Photo Treasure Hunt!

Did you notice the new blog button on the side bar of my blog?

I am really excited to tell you that my blogging friend Jill has asked me to co-host a fun photo adventure that we hope you will enjoy and join in with us!

Each week on Tuesday, we will announce on our blogs a new photo theme for the week. Then for the next week, as you go about your day, be on the look out for items that fit the theme and take pictures of them. Use your smart phone, iPod, DSLR, whatever camera you have available. Be creative as you want to be! Then next week, post your photos on your own blog, then come back and link-up with us so we can all enjoy the photos from the last week. Once we have the link-up, be sure to visit some of the other bloggers, leave comments on their blogs, and encourage them as we all go on this Photo Treasure Hunt together!

Are you ready for the theme? Green!!

So go, take those photos, then join me and Jill next week on Tuesday, September 10th to share your blog post of photos with us!

P.S. And a big thank you to my husband who created the blog button for us!

Capture Your 365

Five for you this week!

pink

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/80 sec

Day 229 – Pink: Pink is not my color, blue is. My home is decorated with lots of blue and I have a lot of clothes that are blue. It is hard for me to find pink things around my home. It was getting to the end of day and I remembered that I still needed to capture a photo from my day. A cloud filled evening sky usually has some shades of pink, so I stepped outside and saw this lovely summer evening sky with just a few shades of pink. Perfect!

measured

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

Day 230 – Measured:Pinterest is a wonderful way for me to store recipes that I want to try (I even have a whole board devoted to recipes I would love to try!) No more piles of clippings from magazines collecting dust in my home. But every now and then, there is a recipe I find that sits on my counter just begging me to give it a try. And since I had just about all of the ingredients at home on this summer day, I decided to make it!

spin

ISO 100, 50mm, f/14, 1/80 sec

Day 233 – Spin: Kelsey and I were meeting a young mom from church at one of our local parks. Since I knew they had swings, I just had to bring my camera along! She wasn’t spinning too quickly, so I knew I didn’t need too fast of a shutter speed to freeze the motion. This was my favorite one out of the bunch. I love how her braid is ‘flying’ out away from her. And I love that my 13 year old daughter is not ‘too old’ to swing for me.

abundant

ISO 400, 50mm, f/16, 1/320 sec

Day 234 – Abundant: Kelsey and I were able to spend the whole day with friends up in the foothills today. My friend and I were able to talk all day long while the girls played, chatted, swam, and made fun videos. It was a wonderful day! On the way home, I knew I wanted to capture the sunset. We pulled over a couple of times to get just the right shot. I love the sun flares on this one.

local landscape

ISO 200, 50mm, f/6.3, 1/80 sec

Day 235 – Local Landscape: As I have mentioned before, there are some days when we just stay home all day long. I could have driven around town to find something away from our home to photograph for this prompt, but why not take a picture of my own backyard since it is part of my local landscape and a place I enjoy spending time. Especially reading over in those red chairs with my iced coffee.

Have you started to Capture Your 365 yet?

Capture Your 365

Ready for a few glimpses into my take on the Capture Your 365 photo prompts from the last week?

sunflower

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/10 sec

Day 223 – Sunflower: I have to admit that some days, I really have trouble figuring out what to photograph. There are many days during the week that we just don’t go anywhere, and to try to find things that fit with the photo prompts, well, creativity can only go so far. Thankfully, I have these fake flowers inside my home since we are not growing sunflowers this year. If I had left the house on this particular day, I could have stop at many different places along most of the roads leading out of town to take pictures of actual sunflowers. Oh well, at least I have this picture.

play

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec

Day 224 – Play: Kelsey had a friend over on this particular day and they played quite a few rounds of Clue. I figured this was the perfect thing to photograph for this prompt! But now that I am looking at the photo on the screen, I realize I should have focused on Colonel Mustard. Poor guy must have gotten hit over the head with the wrench in the billiard room while trying to solve the crime.

remember

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec

Day 225 – Remember: Now, I don’t usually take photos of photos, but my photo wall was the perfect subject for this photo prompt. I just love the memories that are displayed here. Makes me want to be sure to have other photos printed and displayed so they can be enjoyed, rather than sitting on the hard drive of my computer.

bonus

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/40 sec

Day 226 – Bonus: Two photos in a row of other photos, I am thinking I need to get out of the house a little more often! Okay, but this one really fit the prompt also. Back in June, after completing my two photography classes, I entered this photo of the Bay Bridge into our town arts and crafts contest. I was really surprised when they called to let me know that I not only won a first place ribbon, but I also won Best of Show!

Are you picking up your camera everyday to capture moments of your life?

Capture Your 365

A few Capture Your 365 photos to share with you this week:

delicate

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/50 sec

Day 217 – Delicate: My nana loved her tea cups, they are one thing I have at my home that are a reminder of her.

personable

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/80 sec

Day 218 – Personable: This is Horsey, my daughter’s much loved stuffed horse. She has had him for about 12 years now. I remember when he used to travel with us just about everywhere, and there were times we had to turn around and head back to someone’s home because Horsey was accidently left behind. He doesn’t leave the house as much anymore on daily trips, but you can be sure any time we are gone for more than a day, Horsey will be travelling along with her.

abstract

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/20 sec

Day 219 – Abstract: We acquired this spinning wheel from a sweet lady who used to be part of our Civil War Reenacting group. Kelsey took an interest for a while. Over the past few years, the spinning wheel has been collecting quite a bit of dust. So just last week, I gave it to another sweet lady who was really excited to add it to her home.

camera love

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.2, 1/30 sec

Day 220 – Camera Love: The first time I used this camera, I was in the fifth grade and I took it with me to a week of Outdoor Ed at Mt. Hermon. My mom liked the pictures so much that she had them matted and hung them up in our home. I believe I still have those pictures in a box somewhere. It would be fun to pull them out some time. Now the camera sits on a book shelf reminding me of simpler days.

dress to impress

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.2, 1/15 sec

Day 221 – Dress to Impress: This stay at home, homeschooling mom stays pretty comfortable running around in capris, T-shirts, and barefeet during the summer. Very rarely though, there is an opportunity to dress up for some event. Not too long ago, I found a couple of great dresses for just about $20 each to keep on hand for those dress up type of events.

It is not too late to join in the Capture Your 365 challenge! Let me know if you do, I would love to see your take on the daily photo prompts.

Capture Your 365…or not

Usually on Wednesdays, I share with you a week worth of photos that I have taken from the Capture Your 365 photo prompts. Well, the past couple of weeks have been crazily (not sure if  that is a real word or not, but it fits!) busy and I did not take any pictures with my Nikon! Tragic, I know! What was I doing you might ask?

homeschool conference

I was able to set up a Compassion table for two days at our local homeschool conference and we found sponsors for three kids! In addition to hanging out at the table for two days and talking with a lot of people, I presented a workshop on the this title, “How One Mom Transitioned from Career Mom to Homeschool Mom”. This was my second time speaking at this conference, but the first time speaking on this topic. The topic is very personal to me because I was that career mom many years ago. Once I have time to enjoy some of my summer, I might just share with you some of what I shared in my workshop.

Spirit West Coast

The other event that keep me busy and away from home was three days at Spirit West Coast in Monterey. I could have taken some pictures with my Nikon at this event, but my focus was on finding sponsors for a lot of Compassion kids. Once I arrived home on Saturday night, I did learn that 165 children were sponsored over those three days! Praise God!

So I finally printed out my August list of prompts and will do my best to share a set of photos with you next week. In the meantime, why don’t you print out the August list and join me for some photo fun?