Air of Gold

 Laurie and I walked to Creekside the other day.  The setting sun gave lent us the fabulous light, and, well, the trees here are always perfect. I went crazy taking pictures specifically so that I could expand the frame, which is my new obsession (it helps me cope with the narrowness of my 50mm lens, because I am so used to my kit lens).

I'm so proud of this last one.  I missed a huge rectangle when taking the frames for an enlargement, but with my new found Photoshop skills, I fixed it (applause if you can find the hiccup). It was fun to shoot too, because the little pit I was in had a huge layer of leaves, which hid other little divots in the ground.  So I was just kinda like, "Cool, it's a pit."  And then there was rustling when I got up (probably the leaves in my hair) and so I freaked out and my mind went to crime shows so I ran over to the camera.  But then I had to go in the pit again because I didn't like the pictures and the whole time I was thinking, "I'm laying on a dead body.  I'm laying on a dead body."

Heaven's a Party

It's been a year since Katie died, but I still remember that day so vividly.

Midnight Watch

The darkness around makes sounds that are at once both cacophony and euphony in my ears.  They resonate in my eardrums.  The lantern doesn't give off the light to see whether the footfalls are friend or foe.

 Day 313

Week 1/52

New Year

 Happy New Year!  I can't believe my 365 project is going to end this year, and only in two months!  February 24th is the last day!  These are the first pictures I took in 2012.
I decided to start a 52 weeks that will run the entire length of 2012. It's my way of continuing to keep taking pictures regularly once my 365 ends in two months, because I know I would never be able to handle another 365 when I go to college, at least at first.  For the first few weeks the 52 weeks pictures will be from the same shoots as my 365's, but after that I'll have shoots just for my 52 weeks.  I'm so excited!

Brenizer Method

I tried out the Brenizer method, and got a successful picture out of it!  I tried one other time last summer, but I didn't realize that manually expanding the frame is pretty much impossible for me and my lack of skills. So I got the program Hugin, a free downloadable program that makes panoramas and any other type of expansion image.  It's an amazing program, and it gave me my first successful expansion!  The Brenizer method is my new favorite thing.

Chasing the Wind

My parents and I went on an adventure down by the American River.  It's like a fairy-tale there.  The soft grass and trees, rocks strewn about from long ago strip mining.  The colors are phenomenal, soft hues like in my dreams.  I added new methods to the madness of editing to emphasize the colors I saw, but the camera did not.  For these (and others that didn't turn out however much I wished) I clambered up and down small cliffs and held on to roots for dear life and got my pants all dusty.  Surf-sliding down the dirty side of a cliff was the best.  It made me feel superhuman.

 

 This tree is amazing. It's a aggregate of limbs, some that submerge themselves in the ground, and then swoop back up into the air.  It has knots and carvings all over, a wizened old plant. 

 I thought this branch looked like an elephant with oddly shaped ears.  And I made a drawing so you can see what I see better.

My 365 picture, titled "Alice, don't let go."