are ticklish too. Not a whole lot to say at this point, just stay posted for new pictures as I get them taken.

We have a BABY !!!!!

2009-03-15T08:31:00.005-04:00

My daughter dropped off the "big sisters" with us yesterday morning so they could head for the hospital to have the labor induced (she was just past her due date). While at our house, I wanted to get one last picture of that belly. So who better to pose with her than Woody, my new little friend. So here is Woody "kissing" her very round belly.

We waited around the house for on a phone call to bring the girls in to the hospital. Well, we got bored and went shopping which at least put us in town. We bought some baby things, got a bite to eat and got to the hospital about 7:00 pm. Just after midnight, when the girls were crashing fast, Angie's labor had stalled so she told us we might as well take the girls home and put them to bed. The picture below was taken about 7:30-8:00, with a long way to go (we just didn't know it yet).

When I got up this morning, I had 2 text messages -

5:06 am - "Still baking. Stuck @ 9 1/2. Getting there tho."

6:38 am - "Allyssa Madison 5:57 am 7 lbs 8.4 oz 19 1/2 inches"

We'll be heading back in to the hospital later so tonight's post will have pictures of my newest granddaughter. I hope you won't get to bored with seeing her because this will probably be the most photographed of all of my grandchildren. Especially with me and my camera and this being the first grandchild on Matt's side.

Still Playing with "Woody" and friends

2009-03-12T21:38:00.002-04:00

When I get into something, I tend to jump in with both feet. After my husband bought me the manikins, I keep trying to think of poses to put him (or them) in. I stopped at the Subaru plant to drop off a package for my contact which put me a few miles from Michael's (Hobby and Craft store). I decided to look around for things to take pictures and ended up getting Woody a flag to salute.

While wandering the aisles I spotted these wooden puzzles in the educational section. I ended up with 3 different ones, the Tarantula, the horse and a deer which I have yet to assemble.

The deer may be in my next post plus whatever else I can think of for Woody to do.

Playing with "Dolls"

2009-03-11T05:30:00.002-04:00

I have seen (and admired) many of the pictures I've seen using "Woody", the manikin used to study the human form and movement in art classes. Yesterday when my husband was in town he checked at Hobby Lobby and found them. He ended up buying me several of them so I could play with dolls taking pictures. I have several more posted on my Flickr photostream if you want to check them out. http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/

Yesterday's Deliveries

2009-03-08T07:49:00.004-04:00

I tried to post these yesterday but the weather interupted my satellite internet service and I lost the whole post so I will try it again this morning.

Due to some "communication" issues with Menard's we had to accept some of our construction material about a month before we had planned. This meant we had to get the site cleared for the building. This also means that as soon as Mother Nature dries out the "mud pit" we can actually get started putting the garage/studio together. Below is a picture of where the building will be. I drew lines on the picture to show where the building will be.

Yesterday morning I got a call about 7:45 telling me that the materials were being loading on a truck and that they would be delivered shortly. Around 9:00 the truck showed up and here is the first pallet of construction lumber coming down the drive.

After trying to find suitable spots to park pallets be got to the BIG stuff. Check out the 6 x 6 posts that hold the building up. The longest is 24 foot long. My big concern is how to stand these things up in a 4 foot deep hole, but thankfully my neighbor, who works in construction has offered his assistance, which is greatly appreciated.

This whole process will be documented with photos. I plan to take a picture standing in the same spot as the first picture and try to string them all together as a movie so we can see the building go up in a few seconds. We don't have a goal for a completion date, but I definately don't want to be working out in the sun when it is 80° to 90° outside. Check back for updates (and/or frustration vending).

My First HDR Attempt (Thanks Candy)

2009-03-06T22:18:00.003-05:00

After posting the Arch picture yesterday, Candy asked if she could borrow it the use the HDR techniques on it. Candy's version is in my Flickr photostream. She also turned me on to the software she used so now I have downloaded it and below is my first HDR attempt using the Arch picture.

This will be a short blog since I have to get to bed soon. We are having some of the building materials delivered in the morning, so you can guess what pictures will be posted tomorrow.

Another Road Trip

2009-03-05T21:50:00.003-05:00

Today was a long day. A colleague and I took a road trip to the St. Louis area to visit a supplier. One day over and back and getting anything done turned into a 14 hour work day, but the good news is, I don't have to work tomorrow. On our way back, we took I-70 through St. Louis and took a slight detour so I could snap a few shots of the Arch. I had been there one other time but that was about 30 years ago.

Most of the drive back was pretty boring and seemed to take forever. By the time we reached Indianapolis, I decided to get my camera back out and play with the lights on the road. I took the next 2 (from the passenger seat) using about a 6 sec exposure going about 70 mph. I thought the two below made for some interesting pictures. It took a few minutes to figure out the green lines. It was the green from the overhead information signs reflecting back into the light fixtures on the other side of the interstate.

Still behind but not as bad . .

2009-03-03T18:35:00.002-05:00

I'm still behind in posting but not as bad. Tonight's picture is a second attempt at my "Daily Challenge". The challenge is "Before and After" so my original plan was to take a potato and transition it to potato chips. The pictures in the camera looked pretty good so I started scrunching on the few unbroken chips that I had found in the bag. I plugged the memory card into the computer and to my total dismay, I realized that I had bumped the ISO way up last might trying to take some star pictures (with no luck, I might add) and had forgotten to return it to ISO 100. The pictures were too grainy to use and all I had left were the potato chip crumbs so now I needed another idea.

Still on the same train of thought, I retreived a lone onion from the refrigerator that I had used in a vegetable still life earlier. So now the plan was to transition from an onion to onion rings and here is the result which I like much better. It just goes to prove that sometimes you need to take a few wrong turns to reach your final destination.

It's been a busy week and I'm way behind . .

2009-02-27T21:32:00.004-05:00

It's been a very busy week both at work and at home. I did play with some pictures this week but didn't get time to post them until tonight. Last night we made our weekly trip to Menard's to take advantage of items on sale for the Garage/Studio project. Last night we placed the order for the interior doors and flooring for the studio and a countertop for the changing room vanity. The weather is finally starting to improve a little so we can try to get out to start clearing and marking off the corners for the building. If we are lucky this weekend we will get some air in the Bobcat tire and get the battery charged so as soon as the ground dries out enough, I can start clearing the area. Yes, I drive a Bobcat skid steer loader. One of these days I want to drive my son's semi (without the trailer).

Below is just an assortment of some pictures taken in the last week, hope you enjoy them.

38 Weeks and Counting . . .

2009-02-22T20:07:00.004-05:00

My daughter is about 38 weeks and counting so she and Matt came down for some more pictures while there was still time to get them. I wanted to get some with the big sisters in them but they were with their dad this weekend, maybe we'll get a chance next weekend. I can't wait to take some newborn pictures in a few weeks. Angie really didn't want her face to show but I posted one anyway. At least I didn't post the one with the REALLY goofy look on her face. (Sorry, Ang, Love ya)

Fire and Ice, Take 2

2009-02-21T22:18:00.002-05:00

Last week I tried the fire and ice but wasn't very happy with the results. Today we had some more sloppy snow which results in plenty of icicles. I went out twice to "harvest" the crop to try this again, so here are the results. Not too bad but nothing spectacular either. With any luck, this will be the last of the icicles I see this winter. Come on spring!!!!

A wider crop of the same shot.

Funky Little Purple Thing

2009-02-20T22:13:00.002-05:00

I was looking for something to take a picture of that would lighten the mood from yesterday's blog and spotted this funky little purple thing that is sort of a ball but it has an opening. When I first brought it home, my 12 year old grandson decided to put it on his head as a skull cap. You can imagine what that looked like. I have it stretched over a small basketball for the picture but it is extremely soft and stretchy. After the week I had at work I needed a goofy picture for the day to de-stress.

Someday, I'll pick up my brushes again . . .

2009-02-19T19:38:00.003-05:00

It's been a very long time since I painted this picture for my best friend. One of these days when I find time, I'll pick up my brushes again. I think my problem is I want to do so many things that there is not enough time to fit them all in. You know that thing called WORK, it just keeps getting in my way and taking up all of my time.

The only reason I have this painting back is my friend suddenly died 2 years ago from a brain aneurysm at age 44. Both Tina and her husband Marty were very close friends for about 25 years (I used to work with both of them). I knew they were meant for each other before they did. Tragically about 6 months after Tina died, Marty was killed in a motorcycle accident. I think of them almost daily but they are together again. So now with this painting hanging in my hallway, I think of them with fond memories.

Prints, Plans and PERMIT

2009-02-18T21:12:00.002-05:00

Yes, we finally have our building permit. We had been ordering some of the building materials as they went on sale to save as much as possible on the Garage/Studio project. Everything we had ordered to date could have been cancelled if the permit was not approved, that is, nothing that had to be special ordered. Now that we have the permit in hand, we placed the last large order with all of the special items, such as the 36 foot trusses at about $200 each. No turning back now, not that I would want to. LOL All I ask for is some decent weather in April and the help of a few friends.

Fire and Ice

2009-02-17T21:09:00.002-05:00

I have wanted to try this for a while but it didn't turn out like I thought it might (or had hoped). I started saving icicles a few weeks ago and decided to try it tonight. Not much to say about it, maybe if we get more icicles, I'll try it again.

One Month to go . . . .

2009-02-14T22:20:00.005-05:00

My daughter is at the 8 month point in her pregnancy and today (Saturday) was the Baby Shower hosted by the other Gamma (this is her first grandbaby) and my son-in-law's cousin. Check out the Diaper "cake" used for a centerpiece. I thought this was a really cute idea. Each diaper was rolled and held together by a pink and white bead bracelet for the guests to take home.

The theme for the nursery is "Baby Looney Toons" thus the design on the cake.

One of the party games was "Bobbing for Nipples" and the only person game to try this was the Daddy-to-be, my SIL Matt. If you can't tell, he's a huge Steeler's fan.

Here is my daughter, Angie, opening the gifts for the baby. She has 2 other daughters but the youngest is over 8 so she had gotten rid of all of her old baby stuff and is starting from scratch.

Just a footnote - I started this post last night, then was suddenly hit with some kind of stomach bug and here I am finishing it 24 hours later. I am feeling somewhat better, but not where I would like to be.

Rain, Rain Go Away

2009-02-11T21:23:00.003-05:00

Come again another day. I know others are in the same boat as me right now (wishing we had a boat!). After a few 50-60° days, the snow melts, the ground is saturated, then we get hit with rain, rain and more rain today. Now the wind has kicked up. Fun, fun, fun. Here are pictures I took as I was leaving work. The first one is usually grass between my employer and the candy factory next door. The second one is our back parking lot with several inches of standing (and rising water). I called my husband before I left work and found out the sump pump had quit working and we had several inches of water under the house. So off to my favorite store (Menards for those who don't remember) to buy a new pump. It's plugged in and most of the water is gone now.

I was expecting my road to be flooded when I got home and I was close. The water runs from the field across the road in front of my neighbor's house and was half covering the road 3 hours ago. That spot and several others between my drive and the highway will probably be completely covered in the morning. Could be an interesting drive to work tomorrow. Maybe I need pontoons for my Jeep. I'd better get there a little early, I suspect parking places will be at a premium in the morning.

Antique Plate and Cup, circa early 1900's

2009-02-10T21:01:00.003-05:00

The daily challenge in one of my other groups for today was "Antique" so I took a picture of a china plate and cup that is the only thing that my MIL had that belonged to her mother, Catherine. My MIL didn't have the chance to know her mother very well since she died when my MIL was about 10 years old. My husband was an only child and now both of his parents have passed so we have custody of the china pieces that sit front and center in my china hutch. The picture in the background is a copy of Catherine's Nursing graduation picture from somewhere in the 1930's (I think). The pieces are Takito China from somewhere around 1900.

I'm Ready for Spring

2009-02-09T21:08:00.002-05:00

I didn't get a picture taken today so I pulled out one I took last summer. Our temperature was in the mid 50's today and tomorrow it's supposed to hit 60°. I am so ready for Spring. What do you say we forget what the groundhog said and start spring now. Anyone want to join me?

Trying Something New

2009-02-08T20:35:00.002-05:00

As I sit at my computer, I look out the window and see a full moon looking back. Last night I tried several different lens to try to get a nice close-up of the moon but still don't have the results I am looking for. Tonight, I thought I would try something a little different - shooting through my telescope. To get any sort of clarity, I used the eyepiece with the widest view but when trying to align my P & S with the eyepiece, I would only get part of the moon. To get the picture below, it joined 4 different pictures and cloned the "seams" to make it a single picture. This is still not the photo I am looking for but since I took the time to shoot the pictures, join them, blend it and save it, I figured I might as well post it.

Playing with Shapes and Colors

2009-02-07T23:27:00.002-05:00

Today I was playing with "Round" and threw color into the mix. In the first picture, I used a section of dryer vent with the light placed at the end then shot the picture through a blue filter. I did the same shot using a red filter which changed the mood from calm and inviting (like walking into the tunnel would be peaceful) to more like the "gates of hell" feeling so I'm not posting that one.

This next picture also working with "round" and color, I gathered up all of the different spray paint tops that I could find and tried a few variations. It's nothing special, I just liked this one the best.

It's That Time Again, Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Let's go Racing......

2009-02-06T23:49:00.003-05:00

I don't know whether any of you ladies are Nascar fans but the season officially starts tomorrow with the Bud Shootout. I love watching the races and rooting for Kasey Kahne. I just hope he has a better season than the last couple.

If I want this picture to post on 2/6/09, I'd better hit Publish and get to bed (in my Kasey Kahne jammy pants).

Still Playing with Studio Shots

2009-02-05T21:40:00.004-05:00

While I still had my black background set up, I looked around for something else to shoot. This is a glass flower from my son's first wedding. The stem is hollow so a real flower can be placed inside the glass one. I took several (on my Flickr photostream) but only uploaded this one to the blog. I think this is my favorite crop.

I also played more with the Calla Lily pictures and cropped and adjusted this one to come up with a pretty good one, but that is just my opinion.

Inspired by Others

2009-02-04T21:31:00.002-05:00

Inspired by a photo linked in one of my groups, I thought I would try a similar shot. So here a a couple I did this evening. C&C would be greatly appreciated.

Have you met Toby?

2009-02-03T20:41:00.004-05:00

I don't think I have introduced you ladies to Toby. He is just one of the 10 collies we have. We have both the rough and smooth varieties and occasionally we breed a litter of puppies. Toby lives in the house with us. I guess the main reason for that is that he is white and if he lived out in the kennel he probably would not remain white for long.

Now living in the kennel is not too bad, we built a 24' x 30' building just for the dogs. It is heated in the winter and they have outside runs. We also let them out of the runs (for major exercise) where they have about 3 acres of fenced-in backyard to run in. When I said "we" built the kennel, I'm talking about my husband and myself doing the whole thing including floating the concrete. Here is shot while we were still under construction.

Now that we are in our mid to late 50's, we will be recruiting help in doing the garage/studio. Oh, I'll still be out there working, in fact, I will probably do 75% of the studio with my own bare hands, but I'm done floating concrete and won't be 20 feet in the air putting on roofing. I originally got into construction helping my Dad build a house when I was 16 and now I'm known as a "grandma with a toolbelt". What I haven't told you yet is the reason we need to add a garage. You see we already have a 2 car garage but there hasn't been a car in it for years since I took it over as my woodworking shop. This past summer, I added built-in cabinets and workbenches. If you are interested in checking out my shop or some of my projects, here is the link to my set on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/sets/72157607221978695/

And The Process Begin . . . .

2009-02-02T21:46:00.004-05:00

Last week when the construction lumber and steel siding were on sale, we placed an order at Menards for a delayed delivery in April. As items go on sale, we will add to the order. Tonight I started the paperwork for the building permits for the garage/studio. Later this week Dan will head for town to get our permits and we will officially be under way.

We Splurged a Little Yesterday

2009-02-01T19:20:00.003-05:00

My husband has supported my photography since I jumped back in with both feet last year when I got my first DSLR. He is always wanting to find out what I need to be able to do the job right. In fact since he does most of the shopping, he will pick up items that he thinks will make good props in my studio. Well, since we recently got his disability settlement check, I asked him if there was something that HE wanted. Afterall, he deserves a new "toy" once in a while himself, so yesterday we went to the electronic store so find something he wanted (and just in time for the game).

But don't worry, I didn't come out empty handed either, here is my new little toy, an undercabinet/shelf mounted TV/Radio/DVD/CD player. I mounted it under the book shelf in the study to replace the 13 inch that sat on the counter taking up precious real estate.

Sweeping Curves

2009-02-01T00:56:00.005-05:00

I was playing around with light reflections on sweeping curves and graceful movement and I chose one of my John Perry seal figurines on driftwood to shoot. Since my name is Cel, it just seemed right for me to collect seals and sea lions. Having collected seals in about every form possible (short of a live one) for close to 40 years I have somewhere around 1000 of them. I have several of the John Perry, in both black and white but chose a white one to shoot against black for a more dramatic effect. I rotated it to capture it from several angles and increased the contrast to make the white (actually more of a cream color) pop more. C & C welcome and very much appreciated.

Even though it's late or actually early on 2/1/09, this is my 1/31/09 posting.

It's a Dog's World

2009-01-30T19:33:00.005-05:00

I belong to a Yahoo/Flickr group that has "Daily Photo Challenges" and today's was 'Houses' so I took out my favorite version of Monopoly to snap some house pictures. This is the Pedigree (Dog Food) version. Here is the one I posted in the challenge, a tight shot to include the houses.

Here is a different one that I pulled back to include more of the playing pieces. The little Scottie dog has been my favorite all of my life, so I figured why change now, stick with the Scottie Dog.

Want to play a game?

Happy Birthday, Pop, I Love You, I Miss You

2009-01-29T19:45:00.005-05:00

Today's post is a tribute to my Dad who I always called "Pop". He would have been 82 today, but he lost his five and a half year long battle with cancer on July 4th of 1992. As I have posted before, he is the person responsible for my love of photography as well as my love of construction and woodworking. Today I thought I would dig out some old pictures and make a collage. Most of the pictures include family members (see the diagram and notes below).

For several years I did not "celebrate" the 4th of July but now we look at it as a celebration of his life. He taught me to be a self-reliant person and I am. This is why I always say I love depending on my husband but I am not dependant upon him. Dad taught me so much and is the one person who influenced who I am today more than anyone. It's really hard to list or even put into words the effect this fabulous human being had on everyone around him. He made new friends everywhere he went and would give you the shirt off his back or the last dollar in his pocket if you needed it. He's my Guardian Angel, I know this because he "talks" to me. Now before you mark me off as insane, let me explain. You know the "voice in the your head" that tells you what to do or not do sometimes? In my case, that's my Dad. An example of what I mean, the night before my mastectomy, there he was telling me "Don't worry, everything's going to be OK". And it was, here I am 14 years later.

Compare the numbers below to the location above for the story on some of the pictures.

1. One of my favorite pictures. Dad was a die-hard Redskins fan so my oldest brother who lives in Maryland fixed him up with the shirt, hat and suspenders.
2. The shirt says it all "Best Dad on Earth"
3. Hard to see but this is me balancing on my Dad's head and shoulders when I was 7 years old.
4. My brother, me and Dad at my brother's wedding.
5. Dad and the 4 of us kids taken at the hospital after his cancer surgery. I believe this is the last time us "kids" were all together. We lost Mom in 1978 and later lost my sister in 2004.
6. Dad with 3 out of 4 of his kids (that's me behind the red shirt).
7. This is a 4 generation picture, Grandpa, Dad, my oldest brother and his son.
8. Dad and my daughter on his motorcycle about 30 years ago.
9. Dad and my son about 33 years ago.
10. Snoozing on the couch.
11. Dad with 3 out of 4 of his kids (I'm standing beside Dad).

Here is how my morning started -

2009-01-28T20:15:00.002-05:00

Here is a good look at the 5-6 inches of snow I faced this morning when I got up. The worse part is I HAD to go out in it. The best part is I have my Jeep with 4-wheel drive. I was actually making pretty good time this morning until I got behind some traffic wanting to go 20-25 mph and no way to get around them. Once I turned for the last leg of my 18 mile drive to work, I was by myself on unplowed roads and was able to go 40-45 mph and clocked in at 8:00 on the nose. I made it on time! I am so glad that I don't live in Kentucky with the 1+ inches of ICE. I spoke to several of my contacts down there and found out that a large part of the state was out of power and a state of emergency had been declared. Stay warm and safe everyone involved in this latest hand that Mother Nature is dealing us.

Ask and you shall receive . . . .

2009-01-27T21:05:00.003-05:00

After posting the hair color picture, a couple of you asked to see the "after". Here it is, same color I have been using, I just lost the gray roots.

You really didn't think I was going to show my face did you? I have had self-esteem issues most of my life and hate (or really, really dislike) having my picture taken. I think this is one of the reasons that I love being BEHIND the camera not in front of it. Maybe one of these days I'll post one of me but not now.

I Missed My First Day of Posting a Photo

2009-01-26T21:37:00.003-05:00

But I had a good reason. My daughter does me the great favor of touching up my roots when the gray gets too hard to hide. It sure beats the cost of having it done at a salon. She stopped by last night to color my hair and used up my blogging time. I guess my picture today will dispel the rumor that "Only my hairdresser knows for sure". Now, the whole world (or at least those following my blog) know what color I use.

Went to Town Today

2009-01-24T21:48:00.003-05:00

I am a country girl down to the bone and after living in the center of town for 18 years before moving back to the country, I rarely go to town. I'm perfectly content to stay home on weekends and plant shutdowns, but today I went to town. One of our planned stops was to go to Menards to use what my husband calls my "Playstation". It's the computer module they have for customers to use to plan buildings, decks, etc. We went to get a preliminary cost on the building that my studio will be in. So here is a picture of my favorite store.

I've also mentioned lately that I work in the slow moving automotive industry. While we were running around, we drove by the SIA plant in Lafayette. This is the assembly plant that we ship our seats to. If you take a look at the lot, you will see probably 10,000+ vehicles (Subaru and Toyota) waiting to be shipped and sold. To see a larger view, click here http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/3223566705/sizes/l/ .

And speaking of vehicles, I spotted this SWEET ride in the Walmart parking lot and since I had my camera on me, I had to get a picture. The owner came back as I was taking pictures but I'm not sure he spotted me stooped down in front of his car. I didn't say anything, just walked away smiling like I had just gotten away with something.

Back in Time

2009-01-23T23:01:00.004-05:00

I got too busy tonight planning my studio :o) and did not get a new picture taken but looked at some of my old pictures to find one to post. This picture was taken with my Kodak Brownie camera back in I think 1963 on a family trip out west. It was taken not too far from Mount Rushmore. My interest in photography started a very long time ago thanks to my Dad who seemed to always have a camera in his hand. I was 12 when I took this one which was part of my 4H exhibit that took Grand Champion at the county fair the following summer. Even though the print has faded over the last 45 years (I was able to enhance it a little when I scanned it) I still think it is a pretty good picture. Hope you like it.

Dreams Do Come True

2009-01-22T17:18:00.002-05:00

I think I may have posted somewhere that with any luck, this spring we would be able to build a post frame building to house a 3 car garage plus my studio. Well, today my dreams came a lot closer to coming true. We got the settlement for my husband's disability claim. He has 35+ year history of debilitating headaches and we have been trying to get him on disability since his job of 31 years moved south to Mexico and left him unemployed. We went through the apply (denied), appeal (denied), requested a hearing (wait 28 months), then the judge approved him. Now with the meager sum that he will be getting each month, at least I wouldn't be the sole bread-winner any more. This comes at a very good time since I work in the automotive industry and I think everyone knows what is going on there.

As for the picture, this will be the view from the window in the office/reception area of my studio. I plan on "stealing" about 15 feet on the east end of the building for a studio, changing room, and office/reception area. The studio area will be approximately 20' deep x 12' wide with 12' high ceilings. Once we start construction, it will be easy to find a picture to post and you will see the day to day progress. Oh, when I said we would be building it, I really meant it, my husband and I do virtually 100% of the actual construction on anything we build, but I'm done floating concrete. I'm getting way too old to do a 48 x 32 foot slab of concrete.

The picture is 3 shots stitched together. They were shot hand-held at ISO 100, f22, and 1/8 second. I used a program that came with my Canon P&S called Photo Stitch to join them. Click this link for a larger view if you like.
http://flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/3219096508/sizes/l/

One of My Weaknesses - CHOCOLATE

2009-01-21T21:24:00.003-05:00

After running short of time this evening, I sat down at the computer still trying to think of something different for my daily photo. I looked to my left and noticed the container of Hershey Kisses, one of my weaknesses, especially the "after Christmas 75% off kind". I sat up my lightbox and decided to do a little Kiss Art. Now that I have your mouth watering, go find some CHOCOLATE.

New Toy to Play With

2009-01-20T20:45:00.002-05:00

Not much time or imagination for today's picture but it is photo related. We upgraded our phones (yes, it has a camera) yesterday so tonight we are still learning the features. My biggest challenge will be keeping off it while I am supposed to be working. Shouldn't be too hard though, I am so far behind, I will NEVER have everything caught up. In a way, it's job security since a lot of it is things that only I do. But I am not stupid enough to think that I am irreplaceable, nobody is. Now since my blog title is "ramblings" and photo's, I'll throw in some of the ramblings that many of you ladies may relate to, that is the glass ceiling in business. The company I work for treats me pretty good but I feel I have earned it. When I started there 15 and a half years ago, I was one of a handful of women in management (you could count us on one hand). The company itself was made up of 95% men, both in production and in management. In a lot of ways I feel I have to work twice as hard as the men, just to prove myself. But in the back of my mind, especially with the economy the way it is, I still feel that the hard work will pay off and I will have a job if and when the cutbacks start. Not quite sure how a new phone sent me off on that tangent but anyway here's my new tech toy.

Snowflakes Up Close

2009-01-19T20:44:00.003-05:00

I didn't have to work today and while sitting at the computer, I looked out to see some larger snowflakes again today. Still having my close-up lens ready, I headed outside and was able to find some isolated flakes. I'm still trying to dial in the focus, maybe by the end of winter I will be a lot closer. These were shot at f5.6, 1/20 sec, ISO 100 with numerous close-up filters (two +4 and three +2) attached to my 18-55 mm lens zoomed as close as possible.

A Walk Around the Yard

2009-01-18T15:46:00.004-05:00

This morning I looked out my window and noticed that it was snowing, but the tiny, hard to photograph kind so I went back to reading blogs. Later I saw the flakes getting pretty large so I started getting my lens ready by adding on the close-up filters. By the time I finished, the snow had stopped and the sun was coming out. I'm really not that slow, this was all in 5 minutes time. Today's photo would not be more snowflakes.

This afternoon with the sun shining very bright, I decided to take the neighbor's horses a couple of apples to see if they would pose for me - NOT. I snapped a few pix of them, threw the apples (hopefully they will find them) and started looking around. This horse is a pretty paint but those very blue eyes kind of creep me out.

The next picture in where I noticed that the trees did not have snow on the branches, they had a layer of ice up the west side of the whole tree.

OK, I'm freezing by now so I headed for the house, finding "my boys" sitting in the sun by the back door. Prince decided he would pose for me briefly while his brother was being uncooperative.

Now, I'm in and warm again and wanted to get my blog updated so I can get supper started (Fried Chicken) for the crew. Our son is staying with us for now and he has his 3 kids this weekend. And as the sign in my kitchen says -

Senior Pictures

2009-01-17T21:28:00.003-05:00

Since I am still very new to the portrait side of photography and not nearly ready to charge for my services, I practice on family. Actually Krystan is the daughter of my son's ex-wife. They are still considered family since Becky and my son, Chris, always made better friends than spouses. Of course, the girls, Krystan (pictured) and Samantha will always be "granddaughters" in my eyes. So here are a couple of proofs for Krystan's Senior pictures. These were shot with the chromakey green background at f6.7, ISO 100 and 1/3 sec. shutter speed. C & C would be greatly appreciated as I would like to get heavy into portraits when I get my studio built. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Road Trip Day 5 - Heading Home

2009-01-16T20:37:00.004-05:00

Pretty uneventful day. I had wanted to try the tunnels again but my GPS routed us a different way out of Detroit so we did not go through the area with the tunnels. Instead it was pretty much a boring drive for about 6 hours. The good thing about the drive was that at least the roads were in good condition, cold as h*ll (-5°), but not snow covered. Today's picture will be my favorite thing to see besides my family when ending a roadtrip - my driveway! I'm home again in one piece. Thanks for taking the trip with me.

Road Trip Day 4

2009-01-15T20:33:00.004-05:00

Today was the last day in the welding shop, at least for this trip. I really expect to be back up here in a couple of weeks. I thought for today's first picture, I will show you a shot at the shop. This picture is nothing special but since I have been documenting my road trip, I wanted it include it.

Now, since I strive to take photos with good composition and lighting, I cannot leave everyone with the shop picture being a representative to keep in your mind today. So, on the way back to the hotel, we stopped by "The Harbor" apartment complex to get a photo of their lighthouse. From what I could tell, the lighthouse is surrounded by a lake but since everything is frozen and covered with snow, I cannot be positive. I was going to take this yesterday but didn't think the white lighthouse against a totally overcast sky would be very appealing. Hope this one is.

The end of our trip is near (we are heading home in the morning with about a 6 hour drive) so we hit "The Boneyard" for dinner. I have had better ribs before, they were pretty good, but I think I like the Blues Brothers decor more. Night all.

Road Trip Day 3

2009-01-14T18:55:00.003-05:00

Cold (soon to be frigid), windy, and snowing AGAIN here in Detroit. But for those of you following my road trip, I finally got my snow covered pine trees. We were heading back to the hotel while it was still light enough to see our surroundings and found these trees.

After snapping these photos, we went back to the hotel and I decided to take a quick walk looking for anything interesting. I didn't find much - snow piles, snow drifts, snow on the streets, snow on the sidewalks, snow, snow, snow everywhere. Snapped another pine tree, thank heavens I have that out of my system now. I guess the good thing about all of this snow, it covers all of the dead grass and plants that we normally see this time of the year.

Ok, now time to head to my room, get into my Kasey Kahne jammies and play on the computer. But first I had to take a quick shot of the glass tiles between the lobby and the dining room. I thought they ooked pretty cool with the lights coming through them.

That's it for tonight, take care Ladies and I'll follow your blogs and comment as I find time.

Road Trip Day 2

2009-01-13T21:07:00.004-05:00

Well day 2 started off with about 3 inches of fresh snow. So before I left my hotel room I decided to try a 30 second exposure out the window at the rush hour headlights and taillights. Since I did not bring a tripod, I used a washcloth to support the lens in the window sill. Being on the 4th floor helped with this shot.

For the most part, the bulk of the day was pretty busy, resolving prototype issues and reviewing some Quality concerns. When we went to lunch, I didn't even take my P&S so I couldn't take a picture of the bear, buck, elk or pheasants that were part of the decor at the restaurant (shucks). By the time we headed back to the hotel it was too dark to get much , leaving me with not many choices for photos. Instead I opted for choices for dinner.

Road Trip Day 1

2009-01-12T15:46:00.007-05:00

We started our drive this morning about 7:00 and headed north. The farther north we went, the more snow we found, thankfully, the snow was NOT on the road. The pines and spruces along the interstate were beautiful with the snow on the branches but getting pictures at 70 mph is pretty much impossible. So we stopped at a Rest Area in hopes of finding some of these beautiful trees but when we pulled in - Not an evergreen within 1000 yards. So I took the picture of the bench with the snow piled high and we were back on the road.

An hour or so later we were into the Detroit area and going through the tunnels so I decided to see if I could get the tunnel light to streak by taking a picture out the windshield still doing about 70 mph. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

I still wanted to get some pictures showing the big icicles that I was seeing everywhere and once I got to my room I didn't have to look very far. These were right outside my window.

Who knows what I will find to photograph before the week is over, but you'll see it here not too long after I shoot it.

Heading Out of Town in the Morning

2009-01-11T19:40:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow morning I'm headed for Detroit for a week long business trip with a co-worker. So tonight's picture will show my effort to make sure I keep posting pictures over the next week. Here is my suitcase, computer and camera almost ready to go. The worst part about the trip is that according to the forecast, Detroit is predicting snow everyday next week. Oh well, I'll deal with it the best I can, and if I get stuck, my boss will see me in the Spring thaw. But then again, he's going to sunny warm Mexico this week (also on business). Why couldn't I get that trip?

I Can't Call These Snowflakes but . . .

2009-01-10T16:45:00.004-05:00

The good news is, we didn't get the snow storm that was being predicted last night and today. In fact an hour or so ago, we finally just got a dusting of snow on top of a thin layer of ice. The interesting thing about the snow is that I can't call them "flakes", I was calling them snow "sticks". After seeing this, I got out my zoom and some close-up filters and headed outside and here is what I managed to get. Not as clear as I had hoped but you can see what I mean. I'm just glad they were not accompanied by a few gazillion of their little friends.

I Stayed Inside Tonight

2009-01-10T00:29:00.005-05:00

After getting home from work late and a snow storm coming, I stayed in tonight and played with my light box. I was working on, I guess you would call it, product shots or stock photography shots. I posted one in the Daily Challenge for one of my Flickr photography groups (http://www.flickr.com/photos/indiana-shutterbug/3184209838/) and I another one here just so I can get my daily photo posted. Not very exciting but overall not a bad photo I would say.

Kendra asked about the lighting so I'll add a picture of the set-up using 4 compact flourescent 30 watt bulbs on light stands (2 low on the outside, 2 high inside the box) and one in a hair boom above the lightbox.

Still Cold and Windy in Purdue Country

2009-01-08T20:07:00.003-05:00

I caught a glimpse of sunshine on the way home from work, it only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to make me want to go outside for today's picture. That too also only lasted a few seconds, the temp was in the mid teens and the wind was blowing as usual. If we had a windmill and a generator with batteries to store the electricity we wouldn't need the electric company. It's seems like it's always windy here in Purdue country. So to illustrate that point, here is my windmill in the backyard.

2009-01-07T20:08:00.003-05:00

Since we have been discussing chromakey backgrounds I thought I would post a couple that I put together tonight using the Photokey2 software that Jane turned me on to. (Thanks Jane) The two guys in the picture are the nephew of my ex-daughter-in-law and his son. I took their picture against a blue background a few weeks ago and then used it with a couple of the digital backgrounds in my arsenal. Several months ago I searched ebay for digital backgrounds and found I could get a disk of over 1000 for less than $25.00. I am finding that the blue background doesn't work that well if the subject is wearing dark colors. When they are extracted from the blue, the dark colors become somewhat translucent. I'll just keep practicing to find out what works and what doesn't.

Bunnies and babies

2009-01-06T20:24:00.004-05:00

In one of my Yahoo groups we are having a study group reading the book "Understanding Exposure" so I have been playing with my studio lighting and camera settings. When I set the camera for the "perfect exposure" according to the light meter the photo was too dark. The shutter speed was 1/8 sec but when I changed it to 1/2 sec the photo was bright like I wanted it. The final settings were ISO 100, f 9.5 and 1/2 sec shutter speed.

Baby Blocks

2009-01-05T18:16:00.003-05:00

As I have said in the "About me" section, I will soon be the grandmother of # 6 with Allyssa being due the middle of March. We have been in baby mode recently and I have already taken a few "pregnant pix" which can be found on my Flickr Photostream in a set by the same name. I wanted to get some baby blocks for Angie to hold in front of or beside her belly when we take more pictures. Would you believe it took me 3 stores to finally find them and as it was, I got the last package? Knowing what I wanted to do with them I started forming words in the Scrabble format and wanted to share them with all of the other Moms in the group.

Goblets Take 2

2009-01-04T16:55:00.003-05:00

While I still had the goblets out, I wanted to try them again with the white background. I haven't decided which I like more. Obviously the white background shows the goblets better but the black is more dramatic. I guess my preference would ultimately depend on the mood I was looking for.

Today's Photo

2009-01-03T20:29:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I hit the Christmas clearance at Hobby Lobby and found these goblets, so for today's picture I was playing around with the shiny colored glass against a black background. I lit them with some studio lighting and even some LED flashlights for accents.

This is the cutest breast cancer email I have ever received.

2009-01-03T14:47:00.002-05:00

I didn't take the picture but being a 14 year surviver (as of Jan 11th) I wanted to pass it on. Besides that, I love the look on her face.

Fast Moving Train 01-02-09

2009-01-02T23:43:00.004-05:00

I went into town today to run some errands and also take some photos of the train depot and courthouse. While at the depot, without warning here came a train and I managed to get "something" in focus. I would say he was moving at 50 mph or so and I was less that 100 yards from him so I feel lucky that I got this shot. Thanks heavens I was in auto mode and could react quickly. Most of the time anymore I shoot in manual mode and like the results better than auto.

'Til next Christmas

2009-01-01T12:02:00.002-05:00

Since today is the "take down the decorations day" I thought this would be an appropriate picture to post. I didn't go to much effort to light this one, just the on camera flash with a diffuser.

2008-12-31T20:30:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you great photos in 2009.

Just getting started

2008-12-31T11:33:00.007-05:00

This is my first attempt to set up a blog so bear with me. Here is my first picture to post on my blog and I picked this one since it is New Year's Eve. I took this one for a daily challenge for one of my groups. I took this against a black background with an LED flashlight lighting the bottles from the back. Another LED flashlight lit the glass and bottle tops from the top. Hope you like it.