Day 111 (June 30) - Evan

So, I discovered one thing tonight that I . . . already knew, sort of. But this just reinforced it for me.

The Lensbaby isn't so good for portraits at wide apertures. But I don't want you to just take my word for it. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

Many thanks to Evan for being my underpaid, underappreciated guinea pig.

His face is sort of . . . melting, isn't it?

I swear, I didn't do it on purpose.

Day 109 (June 28) - Back in Time

I didn't take any photos today, spent the day trying to edit and catalogue my Myanmar photos, so I thought I would share one more with you all. I took this in the late afternoon near Mandalay on the way to a lake to shoot sunset photos. I love the sunset photos too, but some of my favorites are ones that I took out of the back of the truck as we were driving there.

(And why were we driving there? Did I accidentally pack my uncharged camera battery instead of the charged one? And then run out of room on my memory card as well? Am I a complete and total failure at keeping the appropriate camera gear with me? Please, please don't answer that.)

Day 108 - El Gato Cafe Claro

A couple pictures of the cat from today, taken with the Lensbaby (hence why only one eye is in focus).

I think cafe claro means light brown in Spanish, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

Day 107 (June 26) - A Bug

I'm still sick, so I'm taking the easy way out today and posting a photo I took over the weekend (when I was feeling better). It's a Lensbaby shot, of some kind of bug. A grasshopper? Cicada? I have no idea. What I don't know about bugs could fill many books. And, has. Check your local library for a selection.

Anyway, this was tough to process. I still am not sure if I should have made it lighter, or increased the overall contrast even more, or brought up the midtones, or . . . you name it. Remember, no Photoshop, so if you want to leave a suggestion, make sure it's something I can do in Lightroom. I shot it raw, so the camera did no processing for me.

Day 104 - Small Flowers are Flowers Too

No discrimination, please!

Day 103 (June 22) - Plumeria or Frangipani?

These flowers are on a tree in my garden. I am used to calling them by their Hawaiian name, plumeria, but I believe they are also known as frangipani? They smell divine, no matter what you call them.

Day 102 (June 21) - Beach. Yes, Beach.

I love this photo. Naysay all you want, I will stick my fingers in my ears and pretend I can't hear you (as I do when Evan says to me 'Jessica, I don't think the Lensbaby is good for landscape shots').

Well! I disagree. I think sometimes it is just perfect for landscape shots, especially beach shots. (Just to recap, the Lensbaby Composer is a lens that has one spot in the image in focus, and then blurs the rest. It's like a curved tilt/shift lens, and it's manual focus only, but very very fun to play with. The size of the in focus area increases as the aperture gets narrower; I shot this at f/5.6. The shot from Friday night was at f/2, almost nothing in focus there.)

Day 101 (June 20) - More Lensbaby at Night

A lantern at a bar on Koh Samet, an island near here where we went for the weekend.

Day 100 (June 19) - Statues At Night

A couple shots I took in Bangkok Friday night. First with my 50mm f1.8, second with my trusty Lensbaby Composer, which is dang tough to focus when it's dark. So that's my excuse why it isn't in sharp focus, and I'm sticking to it.

Day 99 (June 18) - Shoes

The kids at school all have to take their shoes off before they come into class. I thought I would shake things up a bit and actually take a shot at school today, like I always mean to. However, I did get a couple weird looks when I was sitting down and photographing the shoes in front of the classrooms - one of the other teachers came over because he thought I was so sick I had to sit down!

Day 98 (June 17) - Weeds

It's funny how a weed looks bad from a distance, and then you get closer . . . and it looks like this.

Day 97 (June 16) - An Apple A Day

Actually does NOT keep the doctor away. I'd have to say between this and the previous shot, the pills worked much better at making me feel healthy.

The apples did taste better, though.

I took this shot yesterday, thinking I'd get a better one later in the day, but then I developed some sort of ear infection (went to the nurse at school today, she gave me some pills that made it feel a lot better, so don't worry). So, anyway, didn't end up taking more shots yesterday. This is just what it looks like, three apples in a plastic bag. I think I'd like to revisit this later, but try to play up the translucency of the bag a bit more.

Day 95 (June 14) - Pills

Sorry it's been a few days, I got pretty hard hit by some sort of fever/flu thing and haven't really done more than lie in bed the past few days. One of the things that helped me get through all this?

Pills.

Don't worry, I didn't take that many.

Kreativ Blog Awards, Finally!

I unexpectedly received a blogging award from Various more than a week ago, and I have yet to pass it on. I thought I would celebrate a photo-less day (I'm a bit sick) by handing out some awards to deserving others.

The award comes with certain terms and conditions as follows - so here they are

1. Post the award on your blog and link to the person who gave you the award. (Check her out!)
2. List seven things you love. So...

I love

1. Photography. It's the only thing I know of, aside from its younger and flashier sibling video, that lets you basically steal and then keep little slices of time. For those of us with acquisitive personalities (right over here!) this is so satisfying. Now, if only it could keep me from wanting to acquire other things . . .

2. Travel. Duh. Amazing. New places, new foods, new people, new PHOTOS (oops, that's number 1 popping up again), and . . . less money. Well. Nothing's perfect.

3. My lovely boyfriend (who, by the way, is not really number 3. I think he knows that). He's awesome, and puts up with far more than he should.

4. My cat. Although she is still suffering from a biting problem (soft bites only, but I still don't want those), she is super affectionate most of the time, and sits at the door meowing like crazy when we get home from work.

5. Burritos. I miss them, a lot. Evan and I have long conversations in which we mostly just fantasize about Mexican food.

6. All the places I've lived: Berkeley, Montreal, Budapest, Thailand, and most of the places I have ever been.

7. Sleep, when I'm exhausted. Food, when I'm hungry. A shower after a long day of travels. I don't care if that counts as three.

Okay, now the tough part. Deserving blogs. I do read a lot of blogs, but most of them are the kind of big shots who don't want an award from the likes of me.

1. http://small-world-photography.blogspot.com/ A photographer I found through a facebook group, she's currently living in Japan, and takes lots of very nice people shots.

2. http://unqualifiedtoblog.blogspot.com/ Where I found the idea for daily photoblogging. Rob does it way differently than I do (and dare I say better?). His photos are all about technique and ideas, where I just sort of point and shoot.

3. http://shutterbugcel.blogspot.com/ Another daily photo blog. They are just kind of addictive. She's got a really nice, simple style. It's not easy to take simple photos, believe you me.

Okay, not only photoblogs, I promise. It's just that I am sort of single minded these days when it comes to my internet browsing

4. http://mironovcentral.blogspot.com/ This is NOT a photography blog, although it is full of pictures. Evan's brothers and dad have started remodeling the house they just bought, and although I seldom understand exactly what is being demolished or rebuilt in the posts, if you are so inclined you might find it interesting. The most recent post is titled 'Oops!'

5. http://brittanypiehl.wordpress.com/ A cool food blog from someone who I only barely know/have met once I think. She posts some good food pictures though. Damn! I know it's not all about the photos, really I do.

And, I think that's pretty much it. All of my blogging friends have recently apparently decided to stop blogging and live real lives, insanely enough. And I will not award a blog that won't be updated. That would just be no fun. I will leave the last two slots open though. Who knows what could happen?

6.

7.

And as a reward for reading such a long post with no images, here is my only real processed HDR image to date. I've processed it two ways, let me know which one you like better. I took it at sunrise on Koh Pha Ngan, when Evan and I went there for the first time.

Day 90 (June 9) - Birds of a Feather

A quick shot I took outside my house as we were on our way to dinner. Nothing to write home about, but it ended up being the best shot of the day. (Some days are like that - I think you know what I mean.)

A little noisy because I used ISO 800 to keep it in focus as it was getting pretty dark. One day I will have to buy one of those noise removal programs, a day when I have more money to spend on things I don't need that I can't touch.

Day 89 (June 8) - Cat

Shooting the cat is tough, because she either won't stay still long enough for the autofocus to grab a shot, or she gets curious and comes closer (too close) to see what's going on. However, out of about 50 shots of her I did get one that was decent. She has lovely eyes.

The second shot is her favorite scratching toy: the broom. Evan and I were delighted when she switched to it and away from the couches. As far as I'm concerned, she can do whatever she wants to the broom. I'll even buy her another.

Day 88 (June 7) - Leaving Paradise

We all have to go home sometime. So, after only one night we too had to leave the island. To make ourselves feel a little better, we decided a souvenir was in order. And what better souvenir than one that you carry with you, one that becomes a part of you, so to speak?

We got pedicures. Very good ones. On the beach, in the shade of a lovely tree. Are you green with envy yet?

Anyway, now you've seen my toes - an honor which you probably never expected to receive. At least they're pretty clean looking.

I decided I liked this high key black and white rendition of them the best, but if you're curious, I chose clear nail polish. I don't own any nail polish remover, and I don't want to buy any, so my toes have to continue looking presentable during all stages of the chipping of the polish.

Day 87 (June 6) - The Beach, Fire, And Beer

Took a weekend trip to Koh Samet this weekend, an island a few hours away from Bangkok. Evan was sick and couldn't make it; he'll come next time. It was really nice, and a good break from working during the week.

Took quite a few pictures on Saturday and couldn't choose my favorite. A good photographer knows how to edit down to their best work; I am not at that level yet, so I'm posting three. One a shot of some footprints about to be erased by a wave, one a handheld long exposure of a fire dancer, and one glass of beer. Enjoy.

Day 86 (June 5) - Margaritas

It's hard to find Mexican food in Thailand. A couple of months ago, I would have said impossible, but we have found one decent Mexican place in Bangkok, and I had enchiladas on one of the islands, so, if not impossible just very, very hard.

Anyway, we found some on Friday night, and some passionfruit margaritas too!

Day 85 (June 4) - Bowling

We went bowling Thursday night. Bowling is not one of my talents; the best thing I came away with was this picture. Not really sure how to set one's white balance for blacklight.

Day 84 (June 4) - Lychees

Karl brought some of the really big lychees into work today. I like the little ones as well, and arguably their flavor is better, but nothing beats a mouthful of fresh, juicy lychee. Accordingly, during lunch I ate so many I felt a little queasy after.

But it was still worth it.

Day 83 (June 2) - A Leaf

Not much exciting today, just a leaf after the rain. We have rain every day now, so it's nothing that unusual.

However, I do have some good news! (Drum roll please!) Various from Ireland has given me a Kreativ Blog award on her blog (which I recommend you check out, she is a master wordsmith), and I am supposed to pass the award on to a few worthy bloggers out there. I will need a couple of days to ponder, but it tickled me pink to come home and see that yesterday. So, yay.

Serendipitous and unpredictable, these cyber-connections.

Day 82 (June 1) - More Bottles

You would think I was an alcoholic, but actually I often have a really hard time finishing even one beer.

I am addicted to this narrow depth of field thing. What's the equivalent of Methadone to wean me off of this?? Could I go cold turkey, back to f/8 or f/11? Even f/5.6 seems like a dismal prospect now.

Okay, one more for the road.

I swear, I can quit any time I want.