Coneflower #2

De Plane!

So, sitting in the parking lot, waiting for the little buzzer thing to let us know that there was a table available at the restaurant.. these planes kept flying over. I finally said that if it flew by again, I was grabbing the camera for a shot. And that one shot was all I got. So it's blurry, but we'll just call it artistic motion blur. I gave it a bit more of a sepia tone than the boring ugly grey that the sky was originally. I tried to salvage it, and I'm not sure that I succeeded. But, it's the only picture I took all day.

Classroom

So New York seems to be one of the few places where school hasn't started yet. We still start after Labor Day. But, my classroom is almost done. Still quite bare, since the walls need some kids' artwork, but that will happen soon enough. I haven't been out taking pictures of anything else since I've been stuck in this cave cleaning, organizing, labeling, cleaning, scrubbing, decorating and cleaning, so I snapped a quick set of shots for a panorama before I left for the day.

Maybe I'll take a picture from the other corner tomorrow (just to prove that at least once a year my desk is clean!) :P

Fern

I've always liked ferns. :)

Coneflower

New Doo

Harriet: "Oh, Mabel! I went to the Bird Bath Salon today and got a new doo! Don't you just LOVE it?"
Mabel: "Uh, Harriet, I don't want to rain on your parade, but did you bother to look in the mirror?"

Bird Bath

These little guys and gals were a hoot to watch! There were a bunch of them all fighting for space on the edge, dipping, diving, and flapping around. You might get part two tomorrow!

Sunflowers

First off, thanks to my mom and dad for today's props! I love 'em! They're purty! :)

And now, the story...

So, my parents sent me some flowers... sunflowers to be precise. Who knew that a box of sunflowers would weigh 6 pounds! So, realizing that they probably needed water pretty badly since I was got home a little late, I rushed to get them out, cut and into their water, half reading the instructions as I was hacking the box open. I had to cut them twice since they were SO tall for my vase. Feeling confident that they were finally short enough to stand up, I stuck them in the vase, and went to get a little ribbon to tie them together so they looked sort of like a bunch so that I could take a picture of them.

So, I tie them up, arrange them, set them by the window, and walk off to get my camera. Well, apparently 6 pounds of sunflowers (minus some stem) was a bit too top heavy for the vase and the whole thing fell to the floor, water splashing everywhere! So, after I cleaned that up I decided it would be better to just hold the vase with one hand and shoot with the other. Thankfully, the flowers are sturdy and they weren't hurt in the process. And, also thankfully, they sent me two bags of flower food, so I had a backup!

So, mom... be thankful all your flowers came in little baskets this week! ;)

Traveling Sunset

Ok, I'm back and everything is well again in the world! I haven't been taking many pictures, and with the start of school coming up, I don't know that I'll be out shooting much. Anyway, here's a shot I took while I was driving home the other week. Seems whenever I drive through this section of road at sunset, it's always a spectacular array of color. Just cropping, no color adjustments at all here.

Be Back Soon!

I didn't abandon my PaD... just had to take an unexpected trip out of town for a family emergency. Should be back up and running with this sometime later in the week. Looking forward to catching up on everyone else's PaD's when I get back! :)

Quiet

Sunset

Bzzzzzz....

...zzzzzzzzzt

Three

Found a link for some cool processing I wanted to try, and I thought this shot might do well for a bit of an impressionistic look... but it didn't work out so well. So, just some layer adjustments that I was playing with instead.

Warped

Another shot looking up the building from yesterday. I wasn't standing quite centered so the lines were a little off. Played with the perspective, rotated, tritoned... just generally playing around with PS tools and some abstract lines.

Looking Up

Took this with the "From the Ground Up" challenge in mind... it's something like the tallest building between NYC and somewhere up north. Yeah, so I don't have all the facts quite straight. But it's 11:59.. so I'm posting!

Flutterby

Just a butterfly :)

Panorama

Here's the panorama shot from yesterday's hike. Hmm.. It seems like blogger isn't fond of that wide shot, it cut down the size of the original. Oh well, you still get the idea! :)

Huckleberry Point

View from Huckleberry Point, a little overlook in the Catskills. Great hike and I actually took the tripod along. I attempted a panorama of the view, so I'll have to see if I can stitch it all together.

Flowers

Day 217, and wishing it was day 364. So, just some flowers.

Abstract Lines

Random shot taken with the point & shoot, without looking at the screen. Altered a bit in photoshop. And voila, abstract lines.

The Egg

Another night shot of Albany from the other day. This is The Egg, and while I've never been inside, it's apparently used for performances and events, and has a stage with theater seating inside. It's quite a unique shape for a building, that's for sure!

Cool

It's hot outside. It's hot inside. It's muggy, miserable and disgusting. Ice is good on a day like today.