Tongue Training.

There is something about this teething ring that brings out the tongue...

...but all this work has me tired.

...focus, focus, focus...

A coy smile for her adoring fans. Or is it for...

Mom!

(See, she does look like Collette. See my post from a couple days ago.  )

LInes

Seems I can't get a good look at the sky for all these power lines!

Light Play

Sean drove me to dinner tonight. I pulled out my trusty D200 and thought, what the heck. I had the camera in aperture priority so I set the F stop down to make the shutter speed slow. The car tail lights and head lights and well any other light around are now blurs on the image. Ever play with sparklers on the 4th of July? Here are the ones I like.

Enjoy!

My Images

I put "My" because, well they are mine -- at least I was privy to their capture. So maybe they are not really mine, but I am privileged to have been present at the moment my D200 with its 85MM lens captured them. Just some pleasing images to me tonight.  The first is not Heather. Some say Collette and Heather look similar and sometimes in photos are almost mistaken. Last night the images were taken with my 85MM F1.8 lens. For a bit then I'm going to only use my 85MM and see what the world looks like through it. No landscapes or wide angle shots. This is really a good portrait lens, hence tonight's first picture.

 

This lens is actually sharper than the normal 18-200 that I typically use for its versatility. I'll have to use the built in "sneaker zoom" as Angel described to me -- you use your sneakers to move about to provide the zoom.

Driving home I took this image. It's another suburban view of a sunset, but there is something about the silhouette of the power lines. I think it's a reminder of how much we've change the looks of our planet. It gets harder to find places that are not affected by mankind. Not passing judgment, but just noticing.  However, flying over several areas around the world makes me realize how much is still untouched.

I won't tell you that I'm glad the lane next to me was empty. Note to self, "Don't look through the lens and forget that I'm driving".

And last, as I arrived home I just wanted to take these images and see what they looked like.

I've taken images before of this gas lamp. It caught my eye again tonight. A few of the sunset colors still visible in the background.

And just a contrast of the buds coming out on the tree and still one stupid seed ball that hasn't fallen yet. If you've ever stepped barefoot on one of these you would say a bit more than stupid, so I think I'm being kind....

So new journeys?  Perhaps. I think I'll try this 85MM out a bit until I get tired of it. Don't know how often I'll post. So far I haven't stopped. Maybe I'm addicted to posting.   Guess I'm afraid if I stop I won't start again.

Until next time,

-tom

New Day

Today is a new day. I took the day off from work and well, just did mostly nothing. Tonight a well loved visitor arrived. Here are a few images of that happy time.

 Miss Olivia loves her Uncle Sean. He's a lot of fun to hang out with.

 Movie star. Yep, she's hip.

 She'll be walking pretty soon....

 

No comment.

 I caught this tender moment. Olivia will squeal when she sees her mother. I think that's as it should be.

Life is wonderful.

Day 365 - Journey's End

I thought it fitting that I end this journey where I began -- my office. This time in color; although there really  isn't that much. Perhaps that is fitting. I'm not at the same place when I started. Nor am I where I want to be, but -- and this is important -- I am not in the dark place I was heading. I have make progress.  I don't know how to describe this experience. I started with excitement and enthusiasm.This project was harder than I imagined. I can say that there is only one day that I did not take a picture and that was after a long weekend after a trip. I used a picture from the following day. Other than that I have been faithful in taking a picture a day. I didn't get the posts done every day and here towards the end it was a struggle to find time. I think at one time I was about 4 weeks behind. I started this journey with my good friend Angel. Please visit his blog and leave a comment http://ewolf365.blogspot.com/. He introduced me to this project and I just decided to start last March 1. We hit the ground running. I said it would be about the journey. Hopefully we've had an opportunity to view life as I see it. Some images have been good and others average. Sometimes I've had hundreds of images to choose from and some days only one or two.  On some of my journeys I've had many wonderful photos I wished I could have shared, many times I had tough choices. That's because original I wanted to only post one image per day. Early on I decided to do more as I felt inspired. I hope it wasn't too much. as I didn't want to overwhelm or bore you. I've enjoyed the opportunity to share some of my thoughts. Those who know me understand how difficult that is for me in an open forum such as this. Most of the time I had to imagine that I was only writing for one or two people and then press "post" without thinking about it. I make no apologies as you got to see and hear how I think on some subjects.  I don't know where I'll go from here. I will probably post from time to time, but I don't expect to share every day. That is one pressure I put on myself and I have other challenges I've started -- playing cello for instance (I'm in my 3rd month and may even find an instructor).

Just for reference, this is my original post:

So, have I found the joy and resonance I was looking for? Somewhat. I'm in a better place. I've found and cemented some relationships -- you know who you are and thanks for you unconditional love. I've let go of some and that was hard, but for the best. I have a new position at work and that is challenging and who knows where I'll be in another year.

It's hard to see in the two images, but the only real changes are two new monitors and a new laptop. I didn't have my backpack in today image. Most of the desk drawers are still empty.

Where has the past year taken you?  Set a goal to accomplish something and see where it takes you. This journey was one of commitment. I knew several friends and family that tried to do a 365. It's tough Angel knows because he quit many times, but I managed to cajole him into finishing. Proud of you Angel! And your images have gotten better. See, part of the journey was just trying, taking a chance of capturing an image and then sharing it in a public forum. Yes, we wanted make every one National Geographic caliber, but we are after all just enthusiasts who can sometimes capture a nice image. Also, photo editing software is a must. It can tweak an image and fix some of the minor flaws such as the colors with white balance (which is why I use raw format on my D200), color saturation, contrast and brightness.

Wish I had something witty to quip tonight, but you just get plain old me. Thanks for the support from many of you and special thanks to my sweetheart who was very patient with me during all the time I spent editing photos and posting.

-tom

Day 364 - Miss O and a pine cone

Miss Olivia practicing her technique. Notice the left hand crossover maneuver -- highly advanced!

And now for the reference to the pine cone. 

I was upstairs looking out and I can sense that Spring is not far off. The trees in the front yard are starting to bud now as the weather is approaching the 80's. The bokeh in this image was nice and made for a bright background for this lone pine cone.  That's our community center in the background.

For those of you who are not as photographically uppity as the elite ;) -- Bokeh is the out of focus background away from the main focus.  So in this image the pine cone has the main focus. And you can tell the out of focus. Well, the artiste would not say out of focus, no, that individual would say "bokeh" and only if that out of focus stuff looks pleasing to the eye. Otherwise it's just, well, out of focus....

Day 363 - Jenn's Candles

View out Jenn's window tonight. She enjoys having candles in the window as she studies. Of course, she'll have the light on, but I liked this view with the overhead light off and just candle power burning. I remember my college days and the long nights going to classes and even later nights studying. I worked full time during the day and finished off going to night school  Try working 40+ hours a week and taking a full load of 12-15 hours. It was tough, but glad I persevered. I did take some light semesters with 6-9 hours. I just didn't want to extend things so I was able to have some loaded down semesters.

I think the hardest thing was walking uphill both ways in blizzards here in Houston ;)

Actually the hardest thing was staying awake driving home every night.

Day 362 - Waterfall

Waterfall display at the Woodlands Mall tonight. We had some fine dining at the food court: lasagna. Then off to watch The King's Speech. I'd forgotten how many youth are out at the Mall without supervision. No real big problems, but well, I'd forgotten how immature they can be. Seems that mall security is just a baby sitting service.

Day 361 - Burnt Orange

Interesting color tonight as sunset arrives. We stopped at the cleaners tonight and I tried to get this silhouette and the colorful sky. I only took two images today and this is the better of the two. In some ways I feel I'm sneaking into the finish line of this project. I've found the last few months that I've used my small point and shoot for something like 90% of the images. When I use my Nikon D200 I take images in raw format and run it through Photoshop. I think my energy levels are low and I've convinced my self this is the easier way. Or maybe I've issued myself a challenge to see what kind of images I can take with the small camera. And it is a challenge at time when the lighting is lees than perfect. I also find I minimize the use of flash -- I don't like the way it looks on this smaller camera. OK, for better pics of people it's better, but trying to get a quality image that I want the flash seems to be too strong. Maybe some soft of analogy to wanting to see things as they really are without artificial light. Or people without their false pretenses. At times I've blinded myself to others ill-intentions. Even today I struggle really believing someone didn't have my best interests at heart. Time and distance seems to make these times clearer. At times I with to go back and "make it right". But that means I give in and the other never recognizing or admitting anything untoward.  I think that is the innocence of youth giving way to the cynicism of adulthood.  How to keep some of the playful, youthful innocence and yet appear to be a mature adult? Not sure, but I think some become unfeeling, dulling their conscience. Those are they that scare me the most because the can do evil things. At the minimum they can hurt you and not care and even lie about it. Oh, you recognize some of this? That's called reality or the real world. (And I'm not talking reality TV.) I've seen enough. And no, it doesn't scratch the surface of many of your experiences of those we read of and see in the news. I think that without a belief in God or a Supreme Being, this life would be extremely difficult to bear. 

Day 360 - O-Kay...

Looking up during lunch today I was blasted with the geometric design. I've toned down the background to emphasize the shape. And I would've missed it had I not glanced up just before leaving. Somethings that are bold and in plain sight are missed as being too obvious. Kinda reminds me of the political climate of correctness in our country today.

Day 359 - Fractured Images

Looking up through a vertical slit of a skylight I caught this image. Reminds me somehow of a fractured image. Seems fitting as sometimes I try to figure out all the pieces of my life. Some things seem to fit well and others...well let's say that one day I'll figure some of it out. Or perhaps I'll discover that some things that seemed important for some reason really don't matter after all. It's amazing looking back through the hazy filter of time. How many things have I forgotten? How many things that were imperative of an almost utmost criticality even now have no presence on my conscious or sub-conscious wanderings. Well, I'm not sure what I just said, but there is a feeling of things lost from a more innocent age. We all grow up (or so we're told) and yet what part of your youth can you retain keeping that vibrant essence that helps prevent a withering of your soul. You can read that last sentence as "grumpy old guy". Well, this project is winding down. This is the last week. The journey has been interesting and I hope some of the images I've presented were enjoyable at times, intriguing at others, and hopefully never boring.At times I've tried to take a mundane simple subject and present it from a different angle or perspective. It works at times and others it just seems to be another image where I pointed the camera and clicked.

Day 358 - Globe

This is a reflection from the floor showing the underside of a globe display at work. You can't see it, but there are four video screens displaying company indoctrination clips, umm I mean informative bits about the company and safety. Actually some of the clips are quite informative about various part of the global company from offshore oil rigs to wetlands.

Day 357 - Maths

Maths. 

This book is the 1960 printing about Complex Variables that I'm reading. Had a bit of fun with the symbolism. This whole concept about "imaginary" numbers is fascinating. Of course, "imaginary" was probably the wrong word to have used, but the early geeks didn't know what else to make of the square root of negative one.

And just for the record, I love math, but this book is very, very, very dry and I'm not talking about the moth ball filled box I found it in...

Day 356 - Melody Road

Take a trip down this road and see what melody you produce.

Day 355 - Hide n Seek

Olivia tonight playing a bit of hide n seek behind my backpack. 

Having a lot of fun watching her grow up. All too fast I might add!

Day 354 - Reflections on Home

Heading out to dinner tonight with the family. Looking back across the top of the car I caught this image. The warm light gives me a comfortable feeling that all is well. Nice to have that at home when there is so much stress and tough times. Long day at work so this was a nice reflection for me.

Day 353 - Color clutter

This pile of colored cutouts called out as I walked by -- so here it is. Just a clutter of color with no particular purpose. I wonder what a purposed positioning of these would create? How often have you had to create something from a seeming jumble of your life? I suggest that there is something good if you just have patience.

Day 352 - Blue & Gold

I attended the Boy Scout Blue and Gold banquet tonight for Troop 449. This celebrates both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Tonight, Sean put together a presentation showing his progress through Scouting and eventually achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. You can see his blue Eagle kerchief and sash with 28 merit badges. Yes, I'm very proud of him.

The picture in the lower left of the image is Collette's uncle, John Lomax May, who was also an Eagle Scout -- that's his sash with 21 merit badges. Collette never met him. He died at the age of 20 in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.

Day 351 - Skyline

Skyline view tonight. Good conversation with a dear friend tonight who needed to hear kind supportive words. We've each needed that at times. Be there for your friends. And your true friends will be there for you.

Day 350 - Pull tabs

We collect soft drink pull tabs. Sherylin started us on this kick and this is the start of a second container.

Day 349 - Sweet

Two of the loves in my life.

Day 348 - Hearts

This store had a plethera of Valentines' Day heart balloons. Looked like a forest. Couldn't resist taking this image.

Day 347 - The long walk

I could have entitled this the long lonely walk. This is the journey I took after lunch today to get to my office. The turnoff to my building is just a speck in the distance.

Day 346 - Pho Bo

It's cold today and hot soup was on the menu. I had beef soup -- Pho Bo -- at Miss Pho Saigon. This is the plat of bamboo shoots I added to the soup. Excellent!

Day 345 - Music Shack

One of my favorite places to get book and sheet music. Tonight it just seemed warm and inviting.

Day 344 - Follow the Sun

This working wall display serves as a reminder that I work in a global community.

Day 343 - Phttt!

Miss Olivia trying her best at a rasberry!

Day 342 - More Ice

Someone left the water running and this is the result.

Day 341 - Icicles

Lots of ice on plants in the front garden. As the roof started to thaw it dripped down on this plant and it refroze.