Week 30 - UP

For this week's theme I chose to shoot UP more than showing an object that was UP. Hope you like them; I'm rather pleased with them. 

1/500 sec., F20, ISO 400

1/640 sec., F7.1, ISO 400

1/400 sec., F22, ISO 400 

All these were shot from the roadside...just weeds in a ditch. But kind of pretty weeds wouldn't you say? 

Week 31 - DOWN 

Sunny and Warm Winter Destination?? Kansas!!

It's been warm here in Kansas lately....unbelievably warm.

So warm in fact, I am constantly checking the validity of my calendar.

It's December? Are you sure?

This pics were taken just a couple days ago when the high was 63 degrees! Wow! I can't hardly believe Kansas has been so nice to me lately. Of course all the locals are telling me how odd this weather is.

"This is not normal!" they all declare.

I'm just hoping the weather won't turn on me and hand me a blizzard when we drive home to Indiana next week for Christmas!

I've driven through Christmas blizzards before...not fun! (Ohio, 2004...blech!)

Even though it was really nice sending the kids outside to play without a coat, in the middle of December, I have to admit I really miss snow and cold weather. It just doesn't seem like the Christmas season at all without a bit of a chill in the air.

Yeah, winter is usually cold and windy and hard to drive in but I know how much my kids and I love playing in the snow. Maybe if we are lucky we'll get enough snow for a snowball before winter is over.

But I shouldn't complain one way or another should I? The kids are having fun and my furnace isn't running.

Indiana has been covered in snow with temps in the teens for the last couple weeks. Anyone want to trade homes for a while? Kansas warmth for snow?

Sunbursts

Sometimes taking pictures of my kids gets kind of boring.

I mean, after a while, they start all looking the same.

It's not like I can get them to pose for me either; they are too busy playing and being goofy and I'm just trying to catch any good shot I can.

But I've found that I can get some interesting effects when I use the sun behind them. I position myself so the sun just peaks around them but not quite a silhouette.

Sometimes I get a new starburst effect but sometimes I get a neat halo/outline thing going on.

Sometimes sunspots appear in odd places, like on a face, but I think it makes for an interesting composition. It's fun to let go a bit and let the sun create the photo.

I'm trying really hard to stay away from editing photos for a while because I want to rely on my camera rather than fixing everything. There are a lot of things about these photos I could change but these are unedited. I'm not happy about how I filled the frame in the middle two and I'm pretty sure my ISO was too high on Yip's. But hey, it's fun and they are pics of my kids so who can complain?