Update

I have not been out with my camera in months now. I miss it. I was in the forum that I love being in and it reminded me what it was I loved about taking photos. It makes me want to get up and go take photos of something, but my car has no brakes and it's too cold for my leg to let me walk anywhere near home that is interesting to me.

I lost my way along this journey in life. I am finding it again slowly. I have made some pretty major discoveries about myself. I pushed myself too far and I broke. I thought I could take something horrible and help myself threw it by facing it head on, I am certain I should not have done that, but I am not going to regret trying either.

It should be interesting to see what happens when I pick up the camera again, That won't be until nicer weather comes. The winter months are hard for me to go out and shoot because I have a steel plate in my leg, and the cold does not mix well with that.

I hope you are all doing well.

Update ...

Well, The car is all fixed. It looks like it was never in an accident. I have no desire to drive it, The husband things I will change my mind, but once I usually make up my mind, I stick to it. It is just making up my mind that is usually the issue.

I just need my arm to fall in line, Working with the pain in it is really hard because I type for a living. I have been doing it one handed, and it is annoying and slow. I have pain control medication, but ... I do not think my boss would like it if I were sleeping on the clock.

I have not been out to shoot in a few months now. I have the occasional thing, Like the arrival of the Great Nephew (family stuff), but nothing that I can really post.

Hope all is well with my readers. Take care all. I will get out shooting again soon, just need to get past the recovery stage from the accident first or the Capture Rochester Party, Whichever comes first.

Little Daniel

We were recently blessed with a new addition to our family over the holiday weekend, and I was lucky enough to be able to witness his arrival. I have never seen a hospital that would let the whole family stay to witness a child's birth until little Daniel was born. If the mother wants the family there, She can have them. I have never been blessed enough to conceive a child, but I feel blessed that my nephew's girlfriend let me stay to watch little Daniel's birth.

Daniel Joseph - Born: 10/30/09 - Time: 11:04am - Weight: 6lbs. 2oz. - Length: 20 Inches

Road of Destruction

I was driving home this past Monday night from work when this ...
(Yes it is the actual deer that did the below damage, my husband took the photo)



decided to jump out in the middle of the road without any warning, and I never saw it until it did this ...
to my husband's car. I was alone. My car had an issue and I could not drive it, so he let me borrow his. I bet he will think twice before that happens ever again. The radiator is shot also. I am not sure of all of the damage as of yet, but I am sure there is more. I felt like I hit a brick wall, not a deer.

Chittenango Creek

I do not really have the ability anymore to adventure on this creek the way I want to, so I picked a place I could pull my car off the road safely on and walked to the creek shore. I wanted to get right down into the creek, but I was afraid I would fall and break myself in some other location upon myself, so I did not try this. I found a spot along the creek that I liked with a small cascade in it and shot it from different angles.

The sun was behind me. I think I like the affect, but it also makes it too dark in other places, and I am not all that experienced at "fixing" things like this, but I do like how a lot of the images turned out. Here is another image from this shoot.

I also took this shot in black and white format. I think I like it better that way ... I enjoy Black and White Photography a lot. It is simple, yet very beautiful in it's own way.

Endless Mountains

Okay ... I never got to go on my little wind back in time trip. I decided I was not really into seeing if I could find myself in a situation I would not want to be in, so I decided I would do something I have been wanting to do for a while instead, and had the time to do it. I have got this thing for the hills surrounding the area I live in. They are all around me, it does not matter which direction you turn in .. They are there. I decided I wanted to try out a few different shots because I have never really given landscape shots a fair chance to really bloom. Here are a few of my favorites.

Time Out

I have taken a bit of a time out from my camera. Life has offered me some serious challenges in the past couple of months, and I just needed to take a step back. For those of you that know me, I am a lot better now and will be getting back out there is weekend before I loose the rest of the summer, so that means ... I will have some new images.

Better Time and Places

Well ... I am doing better than I was doing last week. I feel almost human again, and I have not talked to my father since all of that stuff started. I feel better knowing that my heart is okay though, let's just say it got worse before it got better. I now have something to help when things get like that.

I have been out trying to shoot the last couple of weekends. I did not get much this past weekend because the place I wanted to shoot at ... all it did was rain all day. My niece got crowned Lumberjill, This is a big thing in the town she lives in, and I planned on shooting some photos with her in her pretty yellow borrowed dress, but because of the weather all I could do was watch.

I took some shots of a few things I found a little interesting. I have always loved vines that cover a building. I am not sure why I think they are so pretty, but I do ... So here are a couple of shots of that sort.

I just enjoy being outdoors once in a while, so much that I cannot help but take pictures of the things I see .. more for the memories of seeing them than anything. I went to Emerson Park in Auburn, NY this past weekend and it is one of my favorite parks in this area because it has some history. I took this shot just as the outdoor walk path light turned on.

I plan on getting out again this coming up weekend. I am not sure where I am going to yet. I feel one of those trips coming on that happens by pointing in a direction an driving in it to see where it leads me. I have been wanting to take a drive down to a place in Pennsylvania I lived years ago .. Who knows I may end up in that direction.

America in the Forest

I took a drive in the state forest a couple of days ago and came across something beautiful ...

I messed with the image threw photoshop because the amount of light in the opening over exposed the image and I only shot it once. If you follow the trail, from what I was told ... there are tombstone from the 1600's and 1700's. I plan to visit this site again to verify this and get GPS coordinates to share with others that might be interested in checking out the place.

What to do???

I swore to myself when I started this blog I was not going to get too personal, but I really just need to get something off my mind so I can try to go back to bed. I got a phone call at about 11pm tonight (07/11/09) from a family member that was so drunk and my guess was looking to hurt someone ... Well I guess I was the target. I normally do not answer the phone in the middle of the night, but this person has known health issues, and I am the closet relative with any say so and I thought at this hour something was wrong, and apparently it was me. I should by all rights not care two beans about this person, they have caused me nothing but pain for the last 16 years of my life, but that is just not the way I am.

I was called just to be reminded about the abuse I suffered as a child by someone that I worshipped until the last time it happened to me. I was removed from the situation and placed in a series of foster homes to deal with the after affects a lone, but I was willing to let it all go and try again after 16 years, just to get it tossed at me that the whole thing was my fault. I just sat there crying listening to this, I started having a panic attack remembering exactly what happened and thinking ... why can't he just stop doing this to me. I know I let him call me, so that is my fault, but for him to call me to do this is mean.

The last time he was drunk he fell and busted his head open on his motorcycle ... My brother and I went to the hospital he was taken to and spent over 14 hours trying to convince these people to release him to us and I almost went to jail for defending him. I think I need to stop this from happening, but this person was once very important to me. I don't know what to do, I just know I feel hurt all over again.

Reflective

I have never really went as far as trying a reflective shot before. I was sitting at a local park waiting for a friend one day this past week and decided to give it a try from the mirror on my driver side door. Here is what I got. I decided to shoot it in Black and White because that is my favorite form. I used a photoshop Elements 6 Enhancement on the image called Poster Edges for additional effects. I kind of like it. I might have to try some other types of subjects in this reflective style.

Bright Colors & Flowers

I have loved lillies since I can remember. I have been playing around with different editing techniques for some time now, and I decided to try some enhancement techniques. I wish flowers really looked this bright sometimes. I have always loved the way a flower looked after a fresh rain and decided to see if I could get a decent shot to use on my computer.

Old Time & Tractors

Man ... I really need to get some posting done. I have some things ready to post, but I just have not had the time to do it. I messed up my back trying to put the groceries in the truck of the car a little over a week ago ... The drive home sucked!!! I went alone.

On a brighter note ... before that happened I got out to visit my father. It is always a very hard thing for me to do because of things that have happened between us, but I decided it was a growing experience I needed to do. It makes me stronger in the long run, so it's worth it. He has this really old tractor out at his place, and I took an interesting shot of it.

I am not sure what it was about this tractor that got my attention, but it seemed like something unusual to photograph, and I decided to give it a try. More to come within a few days. I have a few from the past few weeks I really want to get posted and share. I have been out doing some experimenting since I can move around better now.

Seneca Park Zoo - Trip 2

I decided to take a trip with my cousin to Rochester the last Saturday in May. I had a whole day planned, but it did not work out. We went to the Seneca Park Zoo and went to a local pizza place in West Henrietta (Which by the way had excellent pizza). My ankle had swollen up pretty bad as it usually does when I get too active. I wish I could have prevented that accident from ever taking place, my adventures would be more fun and a lot more productive if I did not have all of the issues to deal with that came with my injury. I get by however ... It's just a pain a lot of the time and prevents me from doing things I want to do in a lot of ways.

I got to take some photos while I was at the zoo. I did not go past the Polar Bears the last time I went to this zoo because I was a little worried about the small hill to finish out the zoo, but I decided to try it this time. I found a new animals that were not there the last time I was there, They are the Olive Baboons. I just love their attitudes. We sat and watched them for about 10 minutes, and I found it funny how the one mother was like ... Get off me to her babies. She took off running with them trying to keep up.

Spotted Hyenas We saw quite a few different animals, I only took photos of a few because I just did not feel like trying to get my camera to behave on some of the inside exhibits. We skipped the building with the insects and frogs in it all together. I guess I just don't get all excited over things hopping and swimming around. I love the big animals, You know ...

Olive Baboons

White Tiger (Just A Zoo Visitor)

Polar BearsBig beautiful creatures of the world. I wanted to check out some of the Cemeteries, and some of the downtown sites ... but I guess that will have to happen another time. I think I tired out my cousin after the zoo, and I think she felt bad about my leg, but there is nothing I can do about it, It is what it is and I live with it.

See more photos at Flickr

Children

I totally love taking photos of children. They are always doing something that makes you want to laugh. I would have to say babies are among my favorites because of their beautiful smiles.

Proms

I got the chance to work with my cousins by marriage and take so pictures of them before they went of to her prom this past week. Sarah and Dan are a lot of fun to work with, They add a lot of comedy to their photos. I am not sure who had more fun out of the three of us, but here are a few of the shots I kept.

First Random Outing Of 2009

My husband and I got in the car over the holiday weekend and drove to the gas station, filled it up, picked a direction and just drove. We have not been able to afford to do this for a while, but decided the block party that was forming around our house for the second day in a row was getting a little out of hand, and I wanted to get out and shoot some sunsets. We drove around Cayuga Lake. I had a blast, and he took a much needed nap. Here are a few of the things I came back with.

First stop ... Taughannock Falls

This was taken along some side road along the lake

A wonderful sunset

I love just getting in the car and going. You never know what you will come back with until you upload it to the computer and take a good look at it. My next adventure is to Rochester this coming weekend. I hope I will come back with some good stuff. My cousin Erma is coming with me. We planned to check out Letchworth State Park, George Eastman House, Seneca Park Zoo, and some of the surrounding parks, waterfalls and whatever else we come across.

Bridges

I have actually been out to shoot some new things. New posts will be coming soon.

Threw An Opening

May's challenge should be fun it is called threw an opening ... Imagine the possibilities. I will be working a lot with that this month. I am feeling the need to be out in new places and seeing new things. I cannot wait to see what I come back with. Both of the images below were taken at Cornell Plantations.

Selective Focus

Last month we had a photo challenge within the online community I am part of and it was called Selective Focus. With this technique, we can choose one part of the image to be sharp and in focus, while the rest of the image is kept out of focus.

I very recently took my camera back out to start carrying around with me again until the colder weather comes back again. I do not hold up well in colder weather ... So I put my camera in the closet in a safe place and wait for the warmer days to come visit.

I have never really done anything with selective focus before, and I will continue to work with it as I learn. Here is my second attempt with working with what I perceive as Selective Focus.