Day 31/365: January's Best in Show

Yet another picture on the backroads. I feel this is the perfect picture to end the month of January on because it happens to be my favorite picture of this month. I hope that everyone has enjoyed the first month of our Project 365 as much as I have.

Things I have learned:

1. Bokeh is king!
2. I love nature and wildlife and will pursue more of this type of photography.
3. I can not post every night and will instead post once or twice during the week.
4. I can't take night photos and need lots of practice and advice on this subject.
5. Not every picture is perfect!
6. I love hand-painting/select colorization.
7. Inspiration is everywhere so this Project 365 will be a breeze.
8. Blah, blah, blah...*just checking to see if you guys were reading :)
9. FEBRUARY HERE WE COME!!

What I love about this photograph: How the trees are lined up so perfectly and complement the fence.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 38.0mm; 1/200s; f/7.1; ISO 200

Day 30/365: Lone Horse

We found this beautiful horse along the backroads again. I thought this was such a beautiful scene.

What I love about this photograph: The horse stopped eating to pose for the picture!
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/250s; f/9.0; ISO 200

Day 29/365: Pecan Orchard During the Off Season

 This is a photograph of a pecan orchard not too far from my mom's house. The trees always look so sad to me during their off season. I can't wait to photograph it again when they are full of pecans.

What I love about this photograph: The end of the orchard looks like a cave....and we all know what happens in caves...LOL
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 40.0mm; 1/125s; f/5.6; ISO 250

Day 28/365: Moon and Steeple -- A Conversation

 I've been wanting to take a picture of my church at night....decided to play with the ISO a little.

What I love about this photograph: Love the grainy feel/look and how moon and steeple seem to be having a conversation

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 32.0mm; 1/60s; f/4.5; ISO 1600

Day 27/365: Tractor and Cotton

We found this tractor along the backroads of Grady County, Georgia....between Calvary and Whigham.

I loved the ride along this road and found a lot of things to photograph. I plan to go back again during the week. I also entered this picture in the DP Review Challenge "Farming Life". I'll let you guys know what place it comes in....if it's in the top 25...LOL.

What I love about this photograph: The tractor looks as if it owns the field.

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/125s; f/5.6; ISO 200

Day 26/365: Hidden Sunrise

 I took this picture on the way to work this morning. I love how the sun was right outside of the scene and casting a gorgeous light on the clouds and the lake. Unfortunately the picture is blurred because I was driving but I actually love the effect that it made.  It almost made the ugly orange pylon disappear....almost.

What I love about this photograph: The color of the clouds are so...i don't know the word...but only God can create that.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 48.0mm; 1/40; f/5.6; ISO 400

Day 25/365: Regal

 I am sure this house was great in its time because the energy truly radiated from the house. At first I took the picture from the road, wanting to capture the lake on the left and the trees on the right. Somehow it called me in for closer inspection.

What I love about this photograph: Through the front door window, you can see the woods in the backyard!
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 30.0mm; 1/80s; f/4.5; ISO 400

Day 24/365: Bird in the Sky

Yep, I see a bird in this cloud formation...a bird swooping down. What do you see?

What I love about this photograph: The movement and formation of the cloud and also the beautiful color of the sky. SOOC...only added my logo.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 18.0mm; 1/320s; f/9.0; ISO 200

Day 23/365: Stopping by the Woods on a Rainy Day

 I couldn't resist taking this picture...trees, rain, nature...what else is there? :)

What I love about this photograph: The contrast between the wet and dry portions of the trees.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 38.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.0; ISO 400

Day 22/365: Darkening Rose

 This is a single rose that my mom got for her birthday. I love the look of it today...a little darkening...but still serves its purpose. Unfortunately, the bokeh is a little distracting.

What I love about this photograph:The curls and curves of the rose.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 46.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.3; ISO 1600

Day 21/365: Bokeh Ball

One of the upcoming DP Review Challenges is "Trapped in your Bathroom". I have no intention on entering the challenge because there is really nothing interesting in my bathroom but the challenge did make me decide to take a photograph of something in my bathroom. This is a photograph of a glass dish filled with potpourri. Of course it's Bokeh Thursday and I'm kinda digging this bokeh.

What I love about this photograph: The colors and the fact that it's gorgeous without any post processing. SOOC (I only added my logo)
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 42.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.3; ISO 250

Day 20/365: Sketching Hands

Today's my mom's 54th birthday! She hates pictures of herself but loves her hands/fingernails. So I wanted a picture of her today and I knew she would just frown up at me in sigh "Samantha" in a way that only she can. Just to prove how much I know her, I asked her to pose for a picture and in true form, she responded exactly as I said she would. So I asked for just the hands and she agreed. Yep, I reeled her in!. I then decided add my favorite sketch of hers.  After about five or six pictures and an "Are you through yet?" which I knew really meant, "If you're not through, I don't care and I'm going to bed anyway", this is what I ended up with.  Thanks Ma for being a good sport and you rock in my book. Now about that nursing home...

What I love about this photograph: Knowing that when she's in the nursing home and I'm too busy to visit, I can just look at this picture :)

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.6; ISO 400

Day 19/365: Foggy Reflection

I don't know if I ever told you guys, but my first love is street photography, mainly "shot from the hip". Since the month of January is nearly over, I decided that I had to have at least one street photography picture.  This morning's drive into work was extremely foggy, especially on the long, rural stretch of highway. so needless to say, I was glad when I reached traffic in the city.  As I was sitting in traffic, I looked over and saw that my truck is directly in front of a store window, providing a great scenic photograph. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snap a quick picture...w/o looking through the viewfinder...hence the term, "shot from the hip". Yep, that's my silhouette in the Jeep.

What I love about this photograph: How the store window frames the photograph!

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 24.0mm; 1/60s; f/4.0; ISO 400

Day 18/365: Booking It

Since I've started, "I'm Booking It in 2010!" today with FishMama, I thought it would be appropriate to post a picture of my first book in this challenge. It's a poetry book entitled, "Black Wings and Blind Angels" by Sapphire. As I was flipping through, I came across this poem and just had to photograph it! If you so desire, you can follow along with me in the challenge at my other blog.

What I love about this photograph: It's a book....need I say more?
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 46.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.3; ISO 200

Day 17/ 365: Remnants of Fall

I was doing today's photowalk with the intention to find some "leftover" Autumn. Wasn't it nice of these three leaves to just to sit there and wait for me like that??!!

I want to thank all of you for missing lil' ol' me *blushing*. I didn't stop doing the project but had misplaced my camera cord and didn't have a backup to use to upload my pictures and I couldn't dare post the blog without the pictures! So I would come on and blog, save the draft, and search for my cord. Sooooo glad that I found it today and thanks to all of you for your patience. As you can see, nature was talking to me this past week. I never knew that I enjoyed photographing nature so much until I started this project.

What I love about this photograph: The colors and shine. SOOC (I only added my logo)!
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.6; ISO 400

Day 16/365: School Colors

This tree/bush (don't know which it is and don't know the name) sits in my grandmother's front yard. It caught my eye because of it's colors. Whenever I see green and "gold" together, I always think of my middle school. Woo-hoooooo! GOOO TIGERS :)

What I love about this photograph: Love how the colors seem to complement each other perfectly and how the waxy feel of the leaves can be seen in the photograph. SOOC (I only added my logo)
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 26.0mm; 1/60s; f/4.2; ISO 360

Day 15/365: Fun with Faux Sunflowers

I was too lazy to venture out of the house after work today so I found some artificial flowers around the house and decided to photograph them and decided to hand-paint them in Gimp because I love this technique and am trying to perfect it.

What I love about this photograph: I've always loved sunflowers and love how the yellow pops out.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 42.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.3; ISO 400

Day 14/365: Berries and Bokeh

 It's Thursday and I'm attempting bokeh again. Thanks for all of the advice that you guys gave me last week. I am looking forward to buying a new lens in the upcoming months. Until that time, I have to keep playing with my current lens.
This picture is of a Holly tree that my dad planted in the front yard back in the early 80's. I used to want to eat the berries when I was a kid....LOL, good thing that I didn't though. I often overlook this tree but am glad that it caught my idea today...it was a perfect bokeh subject.  

What I love about this photograph: I love how vibrant the red and green looks. SOOC (I only added my logo)
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 52.0mm; 1/40s; f/5.6; ISO 400

Day 13/365: Water in Two States

The last week or so, we've been below freezing temps at night and therefore have had to leave the water dripping so the pipes won't freeze. This is a picture of the water dripping from the outside faucet. Overnight, it turned into a nice long icicle. Love it!

What I love about this photograph: Water in the liquid and solid state...living in harmony :)
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/60s; f/5.6; ISO 400

Day 12/365: Not "Thrill"ed about My Camera

Meet Thrill. Thrill is a horse. Thrill is a horse that lives in my mom's backyard but belongs to my cousin. Thrill does not like my camera. Thrill sometimes runs when he sees my camera but comes to talk to me when I put it behind my back. Thrill will have to learn to like my camera because I'm sure he will be the subject of many more pictures this year. See ya later, Thrill.

What I love about this photograph: The way he's looking at me...hating the camera, but loving my company.

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/30s; f/5.6; ISO 720

Day 11: Forgotten Soldier (Old Resident)

Since I live within 500 feet of a graveyard, I've decided to start a Cemetery Series. That really was not my intention when I was doing today's photowalk, (I was hoping to catch a couple of bluejays playing amongst the oak trees) but the flag sticking up from his grave caught my eye. He was a Sergeant in the Army. He died in 1994...he was only 37 years old. I looked around and so many other graves caught my attention as well. I promised them that I would come back and visit them...old residents and new.

What I love about this photograph: Knowing that he's truly not forgotten....someone will visit on his birthday or Father's Day...if not, I will.

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 24.0mm; 1/60s; f/4.0; ISO 400

Day 10/365: Individuality

This tree sits in my grandmother's side yard and I loved how serene and proud  it looked amongst the other trees
  
What I love about this photograph: Even though this tree is surrounded by trees with green leaves, brown leaves, or no leaves at all, it unabashedly holds onto it's yellow leaves.

Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 18.0mm; 1/50s; f/3.5; ISO 400

Day 9/365: In Memory of Her

Today's my grandmother's birthday....she would have been 90 years old. To celebrate her today, I decided to photograph her jewelry box. I know bits and pieces about the contents and have always loved the pin that I have hand-painted.  This pen was a Mother's Day gift to her from her 11 children with her birthstone and theirs.  I think this is such a great symbol of love and gratitude and find it a rare gift these days.

What I love about this photograph: I can imagine her opening this jewelry box on a Sunday morning and picking out a piece to match her dress.
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 19.0mm; 1/60s; f/3.5; ISO320

8/365: Bokeh Anyone?

So this is my first true attempt at bokeh. Sure I've taken some pictures that ended up with bokeh in them, but I wasn't trying to achieve bokeh. I just found out, this week, what bokeh actually is...and I love it. And am completely obsessed with it! *peeping through its window saying, "bokeh, i seeeeeee, you"* I've decided to end every week (Thursday) with a bokeh image...yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I'm a day off, but I just had this wonderfully, brillant, bokeh idea...gimme a break, geesh.

What type of bokeh do you feel I achieved?:

1. good?
2. bad?
3. average?
4.  immpecable?
5. you call that bokeh? sam, you wouldn't know bokeh if it slapped you in the face!

Any help/advice that you all can give me on this topic would be greatly appreciated. I wish for, Thursday, Dec. 31st, 2010's bokeh to be sooooooo good that I need a cigarette 2 cigarettes afterwards :)

What I love about this photograph: It's bokeh. Come on, smile and wave at the bokeh!
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/200s; f/7.1; ISO 200

Day 7/365: To heck with icicles in Florida

I've been so envious of everyone and their pictures of all the beautiful snow and icicles that I decided to go in search of my own "wintry scene" here in Florida. I drove around and saw a fire hydrant that had burst and was spraying water on the nearby grass and bushes and it was just cold enough for the water to freeze. So I ended up getting beautiful icicle pictures just as I imagined, and then I thought "Aw, hell, this is the Sunshine state. I gotta show the sun!" So I saw a bush that had only been halfway sprayed and still had lots of greenery and the sun was coming in at a perfectly angle. So I ended up with this not so lovely picture! Enjoy, or not....LOL! There's always tomorrow. I promise to redeem myself and get serious about this 365 project!!

What I love about this photograph: Ummmm, it's a photo!
Technical Stuff: Nikon D40; 40.0mm; 1/200s; f/7.1; ISO 200

Day 6/365: Survivor

I fell in love with a tree today and photographed it furiously. After I was done, I walked about 75 yards to return to my car, and it called me back. She (the tree) was a tangled mess...her small branches had grown so out of control and it appeared that she had given up the fight to regain control. Birds were happily flitting on and off of her, oblivious of her undoing. I photographed her tangled mess but she called me back because she desired for the world not to see her this way. She wanted to explain to me how she had gotten this way over the years. There was no explanation necessary because I could see myself in her....so I apologized and took her good side.


What I love about this photograph: It whispers in my ear and has inspired the "Whisper Series".
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 46.0mm; 1/400s; f/10.0; ISO 200

Day 5/365: Reluctant Player

I asked my oldest daughter to quickly pose for me and she was reluctant because I was interrupting her t.v. show...the audacity of me to interrupt her show!

What I love about this photograph: She's my girl!
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 32.0mm; 1/60s; f/4.5; ISO 400

Day 4/365: Hanging out in the most unlikely places

This is definitely not the shot that I intended to post today, but she was just so freaking cute, I couldn't resist. (and i hate cutesy shots!) She was literally just hanging out in the refrigerator.  I was able to get about 7 pictures of her before she got bored and decided she would much rather hang out in her Mema's bed.

What I love about this photograph: Lounging, as if she's sitting in her favorite chair. SOOC (I only added my logo)
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 20.0mm; 1/60s; f/3.8; ISO 400

Day 3/365: Seeking Solitude on the Road Less Traveled

 
I didn't take the time to compose this picture or any other photographer's setup gobbledegook, I just seized the moment in order to steal a moment of the subject's peace....knowing that she has the peace that passeth all understanding and for a moment....just a small moment...being able to feel what she felt.

What I love about this photograph: The peace that emanates from the subject.
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 55.0mm; 1/640s; f/13.0; ISO 200

Day 2/365: Old and Distant Memories

This is the first photograph in a series in which i have not come up with a name (Series X).  My intention is to take photographs of places my aunts, uncles, grandparents (paternal and maternal), etc. resided in as they were growing up and starting families.  This is the house of one of my "grandfathers".  Although his house is only located about two miles from my mother's house, I had not seen it since he died in 1988 and it was such an eye-opening experience.  He lived in this house his entire life and never had an indoor toilet. 

What I love about this photograph: The memories that it evokes of the lazy summer days spent here.
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 23.0mm; 1/125s; f/5.6; ISO 200

Day 1/365: Camera Shy

Day One of my Photo Project 365 and I have exactly 45 minutes to post my photograph before it becomes Day Two. Since it was a little bit nippy outside today,I decided to find something in the house to photograph. I'm extremely camera shy but have been wanting to do a self portrait for some time now.

What I love about this photograph: The lines of my cheekbones
Technical Stuff:  Nikon D40; 18.0mm; 1/60s; f/3.5; ISO 200