Water, Water, Everywhere . . .

I'd fully intended to continue using my homework pictures for Photo Fridays, but last week the grandbaby and I were fooling around and she wanted me to take her picture through our waterwall fountain. So I took one, and we both thought it looked really cool.

Then she got the bright idea to pretend she was trapped in the waterwall and was drowning. This was actually taken with my phone, not my camera, but we both liked the way it turned out. Imagine what great shots I would have got if I'd used my camera!

Sunset Dreams

I had my last photography class last night, but don't think that's the end of the homework pictures. It's cold outside so I don't know how often I'll be getting out there to take new ones. LOL

This week's picture was one of the ones I took for this week's homework. As I mentioned on Monday, I went down to the waterfront hoping to take an artistic photo of the light from the setting sun reflecting on the lighthouse. It wasn't until I was going back to the car that the clouds started to part and while I didn't get the sunset picture I wanted, I like the one that I did get.

The Spark is There

I confess, I didn't do my homework last week, which was to take a portrait photograph of a woman.

So instead I'm giving you another picture from last week's homework. The assignment was to take both a fast and a slow picture. Last week was the slow one, the ghost picture, so this week I'll share my fast one.

F-Stop the Madness!

So . . . we learned all about F-stops in class last week, and our photography homework was to take a series of outdoor pictures of three objects roughly 10 feet apart, with nothing changing in the shots except the F-stop setting.

Honestly, it was kind of boring. I had the idea of using pumpkins, but we didn't get a sunny day until after Halloween and by then there wasn't a pumpkin to be had. So then I tried using three different recycle bins, sitting them on the deck, but I didn't like the way the pictures turned out. Finally I settled on using three plastic adirondack chairs in the back yard.

The idea of the different shots was to show the blur of the background. The lower the F-stop, the more the background blurs. This is the shot using the lowest setting on my camera, F-5.6:

And this is the shot using the highest setting:

While the second picture wins for clarity, to be honest I couldn't see much difference in the pictures in between. Frankly, I found it a little disappointing.

The Egg and I

Our first homework assignment for the photography class was to take 6 creative pictures of a hard boiled egg on a black background. Not as easy as it sounds. I had a number of creative ideas, but I lack the technical expertise to pull most of the off. We weren't to use the automatic setting on our cameras, and that's pretty much the only setting I have any luck with.

I turned the flash off because I wanted to play with shadow and for the most part it worked. Mostly I shot in natural light. I had my egg, fresh from the pot, outside on a piece of black bristol board hoping to get the steam rising from it in the morning sun. Unfortunately, it wasn't cold enough to see any steam. LOL

I did get some other interesting shots though, some outside, some inside. I got creative and had the hubby hold the mosaic bowl from the dining room table up to reflect beads of light on the egg, but they didn't show well in the picture. Neither did light through a prism. But the egg shot through a curtain of smoke looks like it's suspended in mid air (the house still smells like the incense I used).

In all I took 135 pictures to get my creative six. And I got a high five from the instructor for breaking the rules for my last shot - I peeled and sliced my egg to keep from taking any more pictures.

Winter's Coming . . .

Oops! I almost forgot I was supposed to post a picture today. In my defense, yesterday was crazy busy and it just slipped my mind (usually I pick out the photo on Thursday and schedule it to appear on Friday).

But the good news is, one of the reasons I was busy was that I attended my first photography class last night. At first glance the homework assignment seemed pretty simple, but it's really not. In fact, it's really hard. But I'm not going to tell you what it is until next week, when I post one of the six pictures I'm expected to produce.

In the meantime . . . I had to go back into the vault for this week's picture. I actually took it in April, but I think it could just as easily have been taken at the beginning of winter.

Gateway

Despite the fact that we've been having some beautiful weather lately, I've been too busy doing other things to get out and take any pictures. So I'm going to have to go with an older one for this week.

This is one of the pictures I took at the west beach a few weeks ago. This is the entrance to the yacht basin, framed by the trees on the shore - a gateway to the world beyond, and the welcome home on the journey's end.

Writersfest

Sadly, I didn't get as many opportunities to take pictures when I was in Kingston on the weekend as I would have liked. Of course I never thought of it late Friday afternoon when I got there, and Saturday it rained most of the day. However, I did managed a few shots on Sunday.

This picture was the view from my hotel window. The room itself was awesome, the view was just icing on the cake.

Toddler Gobblers

Everyone knows kids love to put things in their mouths, especially things they find outside. With all the damp weather we've had the last several years there's been a proliferation of fungus growth to be found in lawns and gardens. The son-in-law came up with a unique idea to keep the grandbaby away from them - he called them "toddler gobblers" and told her they'd eat her up if she got too close. LOL

Despite the weather being a little on the cool side off and on, it's still been rather damp and we had a crop of mushroom spring up on the front lawn. Despite the fact they were growing in a semi circle, they did not invoke the sense of a fairy ring in me. These particular mushrooms look more like a ring to repel magic rather than draw it in. Still, I couldn't resist taking a picture of some of them.

Almost Over

With summer being officially over on Monday, I figured it was time for one last picture of the pond garden and back patio.

Hopefully the plants will survive the winter and it'll look even better next summer

The Fog Is Very Thick Today . . .

Every photographer has their own unique approach for taking pictures, and apparently mine is to take as many possible and hope one (or more) turn out okay. LOL

I was down at the west beach a couple of times this week, once to take pictures of the monarchs that are attracted to the goldenrod, and once to take pictures in the fog.

The first time I went down in the fog, the fog was heavier than I expected and obscured a lot of what I wanted to photograph. Then the battery ran out in my camera and when I went back about an hour later the fog had lifted enough to take the romance out of the landscape. *sigh* Maybe next time

Of all the pictures I took (about 90 all in all), this one is my favorite. I may not always get along with spiders, but there's something magical about their webs, don't you think?

Summer's End

Last Friday I went down to the west beach with a friend to take pictures. We did the same thing last summer, but much earlier in the season - while it was still colourful, the colour was definitely fading.

After scrolling through my 100+ pictures, and taking way too long to pick one, I finally decided on one of my favorite flower - the sweet pea.

Monkey Business

This picture was taken about two weeks ago when we took the grandbaby to the Riverview Park and Zoo in Peterborugh. It's one of the few pictures I was able to take with my camera before the battery ran out.

I still can't believe with all the other preparations I made for that day it never occurred to me to check the battery in the camera. And the really sad part is, I have two batteries for this camera and keep a fully charged one inside the camera case. Unfortunately, I didn't have the case with me, I just carried my camera.

Another lesson learned. *sigh*

Bunny Love

*sigh* Remember how Monday I made the flippant comment about hoping the bunny left the rest of my squash alone? Well he seems to have lost interest in the squash. My tomatoes and carrots on the other hand. . .

This picture was taken later that same Monday:

Reptile World

I took so many pictures (and a lot of them weren't even half bad) at Reptile World that I thought I'd share a couple more of them for today's picture of the week. :-)

The first is another shot of my favorite snakes. I'm pretty sure there were only two snakes in this enclosure, but it looked like more because they were super long.

And I like this one because it almost tells a story, doesn't it? Sadly, the worst pictures of the bunch were the ones I took of the grandbaby. She had an uncanny sense of when I was about to click and would choose that second to turn her head.

Something Fishy

There are two very good reasons this picture isn't exactly the best one I've ever taken. One, I shot it through the plastic of the fish tank, and two, the water itself is a little on the murky side.

However, I really wanted a picture of this for posterity. This is Tiddler the Beta. Tiddler, as far as I can tell, is asleep on one of the leaves of the plastic plant in his tank. Tiddler has taken to sleeping here every day lately. I have no idea why - I'm not sure that I want to.

The Face of Summer

This week's picture was actually taken with my phone. What can I say? Sometimes it's a little handier than my good camera.

Wednesday I took the granddaughter down to the beach after pre-school. It was a warm and sunny day, and there was still pools of stagnant water all over the beach. But fortunately, our waterfront boasts not one but two splash pad areas. The main one has a bunch of different splash areas and it was pretty crowded. So the granddaughter asked if we could go down to the other play area and I said sure. Smart kid - there was no one using the secondary splash pad.

As you can see, she had a blast!

Summer's Here . . . Sort Of

I actually had another depressing picture of our beach picked out, but then I realized today was the first day of summer. This called for something a little more summery.

The last time I was down at the waterfront I just happened to take a few pictures of the garden at the east end of the beach. Actually, what attracted me was the pink blossoms on the trees. I have no idea what kind of trees they are but they look pretty cool.

I picked this particular picture because it looks like a pretty little park garden. You have no idea what a mess the beach is just beyond it.

To Bee, or Not to Bee

I'm kind of cheating today. It's still pretty cold and miserable here, and we still don't have much of a beach. This picture was taken last year at the Ecology Garden on the West Beach.

I'm not sure how our local bees are faring in the cool, wet weather, but hopefully they're resilient little guys.

The Fog Comes On Little Cat Feet . . .

Fog
BY CARL SANDBURG

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.