A Cure for June Gloom

It was definitely a gloomy day today here in Huntington Beach! I decided to go through the photos from our most recent drive up the coast and came across this one from near Santa Barbara. Isn’t is gorgeous? Seeing all of the bright and vibrant colors made me feel better. I hope you like it and it makes you feel good where ever you are! As you can tell, it was taken at low tide and I love how clear the water is.

Algae must make those rocks look orange under the water…

Since we got a little rain today, I didn’t take either dog anywhere. I did speak with a trainer on the phone today and told her about my frustration with Donnan. She was very nice and helpful. We did agree that a group class might be good for him to be around other dogs. I told her we would probably be kicked out! She said no, that would not happen. She gave me some ideas and a few things to try out. I think we need to be more diligent and consistent than we have been. But I think I really already knew that!

274/365

The Rocky Coast of Santa Barbara

I took this photo on a trip up the coast to beautiful Santa Barbara. I think I already told you that it is one of our very favorite places in California.  There were storms building up and the next day it poured all day! Using Photoshop, I converted the photo to black and white (it was practically black and white already) then made a mask and brought some of the green moss on the rocks back in. I like the way it turned out.  Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

A craggy, rocky coastline…

Lynda.com has some new videos out (which they do every month) and I was watching quite a few on the subject of Twitter. I have a Twitter account but am not as up to date on this new type of social networking as I would like to be. As I have said, I am a perpetual student and I want to know what is going on out there! Do any of you watch All My Children? Some of these story lines are really strange! Let me know what you think! Anyway, enough of that, I don’t want to lose any readers! Have a great week-end! I am just trying to catch-up on my classes and the 31DBBB is week-end.

234/365

 

All Stacked Up

This is another photograph in my series on rocks. I did circles of rocks, a depth of field study with rocks, a few individual rocks and now this one. I wanted to see how many rocks I could stack up and I took photos as I went along. Of course, I chose a windy day outside to do this, and it created a problem for me. When I got up to eleven rocks,  I called it quits. Maybe I should have looked for one little pebble for the top. It was fun to do – and I would appreciate a comment from you about it.

A beautiful group of beautiful rocks…

These rocks have been gathered from the desert, the mountains, the ocean and everywhere in between. I love them and they have a lot of sentimental value to me.  It was rather chilly and windy today. I hung around the house today – with Willie and Kyla and Donnan.  I finished up two more photos for my candle client and I will get them to him tomorrow. As soon as he has his new website  up, I will add a link here. Please take a few minutes to look at the photography sites I have listed in my sidebar. I enjoy them very much and I think you will also.

220/365

Look at My Hunk of Gold!

Isn’t this a gorgeous piece of rock with gold running through it? Willie brought this to me last week after he was out with the dogs.  See how it shines and even a small piece is reflecting on the white board? The other colors in the rock aren’t bad either. I was busy today with some clients. I walked around outside and saw this sitting on the patio table. It was a sudden choice for today, but a good one! I will do better tomorrow.

A gorgeous piece of fools gold…

Is this a form of pyrite? I love the texture and variety of color in this piece of rock. How often do we stop and look at a rock like this? Is it like “stop and smell the roses?” I used a close-up filter so I could get in real tight. It actually got rather warm today. I don’t think it is going to rain tomorrow.  I gave the dogs some ice cubes today. They actually love “cubes.”  Kyla will bob for her’s if I put it in her water bowl! They are so silly!

216/365

A Depth of Field Challenge

Here I am with some more rocks, lining them up to attempt to get a complete depth of field. I think I accomplished it. I had to take a lot of images to get the focus the best I could and the spacing right so all the rocks would look the same distance apart. I have another image with no depth of field that just shows the third rock in focus. However, I did not want to bore you with that image.

A perfect example of depth of field…

I am sorry my post is late this Saturday afternoon. I have been working on this image for quite a while. I tried it indoors and outdoors with the rocks on a mirror but I then settled on inside with this white board. Today is Valentine’s Day. Larry and Shelley (the newlyweds) went down to Laguna Beach for a nice afternoon. Willie and I have done nothing and I don’t even know what we are having for dinner!  The dogs are sleeping and look very comfortable. We are getting ready for a late lunch and a nap sounds very good after that!

165/365

 

A 3 Rock Still Life

 The first assignment in my Tuesday night class is to photograph a still life with three items we can hold in one hand. The ones I took for class are done under different lighting and settings,  but I thought I would take one for my weblog. These rocks were given to me by Willie, Kyla and Donnan. They often come home with little presents for me when they go out on walks. I really like the colors, the markings and the “worm” holes.

A still life with three of my favorite rocks…

The sun is now finally out after some rain this morning! It is supposed to be clear tomorrow and then rain again on Wednesday. I think we are going to have to go up to Pasadena tomorrow morning to pick up the hard top for the MGB – only if it is not raining.  The dogs got loose out front this morning. It is such a hassle to get them in – they are very uncooperative and will not come in! Donnan will eventually come but you need a lot of strategy to get Kyla!  Willie just told me it is starting to rain again!

160/365