Capture Your 365

We are past the halfway mark! Even though I haven’t taken a picture for every prompt, this is still exciting that after 6 months, I am still making progress on this challenge.

a dark backdrop

ISO 100, 50mm, f/6.3, 1/200 sec

Day 180 – A Dark Backdrop: For the second time this summer, temperatures in our area were around 108 degrees. My husband and I were suppose to go on a miniature golf date, but with those temperatures, we knew we would just melt. So we drove over to the coast for the day instead, just the two of us. Capitola had temperatures in the low 70’s that day. Kev is not a beach person, so we walked around the shops and had an early dinner. We did walk out on the beach for a bit and I had a chance to get a few pictures under the pier which were perfect for this photo prompt.

whiskers

ISO 400, 50mm, f/3.5, 1/13 sec

Day 183 – Whiskers: I really need to start watching the shutter speed when I take pictures. Once I pulled this photo into Lightroom, I could see that parts of the photo are blurry, that I didn’t intend to be blurry. So to try to salvage the photo somewhat, I converted it to black and white. I probably should have used my 55-200mm lens on this one and zoomed in.

contrast

ISO 100, 50mm, f/3.5, 1/2000 sec

Day 184 – A Contrast: When we picked out the red chairs for our backyard beach retreat, I knew I wanted to have some type of blue pillow for the chairs. My daughter and I found the perfect material. I just love spending time out there with a good book and a glass of homemade iced coffee.

fireworks

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/20 sec

Day 185 – Fireworks:  I know these are not fireworks, but we generally don’t do fireworks at our house on Independence Day. I have a really hard time spending money on them, knowing that you are just going to burn them up. The month prior to Independence Day, our town does a big fireworks display during our town fiesta which we can watch from our driveway. So I couldn’t resist this bouquet of red, white, and blue flowers at least to decorate our table for Independence Day. At least cut flowers last for about a week or so.

Question for you: What did you photograph this past week?

Capture Your 365

Four photos to share with you this week!

put it on a plate

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/20 sec

Day 176 – Put It On A Plate: Summer time food - BBQ hamburgers, sweet white corn on the cob, freshly picked zucchini from the backyard. Just looking at this makes me hungry.

boots

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/3200 sec

Day 177 – Boots: OK, I have to admit that I laughed when I saw the prompt for this day. Seriously? Boots in summer? Maybe if I plan on going hiking, but during summer, these feet love to be wearing sandals or flip flops all summer long (looks like I need a new pair of flip flops!)

adandoned

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/13 sec

Day 178 – Abandoned: When we first started Civil War reenacting, Kelsey was interested in learning to spin wool. A fellow reenactor even had us over to her home to learn how to make soap and she ended up giving Kelsey this lovely spinning wheel. Unfortunately, the spinning wheel is not being used at all right now. Maybe one day, she will take up this hobby again.

fresh produce

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec

Day 179 – Fresh Produce: Apricots and plums from a neighbor’s tree. There is nothing like freshly picked fruit in the summer time.

Question for you: What did you photograph this past week?

Capture Your 365

So, I have learned that it is a good idea to format a memory card rather than delete photos from them. However, it is a good idea to check to see what is on that memory card before you format it, otherwise you only have two photos to share for the week! Oh well…

something masculine

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/250 sec

Day 167 – Something Masculine: For Father’s Day, my husband just wanted to spend a quiet afternoon at home after church. One of his favorite things to do in the summer time is to BBQ using his charcoal BBQ. So we made sure to plan BBQ hamburgers for our lunch/dinner for that day. Why lunch/dinner? You see, on Sundays, we usually find ourselves eating lunch around 3pm. By 5 or 6pm, no one is hungry for dinner. So on Sundays, we just plan on eating a late lunch/early dinner. If we do find ourselves hungry later in the day, we can always pop some popcorn or make something yummy for dessert.

splash

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/80 sec

Day 168 – Splash: Taking some creative license on this one! We don’t have a pool of any kind at our home. And rather than try to create some ‘splash’ using water of some form, I thought it would be fun to take a picture of pouring rice krispies into the melted marshmallows while making rice krispie treats. Certainly not the same effect as water splashing, but it was worth it later while we were enjoying the rice krispie treats!

Question for you: What do you like to take pictures of during the summer?

Capture Your 365

There are some days when I just get so busy with the tasks of my day, that I find myself at the end of the day and I have not picked up my Nikon even just once. So this week, I thought I only had two photos to share with you, but surprisingly enough, I discovered one photo that I forgot to check off on the list!

star burst

ISO 100, 105mm, f/25, 1/40 sec

Day 159 – Star Burst: Today was one of those days when I almost didn’t take a picture to match the photo prompt for the day. I quickly ran outside and captured this one as the sun was setting over my neighbor’s home across the street.

relax

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/25 sec

Day 163 – Relax: Over the course of two days, I made 7 batches of apricot jam. One of my favorite ways to relax in the summer is with a tall glass of homemade iced coffee and a good book. What is your favorite way to relax?

stars and stripes

ISO 400, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/3200 sec

Day 165 – Stars and Stripes: Last week on Flag Day, I made sure we put up our American flag. With this photo, I wanted to do something a little different, so I captured just a portion of the flag. The breeze was blowing quite briskly on this day, so I had to act quick to get what I had in mind.

Question for you: What photos have you taken over the last week?

Capture Your 365

We are now entering my favorite time of the year (summer, yay!) and I have a few photos from the Capture Your 365 Challenge to share with you this week!

signs of summer

ISO 100, 86mm, f/4.2, 3 sec

Day 152 – Signs of Summer: Our town has a festival at the beginning of June each year and Saturday night always has a fireworks display. We love sitting out in front of our home and watching the fireworks over our neighbor’s houses. I set up my tripod and just continued taking a lot of pictures during the display. It was a great way to end an almost-summer day!

butterfly

ISO 400, 190mm, f/5.6, 1/50 sec

Day 154 – Dandelions: No dandelions in my backyard and not the sharpest picture I have ever taken, but I was able to capture a butterfly! Boy, that was hard work!

negative space

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.5, 1/15 sec

Day 155 – Negative Space: My husband surprised me with a bouquet of ‘just because’ flowers. These were the perfect subject for today’s photo prompt!

documented

ISO 400, 50mm, f/3.2, 1/60 sec

Day 156 – Documented: When it was decided that I would be joining the Compassion trip to Mexico in January 2014, I decided to start a ledger to keep track of my ‘earnings’. To remind myself that God is in control, I wrote out “The Lord will provide” from Genesis 22:14. There is no reason for me to worry about the funds for this trip because God will make it possible if it is His will for me to go. He has been providing abundantly, it has been exciting to see Him work in all of this!

What have you captured this week with your camera?