Breezy Bluebonnets

I haven't seen bluebonnets in a long time....I think the last time was when I took this photo.

Back in March 2006, I pulled over to an empty field with bluebonnets sprinkling the area. I remember this, because it seemed that as soon as I pulled out the Canon camera from its case, the wind picked up. I waited for about 5 minutes, but the breeze refused to completely stop.

At that time, I only had my film Canon SLR and was anxious to see how the photo turned out. Once I received my prints back, I was pleased with how well the background turned out. I really like the leaves in the foreground, which have a slight blur due to the wind.

Uh-Oh

I was browsing through some of my old photos today. Once I saw this photo, I just had to share it.

The situation looks bad....Two Ford Mustangs pulled over by the police. Uh-Oh.

But... it's not as bad as it looks.

Really.

I'm serious!

Here's the real story....

This photo was taken back in 2007, after Brian and I swapped the hoods and trunks of our Ford Mustangs. (It's a car thing, so if you don't understand it, it's ok.)

We were out taking photos our cars, which we do often :)
and decided to drive out to the famous Pig Stand in San Antonio. The Pig Stand is now under new ownership, but way back in the day, the Pig Stand was the first place to have drive-in dining and a drive thru...

Back to the story on the photo...

Driving into the parking lot, we noticed 2 police cruisers. We joked with each other that it would be a great photo if we could get them to "pull us over".

So, Brian goes up to them and asks if they could park behind us with their lights on.

Lo' and behold we had a taker! But we had to be quick, since they were on their way out.

No time to set up a great shot, we snapped a few photos.

Now, everytime we show this photo, the questions are always..."Were y'all racin'?" or "Who won?"

We won't tell... hehehe

Raindrops Keep Fallin'

Watching the rain on Sunday, I noticed this blackbird didn't seem to mind the wet stuff at all.
He also had no idea that I was there taking photo after photo of him...From the safety of my front porch, of course!

I knew that if I took enough photos, I'd have at least one that I would consider sharing. :-)

I like how the raindrops are visible, as they crash with the road. Without the bird in the frame, this photo would be boring.

Wrapped Up

Don't skimp on the details.
Don't get wrapped up in the details.

Which is it?

Whichever one it is, just remember to take a step back to get the full picture.

Classic Mustang Memorabilia

Brian, being the good husband he is, decided to make this plaque for these two classic Ford Mustang emblems. I think it's great that these are now displayed properly, however, I'd love to have them back on the actual car.

Big Sigh. I'm just wishing outloud.

Someday, I'd love to have a 1965...or 1967...or 1968 Ford Mustang.

New Life

It's Saturday.

The looming dark clouds finally brought some much needed rain and ended our yard sale earlier than planned.

Walking past our sago palm, I noticed that it is growing new leaves. Once the rain slowed to a mere drizzle, I decided to snap this photo. At first, I took the photo horizontonally, but didn't feel it captured the budding leaves in the best way possible.
So I turned my camera sideways and was pleased with the lines in the vertical photo. In Picasa, I increased the shadows on it to bring out the green stems at the base of the palm.

Even before today's rain, I've noticed how the water runs down the center of the older leaves to the middle of the plant. What a perfect design! Mother Nature is a great architect.

Canon & Coffee

One night last week, Brian brought me a cup of coffee while I was on the sofa playing with the camera settings. I put my coffee cup down on the coffee table, next to my camera bag and voila! An instant photo subject!

Now, I'm still figuring out what the best settings are for most situations....I don't think I'll ever fully figure that out, but I'll try.

I took so many photos of these two objects, taking a sip of coffee every couple of photos, of course! I think I annoyed Brian (he was playing the XBox) 'cause I turned on the flash for a few of the photos and totally distracted him from destroying zombies. hehehe

So, then I increased and decreased the exposure settings. Flash Off. Flash On. hehehe

Then I tried out the automatic white balance (AWB) settings. No Flash. The XBox game level determined that one for me.

Of course, I had to change the angle of the adjustable lamp, which was the source of light for this photo. I moved the camera bag that the logo would appear crisp, and the inside of the cup had a slight reflection of light. I also like how the snap-clasps catch the light.

Once I took the photo into Picasa, I tried all kinds of effects. That's fun. That also wastes about 2 hours of precious sleep time lickety-split!

Ok. Point of story? I'm getting to it....
Just grab your camera and take photos.
Try different camera settings.
Don't be afraid to move things around to make a more interesting photo.
Share your photos and the story behind them.
Have fun :)

Busy as a Bee

Everyone is busy these days and it seems that Life is just rushing by....

Just about everyone is like this little bee....
-focused on the task at hand
-working for the greater good (echo "the greater good", for you Simpson's fans)
-knows their way home no matter how far they've gone

Work and school take up the most time between me and my husband. That doesn't even count the other little things that eat away at whatever time is left over....like going to the grocery store or even just being on the computer.

Life gets hectic, but keeps moving forward. Just remember to stop and smell the roses :) and think of all the good things Life has to offer.

Cool Machines

Right off IH35, just past the FM1103 exit, there's this place that rents out these construction machines. I've driven by there so many times and always wanted to stop to snap a photo.

I liked the way they parked them along the access road, with the buckets raised. Almost like they're raising their "hands" as a "hello" or "goodbye" to all the traffic that goes by on the highway.

I also like the way the yellow contrasts with the black and the shadows created by the buckets.

As you can see...I finally took that photo.... back in February 2009 (Hey, I didn't have this blog then!).

At the time, I was using my Canon Rebel FILM Camera. That's right. Film. I haven't used that camera lately. There's still half a roll of film left in it, too. Guess I'll pick it up over the weekend and finish it out.

unLucky Bamboo

The "lucky" bamboo that was housed next to this old man met an untimely death after about 3 years in my cubicle.

A few years after the demise of the bamboo, I still have this "vase" which looks like an old tree trunk. It's been sitting outside on the patio for quite sometime now. I'm not exactly sure why I still have it.

I was outside the other day, looking for something interesting to utilize what photography skills I have and I thought, sure why not? He's not looking directly at the camera, rather someplace in the distance, off to the left. He doesn't seem to mind the camera right in his face. He's pretty relaxed, not stiffly posed...well, OK, maybe he is.

I think that's how people should look in their photos:

- relaxed
- not looking directly into the camera, but not hiding from it either
- not noticeably posed

I'll try to remember that myself the next time Brian tries to snap a photo of me!

5.0 Ford Mustang

This plate belongs on the engine of my car, a 1987 Ford Mustang GT, just in case I ever forgot what kind of make and model it is. :)


Lately, it's been living on the coffee table as a conversation piece. Eventually, it will be cleaned up, re-painted and installed back on the car.


I've been having to use the '87 as my daily driver, since the 2002 Mustang GT is out of commission due to an incident that I posted about earlier.


Don't get me wrong, I like driving this car, however since it's 20+ years old, there's much more maintenance needed. Even so, it's still "Not For Sale".

Finding a Subject to Photograph

I was walking around the backyard, camera in hand, just looking for something to photograph.

As I'm searching for a good photo subject, I see this leaf. I'm pretty excited.... Yeah, I know, it's just a leaf. But it's not just any leaf. This grape leaf is turned downward as it is trying to wrap itself around the fence. With the lighter colored underside of the leaf exposed, it stood out from the other leaves.

I've found that it's ok to move things out in nature, or to move yourself to get a different angle. For this photo, I moved this little leaf out from underneath the chain-link, so that the fence would not be a distracting factor.

It was a little windy, so a fast shutter speed was needed. I like the way the background is blurred, so the depth of field works in this photo.

Summer, Already?

The presence of flip-flops on our back patio prove that summer is here, even though the calendar won't admit it. I like this photo, 'cause you can still see the "toes" on them, LOL

We all bought flip-flops when we were going to the beach in Corpus Christi a weekend ago...amidst all the swine flu news. The schools around here are closed for another week! They might as well call it "Swine Break 2009".

No fair. I still have to go to work tomorrow.

With what weekend we had left, Brian decided that he wasn't going to let the day slip by without watering the backyard, since we're trying to revive the lawn. So far though, it's just been mainly the weeds that are thriving, grrr.

Putting on a pair of shorts, a white tee and these flip-flops, he inspires me to follow him outside. After inspecting the amount of weeds vs grass growing, I decide to sit in the shade. Apparently, I'm a sitting duck...a perfect target! Even though it's hot and humid outside, I'm still shocked by the cold water on my feet that he shoots my way.

"Feels good, huh?" he says.

"Sure..." I gasp.

Ahh...Summer.

The Drive In Theatre of Years Gone By

Apparently, in Schertz Texas, there used to be a Starlite Drive-In Theatre. Like many Drive-Ins, this one has been closed for many, many years. I've searched online for some additional information about this place, but have only found that its capacity was anywhere from 175-200 cars.

I've passed by this sign for many years now, dreading the day it gets torn down to make way for 'city improvements'. When we stopped to take these photos, a man stopped to let us know that the movie screen was still standing, behind some trees. All this time, I didn't even think the movie screen would still be standing! It's certainly not visible FM78...at least, I hadn't noticed it before.

I took these photos late in the day and there were long shadows to contend with, as seen in the bottom photo.