Weekly Photo Challenge

 

This weeks Challenge

   “Hit Me With Your Best Shots”   

Suggested by me:  PhotoGraphics

 

I have favorites in a lot of photo categories.  They vary from photos of my granddaughter to the cat who adopted us to airplanes overhead to fields and flowers and more.  The thing is, I love excitement and “color is excitement” and when we purchased my first digital camera, I knew I really wanted to be able to photograph night shots with its exciting lighting and color.  It is a great satisfaction to me to get the night images.  My camera, even with the compensation for shake, is not the steadiest and many of my images are taken from inside a moving car so I have to fight for clarity and sharpness.  I have gotten better and  I feel pretty good about my photo accomplishments considering.  That being said, a display of some of my favorite night images. 

 

My Photos

… all no flash images …

 

 

This my be the first of my night images that gave me any satisfaction.  Taken with a Kodak DC4800 3.1 Megapixel camera in September, 2004, I really wanted to get the glow of the neon..  My camera was 3 years old at the time and previous night shots were pretty iffy.  

 

 

 

This little steel diner was photographed in 2005 (Kodak DC4800 3.1 Megapixel camera) on a trip designed specially for a good Xanga friend.  He wanted to see steel diners but passed away before he could make the trip.  I look at my diner images and others from the trip we proceeded to take anyway and  remember him.

 

 

 

This was taken in November of 2006 (Kodak DC4800 3.1 Megapixel camera) in Illinois after family spent a great day at a park for Thanksgiving.  I should probably doctor up some of the harsh white in Santa’s beard.

 

 

 

This is the front window of a church about a mile from our house.  It’s a beautiful sight to drive past in the dark.  I have taken photos of it quite a few times and this image is about the best I have taken. (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

 

 

Dreary and wet and low light and look at the wonderful color reflecting from the neon sign on the roof and the wet parking lot (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera).  I love this kind of photo and keep trying for better.  Not perfect but I’m still pleased I can get the image in this light.

 

 

 

This image you may have to study a minute or so.  We are at the table, beside the plate glass window, in Cici Pizza and the glass looks to the outside in the dark and is also reflecting my husband’s image and the shadows of other patrons.  You see, in the distance, the lights of cars and shops.  The nice thing about NO FLASH is, a lot of people don’t notice you taking photos. (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

 

 

A hodgepodge of color at night, the reflections of auto lights all over the wet road.  What an array of color and what fun to get the photo to begin with.  There is actually some order in the picture but you have to look at it.  (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

 

 

This is a near traffic jam, at night, about a mile from home.  Everyone sitting waiting for the light to change and dropping reflection all over the road.  I don’t recall if its wet out.  If I remember right, it’s cold and dry.  (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

 

 

This image nearly makes you want to meet up with the state trooper.  Wet and cold outside, I took this photo, nearing home, while returning from our Christmas in Virginia, 2008.  The red haze is tail lights reflecting on the cold exhaust emissions.  (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

 

Tunnels are never boring when you discover how to get the photos.  I wouldn’t want to live here but playing here has gained a lot more respect from my camera.  So, there you have it, some of my favorites, hopefully, leaving none of you in the dark any longer.  (Canon Digital Rebel 10 Megapixel camera)

 

I would like to mention my Kodak DC4800 is alive and well and still used and it takes a pretty nice photo given the chance.

 

 

Keep on taking those photos and thanks always for your comments.

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

 

This weeks Challenge

 “Sweet Things”

Suggested by:  ClosetHippie

 

We spent time in Virginia Beach, during Christmas.  One of the side trips we usually make includes a trip to Williamsburg where there is always something to please any tourist.  There is beautiful lodging, fine dining and better fast foods, the William and Mary College campus, historic grounds and buildings and in the beautiful shopping square you will find a lot of better stores including book stores, gift shops, Christmas stores and an ever favorite, the Candy store or Sweetshop filled with “Sweet Things”.  People on the move need their fix of candy and the sweetshop has about any fix in any flavor for any moody, needing their sweets fix, candyholic.

 

 

My Photos

 

 

Eden is one of the sweet things in our family.  At the entrance to the Square she puts up with my taking photos for my seasonal collection.

 

 

 

This is a first peek inside the store which is crowded with candyholics.  

 

 

 

Eden finds her fix, having decided on Jellie Bellies.

 

 

 

Mom, however is no where in site and all important choices need to be made.  She did grab up a prefilled bag from a shelf to get things rolling but she can’t get into them until she goes through the register.

 

 

 

Here you see Eden getting moody, a typical reaction to the lack of a few needed bites of a candy fix.

 

 

 

Having found everyone and paid for her goodies and eaten probably a few more jellie bellies than was really needed, all is well with the world.  And grandma’s think quietly to themselves, how glad they are the “Sweet Things” shopping was done and over BUT, not without having picked up some Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Licorice and some Pecan Turtles for her own stash of “Sweet Things”.  And John, he waits patiently.  His sweet tooth isn’t a bit picky, he likes it all.

 

 

Thanks for all comments and keep on taking those photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

 

This weeks Challenge

“Realizations”

Suggested by:  Sezwick

 

 

 AND VERY QUICKLY,  I’ve been “4th Picture” tagged by Sparkling_Rainbow
“4th picture tag” instructions:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder,   3) Explain the picture, 4) Tag 4 people to do the same. 
The Xangans I tagged:  1- Timages, 2- Gitarezan,  3- fauquet,  AND
4- Anyone wanting to play, grab the ball and run.

The above is my 4th picture.  I have more folders in My Pictures than you can shake a stick at but I did the four thing as closely as I could.  The above image was created, as a photo edited graphic, from one of my photos, for an ART-RAGE challenge called “Lights”.  The object of which was to display an image which had lighting of some kind.  The thing is, I created twenty (20) images for the challenge and displayed only seven (7) which DID NOT INCLUDE the above image.  The original photo was taken at night in my front yard, looking across a snowy scene through falling snowflakes, across the birdbath and into what I hoped was a warm and inviting, THOUGH SOMEWHAT OBSCURED, picture window.  The original graphic image was created September 10, 2007 and you can see my original entry for ”Lights” if you are interested,  CLICK HERE

---

 

My Challenge Photos for “Realizations“
I am using low light settings photos, NO FLASH.

 

#1 
A view, through our car windshield at a stop in the rain.

 

We drove to Virginia over Christmas and New Year.  Though we had some really pretty weather in Virginia, our drive time was spent in a lot of rain.  In this day and age, as fast moving as technology is, the fact is, a huge number of people are digitally computerized with a growing interest in digital photography.  With photography, lighting is key and there isn’t always good light.  Other outstanding particulars with digital photography, their are variations because of the user, the surroundings of the user, the interests of the user and the users perceptions of what may or may not make a good photo in his own territorial circle.  The photographers perception can be as hazy as the image #1  or

 

 

#2 

 

his perceptive realizations, photographically speaking, can be as varied as the living conditions in this little down-home community in the hills.  I would venture a guess, the people living in this community own digital cameras and phones and computers and their tastes in what they speak about or photograph are as different as the clothes they wear and the cars they drive.  Therefore, all of their photos, though many may contain similar subject matter, tell a different and individualized story as varied as the photographer is educated, in his interest.  I think a first realization of any photographer might be 1- he can’t get all the good photos, and 2- he can’t compete with photos of the Great China Wall and Eiffel Tower if he doesn’t travel extensively, and if his life centers around a small, in the sticks or rural community, instead of a big city environment.  His realizations do not mean there is nothing to photograph, only that he must realize, with his photographers eye, the goldmines available to him in his own surroundings.

 

 

#3 

 

My photos are as varied as my activities in any given day.  If I am home, I practice with still life shots or I take photos of the newly adopted cat.  As our recent drive was pouring rain and icy roads and the traffic was backed up for miles, I took photos of wet highways and the traffic jams that clog the highway’s arteries.

 

 

#4 

 

When stranded late at night in a motel due to ice on the highway, we watch television and I take photos of myself taking photos in the mirror.  It’s a fun and possibly productive, photographic pastime.

 

 

#5 

 

When on trips, the sun shines and the rain falls, so I get used to it and take photos.  One of my photographic realizations is how much I like the color in the lowlight, rainy morning settings.

 

 

#6 

 

I realized a long time ago, I enjoy trying to catch good images of fog, rain, spray and mists so traveling early mornings and watching for fast moving trucks on wet highways usually gives me scenes to play with.

 

 

#7 

 

There are always really great shots in the hills and I watch for them rain or shine.  Notice the fog floating back in the trees. 

 

 

 

The realization for me is, no matter the weather, it’s all good.  You just have to take the shots. 

 

I had fun with this.
Keep on taking those photos and thanks always for your comments,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge

 

This weeks Challenge

“I Used a Tripod Mounted Camera
to Get These Images”

Suggested by me:

PhotoGraphics

 

I’m really tired from our trip to Virginia, we got home late Saturday night.  If anyone wants to see a bit of it in photos, go here:  http://www.xanga.com/RSBlain 

 

 

My Tripod Photos

 

 

When we picked the cat up from the kennel it was a yowling, unhappy cat.  It told me about its experience over the whole evening.  He seems to be back to normal but we drop him at the vets on Friday for more work, neutering.  I guess I’ll hear about it also.  For now, we managed some photos in his worn out but watchful mode.

 

 

 

This poinsettia was a gift from one of my husband’s team at work.  I set it in the sink with some water before we left for Virginia and it survived for some photos when we got back.

 

 

 

A night image, a cookie tin from Germany.  I love buying cookies in these tins, for Christmas.  They are different each year and there is a variety of styles and colors.  The tins and cookies are shipped direct from the baker in Germany, this company, Otto Schmidt Lebkuchen.  The tin, with its cookies, is the most festive purchase I make for Christmas. 

 

 

 

Same window and subject matter but daylight, next day.  Lighting sure makes “difference”.

 

 

 

And a closer view of my bottles.  My mom collected bottles and the two in brown are exact to some she had.  The yellow is a newer piece to my collection, soft in color and beautiful.

 

 

 

M and M’s in pink, money donated from every purchase to Breast Cancer research.

 

 

Have a super week and keep taking those photos.

 

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