My daughter Abby is a photography major. She's just starting out on her quest to becoming a great capturer of images, but she's doing really well. She can "see". Those of you who are photographers know what I mean. She just needs more practice but she'll be really good. On her blog she showed a few photos of a photographer that she admires. Rodney Smith. The shots that Abby put on were Ballerinas. (I didn't know you wanted to be a ballerina, Abby. Shame on your mother for not putting you in classes.)

I went to Rodney Smith's website to see what other things he has done. I also love his work. I photograph a lot of trees. I'm fascinated with the way the bark can twist and the limbs curl. I found these images of Rodney's. I kind of like them.

Tangerine rimmed sky.
Swirls of cloud wisps.
Cottonwoods silhouette against the dusk.
Peace inside.

The last assignment for my photo class was to capture some faces.  I used fill in flash on some of them.

Nathan, my grandson, was here for the weekend.  Oh yea, his parents were here too, ha ha.  Nathan just loves to go outside.  Even though it was a rainy cold weekend he wanted to keep taking his outside walks.  The last time I took him out, Abby grabbed this silly hat and put it on him.  He seemed to like it. 

Joni is a lot of fun to photograph.  I think it's because she's got a lot of "attitude".  I get a lot of looks like this one. 

Even though I took this one in July I decided to add it.  I love the way both Joni and Mike look in it.  Very happy.  Joni is happy that she survived nursing school and Mike is happy she graduated Summa Cum Laude.  I'm happy that this photo turned out so great. 

Macro shots for my photo class.  Some are better than others, but they're my babies and I love them all, ha ha.

It was a beautiful evening.  I needed to get out so I grabbed my camera and went to the gardens.

The flowers still look beautiful.  I practiced taking shots that are framed well.

Then I practiced taking shots of running water using a slow shutter speed.  I like how the water looks  using this technique.

Here a shot of the same place, one with  a slow shutter.....

and one with a fast......

It was a pretty good day.

I'm having so many "Aha!" moments in this class.  I had no idea about depth of field and aperture and all the rest.  I still know next to nothing, but I'm starting to see the possibilities.  These first photos were taken at the top of the Teton Pass by Jackson Hole.  The sunflower shots were taken on our way home. 

The photography class assignment this week is on manual focus instead of auto focus. 

Wow!  What a revelation.  This one lesson alone is worth the whole cost of the class.  Last spring I had the perfect opportunity to photograph a flock of wild turkeys.  The tom was all puffed up and looked amazing.  I was just across the road from him trying to take his photo and my dang camera just wouldn't focus.  I was soooo frustrated.  Later I discovered a little button on my lens.  I wondered if I slid the button to "A" instead of "M" if that would make a difference. 

I hate to admit how dumb I was.  I had no idea one stood for Manual Focus and the other stood for Auto focus.

So, I'm a pretty happy shutterbug this week, and had a lot of fun.

This first shot is of a pumpkin blossom which strayed into the raspberry patch.  Then there are a couple of shots of pumpkins.

This pumpkin is of the giant variety.....

......and this one is a regular jack-o-lantern.

I focused on the sunflower blossoms first........

and then changed the focus to the pumpkin patch beyond.  These aren't great artistic shots, but show how I used the manual focus.

I went back to the splash park and took a couple of shots of paper boats floating in the water.  It was too cold for kids, so I had the whole park to myself.

I wanted to get these shots to use as photo reference for some future art.  I liked the reflection of the boat in the water.

After I brought this photo up on my computer I was kind of disappointed that the water park is now closed.  I would have liked to go back and take another one of this without the boat.  I liked the shininess and the reflections.  It's almost abstract.

I asked my daughter, Lisa, to stand under the pouring water with an umbrella to get a photo-reference shot for the theme of the week in Watercolor Wednesdays.  I didn't ever get around to doing the painting, but I got a fun shot!

What is the good of your stars and trees,

your sunrise and the wind,

if they do not enter into our daily lives?

E. M. Forster

I don't usually take sunrise photos. Since I had to be at work early for a meeting I happen to catch this morning's beautiful sky.  I may make a bigger effort to photograph them if they are as pretty as this one was. 

I really like this quote.  I believe it to be true.  There is something about letting the beauty of natural things into your heart that helps you be a better, more centered person.  I hope you all have an awesome evening and a beautiful day tomorrow.

I took my daughter-in-law and grandson to the splash park on Saturday.  I'm so glad I did.  It was the last nice day.  Sunday turned colder and today is colder still.

I had fun playing with the focus on my camera.  I really liked the pattern this water spray made.  My daughter-in-law and grandson are behind, out-of-focus.

On Sunday I bribed Andy once again to pose for me.  I was feeling a bit guilty about the lack of photos I had on my wall of my youngest.  It was overcast, the storm was blowing in as we did these.  It started raining as we drove home.  Whew, we just missed the storm, and the clouds were helpful.  Things worked out pretty well.

We had some awesome skies this weekend.   I thought these clouds were very interesting.

I liked the way the trees framed the sweeping clouds in this shot.  I would have liked to get a bit more detail in the trees, but, oh well.....

Fourth of July.

David's family came to visit, so we packed up and went to the parade.  It was hot, in the 90's and we had to sit and wait quite a while for the parade to start.  Mike took Nathan for a little walk down the street and came back with a balloon.

David's just chillin', waiting for the parade to start.

Abby had to work today.  At least she got to work at the parade.  She and a co-worker had to walk along the entire parade route handing out flyers for the custard/pretzel shop where she works.

I looked over and saw this girl laying in the middle of the street!  Oh NO!!!! Did the heat get to her?  I hope that girl can help her. 

But then I noticed the girl was just moving around her, then I noticed she had a piece of sidewalk chalk and was just outlining her body on the street.  .......silly girls.

Airplanes kept buzzing the parade route overhead.  Then this glider came by.

We all stand for the flag.

This group goes all over the nation performing their stunts.  These ladies straddle two horses for the entire route.  The one in the middle will turn 50 next year.  I went to high school with her.  I kind of hate to say that because then everyone can see how far down the physical slope I've gone compared to her.

One thing about us Idahodians is that we just love to gussy up our horse's rear ends. 

You can brush the hair into intricate patterns....adorn it with flowers,.........or use some hairspray and glitter that sucker to death.

Please note the sign.  Yes, it says Tractor Racing.

Here are some of the contestants.

I'm pretty sure this big boy would be disqualified.  Too new.  But this is how the farmers "ride in style" now.  Air conditioned, stereo systems, and probably a nice little mini-fridge behind the seat.

We saw a lot of very nice old cars.

A lot of candy was thrown out for the kids.  This little girl decided to just sit in the street and take stock.

One of the more popular entries was the National Guard.  They sprayed down the crowd.  People loved it!

In the afternoon we had a picnic in the park.  Nathan couldn't wait to finish eating so he could go play.

Later on most of the family went to the baseball game.  I stayed home with Abby and Nathan, introduced Nathan to the joys of eating strawberries straight out of the garden and watched Toy Story. 

It was a pretty good day.