Day 84

Three generations in a canoe. It was around 37 degrees, but they didn't let that stop them. I went down to make sure they got to shore (and, of course, to take their photos).

Day 82

A little something from the shelf ... looking forward to tomorrow and possible sunshine

Day 81

On the way to work this morning, I pulled over to take a picture of the flooded hop field that is just south of the dairy. You can see the roofs of the barns in the background. It was around 7:15 a.m. and still pretty dark. I tried a couple of exposures, holding the camera out the window. Here is what I got.

Photo 1: 100 iso; 28mm; f6.3; 2 seconds. This had the most natural color.


Photo 2: 1600 iso; 28mm; f6.3; .5 sec. This was even blurrier than the 2 sec. exposure.

Photo 3: 1600 iso; 28mm; f6.3; .3 sec. I think I like this one the best.

Day 80

I meant to go out at noon and take some photos. Ha! With this rain?! So I resorted to Henry photos once again. He's quick. He's easy. And he's usually pretty adorable. Today he was learning the difference between "ball" and "cat." Here he is looking for the ball.

Here, he is finding it.

Day 79

The real attack on Christmas.

Day 78

Spring? Really?

Day 77

Ken and Mary were able to make it out for Christmas dinner, although it was difficult for Ken. Ken will be 96 in March.

Day 76

Merry Christmas. The spider was on the snow globe, then it jumped to the table, then, right after I took its photo, it jumped on ME. Maybe I should have asked permission.

Day 75

I had several opportunities today to take photos, so I posted some from each session today, starting with the moon. When I went outside, the moon was dark orange and beautiful, so I ran back in for my camera. I am finding that anything in the sky changes fast, so you better be ready. Then, later today, I did some more infrared tests. Finally, this evening we went into Keizer to look at the Christmas lights.

Day 74

More infrared. The first photo below was taken without the infrared lens. It was shot at 400 ISO, 44mm, f/8, 1/800 sec. The second photo below was shot with an infrared lens for 8 seconds. Everything else stayed the same. I see the biggest difference in the clouds, and the alfalfa, which seems much lighter in the infrared.

Day 73

There are days when I wonder why on earth I'm doing this. I must have shot 100 photos around the house tonight, trying to get something I liked -- on the tree, among the presents, with the pets. Nothing pleased me. All I succeeded in doing was making a mess as I rearranged ornaments and lights on the tree, dug out most of my lenses, and all, it seemed for nothing. I needed to take a minute and remember that the whole point of this exercise is to have fun, try to learn something new occasionally, and find beauty in a few simple, every day things. It's not about trying to get a perfect shot every day or comparing what I do to what others do. As long as the shutter opens and closes and I learn something, it's okay. Today I learned that I still love poinsettias--even though, when I was a child and mother still had her floral shop--I wrapped and bowed hundreds of them every year. It isn't Christmas until one is decorating some small corner of the house.

Day 72

Back to the park.

Day 71

I think there is a lot of potential for great photos at the carousel. I had 10 minutes this time, but I will definitely go back. I can't believe how beautiful some of these horses are.

Day 70

The tripod is in the car, I'm meeting Don in 15 minutes, so NOW I see a moon photo worth taking. At least the telephoto lens was handy. Maybe someday I will take a moon photo as gorgeous as Terri's.

Day 69

Twenty-six presents wrapped, three to go. No, I can't put them under the tree.

Day 68

After work I had some time to kill before another meeting, so I went down to Riverfront Park. I may have to stop by tomorrow night, too. I saw more things to photograph, and I still have lighting and lens problems to work on. Meanwhile ...

Day 67

Did you say you wanted to take my photo again?


Did you say you wanted to take my photo AGAIN?!

Holy cow! Your breath could starch a dress shirt.

Day 66

One of my eyes is swollen shut, and, after trying for half an hour, I gave up on getting a good shot of the tree or any Christmas lights. I'm not blaming the sore eye, I just gave up because the pictures are all crappy. I did take two photos today that I will post in desperation: the first is a little nameless cat that has adopted us. We already have two inside cats, so she has to live outside with Lizzy the cat (who probably invited her to stay); we just feed her and give her a warm garage to sleep in. She's in love with the new puppy, and the feeling is mutual. They are inseparable when he is outside. You'd think she was connected to his leash. She is very sweet, and she would love to live inside more than anything (hint, hint, in case you are catless). You can see her longing in this snapshot; she is looking through the window at the Christmas tree lights. The second photo was taken using my iPhone at the iDoctors.

Day 65

Since I started this blog, I've posted one or two other photos of this tree in our front yard. The first photo below was taken right after I started this project in October. The tree was still mostly green. Today, there is just one little cluster of leaves that remains. According to the calendar, I haven't been doing this for a full season, but the tree says that I have.

Day 64

Resting up to help decorate the tree.

Day 63

The rain stopped today for about five minutes--just long enough to pull over on my way home from Portland, quickly walk Henry, and take one photo.

Day 62

If yesterday's photo was a small nod to chiaroscuro, then today's is an even smaller nod to abstract expressionism. While waiting for my dinner at the Asian take-out restaurant behind the Chevron on River Road, I stepped out on the street and took a couple of photos while scary women blew smoke in my face and asked me for money. That could explain why I was shaking so hard.

Hearts?

I was going for a grainy newsreel look here -- "Puppy caught in the act" -- and you can see I'm looking at my new role as the mother of an aus-collie through rose-colored glasses.

Day 61

It's been a long day, so I snapped the first thing I passed on my way through the house. I plugged in some amber Christmas lights on the mantle and shot this without the tripod. It's one of those "hmmmm" photos that seems to have potential for visiting again when I have more time.

Day 60

I remember the first year the star trees were lit--Ron Cowan at the Statesman Journal tried to get a fight going between Willamette and WOU over which university had the tallest trees. I was working at Willamette at the time, and I'm glad to see the star trees are an important part of the downtown Christmas celebration. If you haven't before, stand in the center of the circle of trees and look up. You will see how they got their name. Or wait awhile--I'll probably get around to taking a photo of it. I need to go back with my wide angle lens anyway.


While I was on campus, I decided to try a shot of the Capitol.

And I also promised Don I'd post HIS photo of yesterday's sunrise--just NOT next to my photo of the sunrise. Of course, his was taken much earlier.

Day 59

I was in the car, engine running, when I looked up and saw this sunrise. I jumped out of the car and got off about three shots before it was all over. So this is what they mean by the speed of light.

Day 58

I'm not ready to get out all the Christmas decorations yet, but I keep seeing photos on other blogs that seem to indicate I'm in the minority. Since I didn't have any other ideas for photos tonight--and Henry isn't interested in helping--I decided to drag out a few decorations and see if taking pictures of them could get me in the mood. I bought this little angel from a street vendor in Rome several years ago, and I love her. I'm ready to go back and get the whole angel choir.

Day 57

I'm on Chapter 2 of a book on how to shoot infrared, and the first thing I learned is that the filter I bought is far from the most desirable--although it was certainly the cheapest. Are you listening, Santa? The good quality filters cost about five to ten times what I paid. If I want to do more spontaneous or low-light infrared, apparently I need to have an old digital camera reconstructed for that purpose. I'll probably go with my low-quality filter for a while, just to see if I still like it by the end of the book. Here are two photos I took at the neighbors' Christmas tree farm (Graham's on Ravina, north of Keizer, nice trees). I shot the photos in raw, which is recommended for infrared, then de-saturated for the black and white. The bottom photo is as shot, with just a minor correction for exposure.

Day 56

It was a late night at the Colish house.

Day 55

It's only two minutes past midnight, so I feel okay calling this my Friday photo. This probably isn't the best photo I took today--but it was the first. My main goal at this moment is get a photo posted and get to bed.

Day 54-Patrick Henry Part 2

Yes, it's the puppy again. But it's dark when I leave for work, dark when I get back. I haven't had time during the day, so ... Who am I kidding? The puppy is cute. Here is the obligatory puppy glamour shot.

Then I took the adorable playful-puppy-with-reindeer shot, but the next one is really the shot for the day: fierce puppy on the attack.

Of course, sleeping puppy gave me the most opportunities to get it right.