photographer, student, wife and mother in huntington beach, ca

I created this to enhance my website and now my new photo gallery pages.  As a perpetual student, wife and mother, I am now searching and discovering different aspects of my photography.  Growing up I was always the one with the camera, beginning with my Kodak Brownie, evolving into my Canon 20D. I hope to acquire many followers, be they students themselves or experienced photographers,  who will enjoy watching  my continued progress and will come back often to see what they can learn from the things I share.  Please follow me on my adventure to one photo per day!  Thank you and enjoy!

Two Great American Paint Horses

This is Blue Eyes and Roxie. They live at Blue Skeye Ranch with my best friend Robin. Are they not beautiful horses? We saw three horses walking on the trail behind the dog park yesterday and Kyla got very excited. She wanted to go to them but there was a fence in the way. May be one day I will be able to take her to see Robin’s horses. She sure would love it! I don’t know what Robin’s four dogs would think of it though!

Blue Eyes and Roxie…

Blue Eyes was Robin’s first horse. She brought him home from Montana. Then when they moved up to the ranch they kept adding and now there are six. That must be so much work. She is lucky she has a lot of help! Meeting some friends for a photo shoot tomorrow morning. Another friend of ours, Merle, is going to join us. He wants some photos of his red 1962 Impala taken. We haven’t seen it before but I am sure it will be nice. I would like to go up to the mountains for a few days. We’ll see how tomorrow goes or maybe Sunday. Have a good week-end!

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Look What Is In My Own Backyard

This is a beautiful orchid plant a neighbor gave us over a year ago. Willie is taking care of it and as you can see, he is doing a mighty fine job of it. I always thought you had to take very special care of orchids and not just anyone could do it. I guess Willie has the special knack! He counted the buds today and there are 15, aside from what has already bloomed  and shows in this photo.

A gorgeous orchid in my own backyard…

I took a break from transferring files today to take Kyla to the dog park. She had a good time. I feel so bad that I cannot take Donnan with us. He does not understand why he is left behind. I do not know what to do. Can anyone help me? Saw the Dodgers beat the Mets today so that was good.  What are you going to do this coming week-end? I will be taking some photos Saturday morning of a friends 2 year old little boy at Central Park. It should be a fun morning. Not sure for Sunday. I may go to a friends “jewelry” party (kind of like a Tupperware party, but jewelry instead). We’ll see.

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“I Think I Have Hit Rock Bottom”

That is what I said to Willie when he asked me how my photo came out today. I ordered a new tower last week and it arrived today. Actually, my computer guy Steve ordered it for me. I wanted him to build me one but he said it would be more affordable to order a custom configured one from Costco. It is an HP, as I am sure you can see. You can even see a little of me in the reflection! Maybe by Saturday I will start using it. I included the specifications.

My new HP Intel 2 Quad computer…

I did actually look at the Apples, which I would love to get, but it would have cost twice as much as this did. I am a PC person until I win the lottery! Steve has assured me I will be very happy with this and I will really see a big difference. We took Willie’s dad to dinner tonight for Mexican food. It was very good. Spoke briefly with Larry this evening, watched the Dodgers lose to the Mets, got my hair trimmed this morning, and that was my exciting day. The dogs got very excited when the big box from FedEx was delivered. Whatever box comes to this house, for some strange reason there are always a few dog biscuits in it!

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Food Photography With the Lensbaby

Well, I have done Lensbaby a few times this month and food photography a few times this month, so this image uses them both. I messed with my diopter yesterday to see if I could get a better focus with my glasses on. I tried today and it is a little better. Can you really get a sharp center focus with the Lensbaby 2.0 and have  it flair out from the center? That is what I was trying with this image. It is a little better. My last two food images were of healthy fruit, I saw this and thought, what the heck, let’s use something not healthy!

Colorful, forbidden “fruit”…

Watching the Dodger game now – they are beating NY Mets 5-0, 5th inning. We’ll see how it ends! Willie just left for Long Beach. The full moon rises at 8:35 tonight. Maybe I will go take a photo. But, when you have taken one good full moon photo, another one is not going to be any different! Filled out Willie’s means test today for the VA (he is a Vietnam veteran). He will see his doctor tomorrow about his smashed finger. I am not sure what time. I forgot to say that I used my +4 Lensbaby macro filter on this image. I tried the +10, but I would have only shown you about 1/2 a dozen candies in the middle! I cannot believe Gary Sheffield is still play baseball!

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More Food Photography

This afternoon I was getting myself some watermelon to snack on. I cut it up and put it in a white bowl. It looked so pretty, I thought I would photograph it and give it a place in my weblog since I did a peach yesterday. Plus it gives me a chance to practice some food photography. Don’t they have stylists to help make everything look pretty? When I downloaded the images I realized I should have had the bowl on maybe a red checkered cloth so it would stand out. But, alas, I had already eaten it!

Sweet, juicy delicious watermelon…

I changed the banner image at the top of my weblog. In case you forgot, it was a black and white image of the tree branches and shadows. I thought I would go for something colorful. I got the idea from a tweet by Helen Bradley today. It is another beautiful day today here in Huntington Beach. I hope you don’t get tired of me saying that! Pretty soon it will get hot and I will be complaining about that! Hope you can find some good watermelon to enjoy or whatever else is your favorite fruit. I should do a poll and see what kind of answers I get!

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What is Your Favorite Summertime Fruit?

Are you a fresh yellow peach fan? or do you like white nectarines better? How about watermelon or some nice bing cherries? These are all good, but personally I cannot decide between peaches or watermelon. I had some of both today. I cut this peach in half to photograph. It started turning brown and kind of funny looking after a very short time. I gave Willie half of it then came to download the images. Then he ate the other half! I will remember that! He said it was real good!

A juicy, succulent peach…

I took this with my +4 macro filter sitting on some white matt board. You can see a lot of moistness on the peach. There are two more in the kitchen so I will get another one. It was an absolutely beautiful day today. Larry and Shelley got home early from the mountains. He said the parade yesterday was fun and then they saw fireworks in the evening. They have photos on their website (check the sidebar for the link to their site). Looks like a lot of people were up there! Hope your week-end was a lot of fun!

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A Staircase of Red Geraniums

I realized as I was downloading this image to my gallery page (I always do that first), that this is the fourth post in a row of a Lensbaby photo! I promise to do something else tomorrow. I thought the red flowers looked very pretty and appropriate for this 4th of July holiday.  These flowers are all in pots along a staircase, again at Fashion Island. They looked beautiful and I could not resist them.

Red flowers for this July 4th…

Well, the first firecracker went off at 4:35 P.M.  Both dogs are panting and we just turned on the TVs very loudly. Willie had the dogs over at Larry’s for a couple of hours running in their backyard and then took them for a walk. They were very tired when they got home (Willie included) but I tried to play games with them to keep them awake (the dogs). I want them all very tired for later tonight. A benadryl will help that. Help me get us through the night!

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A Fountain of Crystal

I am very happy with this photograph. I took it with the Lensbaby and I believe I got it just right. I have the focal point where I wanted it, and that makes me happy! I also really like the black and white. It looks like beads of crystal to me shimmering in the sunshine. In actuality it is a water fountain behind the carousel at Fashion Island! I am very pleased with it. I hope you like it. Please let me know!

Beautiful beads of water shining like crystal…

The dogs got all cleaned up today at the groomers. They are all foo-foo and smell good! They were gone for three hours and it was so quiet around here. We went to the store and then came home to have lunch. We are going to have spareribs and potato salad tomorrow. It will be so good! We will need to stay home because of the dogs being such big scardy cats! Watched the movie Taken last night. I thought it was good. Probably watch Cadillac Records tonight. A friend said it was good – we will see. Have a fantastic 4th of July, wherever you are!

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Carousel Horse

This carousel is at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. It is a beautiful carousel and very popular. It is fun walking around Fashion Island and people watching. Many people bring their dogs also. I was there today with my friend Carol. She wanted me to bring my Lensbaby. She wanted to see how it works. She looked through and messed with it a little but didn’t bring her own camera to try it out on.

Another Lensbaby photograph…

I took several photos and I may show another one tomorrow. You can see the ocean from Fashion Island and there is always a nice breeze. Carol and I had a great lunch, then we walked around a little bit and ended up at Starbuck’s for a latte. We sat and talked for a couple of hours. It is always a great time. Carol and her husband Bill are also going to be on the PhotoWalk in Laguna Beach on the 18th. It will be fun!  Until tomorrow!

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A Lensbaby Photo of My Baby Boy

I am getting somewhat better with the lensbaby even though this one just looks like a shallow depth of field photo. Not much flair to it. It is all a work in progress but I thought this one was very cute of my Donnan. Doesn’t he have gorgeous eyes? So amber in color. He just sneeked under my table here because someone let off a firecracker outside. What will happen on the 4th? At 9:30 every night we can hear the fireworks all the way from Disneyland. You would think they would be used to it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My precious baby boy…

Here we are starting another month; the second half of the year 2009. My how time flies! I have July and August to complete my one year goal of a photo a day. I must say I am doing pretty darn good! Willie’s finger seems to be healing some. He has always been a good healer. It did start to bleed a little today but he said he banged it in the shower. I have to remind him that it is not just a cut and a split nail but it is also broken. Have any special plans for the 4th? We don’t. I wanted to go have dinner down on the Huntington Beach Pier and watch the fireworks, but Willie put the kibosh on that. Larry and Shelley will be up at the mountains so I guess we will just stay home and barbecue. Nothing wrong with that!

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A Rough and Tumble Cowboy!

This is my nephew Geoff at Blue Skeye Ranch. I believe this was his first time on a horse and he was such a good sport. This is the second photo of Geoff this month! He is a champion race car drive competing in the VARA  (Vintage Auto Racing Assoc.) circuit around Southern California. I have shown other photos of him in his MG Midget at Fontana Raceway. He is a great young man along with his girlfriend Randi. We all laughed so much – it was a very fun day!

Remind you of Gene Autry or Rhinestone Cowboy?…

Another great day today here in Huntington Beach. The weather was a little warmer. I was looking at the school schedules at GWC and CCC for the Fall to see what I can take. I cannot decide if I want to take Flash again or try Illustrator again but with a different teacher. I took Illustrator several years ago so I could use a refresher. Larry wants me work on a family crest so that could be my project. I am going to lunch on Thursday with my friend Carol. We have a lot in common (photography, school, the dogs, etc.) which gives us a lot to talk about! I love spending time with her!

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A Great Image From the Getty

I took this photograph at the Getty Villa. They have a lot of people standing around telling you not to take photos of this and that. However, I took this image of a window and in that window was this beautiful reflection. I was up on the second floor and there were windows all around each exhibit room onto a hallway with a kind of atrium in the middle. I was very happy with the results and I hope you like it. I guess there are no rules against taking pictures of their windows!

An ancient Roman statue of a beautiful woman…

It was a good day today but a little cooler than yesterday. I made an appointment to take both Kyla and Donnan for a grooming on Friday.  Willie was just on the phone with his father (he will be 87 in August). He frustrates Willie so much it is almost funny. He is the only parent left for the two of us. He has always been a very nice man. Willie calls him at least once a day, most days twice, and Larry is over there too helping his grandpa when he can. He takes very good care of himself and he lives alone. He doesn’t drive anymore so he asks me for a ride once in a while. No problem – I will help as much as I can too.

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A Very Cute Brown Doggy

We decided to take over the care of this little dog after my mother died. It was her dog she got a long, long time ago. Isn’t he a cute little thing? He pretty much just lays by our fireplace and keeps to himself. Kyla and Donnan leave him alone and they are all very happy with the arrangement. I took this photo outside this afternoon. Donnan came out with me and watched the whole thing while Kyla just stayed in the house.

A very cute doggy who is called “the dog”…

Today was an absolutely beautiful day. I enjoyed being outside. We get a very nice ocean breeze in our backyard and it is a great place to be.  I did some more reading and playing with my Blackberry Storm today. I am starting to get the hang of it but there is still more to learn. I got 2 cds with it and I need to figure out what they are for and then look into some of the applications that are available for the phone. I believe it does a lot more than I really need it to do for me. But what the heck, it is a fun toy!

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A Storm of a Day!

Please excuse me for my post for today! But I finally got my Blackberry Storm. Verizon sent me a text message and told me I could have it for $49.99, so I could not refuse. There is a lot to learn, but it doesn’t look that difficult. I guess not that many people have one – I asked here and on Twitter and no one responded. So I did research myself. Larry went with me but he decided against it. He wanted to get Shelley a new phone so they went back later and she got the Blackberry Curve. So, here is my photo for today!

My new cell phone…

Willie’s finger is feeling somewhat better today, as long as he can keep from banging it! You are lucky with this photo today because I did take photos of his finger all bloody and oozing in the emergency room! I had my point and shoot in my purse. He was able to barbecue us a delicious steak for dinner. We also had fresh asparagus and mushrooms (I fixed those). Well, I guess this post could not get more boring so I will end it now.

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A Palm Tree Grows in Long Beach

While on Twitter this morning, I got some help with my Lensbaby problems. The main thing is I need to adjust my diopter on my camera so I can see better through my viewfinder. Well, I had a lot of very exciting things to do today, like buy dog food, go to the store, to Target, to the bank, etc. Well, in the middle of all of this, Willie slammed his finger in the car door. We eventually ended up at the emergency because it would not stop bleeding. It looked really bad. I grabbed my camera as we were leaving, and I had the Lensbaby on. So this is it for today!

A palm tree at the VA Medical Center in Long Beach…

So our afternoon did not go as planned! At least there is a part of this image that is in focus! That is a big improvement from some of my previous Lensbaby shots. I like the colors and the way it turned out. I was ready to give up yesterday but I think I will persue this type of photography. There are a lot of people on Twitter who are willing to help me and give me advice. How can I refuse and give up? Hope you have a really good week-end and stay out of trouble! By the way, Willie did break  his finger and he has a splint on it. He will probably lose his fingernail too. Not so good!

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5000 Views!

I think this is a big accomplishment for me. I hit 5000 at 12:28 P.M. this afternoon. It took 295 days. I know this is nothing to many of you, but I am very proud of myself. Thank you to all of you who have looked at my blog. Not much of a daily average, but I was just hoping I could get to 5000 by the end of my first year! I wonder where I will be at that time? Anyway, on to today’s photo.

My beautiful baby girl, Kyla…

I promise this is the last Lensbaby photo I will force on you until I get this perfected! I need to stop trying to get close-ups and take some more wide angle photos. Kyla was so good sitting and staying for me with Donnan running around! I just wish I could have gotten her to look right into the camera. She doesn’t seem to understand what I want! They both act like they don’t want their photos taken. They should be used to seeing me with a camera around my neck! Oh well, I like it!

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