Week 12: On A Shelf

This was another one of those "straight-forward" weeks where you take a photo of something specific, in this case, on a shelf. I tried to think outside of the box on this one, shying away from a bookshelf, and wound up with several ideas - Cambell's Soup Cans on a shelf (Ok, so it wouldn't have been outside of the box, but it would have been artistic commentary), from a shelf looking out, or finding shelves in other places.

I ended up with the latter. With the warmer weather, the birds have come back. They spent the weekend draining my bird feeder, haha.

I had two photos that I liked and asked my husband for his opinion on which one to submit. He chose the one above. The other is below.

This week's theme is "New Beginnings" and we are supposed to think Spring. I already took some photos last week of the trees in bloom, so I'll probably just use on of those.

Week 11: My Lucky Something

So here I am a couple of days behind... oops. This week's challenge was My Lucky Something. 

Truth is, I don't have a "lucky something." I kind of wish I did. I guess I consider my life in general pretty lucky, so in a slight panic near the Sunday deadline, I snapped a photo on my way to work:

Certainly not the best photo in the world. I only had my iPhone with me. I got this medallion from a church function several years ago. The priest told us keep it someplace where we "might need it," so I placed it around the rearview mirror in my car. So far, I have not been in an accident, and it helps me keep me calm in stressful driving situations.

I guess it works. This week is "On a Shelf." I'm not sure what I'm going to do this week, either... 

Weekend Getaway

This past week-and-a-half at work was extra busy and stressful. Couple that with the warmer weather we've been having, and I was ready to get out of the house. Husband is also in-between sports seasons, and he had the weekend free. So, on Thursday night, I take a short break at work so that we can talk on the phone, and he mentions going away for the weekend. Of course I say yes!

Last fall, we had a similar getaway where we went to Cleveland. Saturday was spent at the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. Then we went downtown to eat and walked around. That Sunday, we stopped by the zoo on our way home.

This time, we threw out a few different ideas: Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Columbus. We agreed on Cincy, so I booked our hotel room at the Hyatt Regency downtown.

On Saturday morning, we dropped Dog off at my mom's house and took the trip down I75. Since our check-in wasn't until 4 p.m., we first went to the Newport Aquarium just over the river in Kentucky. I had been there several years ago, but I had pretty much forgotten most of it. Husband had never been there. Here are some photos:

After the aquarium, it was only 3:30 p.m., so since we still had some time, we decided to take a walk along (and across!) the river. I am scared of heights, so for me, walking across the bridges was a scary experience. We walked from Newport across the river back to Cincy.

Great American Ballpark

Then, we went along the road by the Reds' stadium and Bengals' stadium. Next, we crossed the original bridge that was completed in 1865 back over the river.

After that, we walked through the streets of Covington and Newport, pretty much following the Queen City Tour. Neither of us realized how much history is in the area. The houses and other buildings are still as they were in the early-mid 1800s, so that was really neat to see.

After we made it back to our car, we checked into the Hyatt Regency, and pretty much left immediately for Spring Grove Cemetery. I know, I know - a cemetery doesn't sound very romantic, haha. We attended a presentation about owls in southwest Ohio, which was actually very interesting.

Peregrine Falcon

Great Horned Owl

Barn Owl

Barred Owl

Following the presentation, you could caravan to the back of the cemetery (which is, like, 700 acres) to hopefully see owls in their natural habitat. However, Husband and I were extremely hungry by this point, so we decided to just drive back to the hotel, get ready and walk downtown.

Husband chose the restaurant when we went to Cleveland, so he said it was my choice this time. I decided to try a place called Via Vite, an Italian eatery right on Fountain Square. The food, my friends, was absolutely amazing, and we highly recommend trying it out.

After dinner, we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city, which was my favorite part of the whole trip. While I don't have any photos of that, I did get one of the Fountain Square statue:

Steve, the driver of the carriage, was awesome and dropped us off right at our hotel so we didn't have to walk back. On Sunday, we spent the day at the Cincinnati Museum of Art, which was fun... probably more so for me than Husband, but that's OK.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic mini-vacation, and we're actually thinking about going back to Cincinnati. We did not realize just how much there is to do in that area. :)

Week 10: Looking Up

 This past weekend was pretty special. Husband and I decided to take a spontaneous vacation to Cincinnati for a couple of days. But I'll write about the vacation in the next post.

The theme this week for the photo contest was Looking Up. I knew going to the city for the weekend would give me plenty of opportunities to shoot. At the same time, I was hoping to find something different as I expected there to be a lot of photos of buildings, flags, and clouds that would be entered.

A visit to the Newport Aquarium gave me that moment. The aquarium has tunnels that you can walk through in which the animals will swim right over your head. I quickly snapped this photo of this young baby, full of wonder and awe, as she watched the fish floating past.

So, not only was I looking up, but the subject of the photo is as well.

I think the Looking Up theme made people look at things in the world that they don't normally see. Despite the fact that humans can see a wide range of area around them, it seems we focus on what is right in front of us and fail to take in the beauty everywhere.

Anyways, this is my favorite photograph that I've taken so far for this contest. I also got some cool shots from the rest of the trip, so look for a post about the trip later!

Week 9: Abstract

Abstract.

I had never tried to photograph anything in an abstract way, so when I saw the theme, I panicked a little bit. I surfed the web and looked through what people submitted for ideas. I still wasn't sure what I was doing, haha.

I had seen a video of how to marble fingernails about a month ago online, and I remember thinking how cool the process looked, so that's what I decided to photograph. I had never tried the nail thing, either, but the results were pretty neat. I'm hoping to one day expand my equipment to include a macro lens, and then I think I'll go back and rephotograph this project. Here's what I submitted:

This was chosen as one of the best of the week, which is now twice in a row and three times overall. This project has really challenged me get out and photograph, and I love that.

Here's another photograph from the session:

This week's theme is "Looking Up." I should have plenty of options, now I just have to find the time to get out and shoot! It's going to be a super-busy week.

Week 8: Laughter

This was another theme that I loved. The photos everyone submitted were fantastic and made me smile. Adam and I went to visit my brother and sister. My brother got a puppy around Christmas, and goodness has she grown! Anyways, my brother was playing ball with her and I managed to get some really funny photos. I submitted a composite for the theme:

The photo was chosen as one of the best of the week. That makes twice, now, and it really makes me want to keep taking interesting pictures.

Here are some other photos from the day:

Would have been great for last week's Light assignment.

Week 7: Light

Week 7 was tough because it was cloudy... every. day. Looking back, I should have done a long-exposure shot inside, but I didn't think about that until I looked through everyone else's photographs. Oh well, lesson learned.

Since the sun was shining in an out through the clouds on Sunday, we took a trip around the lake. Here's the image I submitted:

The sun did make the lake look like it was "sparkling." This was the image that best captured that, I feel. I also got some cool photos of seagulls and the goose catching a fish, so the day wasn't a complete waste.

Week 6: Movie/Song Title

I LOVED this week's theme. The possibilities were endless, and everyone had such creative photographs by the end of the week!

For me, it snowed this weekend, and when I think snow, I think beach, haha. So, I went with Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville for my song title. Thankfully, Adam was such a super husband and willing to help me out.

I was initially going to only shoot from the thigh up, but after he came out in flip flops, I knew I had to shoot his whole body.

Here's an outtake with a nice, fat snowflake on his chin:

This was the first week that my picture was chosen as one of the best. I was ecstatic that it was :)

Week 5: I Left My Heart In...

Week 5 was easy for me. In fact, it seemed it was pretty easy for most people. For this theme, I chose to use a photograph from me and Adam's honeymoon in Grand Cayman.

This picture holds a lot of "firsts" for us. It was our first dinner together, our first full day together, our first vacation together, our first time to the Caribbean, as a married couple. I set the self-timer on my little point-and-shoot and put it on the table next to us to get this photo. It turned out much better than I expected it would, and I love it. It's one of my favorite photos.

Here's some other images from the trip:

Mimi's Dock Bar & Grill

Crab

This sign made me laugh

Fish!

Hello.

Adam feeding a stingray

Swimming Stingray

I think you can definitely see why I left my heart there, haha. We plan to go back for our 5-year anniversary ^_^

Week 4: Self-Portrait

Week 4's theme was definitely the hardest by far. I'm so very self-conscience, so I'm not going to comment. The first image is the one I submitted and the others are outtakes.

I did get this really funny photobomb from my lovely dog Sophie, lol.