3 is the number of entrants in this past challenge!

2 is the number of voters in this past challenge! (so I had to throw in my two cents, as well)

1 is the winner of this past challenge!

Congratulations JSHobbs, for your photo "Unexpected 1" in which Jay Leno made an unexpected cameo appearance.

Not only did you get the ball rolling with that one, but it kept its momentum to the end.

Hope this victory is not too unexpected and that you have something up your sleeve for our next challenge!

 Cheers!

Kaley and I had an awesome time at the Nick Hotel celebrating her 7^th birthday!  Yes, it was just us girls…as Steve was sick and couldn’t go with us to Orlando.  After all of the negative things I’ve heard about the hotel and read online, I was a little worried about the trip.  The Nick Hotel rocks and I would go back in a minute!  From the moment we arrived until the morning we left, I don’t have one negative thing to say about our stay.  I think you can tell from the pictures that we had a great time. 

There are so many great moments…from the Character Breakfast on her birthday, the pools and slides, the shows, the room…all excellent!  We even spent ½ day at Downtown Disney and met Kaley’s Aunt Crissy and Uncle Ryan and her Uncle Mark, Aunt Jane and almost 1 year old cousin Olivia.  We ate dinner at the Rainforest Café to celebrate both of the girl’s birthdays. 

The last morning we enjoyed about an hour in the pool before checking out. 

I shot all of the photos with a new Canon point and shoot...yes, I said Canon.  It took pretty great pictures (I shot only in Manual) and it took some terrific movies.  Enjoy!
 

http://amomentintime.zenfolio.com/f176345993

 

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2008 Indy 500 I attended the Indianapolis 500 this year.  We had a police escort which was very interesting with trick riding by the officers.  I took over 300 pictures, but I only put in 20 for the slide show which gives an overview of the race.  Hope you enjoy.

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Well, it's been a really long time since I have had a chance to log on and share.  As you may know, I am a high school math teacher, and so I am now on my summer "vacation."

 I say "vacation," because since the last day of school on June 6th, I've been working 60 hrs a week on curriculum for the district.  That project should take about another week, then I'll really be on break.

 Anyway, we have had a few days of R & R along the way, and one of them was Father' Day.  We were also celebrating my oldest son's 14th birthday.

 We set out the inflatable pool, broke out the water pistols, and also resorted to hosing each other down on that 104 degree day.

I did conspire with my husband to capture this moment that was "unexpected" for my daughter.

I know everyone is busy during this time of year with vacations and such, but begin thinking about getting any entries you have been holding out on soon!

Remember the category does not have to be surprises to persons, but may also include inanimate objects, art, or anything that makes one ask, "What were they thinking?"

We'll call Monday, June 30 the last day for entries, and then we can start the voting on Tuesday, July 1st.

My e-mail address is: sleyv66@yahoo.com

Get 'em in!!!

Backyard Fun 1 Backyard Fun 2 

 

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spring in england I just returned from holiday in England. It was typical England, wet, gray, cold, and raining; did I mention that it was raining! Enjoy my humble attempts to capture some of the beautiful scenes .

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Hi everyone! My family and I had a wonderful vacation in Sanibel last week.  We had absolutely gorgeous weather on the west coast of Florida, while Miami was all soggy and wet!  We couldn’t have timed it any better.  It was so nice to get away, relax and enjoy some beach time.  Kaley and her dad found many sand dollars and starfish and we even had dolphins swim by us as we played in the ocean.  We had fun finding seashells too!   

This coming week we are taking Kaley up to Orlando to celebrate her 7^th birthday at the Nickelodeon Hotel.

Enjoy the photos.  Amy

http://amomentintime.zenfolio.com/f210497575

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While taking some shots of the barn in the story below, I noticed this bird suspended in the air, just hovering very close to me.  I didn't pay much attention to it but every time I looked, there it was.  Finally I turned around and discovered that I was standing within a few feet of its bird house.  I backed away and sure enough it flew right to the house.  I took a few photos of it sitting in its doorway and saw what looked like a twig in its mouth.  It wasn't until I got back to my computer that I realized it was a dragonfly.  I felt bad for making it wait so long but was glad that lunch was finally served.

Bird with Dragonfly Bird with Dragonfly - Crop 

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This is my first attempt at an HDR (High Dynamic Range) image.  It is a composite of 5 photos taken at different exposures.  I used the File > Automate > Merge to HDR feature in Photoshop CS3 to generate the composite.  I then converted it to 16 bit and adjusted the curves to achieve the desired effect.  After some tweaking of the saturation and sharpness, I finally converted to an 8 bit image and saved as a JPEG.

I was hoping for a more striking result, such as the ones you'll find on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging), but I didn't think it was bad for a first attempt.

All comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Enjoy.

First HDR Attempt 

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The other morning I woke up to see colored spots all over the room. It took a few moments to realize that I wasn't experiencing hallucinations but that the rising sun was shining through the blinds and landing precisely on a flower vase which acted as a refector. I rapidly fetched my camera and ran off a few shots before the effect disappeared - a couple of results are below.

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I was out for a drive burning up some of my $4.00 per gallon gas late yesterday afternoon when I spotted this fungi growing on a maple tree in a pasture. The color was really bright so I crawled under the electric fence that was around the pasture and took some photos of it. Hope you like it too. It is called Chicken of the Woods I guess.

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On my last pilgrimage to the UK to photograph preserved steam railways, I was quite surprised by a red-legged partridge which decided to stroll across the line while I was waiting for the next train to arrive. Question - why did the partridge cross the track ? Because he thought he was a rail ?

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My daughter had her dance recital tonight.  They always end the recital by turning down all the lights while the dancers wave glow sticks in the air.  I managed to take a 3.2 second hand held exposure of it and got an unexpected treat.  A few people threw their glow sticks into the audience during the shot which left these cool mono color rainbows behind.  Not sure if this is stretching the concept of "Unexpected" or not.

Enjoy.

Dance Recital Finale 

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I borrowed a coworker’s AlienBee studio lights the other day and managed to get this portrait of my daughter Emily.  She was getting ready for her dance recital practice when I snagged her for a quick shot.

Enjoy.

Portrait with Strobes

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Saw this guy holding up traffic one day.  Not sure exactly how he managed to "loose his load" but I bet it was unexpected!

Enjoy.

Loss of Load 

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Imagine driving along in your truck minding your own business when you see smoke behind you, then you realise that your truck is on fire! Now that would certainly be unexpected! 

This shot was taken back in February on the way home from work one Friday Afternoon. This prime mover has been completely destroyed by fire. I have no idea what caused it and from the burnt remains you see here, it looks like the fire started behind the cabin, maybe from the exhaust stacks. By the time I saw this, the fire was already put out and the truck dragged from the main road. You can see the melted rubber skid mark on the road.

In the second photo the Continental Tyres mobile unit is getting some wheels on the front of the truck so that it can be reverse towed.

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OK - I'll set the ball rolling. It's one you've seen before but it fits the challenge nicely. I was busilly "shooting" the Pebble Beach cars in Carmel last year when, as I was lining up a shot of a mascot without people in the background , a head appeared in the frame. I was about to shout something rude when I realized who it was and fired away, resulting in this picture.

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Here are the results based on 3 points for a first place, 2 for a second and 1 for a third.

1. I'm afraid not by Sara/iamthatwretch ( 11 points )

2. That's a moray by tobyllama ( 6 points )

3. Hind lick manoeuvre by georgemosel ( 5 points )

Thanks to the six voters.

Hope you had a pun time !

Congrats Sara - looking forward to the next challenge.

Hi everyone! I know, I haven't posted in a while. I've really been swamped, but I'm not here to make excuses. I wanted to let you know that this past saturday my family and I drove to the Kennedy Space Center (about 3 1/2 hours) to see the last Space Shuttle launch scheduled for a weekend day. The weather was beautiful, the sky nearly perfect with just a few light clouds, and the ride was great.

My intention was to go to Jetty Park which is about 10 miles south of the launch pad and just about the closest you can get without a pass. Well as you can imagine, the traffic was pretty bad as this was a last minute decision. But we found a spot on the Beach-Line expressway with an unobtructed view about 13 miles away. Here are the results:

http://brucealan.zenfolio.com/p897721920/

It was very awe inspiring when you are there and you see this thing take off. I would recommend it to all if you get an opportunity!