Capturing the moments that follow up
I was behind the scenes today at a mini test that a friend from visiting from LA did today.
I discovered the joy of catching people when they aren't aware that they're being photographed
I know this is not a big surprise for this week's Quest! This quest runs for 2 weeks so you have time to get some photos during this busy season.
Photos can be recent or old...you are free to use any photo enhancements, color or b & w or sepia tones. Make a collage, a Christmas card, a poster or just a single photo. Post how you took the photo and what enhancements you used.
If you haven't ever posted before just jump in and have some fun. No worries we are all learning here and enjoy seeing everyones photos.
Get creative and show the Photo Quest Group what Christmas means to you. Is it about the ornaments, the tree, the cookies, friends, children, parties (this is for Yan), pets, nature, church...what makes a Christmas special for you.
Since this quest runs through Christmas...I want to take time to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!
Maureen
This was the first time for this subject, shoes on Photo Quest. It was fun to see what you creative minded photographers posted for this quest.
First to post was Realworld with his Cat Shoes. I want to know how he stuffed that kitten in the shoe? OK so that probably didn't happen but what a cute, candid photo! Nice job Realworld as it is hard to get the cat's eyes clear on a photo...mine sometimes look orange or a strange green.
Next post was from Maju, with her purple sneakers trying to run away from the boring black shoes. Great composition with the purple shoe in the ROT spot. This photo really made me laugh...nice work Maju!
Then along came CountrybyDesign with a very mystical photo of her shoes in the stream of light. WOW this is a very cool photo and I think you should use this technique again with other subjects. I like the slightly out of focus shot here as it makes the photo have a more mystical feel.
Not to disappoint, Cap'n Stephel brings us some very Jazzy, Saxie shoes. Very nice play on dark and light and lines. I liked the second photo the best as it has just enough light to make me want to check it out closer.
Finally Yancunyong brings it home with party shoes. Japan must be a lot more fun than I ever thought. Yan seems to be parting it up big time. Loved seeing the shoes of his fellow party goers. I like the last photo the best...the red lighting and the reflection of the shoe was very cool.
Thanks again all for a great quest...hope to see you again next week.
In an evening that was a throwback to times when I used to party hard, we really had a good time Saturday night.
Location: Coconut Grove
Venue: Crazy Pianos
Time: 9pm......
So,
yeah, it would've been 9pm had they not screwed up the reservation, but
after a brief (one hour) wait, they did get it together and we were
able to get our party on. Upon our arrival, Lovey dropped me off and
went to park the car. I went inside to check on our non-existant
reservation. While checking out the scene, one of the bouncers was
hitting on me...hard. Like, I have bruises hard. But hey, who doesn't
need an ego boost every now and again? And he was hawt.
There's
me and Lovey. I'm a few beers in at that point. This is also why I
typically hide from the camera, particularly when I've been drinking.
One eye gets all droopy and I forget to suck in my tummy and I'm never
happy with the results. BUT, even if it doesn't look like it here, I
looked DAMN HOT Saturday night.
That second photo was a little earlier in the evening where I'm still looking like I have complete control over everything, lol. Good times had by all.
I
must thank The Negotiators for getting a nice piece of change lopped
off the bill along with fantastic chocolate cake with ice cream and a
big ole sparkler!
While we certainly had fun, I am starting to realize that I can't party hard like I used to. I think that with every sip of water on Sunday, I rehydrated some dried up alcohol particles and got drunk all over again. Yikes!
Know what though? I'm sure I'll forget by next year and do it all over again! :-D
I bought this pair of shoes ages ago to use as props for photos and I've never done anything with them. Today, I took them outside for their first photo shoot.
Because they are black and shinny...not I didn't polish the
m...I set my exposure down from 1/2 to 2 steps depending on background of the photo. I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, ISO 100, F stop from 3.5 to 4.5, WB set at sunny, focus on one-shot.
The shoes and I had some fun today and I learned a lot about backgrounds and lighting.
Boy it has been ages since I've done a real post and not just a Photo Quest Post. Last Sunday, hubby and I took a drive south to Tumacacori to see the Dancing Horses. I had spoke with Dan Gerate during the week about writing a letter of sponsorship for our project to have the Colonial Spanish Horse named as the state horse of Arizona. Dan told me about the Tumacacori Festival and the Dancing Horse that would be preforming. Well I was hooked.
The festivities were to begin at 10:00 am and if we wanted a good parking place we should arrive early...like 8:00 am. Hmm lets see it is about 1:30 drive to get their by 8:00 am. I did the math and didn't like the results...second plan. The horses were to preform at 2:00 pm now you are talking! Second plan, leave around 12:00 pm ask the universe for an awesome parking place right at the front of the church..us oldsters don't need to walk that far...OK, OK well I was packing camera and equipment.
We leave our place around 12:00 and picked up coffee for Don on the way out. As we leave, I restate my request for a close parking space...would be a shame to drive all that way and not be able to get a parking place. The drive was uneventful...my favorite kind of ride. We turn off the freeway and start down the road to the mission...there are cars everywhere...parked on the side of the road parked in places that sure looked illegal! Hubby says he has an idea of were we can park...I peep up wait "I requested a parking place up front let's just pull into the parking lot in front of the church." He take a right into the parking lot and there right in front is a parking place..in fact there were two so we had a choice!
Weather was cool and a little breeze but we had dressed right and could manage fine. First stop was to take a photo of the church's white dome. This mission isn't in great shape and was never finished as the church ran out of funds. I had some issues with this photo as the sky wasn't all that blue...storm coming in and everything in the old church is crocked! Hard to make it straight...when I got the building straight the dome wasn't. I settled for a straight cross.
Next we took the path to the Festival Grounds just north of the church. Oh boy, oh boy I spied a Harris Hawk on a girls hand! Now that was worth a few photos right? I took a bunch of photos. The hawk was very photogenic but the backgrounds weren't that good. Lighting was OK and there was a light breeze so he kept his wings out as if to fly away. This hawk was around 3 years old and had been injured as a youngster and couldn't fly.
I like the focused look of his eyes.
We got to see a cute group of children dancers. In this dance they all had canes and were acting like old people. They were a hoot and we all got a good laugh!
Next we were entertained by a wonderful Mexican Band. I got a few photos but some were misses as I didn't get all their feet in the photo...lesson learned yet again...check your composition dummy!
I ran into Don Garete and he said the horses were coming in about 15 minutes...we dash around the grounds to find some lunch. We settled on a both run by some lovely Indian ladies and had a great fast lunch.
I saw the horses coming down the path and ran over to take some photos. I couldn't get close enough to them for a good shot before they took a left turn off the path. Not to be denied a photo, I circled way left and went down to the clearing that they were using for a warm up area. I got off a few shots before the nice park ranger told me to leave.
After what seemed like an hour they finally called the horse to preform their dance to the music of a Mexican Band. What a wonderful treat! I'd never seen anything like this before. The horses were so well trained and beautifully groomed. The performers tack and outfits were beautiful. It was a big WOW. I was right along the outside of the ring and could get up close for good shoots. I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, polarizer lens, shot mostly 400 ISO, took exposure down a 1/2 step as it was cloudy, played around with the f stop from 4 to 8 and had a ball.
I took hundreds of photos and it was so much fun being so close to these wonderful horses. Finally the show was over and we walked back through the Mission grounds and I took one last photo of the Mission dome. It was another attempt to keep the photo straight that I'm not sure really works...old buildings!
Oh here is one last photo that says it all...we had a great day and it was worth the drive:
Dear Mr. Rooney, Coach Tomlin, et al:
Hi. You don't know me; we've never met. I am just another of the millions that are proud to be a part of the Steeler Nation...most of the time. You see, I came into the world a Steeler fan 36 years ago. I came up in a part of PA where Friday night was high school football, Saturday morning was pee-wee football, Saturday afternoon was college football and Sunday was the icing on the football cake with the Steelers. My father played, my brother played, and I played PowderPuff. In high school, it wasn't enough for me to be the mascot and cheer on our football team. It wasn't enough to be a cheerleader and cheer on our football team. I did both, but I didn't find true happiness until in my senior year, I was the first (and last) female manager of our football team. So yes, I know from football.
I've followed the Steelers with a passion for over two decades. I've been fortunate enough to meet many of the players. I've been through the ups and downs right there with the rest of the Steeler Nation. I understand that no one is perfect and no one (in current times) is going to win all of their games (without the help of the NFL *AHEM*), but this season has been an extreme disappointment to all of us. I'm sure that I don't need to point out that we're in a downward spiral, losing three of four to the crappiest teams in the NFL. Now, the last time that I checked, not a single member of the organization was a cardiac surgeon, so if you'd kindly stop ripping out my heart, I would appreciate it.
Maybe I'm to blame. Maybe I jinxed the team. See, I don't live in the viewing area so I only see the nationally televised games. But, the Steelers are my team and simply waiting on the updates on line wasn't enough. Last year (and a few before that), I listened to our hometown guys doing the game on Sirius and that was great, getting to hear a little slice of home. This year, however, I decided that just hearing the game wasn't enough. I wanted to see every game and not just the nationally televised one, so I got Sunday Ticket.
Let me explain a little something here. I love my team, no matter how well/badly they're doing (on a Superbowl high when I made the purchase), but that doesn't change the fact that the economy sucks and I overlooked that fact because I LOVE MY TEAM! I bought my daughter, the next generation of Steelers fans a #43 jersey to continue the tradition of love. I bought myself a new jersey because I LOVE MY TEAM. All this I do because I stand behind the black and gold. Always. That doesn't mean I'm not pissed off about the poor showing this season.
I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard. I'm sure that there are plenty of "veteran" Steelers fans who put forth their hard earned money to show their support of Pittsburgh and the Steelers and its proud history. Plenty of other fans who will likely never make the league minimum for ROOKIE players but still show up for every game. Plenty of other fans who are heartbroken that we fell, er skyrocketed, from grace like Milli Vanilli or Elliot Spitzer. Let me clue you in on what you might need in the draft next year: a new 12th man because your current one might not make it until next season.
Am I fan? Yes. Do I love my team? Obviously. Have I ever been to a game? *looks down at the ground and toes the dirt* No. Nearly a month ago, Steelers, I asked you if you were just tossing out the rest of the season. You didn't say yes, so I took that as a no. I guess that's my mistake. Why did I ask in the first place? Well, you see, you're coming to town (Miami) in January and I am finally in a position where I can attend a game. I wanted to know that, for the last game of the season, your hearts would still be in it. I wanted to know that I would love my first football game. I guess, that come Sunday, January 3, I'll have to make my own fun, and don't worry, I will. I'm sure that you guys will show up, in body if not in spirit.
I'll still love you always, Steelers, when you're riding high on top and no matter how many times you disappoint me. I'll still be there on January 3 to cheer you on even though the game will be meaningless to you (but likely not to the Dolphins). So, if you've got an apology for me, or an explanation, or a refund for my Sunday Ticket for the games you've thrown away, I'll be the black girl with dreds in the black Hines Ward jersey sitting in section 246. See you then.
With all that's left of my heart,
Miamishyner
There's always something blooming in Flickr's garden, regardless of the season.
sorry for the MIA, holidays+ depression+ worrying about parents back home and retail hell.. will do a good up date soon
shot Britney from this season of ANTM
remember her?
William presents Britney America's next top model cycle 13 contestant
I just read this at the New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06marriage-t.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&th&emc=th
The article is about a married couple (two writers) with two children who set out to improve their pretty-much-fine marriage.
I thought it was pretty interesting for several reasons--first of all, I think most people like to read about anything relating psychology to every day life, and even more so if sex is in the mix. It's always interesting to parse people's motives for their behaviour, but when talking about marriage it's super-interesting because there are tons of conflicting schools of thought. Deciding whether I agreed with one, or several, or none was not just fun (who doesn't like self-analysis now and then?), but also introduced me to some ideas that I never considered before; for example, the theory that equality is what kills a marriage, versus too much intimacy, versus too much passion.
The thing is, I'm sure these different ideas are all true, but for different people and marriages, with the variables being the personalities of each person in any given marriage. I'd bet that different and perhaps even conflicting ideas about What Makes Marriage Work/Fail could apply to the same person depending on their partner and how their personalities interact.
Another idea that the author brought up in the article that had never occurred to me was the idea that monogamy is learned in infancy from the relationship between mother and baby, but that the monogamy is actually one-way; the mother is most likely not monogamous with the baby. There could be other children; a husband; the mother's family and friends. (Then again, the model has some exceptions...what about twin babies? What about single mothers who are isolated from others? Why doesn't the baby have a relationship with other people, eg the father?) That got me thinking about monogamy. What do I think about monogamy?
Of course, I'm talking about myself, because I'm of the "don't tell others what to do with themselves" school of thought when it comes to sex. (As y'all may have guessed, from my "Legalise Gay" shirt and my quandary with going back to the cafe owned by a gay-hater.)
Despite(? because of? considering?) my exposure to an ubiquitous American pop culture that condones if not promotes casual hooking up (I feel so old saying it like that) and, on the other end of the polyamorous spectrum, the Seattle sex-positive "why not be honest with each other and consensually fuck around?" arrangement, a la Dan Savage...I feel like monogamy is the arrangement for me, at least when it comes to having a partner.
Back to the mother-baby monogamy. Of course a mother-baby relationship that is monogamous both ways would be *not healthy*. I think a woman needs much, much more than a relationship with a baby. I think anyone would go crazy if they had no adult relationships, and of course, raising a child would be infinitely more difficult without help, even if it's just emotional. But even monogamy on the part of the baby toward the mother is a little weird--wouldn't it be healthier, emotionally, mentally, socially, for the baby to have relationships with other important people, like a father and/or grandparents?
Anyway, back again to partner monogamy. There are a lot of reasons why I think it suits me.
This is a not-so-romantic but pretty important aspect: knowing where it's been. No STDs from other partners.
Another is that I think the highly emotional issues of jealousy, control, and intimacy would become a huge and fucked-up mess. This isn't postulating about hypothetical people and situations; this is what I think would happen to me if I tried to manage a polyamorous arrangement.
I think that, maybe not at first, but probably eventually, I would start to play my partners' feelings off each other to try to create drama revolving around myself. What better way to get attention, right? Start a little competition between them, whether open or underlying. I would feel desired all the time, and by more than one person! Awesome!
Except surely the same thing would be happening to me with my primary partner, or maybe all the partners. I'd be trying to prove how much better I was than whatever other people they were fucking/cuddling/hanging out with.
In short, it would be a passive-aggressive, complicated, scheming hell of stressful personal drama. I would not, probably could not, turn a blind eye to my primary/whatever partner's other trysts. I'm too easily made to feel insecure.
But that's not what I really want anyway--the drama and attention from multiple people. More important than that, what I want from a relationship--one that would end up in marriage--is a best friend. A best friend who is good at fucking me and vice versa, of courrrrrse. And who would want to have kids later on. But the most important thing is a best friend.
Aaaaand now I have to go to work. ^^
