Day 91/365 Tea time

I'm not a coffee drinker, I prefer tea. If you've been following my post, I really like TEAVANA teas. I don't get to sit and read much these days, but we do follow a couple magazines - OUTSIDE and BACKPACKER. Beautiful photos and lots of great tips for your next epic trip.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO4000, 1/60, F2.8

Day 90/365 Music

Sometimes, when I have an off day, all I want to do is edit photos and listen to music. Alone. Today is one of those days.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO4000, 1/1000, F2.8

Day 89/365 Rest

One of my favorite rooms in the house is my bedroom. Not that I get a lot of time to spend in it, but the colors are relaxing and calm. My dog decided to remind me when I was taking a picture that part of being in my room is cuddling with her. She usually warms up my pillow as I'm getting ready for bed then at the last possible moment, leaves her comfort to tuck herself next to me....at least until the daddy kicks her out of bed.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO2500, F3.5, 1/100

Day 88/365 Scents

Candles, low-lighting and pleasant scents are very calming to me. How do they affect your mood?

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO11,250, F1.8, 1/640

Day 87/365 Clouds and sun

Today my kids' school was closed due to the temperature being below -20 degrees with the wind chill. If you look out the window, you would think it was a balmy 30+ day outside. The sun is deceiving. I love the puffy clouds that float around and to me, that is peaceful. I like watching clouds. SOOC. The sky really is THAT blue and bright today.

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Metadata: 105mm, ISO 160, F18, 1/250

Day 86/365 New Theme - Serenity

I have to be honest, I haven't quite figured out what serenity means to me as far as pictures go. I decided on this sun flare and evergreens because it reminds me of nature and solitude of being in the woods. I love the outdoors (although not a fan of this sub-zero weather we've been experiencing). I took this a couple days ago one perhaps one of the brightest days we've had since winter began. These trees were all leaning, so I didn't adjust the crop on this to allow their natural state.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO800, F22, 1/200

Day 85/365 Even on a pan

Crazy! I noticed this while I was cooking dinner in my skillet the other day. I am surprised that I was able to find a face for each day this week. I have a feeling next week will be hard, as the theme that was picked is "serenity".

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO4000, 1/500, F2.8

Day 84/365 Faces faces everywhere!

I received this purse as a gift a couple years ago, its' one of my favorites. Since we've been doing this "faces in objects" challenge, I started looking at the patterns of colors and was surprised to see this jump out at me.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO2000, F2.2, 1/500

First the front and back of purse, then cropped in tight in case you don't see it right away.

Day 83/365 Wake up!

Since an electrical socket was already done by another 365 challenge peer, I decided to look for another one. Here is one I saw on a disposable coffee cup. Let's see if you are awake enough to see what I saw. First is the original photo, then what I saw. (2 eyes, a nose and mouth)

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NO metadata - phone

Day 82/365 Stop!

Again, taken with my phone camera, so no metadata. I'm starting to notice faces in more objects, but still hard to find. This one was a stop sign...then I cropped so you can see the face...do you see it?


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Original pic, then crop

Day 81/365 Upside Down

I took this one with my phone as I was walking my dog in our neighborhood. I'm not sure why I saw this as a face, considering its upside down. Here's the house as is, then how I saw the face, upside down.

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Metadata: NONE - phone pic

Day 80/365 New Theme

Today starts the new theme of "faces in objects". Well, at least until I run out of ideas - which won't take long. I find this a difficult theme. A couple days ago when I was taking pictures of teacups, I noticed this one.

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Metadata:105mm, ISO4000, 1/80, F7.1

Day79/365 Cast iron lid

First, let me tell you that I did NOT mess up the name of today's blog...HOWEVER, after seeing other 365 day blogs, I noticed that I was a day behind without actually missing a day. As I went back through my blogs, I realized I had two "day 60" titles. SO, instead of renaming them all - I'm going to just "skip" day 78.

Today is the last day of the "kitchen". Tomorrow starts a rather difficult challenge - to find faces in everyday objects.

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Metadata:105mm, ISO1000, 1/500, F3.2

Day 77/365 Tea for Two

I love visiting my sis-in-law. Four boys, craziness and yet still lovely items in her kitchen.

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Metadata:105mm, ISO250, 1/160, F9

Day 76/365 Yolk

I thought it odd that cracking an egg would create a bubble. SO, instead of focusing on the yolk, the bubble is the focal point here. In BW, this pic is dull and has no depth, so I left it in color.

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Metadata:105mm, ISO4000, 1/320, F7.1

Day 75/365 Baking vs. Cooking

I don't know about you, but I do NOT like to cook. One of the many reasons, is because you follow a recipe to the slightest ingredient and it can still taste disgusting. Baking, on the other hand is very precise - if I follow the directions....99 out of 100 times, it's delicious. Maybe that's my sweet tooth talking, I don't know. But I prefer to bake.

Looking down the flour canister

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Metadata:17mm, ISO3200, 1/250, F3.5

Day 74/365 Navel?

Navel: a seedless orange having a pit at the apex where the fruit encloses a small secondary fruit: the central point :

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Metadata: 105mm, ISO4000, 1/100, F10

Day 73/365 Start the day right

Some of the 365 day challenge group have started themes, as we are already running out of ideas for photo opportunities. This week is the kitchen. Yesterday, I forgot. I'll try to be more creative in the days to come, but today, the creative juices weren't flowing. This is my "green smoothie" each morning for breakfast. Extra Calcium in the Almond milk, added protein, Spinach, and Fruit. A hearty, and filling breakfast to start the day. Even my kids got on board as they both eat lunch at approximately 1:00pm at school. Sugary cereals just don't keep them full that long, so they are giving this a try.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO250 (w/on camera flash), 1/160, F4.5

Day 72/365 Haze

To set up this photo, I placed a dark blanket behind my daughter and stood her next to a window. One side of her face was too dark, so I used a reflector to lighten it just a little for the look I was going for. Then, I decided to make it a little hazy to give a dreamy appearance. I feel like it changes the whole mood of the photo. What do you think?

...and yes, I knitted the hat :)

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Metadata:50mm, ISO1000, 1/125, F2

Day 71/365 Lo-key

Here is my lo-key photo. My lighting was just a window with a dark blanket for the background. In case you don't know what lo-key is, here is the definition I found online.

- A low-key image is one that contains predominantly dark tones and colours. Like high-key images, they convey atmosphere and mood. But where a high-key image feels airy and light, a low-key is usually dramatic and full of mystery. And where high-key lighting over-lights the subject to reduce contrast, low-key lighting creates striking contrasts through reduced lighting. Shadows are now the primary element of the composition.

Click here for my hi-key photo from earlier in the challenge.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO640, 1/50, f6.3

Day 70/365 Haze

Recently, one of my fellow 365 challenge peers created a lovely photo with a hazey/dreamy look. This is my first attempt. I think I need to keep practicing, as I'm not quite happy with the outcome. This is my daughter looking up information for a school project on daddy's laptop. It could just be the subject matter...maybe a different pose instead of candid.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO4000, 1/100, f2.5

Day 69/365 Cave

I have to be honest, I didn't take this today, we had a TON of snow earlier this week so this was an extra shot I took then. My hubby started to make this cave/fort under the swingset but quickly lost patience and went on to burying my oldest in the snow. This left the opportunity for my youngest and I to finish building the snow cave - here she is after its' completion.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO125, 1/250, F/4

Day 68/365 Basement Window

Everyday I head to the basement to workout. Today was a different time than normal and I found myself drawn to the basement window sparkling as the sunrise was lighting up the different angles of the glass. I took the opportunity to try the starburst effect on the many sun spots that I saw.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO4000, F18, 1/1250

Day 67/365 Catch Lights

Many of the other people involved in this 365 day photo challenge have been posting great photos of catch lights. Don't know what that is? Catch lights refer to the shiny looking appearance of the eyes of the person in the photo, the reflection of lights. Here is one of my daughters, so willing to help out with my project.

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Metadata:105mm, ISO1000, 1/400, F3.2

Day 66/365 Frozen Bubbles

I'm really excited about this one. I've been waiting to try this, and now we have ridiculously low temperatures, I thought I'd give it a shot. Frozen bubbles. The first time was unsuccessful due to wind that kept popping the bubbles. I don't give up that easily, so I tried again - this time, I was much more successful. The first one is my favorite, but thought I'd post the ones that came out.
I tried to get numerous bubbles in a row to create DOF (Depth of Field) with blurry bubbles in the background, but the wind got in the way again and wouldn't allow it. I can always try again another day - when my hands thaw.

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Metadata: 105mm, ISO640, 1/200, F7.1

Day 65/365 ...and you think YOU'RE cold?!

I have family in Florida...and they say 40 degrees is cold. Well folks, its 11 with windchill of -6 here today, so unless you're here, please don't say its cold. Cool, maybe, but not cold.
This is from last night in my front yard.

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Metadata: ISO4000, 1/80, F4.5, 50mm

Day 64/365 Fun in the Snow

Like many of you, the town I live in is getting a whole lot of snow. After lunch, my fam decided to have fun in the foot + of snow. I was hoping to get more snowflake pics, but the flakes are extremely tiny today. SO, I took pictures of my daughter burying her daddy in the snow instead.

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Metadata:50mm, ISO160, 1/250, F4.5

Day 64/365 Go With the Flow

Today I had the opportunity to take family pictures of a great family, 22 strong. These are the parents of the family. Great role models for children and adults alike.

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Metadata: 35mm, ISO1600, 1/100, F6.3

Day 63/365 High ISO

With my new camera, I wanted to see just how high I could set the ISO before getting grainy at 100% (size of pic). I took this last night as my girls were reading together - the only light source was the one pictured, all other lights were off.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO6400, 1/80, F3.2

Day 62/365 Thanks Guys

Today is 14 degrees with a wind chill of -5 and had approx 5 inches of snow last night. SO, when these guys showed up at my door to shovel my driveway, I promptly said "YES!". So thankful I didn't have to be the one to shovel today. I'll gladly stay inside and drink some hot tea.

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO250, 1/125, F5.6

Day 61/365 Tired?

If you're like my family, you stayed up late last night and part of the family is our pooch, Zoe. A good long nap is just what she needed to recuperate. Happy New Year!

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Metadata: 50mm, ISO100 (w/bounch flash), 1/200, F2