dk’s Neighborhood

Only just yesterday, this lil caterpillar was moving like a freight train through my little tank... one day later... it was covered in little furry eggs and didn't seem to be moving.

Note on photo above: Butt view

She wasn't eating yesterday so I went down into the forest in my corporatey too-tight-for-hills-skirt after work thinking that maybe she needed young saplings of the host plant.

Note on photo above: The lifeless or paralysed head... hanging out sadly... instead of covered with its fleshy mantle.

I hesitated initially about going into the forest in my slippers... but... the thought of her starving was unbearable.  

Note on photo above: When Katie was alive... and parasited... (maybe it's those weird tear shaped white markings on its sides)...:(

After running around in the forest till almost dark, I found all the saplings I needed.  And was treated to a rare display (to me, anyway) of huge Saturns chasing each other in the darkness above my head.  I'd never seen them like that before in the daytime.  All out and about in the open.

It was an amazing sight...HOWEVER... I don't think I'd do that again anytime soon.

The forest at night is a really spooky place.  Its a complete opposite of the beauty it breathes in the daylight.

Sadly, Katie was dead and all my effort was wasted.

I'd been so horribly busy lately.  What with all the running around in the forests at night and attending way too many weddings and Christmas parties (before Christmas even!). 

But baking gingerbread for people I love is really fun!  Only downside is that I don't want to touch a gingerbread man after having been wafted with that overly sweet smell of brown sugar, golden syrup and ginger powder from preparation to decoration.

In my opinion, baking and decorating them is way more fun than eating them! (I tried bringing them on the field while shooting butterflies in case I got hungry... but I kept getting attacked by ardent ants!)

I know this is not a big surprise for this week's Quest!  This quest runs for 2 weeks so you have time to get some photos during this busy season.

Photos can be recent or old...you are free to use any photo enhancements, color or b & w or sepia tones. Make a collage, a Christmas card, a poster or just a single photo.  Post how you took the photo and what enhancements you used.

If you haven't ever posted before just jump in and have some fun.  No worries we are all learning here and enjoy seeing everyones photos.

Get creative and show the Photo Quest Group what Christmas means to you.  Is it about the ornaments, the tree, the cookies, friends, children, parties (this is for Yan), pets, nature, church...what makes a Christmas special for you.

Since this quest runs through Christmas...I want to take time to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

 

Maureen

This was the first time for this subject, shoes on Photo Quest.  It was fun to see what you creative minded photographers posted for this quest. 

First to post was Realworld with his Cat Shoes.  I want to know how he stuffed that kitten in the shoe?  OK so that probably didn't happen but what a cute, candid photo!  Nice job Realworld as it is hard to get the cat's eyes clear on a photo...mine sometimes look orange or a strange green.

Next post was from Maju, with her purple sneakers trying to run away from the boring black shoes.  Great composition with the purple shoe in the ROT spot.  This photo really made me laugh...nice work Maju!

Then along came CountrybyDesign with a very mystical photo of her shoes in the stream of light.  WOW this is a very cool photo and I think you should use this technique again with other subjects.  I like the slightly out of focus shot here as it makes the photo have a more mystical feel.

Not to disappoint, Cap'n Stephel brings us some very Jazzy, Saxie shoes.  Very nice play on dark and light and lines.  I liked the second photo the best as it has just enough light to make me want to check it out closer. 

Finally Yancunyong brings it home with party shoes.  Japan must be a lot more fun than I ever thought.  Yan seems to be parting it up big time.  Loved seeing the shoes of his fellow party goers.  I like the last photo the best...the red lighting and the reflection of the shoe was very cool. 

 

Thanks again all for a great quest...hope to see you again next week.

 

I bought this pair of shoes ages ago to use as props for photos and I've never done anything with them.  Today, I took them outside for their first photo shoot.

Because they are black and shinny...not I didn't polish the

m...I set my exposure down from 1/2 to 2 steps depending on background of the photo.  I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, ISO 100, F stop from 3.5 to 4.5, WB set at sunny, focus on one-shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shoes and I had some fun today and I learned a lot about backgrounds and lighting.

Boy it has been ages since I've done a real post and not just a Photo Quest Post.  Last Sunday, hubby and I took a drive south to Tumacacori to see the Dancing Horses.  I had spoke with Dan Gerate during the week about writing a letter of sponsorship for our project to have the Colonial Spanish Horse named as the state horse of Arizona.  Dan told me about the Tumacacori Festival and the Dancing Horse that would be preforming.  Well I was hooked.

The festivities were to begin at 10:00 am and if we wanted a good parking place we should arrive early...like 8:00 am.   Hmm lets see it is about 1:30 drive to get their by 8:00 am.  I did the math and didn't like the results...second plan.  The horses were to preform at 2:00 pm now you are talking!  Second plan, leave around 12:00 pm ask the universe for an awesome parking place right at the front of the church..us oldsters don't need to walk that far...OK, OK well I was packing camera and equipment.

We leave our place around 12:00 and picked up coffee for Don on the way out.  As we leave, I restate my request for a close parking space...would be a shame to drive all that way and not be able to get a parking place.  The drive was uneventful...my favorite kind of ride.  We turn off the freeway and start down the road to the mission...there are cars everywhere...parked on the side of the road parked in places that sure looked illegal!  Hubby says he has an idea of were we can park...I peep up wait "I requested a parking place up front let's just pull into the parking lot in front of the church."  He take a right into the parking lot and there right in front is a parking place..in fact there were two so we had a choice! 

Weather was cool and a little breeze but we had dressed right and could manage fine.  First stop was to take a photo of the church's white dome.  This mission isn't in great shape and was never finished as the church ran out of funds.  I had some issues with this photo as the sky wasn't all that blue...storm coming in and everything in the old church is crocked!  Hard to make it straight...when I got the building straight the dome wasn't.  I settled for a straight cross. 

Next we took the path to the Festival Grounds just north of the church.  Oh boy, oh boy I spied a Harris Hawk on a girls hand!  Now that was worth a few photos right?  I took a bunch of photos.  The hawk was very photogenic but the backgrounds weren't that good.  Lighting was OK and there was a light breeze so he kept his wings out as if to fly away.  This hawk was around 3 years old and had been injured as a youngster and couldn't fly. 

I like the focused look of his eyes. 

We got to see a cute group of children dancers.  In this dance they all had canes and were acting like old people.  They were a hoot and we all got a good laugh!

 

Next we were entertained by a wonderful Mexican Band.  I got a few photos but some were misses as I didn't get all their feet in the photo...lesson learned yet again...check your composition dummy!

I ran into Don Garete and he said the horses were coming in about 15 minutes...we dash around the grounds to find some lunch.  We settled on a both run by some lovely Indian ladies and had a great fast lunch. 

I saw the horses coming down the path and ran over to take some photos.  I couldn't get close enough to them for a good shot before they took a left turn off the path.  Not to be denied a photo, I circled way left and went down to the clearing that they were using for a warm up area.  I got off a few shots before the nice park ranger told me to leave. 

 

 

After what seemed like an hour they finally called the horse to preform their dance to the music of a Mexican Band.  What a wonderful treat!  I'd never seen anything like this before.  The horses were so well trained and beautifully groomed.  The performers tack and outfits were beautiful.  It was a big WOW.  I was right along the outside of the ring and could get up close for good shoots.  I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, polarizer lens, shot mostly 400 ISO, took exposure down a 1/2 step as it was cloudy, played around with the f stop from 4 to 8 and had a ball.

 

 

 

 

 

I took hundreds of photos and it was so much fun being so close to these wonderful horses.  Finally the show was over and we walked back through the Mission grounds and I took one last photo of the Mission dome.  It was another attempt to keep the photo straight that I'm not sure really works...old buildings!

 

Oh here is one last photo that says it all...we had a great day and it was worth the drive:

 

I took this idea from the Digital Photography School.  It should be a fun quest.  Take photos of your shoes and have some fun.  Here is the article from the Digital Photography School website http://digital-photography-school.com/shoes-weekend-photography-challenge. 

Put your shoes in unusual places or show your shoes going somewhere.  Photograph them in color, b & w, neon, up-side-down, sideways, on - off, in the closet, on the floor, in the car, on top of the house.  Have some fun with this one.

All photos must be taken during this Quest and taken by you.  Size and amount of photos is up to you.

OK so I'm late again..sorry but since our Thanksgiving trip to Cali I've been so busy catching up with emails, mail and stuff that I'm behind again.

There weren't many entries for this quest so you all must be as busy as me!  Thanks go to Realworld, Yancunyong and Cap'n Stephel for your great entries.

Realworld got the ball rolling on this quest with his photo collage of his list of things to be thankful for...wonderful work Real!  I need to work on my collage skills, I've not done one that I real liked.  Real has a great sense of composition and I like how he has combined text with photos and the pictures aren't all square.  I really love how he placed the cat photos....very creative!

Along comes Yan with another wonderful example of a great collage with one photo with various enhancements.  I love that Yan used the first photo he entered in a Photo Quest!  He inspired me to look at some of my old photos and I found that I had over looked some good photos that I'm now working on...thanks Yan.  Also thanks for the lovely complements on the Photo Quest!

Last but not least was Cap'n Stephels entries.  Great photo Cap'n and a wonderful list of thankful things...I like the photo of buba the best in her series, great composition and she nailed the cat's eyes.

Great work all, and I'm so thankful that you post your photos to the Photo Quest and I get to see wonderful photos and learn from you work...thanks so much!

Gees I'm later than late for this Quest...but I so wanted to post what I'm thankful for and I gave it a lot of thought over my holiday trip...there was so much to be thankful for but there was the thing that allowed me to document it all and that was my cameras.  VOX gave me the incentive to take photos, improve my photo skills and meet so many wonderful friends.  And now my cameras are providing me with a way to earn a living.

Here is a photo of my two cameras with lots of photoshop on top.

 

I have to admit that I have so fallen in love with my Burtha..it has been a difficult relationship as she is heavy and complicated.  I often read the manual when we are diving (OK hubby is doing the driving) back and forth to our place in Benson.  I take photos from the car and try different settings as I go.  This plus getting a great lens (28-105mm) that works so well for most subjects has really increased my use of Burtha and I haven't taken many photos with my Sylvia (Pentax).  I took both to California on our trip but only used Burtha.  Sylivia is getting jealous but her time will come.

Here are a few photos of thankfuls for my family. 

 

 

Here are few of my favorite photos that show what I'm thankful for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all my VOX friends for enriching my life!

This Quest is a 2 week quest to give you time to reflect on what you are thankful for and how to capture that in a photo.  We have had a lot of quests on techniques and photos effects.  In this quest take what you have learned about photography and whatever photo software you use and create some photos of what makes you thankful.

For this quest you can use any photos you have and submit individual photos or a groups of photos.  Get artistic and try different effects on your photos...filters, artistic, exposure and frames.  Anything goes just lose your creative juices and have some fun.

I wish all that celebrate Thanksgiving a very wonderful time with family and friends. 

Gees this week had a record 10 entries..sorry I'm late in commenting on them...I have the Thanksgiving rushing, stressed, out of control blues...well not really blue but it sounded good!  Of course when I'm all stressed out I have the most entries ever.  This is not a complaint as I'm thrilled with all the entries.

OK here goes starting with the 1st entry, I'm going to comment on the one I like the best of each post and why I picked the photo.  Oh you also have to know that it is 10:30 pm and I'm trying to get everything together for a Thanksgiving event that starts tomorrow morning. 

1st to post this week was TanyaRPM.  My favorite was her photo of fallcuties.  What I liked the best of this photo was that both the dog and her little boy are leaning in on each other.  It is a great photo showing the relationship of the dog and the boy as being equal and dependent.  The beautiful big eyes of the dog lead you right to the little boys face...very nice composition and the wonderful depth of field and bokeh background set off the subjects perfectly. 

2nd to post was Darcy with her amazing PC spider.  Im not sure that this spider is a pet but it is cute and this is a creative photo as I have never seen a spider on a PC before!

3rd to post was Maju with the most incredible cat that likes dental floss.  OK now is the some kind of world record...I never have heard or seen a cat that flosses.  My favorite of Maju's set of photos is the 4th photo as it looks as if the cat is have such a great time.  I know how hard it is to get good photos of cats and photos of cats doing something are the hardest ever...Maju's photos are wonderful.

Now the 4th to post photos this week was Jacolily,  Oh this was a very hard decision as all these photos were great.  I think it was some what unfair of her to post so many wonderful photos of dogs and kids...very hard to judge the best one there.  So I pick her first photo of the kitten around her neck.  Not only is a great photo but I vote for Jacolily as the bravest women I know!

For the 5th entry along comes Anthrogrrl with photos of her dogs.  I went back and forth several times to look at her photos to pick the one I liked best...I have to go with photo titled ears.  I like the curve of the dogs head and neck and the shine on the coat...very nice photo!

#6 was Spike with some great cat photos.  Yes, I do agree with Spike that cat photos are the hardest to get.  My pick here is the Halloween cat photo.  I like that it is done in black and white and she had nailed the eyes on this cat...great work Spike!

Then we have # 7 Yancunyong.  OK you get the award for the most unusual pet a Stag Beetle.  Wow now I've never heard of having a beetle as a pet.   I liked this photo as the beetle was very well exposed and the pinchers looked very dangerous...is this the Stag Beetle that ate Tokyo?

For #8 CountrybyDesign wowed me with some great photos of her dogs.  I had to look at her series several times to pick my favorite.  I'm going with her 4th photo of her dog Paya in an old photo look.  In this photo the dog really stands out.  Nice work Country!

Now for #9 Amy Sue posted some great photos.  Again it was very hard to pick the one I liked the best as I like them all.  After looking at the photos over and over again I have to go with her first photo of her mom and bandit.  There is such a terrific connection between her mom and her dog that Amy Sue captured in this photo and it is a winner.

Ok for the last entry #10 by RealWorld...now who can resist kittens...all his photos are great.  Since this quest was on creative pet photos I have to go with the headbanger photo...very creative and fun too!

Thanks all for your wonderful entries this week and making this the best Photo Quest ever!