More Abstract

This is a closeup of a red and white glass bowl of Nell's with a light shining through from the back. It's kind of trippy, but I like it.

Marble Abstract

Just playing around with the marble again. I like how the lighting almost flattens out this image. I also like how setting the white balance different made the background a nice blue. 

Storke Tower

Tonight I decided to do some night shots, but when I got out I realized I only had my little tripod. So I looked for shots that would look good from the ground and that were lit up enough for night photos. Which, it turns out, was a bad idea. It's very hard to look through the view finder when the camera is practically on the ground and pointed up. But I managed. Once I figured out that the blue light in the bottom was there, I took several shots that incorporated that. This is one of two that came out in focus. 

Lines

This is a closeup of a palm leaf. I like the plethora of lines and texture in this one. Below is a shot similar to one I took a couple of days into this challenge. I love how the sunlight makes this flower look translucent and almost glow.

Unicycling at the Beach

This is my friend Paul, he's an off-road unicycler, meaning that he rides gnarly mountain trails on his unicycle. He's teaching us how to ride unicycles, and walk a slack line. He's pretty B.A. This shot is similar to the shot I took of Nell on the slack line a couple weeks ago. Keeping the sun behind him, and keeping him in focus was a bit of a challenge, plus he moves a lot. I would have loved to be a bit lower than the ground for this shot, (which would be pretty hard), just to give him more of that larger than life look. 

Shades of Red

OK, in order to avoid decision fatigue, I'm going to not decide on just one picture, and post three. So there. Today I walked around work on my lunch break and ended up with three good shots, all with red in them. The picture above took several tries to get the background right. The two below are of eucalyptus leaves. The first one was a leaf that had fallen and gotten stuck on the side of the tree. I like the contrast in color and the texture of the shot. The second one was a few red leaves still on the tree. I was drawn to them because of the color, but I also like the curvy lines. 

Leaves Marching

On my lunch break today I walked around the building and noticed this vine growing on one of the stone walls around the building. I love the color in this one, and how the leaves look like they're following each other down the line.

Red and Yellow

Still recovering from the weekend, but while I was cutting strawberries from our produce box, I got a bit distracted and got out my camera. This one is simple, but bright and colorful, which I like. 

Yosemite Falls

Today we hiked up to the top of Yosemite Falls. It was a rough, long, hot hike, but definitely worth it. The views were amazing. I love this shot of the falls with Half Dome in the background. I took a few of these shots, but this is the only one that came out nice. On the way up, Half Dome was partially obscured by some haze, but it cleared up for the hike down.

Below is the view from the bridge near the top of the falls. This water was so cool and refreshing. Just what we needed before the hike down.

The Captain

There really are no words to describe the immensity of El Capitan. It is unbelievably huge. Standing at the base looking up at this granite wall I was struck by how minuscule and insignificant I felt...then all I could think about was climbing it. Today we had a very tiny sampling of the Nose route by climbing the first pitch. It was fun, and supposedly a 5.6 (that means easy, usually), but run out and scary, or I was off route, we're not sure. There was a team of climbers ahead of us hauling up gear for a four day ascent of the Nose. Lots and lots of gear. On a photography note, this was taken with my 28 mm lens, so it's not as wide of a shot as my 18-55mm would have taken, but I left that lens in the car by mistake. Speaking of mistakes, Nell and I were playing around with night shots the night before and left the ISO at 1600, and I forgot to change it back to 100, so this shot is a bit grainy. 

Leaving Morro Bay and Off to Yosemite!!

As we were leaving the hotel in Morro Bay, I took a few shots of some succulents outside the hotel, per Nell's request. I couldn't decide if I liked the color photo, or the black and white, so I posted both.  

When we finally reached Yosemite, we found a campsite and immediately went for a hike...before dinner...on our first day at elevation. Needless to say, we didn't make it as far as we had hoped. We did however see some great scenery, as happens when you look in any direction in Yosemite. Below are a couple of my favorites for the day, starting with Half Dome, and followed by the Sentinel. 

Montana de Oro State Park and Morro Bay

Just a warning, I took a ton of great photos this weekend, so I'll likely be posting more than one for each day. You are duly warned. Today we drove up to Montana de Oro State Park, did some hiking, and then spent the night in Morro Bay. Our hike started off somewhat overcast and cloudy, then by the time we reached the top of Valencia Peak, it was shrouded in fog. The views on the way up were fantastic, even with the slight overcast sky. On the way down we were surrounded by wildflowers, so I took advantage of the lighting and took a lot of photos of flowers. Since I had so many come out great, I decided to post a few. Enjoy.

After our hike, as we were heading back to the hotel, I noticed Morro Bay half shrouded in fog with parts of the city sparkling in the evening sun, so I pulled over and snapped a few shots. This is cropped quite a bit, but I like the effect that the long narrow cut gives. I've always liked photos in this format. (This photo looks better if you click on it to view it larger.) I'm really glad this one came out nice.

More Leaves

There, a close-up shot of the leaves, sorta. I think that to get the shot that I want I'll have to take some leaves home with me and take pictures of them in a controlled environment. Oh, and the only reason I got this shot is because of the black light pole that the branch was resting against, hence the black background. Anyway, I like the contrast and the lines in this one.
I will be away from a computer for the next four days so I won't be posting for a bit. We are going to Moro Bay for a day, and then to Yosemite for a couple of days. Hopefully I can pic some good shots to post quickly without having to go through the thousands of pictures I'll likely take. 

Light and Color

This is one of the trees where I work that the end leaf is always red. I posted a photo of one on the fourth day or so of this challenge. Since then I have been trying to take some close up photos of the leaves to try to capture the contrast of red and green, and the nice curvy lines and shapes. So far I have failed because the tree refuses to stay still in the slightest breeze. But, today while attempting some close up shots of the leaves, I looked up and noticed how the sunlight was lighting up this red leaf and making it glow. So I took a few shots and came up with this one.

Black and White Flowers

These are flowers outside of where I work. I had the idea of these as a black and white picture before I took the photo, and I'm happy with how they came out. I really like the texture of the background. After seeing this shot, now I look at things and wonder how it would look in black and white.

Green

This is kind of weird, but I like it. It is a random splotch of green powder in our parking lot. I have no idea what it is, I just took a picture of it. So there.

Nice Rack

This is my climbing rack, or my rack of climbing gear, though not all of it. I tried to make this pic a little artistic, but I'm not sure I succeeded. I rearranged the pieces a lot and took a lot of different perspectives, so it was fun.

Climbing in SB

 Another good day in Santa Barbara. We went rock climbing with a couple of friends. I got to climb up a little ways, anchor myself in, and take some great photos. This is Nicole, she rocks out. It was sunny and pretty hot, but a great day of climbing with friends.

Nell Rocks

Today was a rough day in beautiful Santa Barbara. I got to take two free classes at the camera shop, then we spent most of the afternoon hanging out at the beach playing on the slack line. Nell is a quick learner and did quite well. I did not, and I have the bruises to prove it. 

Another Blue Ball and Exit!

While working out in the gym today, I was thinking about photography, so I came up with these two photos. The first one is just a close-up of a blue exercise ball. The second is a part of a weight machine that I thought looked like an excited face. It just so happened that I could position the photo to have the exit sign in the background.

My glass is mostly full.

Another busy day. I have lots of those. At about 11:15 pm I was sitting here trying to figure out what to take a photo of, and I saw Nell's glass of water. So I guess Nell's glass is mostly full. I took quite a few shots, then decided to see what it would look like with a little LED light shining on it. Turns out that it looks kind of cool. Picture of the day? Check.

Marble

I had the idea of this shot, but then Nell suggested lighting it from behind, so it turned out much more interesting. This was a lot easier to take than I expected. Of course, with the right set up, it could have come out better, but I like it and I had fun. I like that you can see inside the marble.

Puff Flower

Happy Anniversary to Nell and Me!! Today we went out to a nice dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. Then we went for a relaxing walk around downtown Santa Barbara. To free up my evening I took this picture over my lunch break today. 

Flash Flower

I've finally reached the point where when I ask Nell what I should take a picture of today, she doesn't punch me. Yeah, I live such a rough, abusive life. ;-) Anyway, today Nell suggested I take a picture of my flowers at night with a long exposure, but there was almost no light, so I decided to play with my fancy flash. As soon as I took the first photo I knew this would be a good picture. I tried several flash settings and camera settings, but the hardest part was aiming the camera at something in the dark.

Nell's Guitar

Another busy, but fun day. And here it is 11:30 and I am just now posting. I was looking around trying to think of something to photograph, and I saw Nell's guitar. This was a lot of fun to shoot, and more challenging than I expected. 

Blue Ball

Today was another good day. We slept in, had a nice breakfast, I played with my camera, then we went rock climbing, and then had Indian food with some friends. As far as the picture goes, I noticed this ball that our neighbors had left out sitting in front of this brick wall. So I aired it up, rinsed it off, and took a few pictures. I like the contrast of the ball in front of the square bricks, as well as the bright blueish color against the drab bricks. I suppose I could have spent a couple of hours turning over all of the leaves so they were all yellow, but I figured that time could be better spent on something else. 

My Lily

This is my stargazer lily I have planted in a pot on my patio. I'm going to have 7 blooms on this one plant this year! Stargazer lilies are my favorite flower. 

Antiques?

Today I went to the antique shop down the hill from where I work. I'm not sure how a graduated cylinder ended up at an antique shop, next to an antique stoplight, but it made a nice picture anyway. Also, I'm not sure why an antique shop had more than one stuffed rooster, but that also made an interesting shot.

Colored Pencils

I found this box of colored pencils, so naturally I got out my camera and macro lens and got to work. It's not a very original idea, but I like it.

More Bees Bees

This evening I went out to the garden area and beyond and took over 200 photos, so I ended up with a few good ones. Therefore, you get a bonus photo. The one above isn't cropped at all. This bee was hungry and didn't mind that I was getting up close and personal with my camera. I took quite a few shots of him. The photo below is a random birdhouse/chime hanging in the garden. I have been looking for a photo that looks better in black and white and I thought this one was kind of whimsical.

Bubble Wrap

This photo looked better in my head. I had fun doing it though. I used a little LED light to light this, that's why it has a slight blueish tint.