Watermelon is just part of the food prepared for an All-American Extravaganza.
In order to celebrate the Olympics, me and friends got together and had a little American hooplah. This included many American or American-themed foods, as long as you forget that many other countries also share the red-white-and-blue color scheme. Watermelon isn’t even apparently a specifically American food, but it feels like it. And a tower of watermelon? Well, there you go.
A lizard holds onto a blade of grass.
I know I recently took a photo of a lizard (a month ago) but that one was taken with my phone. This one’s with my real camera! And I ran out of ideas, so a backyard lizard is a fallback. We’ll try to spice the photos up with some people or something next week.
This past week (on the 4th of July) my best friend decided she would like to spend the rest of her life with me. I was pretty happy about it. Shawna was crying, but they were happy tears, so it’s all good.
I’m arguing this is my photo of the week because I was an active participant, even though I didn’t take it. Plus, I was proposing, so that. If you really want to see a photo that I took this week, check here: the Fourth of July parade includes many special dignitaries.
Fogg took this image. Considering that he had half a second to get in place and shoot, I think it turned out really exceptional.
A display set up at NASA in Houston shows astronauts on the moon.
This past week (Saturday, actually) I was able to go to NASA with Shawna and her family. It was fun, as always, because I enjoy space exploration. Hopefully one day far off in the future I can get real photos from the moon, but until then, photos of fancy dioramas will have to do.
A carousel twirls at twilight for a VBS carnival at Crossroads Baptist Church.
I co-ran a photo booth at last week’s VBS carnival at Crossroads. At one point, I was able to run around and take some pictures of various rides and attractions… I was able to get this shot, which I’m pretty happy with. Just a slightly longish exposure, nothing fancy.
A bird waits on the steps of the castle on Saturday night.
I came home on Saturday night and this bird was sitting on the front porch of Chris’ house, right by the door. I was able to get nice and close for pictures, which made me think something wasn’t quite right with it. It didn’t mind the flashes and clicking. The following morning, the bird was still there, and equally unperturbed by my photographic endeavors. I assumed it would be dead once I returned from my tasks that day, but interestingly, it was gone. I’m really not sure what happened.
As an aside, anyone know what kind of bird it is? I don’t think pigeons usually come that color, but I could be wrong.
A Green Anole lizard climbs up the wall outside of BJ's.
This week I ended up with a better photo via my smartphone than with my camera. So, since I’m making up the rules, I decided that would be my photo of the week. So here it is– a random lizard!
The sun sets in the wake of the Natchez Steamboat on the Mississippi river.
I was able to take a wonderful steamboat ride on the Mississippi river this week as a part of a trip to New Orleans (reason: never been!). While on the boat, we were served dinner and got to listen to some nice jazz. Additionally, the sun set and made for a pretty scene. The above image is actually a composite of two exposures– not a true HDR (which I think requires 3 exposures) but just a lighter and darker image, with an image mask to reconcile them. I think it turned out pretty nice. As did my trip.
A butterfly prepares for a incoming landing on a flower.
This weekend was fun– I went camping, and there were lots of neat photographic opportunities. Even an alligator! But my favorite I shot was this butterfly coming in for a landing.
A tiny ant crawls across Chris' driveway.
In a somewhat last-ditch attempt for a photo this week, I surprised myself by getting a photo I am quite pleased with. I went and sat on the driveway with my poor man’s macro setup– one lens on regular, and then another lens focused to infinity turned around and held onto the front element of the attached one. Not the best or most controllable macro, and obviously there’s lots of issues with vignetting, but it is a technique that can produce usable images. It helps if your subject is less than active. I think this ant was alive, but not feeling too hot and wasn’t long for the world.
