Week 16 (April 16th - April 22nd) | Picture 27

I sit here at the very end of week 16 and I have nothing to show you.

I contemplated just letting the week go. I have at least a half dozen friends I should be emailing back instead of worrying about this blog. But I opted against skipping a week because this wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy. (God bless the people who have 365 blogs - I do not know how on Earth they find the time.)

I contemplated trying to find some way to light my wine glass without taking the energy to go to the basement to get my reflectors and lighting gear. I opted against that - because I'm just too darn lazy tonight - and most nights lately for that matter. (The glass was full at the time it was considered a candidate but is now empty . . . soon to be refilled and emptied once again before bed.)

So I decided to sit here, drink my wine, and trudge through my LR catalog to see what pictures I took in the last week. On the plus side, I took a tremendous number of pictures - several hundred. But they are all of my little boy. Great for mommy and family memories, but that doesn't help me one bit for my photography blog.

There were literally 4 images I took all week that were not of my child. They were all of our Japanese maple tree that I sit under when I take his picture outside. None of them are anything special, but this one was the least bad of them all. I hate the composition. (Hello random focus.) But I love the colors and the sun peaking through.

If I'm being honest - I failed this week. The point of this challenge was to go out and find something to shoot. Not to schlep through my catalogs at the end of the week and hope to find something worth sharing. But my small victory is that I am sharing a picture. And I really hope to do a better job in coming weeks.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/500 (As I mentioned, I was taking pictures of my toddler. 1/500th wouldn't have been my typical choice here if I had thought about it . . . )
ISO: 1250
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

Week 15 (April 9th - April 15th) | Picture 26

Gah. It's been a bad week. A really bad week. And I'm not happy with my picture this week, but since it's one of the only non-child pictures I took, here you go.

(If you don't like bugs, look away.)



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/4.8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 8000 (!)
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

I'm in a general funk lately. The personal blog hasn't been updated in ages, and I'm just feeling very uninspired. I'm going to try my best to keep this blog up. We shall see.

Week 14 (April 2nd - April 8th) | Pictures 24 & 25

Remember the flowering tree from last week? Those buds have completely flowered out and we have a beautiful display of white puffy blooms to admire from our kitchen window. And if the weather promises to stay this nice, we'll even get outdoors to enjoy it soon. However, taking a macro picture of one of the blooms is next to impossible - the wind is always blowing and even if it wasn't, I'm not the most steady shooting over my head. So I snapped off a small twig of blooms and decided to compose in a more controlled environment - our kitchen. MUCH easier.

My two favorites:



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/4.8
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 800
Flash: none
Exposure: manual



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/4.8
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 1600
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

I composed the second shot in front of a window. It's definitely not something I would normally do, since there is very little distinction between the flower and the background. But it's fun to try something new, and I actually really like how it turned out.

Week 13 (March 26th - April 1st) | Picture 23

Blooms and bokeh - ahhhhhhhhh!!! So refreshing.

I don't even care that the trees are triggering my seasonal allergies. And we won't talk about the fact that it snowed here Sunday and we are supposed to get more wintry precipitation again this week. Spring is finally just around the corner - it's so close I can taste it.

I took a quick break tonight while Daddy had dinner duty with the toddler to run out and take some pictures. I wanted to try some HDR stuff (which depending on how it turns out may or may not get shared here), but while I was out I had to get some pictures of our flowering tree. I should know what this tree is, but I'm really bad about the names of plants and trees. So I just call it the tree that gets the pretty flowers every Spring.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/2000
ISO: 200
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

We are hoping to sell our house (or at least get it on the market in the near future) and when we depersonalize I think this would go perfectly on the wall where we currently have a 24x36 canvas our our little boy.

Week 12 (March 19th - 25th) | Pictures 21 & 22

Ahhh, Spring! Okay, not quite. But it's a nice 60 degree day here and my family is recovering nicely from our illness, so I got outside during nap time to take some pictures.

There isn't much blooming in the yard yet. So I took a picture of a dead bud casing and a weed - but tried to get a little different perspective than I normally do. I'm a pretty boring flower photographer. I want to shoot flowers straight on and that would explain why my flower pictures are usually so blah. Today, I tried shooting at several different angles and found (surprise!) that straight on is a pretty uninteresting way to shoot.

The dead bud casing:



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/2000
ISO: 800
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

The dandelion:



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/4.8
Shutter Speed: 1/2000
ISO: 200
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

I did an OCF project this weekend too - but I'm not loving how it came out. Maybe I'll share later this week if I revisit the pictures and change my mind.

Week 11 (March 12th - 18th) | Picture 20

Drugs are good.

When I committed to doing this "Project 52" - I was pretty serious about it. But I almost skipped this week. My little one has been sick for the last week (ear infection, bad cough, and high fever for days) and has passed it onto me. 3 of the last 4 days I have barely been able to get out of bed. I am super thankful for a wonderful husband and mom who have helped fill in around the house to play "Mom" while I have been unable to do so.

I did make it to the doctor on Monday, and I must say that I'm not usually a fan of antibiotics. I think they are over-prescribed and as most of us know, they won't do anything to help a virus. But I was desperate on Monday and was accepting whatever pills the doctor was handing out.

THANK GOODNESS!!!

This infection may very well have been bacterial, because within 24 hours of starting the antibiotic I actually felt like I was getting better and now 48 hours later, I am feeling downright decent. For the shape I was in Monday morning, I would have expected to be sick for the entire week.

I still don't feel nearly good enough to craft up some fun OCF or macro project this week. (And when I am feeling good enough - I'm pretty sure my job and chores that have been neglected for the last week will take priority over my hobby.) So, in an attempt to keep up this blog, I am sharing my drugs with you. :)



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/320
ISO: 200
Flash: SB-800 off camera, manual, 1/4th power
Exposure: manual

Nothing exciting. Speedlight was next to the pills (camera right) and bounced 45 degrees off the wall/ceiling. The only benefit to doing the lighting off camera was getting some shadows and depth to the pills. On camera would have made this already boring picture even more boring with flat light.

I do have a fun project in mind . . . hopefully for next week. Stay tuned, I promise to do something interesting again soon.

Week 10 (March 5th - 11th) | Picture 19

Blah. Blah. BLAH. Spring is such a tease. We get one nice day just to make us even more mindful of how long and boring the Winter has been. I am ready to get outside, see some sunshine, and take pictures of something vibrant.

While I long for fresh air and sunshine, it poured all day today. ALL darn day.



Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 macro
Aperture: f/3.0
Shutter Speed: 1/800
ISO: 4500
Flash: none
Exposure: manual

Blah. Blah. BLAH.