Photo A Day ~ 17 Apr

When we first arrived at the base here in Japan, it was early in the morning on a Sunday. Most people were sleeping but we were still on U.S. time. We didn't want to wake anyone on our contact list so my husband walked down the street to the little convenience store and purchased some snacks, drinks, milk, etc... and these noodle dishes. They are microwave meals... and we had NO idea how to cook them because the packaging was all in Japanese! Thankfully there was a maintenance worker in the building of our temporary apartment that helped us with the instructions... and these are some of our favorite snacks now!

Canon dRebel XT, 30mm f1.4 lens

ss 200, f/1.4, ISO 800, SOOC except resize for web

Photo A Day ~ 16 Apr

Life with a 4-year-old is never dull! ;)

I was trying to photograph something on my black backdrop today... but my little goofball kept getting right in the middle of the action! I gave up on the photo shoot and played with him instead. He kept giggling and covering his face... and I didn't worry about settings or being technically correct... but it was fun anyway! He's good at reminding me to take the time to laugh and be silly!

Here are 3 of the "results" of our silliness... I really wish I'd changed the aperture & gotten the focus on more of his face, especially both eyes, in that last one... but just trying to hold the camera without it shaking while I was laughing was difficult enough. See, he was posing for that one! "Don't make me laugh. I want to be SERIOUS. Mom, stop laughing and take my picture." He's such a little character!

All were taken with Canon dRebel XT, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens...

1 & 2: ss 320, f/1.4, ISO 800

3: ss 160, f/ 1.4, ISO 800

Photo A Day ~ 15 Apr

There is a very strange tree in my backyard. It has really deep red leaves and when it's cold or rainy the leaves sorta droop down like they are all folded up to keep warm. On sunny days, the leaves are all spread out. It's my favorite tree around here!

Today it was raining and I stood on my backporch and zoomed in on the leaves to catch the water drops... and it shows how the leaves are very jagged and pointy.

Canon dRebel XT, 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS lens

ss 40, f/5.6, ISO 800, focal length 190mm, rainy afternoon

Photo A Day ~ 13 Apr

I have a whole rainbow of these colored goblets... and they caught my eye this morning as I walked by the china cabinet. I love the bubbles in them... and I love that I have 8 different colors of them too! Maybe next time I'll line them all up & show the whole rainbow but today I just loved the dark blue & light blue ones!

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8 lens, ss 3200, f4.0, iso 200... taken in front of my large kitchen window with mid-day overcast sky. The background is the sky.

I also like that I can see the reflection of the trees & grass outside my window in the stem part of the glass! Just glad it didn't pick up the reflection of the contruction fence across the street!

Photo A Day ~ 10 Apr

And after a busy afternoon at the park... THIS is what happens!

He was watching tv while I finished dinner... yeah... he was OUT as soon as he stopped moving! I just love how he arranged the pillows so he could be REALLY comfy! heehee

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8 lens, iso 1600, ss 40, f1.8

Photo A Day ~ 9 Apr

Since my hubby was most likely going to be out of town for a little while, he spent the afternoon playing with Noah at the park behind our house. Got a few fun shots of the little monster before he started giving me the hateful look! ;)

That boy loves the slide!

Canon dRebel XT & 50mm f1.8 lens

Slide: ss 1000, f1.8, ISO 100

Playground: ss 2000, f1.8, ISO 100

Photo A Day ~ 7 Apr

More shots of the trees when I was out taking pics of the stop sign. These are the trees lining the street coming to my house. This street runs behind my house actually... I live on a corner lot & the back/side yard is that wall you saw in a previous POTD.

I moved here just after sakura season last year... missed this amazing view by just a week or two... and I keep looking at all of the trees as I drive. They are peaceful to me. I love how the trees cover the street... a full canopy of white blooms!

Photo A Day ~ 6 Apr

This is the stop sign at the intersection very close to my yard... not sure why, but I just loved this view with the trees blooming in the background! I was sitting on the ground, leaning WAY back to get just the angle I wanted. :) These gray, overcast days are KILLING my photography!!!

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8, SOOC, resized for web

ss 800, f5.0, ISO 200

Photo A Day ~ 5 Apr

Spring is here!! And it's Sakura season in Japan!! Cherry Blossoms are blooming everywhere! This little pink tree is in my yard... and the white blooms are lining the whole street on the way to my house. The trees with white blooms & wall is the view out my back door. I wish they'd hurry up & finish the paint job so it's all the beige color!

Both taken with Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8, SOOC, resize for web:
Pink blossoms: ss 160, f4.0, ISO 100
White blossoms: ss 640, f5.0, ISO 200

By the way, I also took photos of these trees in the winter... all bare & gloomy looking. Now they are alive with blooms... so many blooms that it looks like it's snowing!!

Photo A Day ~ 4 Apr

Just the boys being goofy & wrestling on the couch! Noah giggled so much I thought he was about to pass out! :) Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8, ss 20, f1.8, ISO 800, SOOC/resize for web

Photo A Day ~ 2 Apr

I'm trying to get caught up on some photos I've taken over the last few weeks. There may be SEVERAL posts per day coming up! :)

This is a detail shot of my son's class ring while he was dressed for a formal banquet. I rarely get to see my skater in a bow tie so I made sure to get a few shots! This is actually one of my favorites! I'm going to be taking some "senior" shots of him in the next week or two so hopefully I can get more of his ring with other backgrounds!

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm/f1.8 lens...

ss 320, f1.8, ISO 800...

slightly sharpened and resized for web.

Photo A Day ~ 18 Mar

This photo proves that equipment and training only gets ya so far... the right opportunity has a LOT to do with what you can capture! My husband flies near Mount Fuji almost daily... and this is what he got with my 5mp Sony point-n-shoot back in December, on his way to his deployment... and better yet, this was shot through the front window of a military cargo plane! Look closely at the bottom half of the image. Those zig zag lines are the hiking trails going up the side of Mount Fuji. In August, he climbed to the very top with a group of friends. In December, you can only see a portion of the trail. We'll visit this amazing place again next summer... when it's not all covered in white! :)
This image is SOOC... resized & added watermark. I didn't take this photo, but I am SO proud of him for it! The small image doesn't do it justice! I couldn't resist giving him a little spot on my photo blog to show it off!

Photo A Day ~ 13 Mar

This cross belonged to my husband's grandmother. It's the only thing I have of hers with us here in Japan and it is precious to me. She was a strong woman, widowed very young with two children, and lived on her own until she was in her mid 90's. She passed away this past November at the age of 98. I walk by this cross every day and I am reminded of her. And her memory inspires me.

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8 lens

ss 1/10, f4.0, ISO 400

natural light, SOOC, resized for web

Photo A Day ~ 11 Mar

These two photos were actually taken on March 1st, but this was the first opportunity I've had to blog them. This was about an hour after my husband got home from his deployment. He was showing Noah some pictures of his trip on the laptop but Noah was more interested in playing with Daddy & his new watch!



Tom hides when I get the camera, but that night he couldn't stop smiling & didn't even turn away when I was taking pictures. :)


Both photos: ss 1/20, f. 1.8, ISO 800, taken with Canon dRebel XT, 50mm 1.8 lens... SOOC/resized for web.

GET YOUR FREAK ON!!!!

I am SO SO SO excited for my friend Monica! She is starting her own scrapbooking website, online store and message board... and it's about to be revealed! She is awesome and I can't wait to help her build it to the awesome site I know she is capable of running! Here's a link... ScrapFreak ... it just went LIVE! :)

Oh, and I just have to say that I am proud to be part of !!!!!

heeheehee!!!

Congrats Monica! It's awesome so far!!! Thanks for including me in your adventure!

Photo A Day ~ 4 March

Experimenting with exposure!

I'm taking an online photography course... and along with this week's assignment, there was also a mini lesson on exposure compensation. Here are my 3 shots while experimenting with exposures... taking 3 shots of the same object, with exposures of -1, 0, +1. The subject is nothing exciting... just a bowl of apples on my dining room table... but it's very obvious the exposure changed! Loving this class and it's only the first week!!!! :)

Taken with Canon dRebel XT, 50mm f1.8 lens... around 3pm, with kitchen/dining room lighting.

Photo1: ss 1/100, f1.8, ISO 1600 Photo2: ss 1/50, f1.8, ISO 1600 Photo3: ss 1/25, f1.8, ISO 1600 Resized for web & slightly sharpened.

Photo A Day ~ 26 Feb

Wow... I'm actually following the weekly theme for the POTD Challenge?! Shocking!!!

This is me... and my new hair... which tells a LOT about me!! This is a self-portrait in the kids' bathroom mirror (excuse the bright colored tropical frog shower curtain in the background!)... taken to show my friend Amy that the new color & highlights really did cover all of my gray!! ;) It's shorter than I wanted, but it'll grow back!!! I'm happy enough with the color to ignore the length!
Oh... and in this shot you can see the new battery grip on my camera. LOVIN' it so far! It's great for portrait shots.

Photo A Day ~ 24 Feb

While playing with my camera today, I actually got one serious one of my 4-year-old while he was on the floor in the kitchen! I had to snap pretty quickly with that one... he wasn't still very long! He's usually a total goofball & making funny faces when I get the camera so I just love this even if it isn't very sharp.

The picture is way too soft... but I was limited on time here! I do like the catchlights... and I will remember this for a more "cooperative time" and get better focus!

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And more of the goodies from my hubby... He sent the boys these hats with their names on them. Noah was being a goofball today so I snapped a few pictures of him with the hat... who knew a washing machine would make a good white backdrop?!

*sigh* My kid the goofball! He made ALL sorts of faces!!! The hat is a good prop for him!

Photo A Day ~ 23 Feb

Just skipping all those other dates for now. I'll post them when I have time! :)


So... back to today's photo! I got a package from my hubby. He thought it would be fun to share a few of the products that he gets at his deployed location!


Sprite, Pepsi and Mountain Dew! It says the name in English on the other side of the cans!

It's kind of difficult to see the writing on the Snickers candy bar, but the ingredients are in English and some other language... possibly Arabic. *shrug*

I'm not sure of the camera settings... I didn't even look before posting them to be honest... because I used my brand-spankin' new external flash. I was playing with bouncing the flash & some of the photos with better focus weren't exactly the best light. Oh well... it's fun to play & learn!!! :)

wow... I'm SO behind with posting photos!

Well, I should probably get caught up and post the photos I've taken since the 26th. I've been snapping away... but haven't taken the time to post anything. It has been a wild couple of weeks. I hurt my back in mid-January, had my 35th birthday on the 24th, lots of meetings and activities, had a sinus headache for days... and haven't slept a consecutive 7 hours since December. The huge dark circles under my eyes can prove it! ;)

And I've decided that this is the year I'm going to really get serious and learn as much as I can about photography. I searched high and low, read all sorts of websites and blogs, looking for a photography course that I thought would work for me. There are huge schools that would be great... just not very me. I've found one that I really want to try... now, if there is an opening is another matter entirely!!!

I also ordered some photo goodies (external flash, battery grip, diffuser... just to name a few) and I can't wait to play with them and learn more and more and more!!!! It's been a very long time since I've been this excited about learning something new. I have always loved photography, and now I want to really learn photography. It helps that my hubby is just as excited. He's always supportive, but for him to say he's proud of me... yeah... that sure makes me smile!!

Photo A Day ~ 26 Jan

I didn't plan on posting a photo for the 26th, since I didn't really take any picture with the challenge in mind. I snapped this quick picture late at night just to send to Daddy to show off Noah's artwork!

After dinner & bath, Noah (just turned 4) was coloring & having a snack before bedtime. He "found" my post-it notes and proceeded to write on every single sheet... all 150 of them! He was SO proud of himself because he put two together so it would be big enough for him to write his name. He can usually write his name if I help him along a little, but he did this all on his own. Ignore the awful PS work! It was really dark & had a bad shadow covering up part of his name so I did a very quick edit... cloned some to get rid of the shadow, sharpened it a bit and lightened it too. I should really just try getting another photo of it, but I'm kinda lazy tonight!

I'm hoping to get out & find some interesting things to photograph for the challenge this week... now that I'm feeling much better. (I hurt my back about 2 weeks ago so I've been limited on where/when I can get out & shoot... but I'm moving much faster now.) :)

Photo A Day ~ 25 Jan

My youngest woke up in a bad mood this morning and he was really whiny all day today. I couldn't get anything done around the house. He wanted my full attention & would whine or cry... for no reason. This went on most of the day... until I started playing with the timer on my camera!!! These pictures are awful... I had on no make-up, was still wearing my jammies, and they are dark and SO out of focus... but taking them made him smile... which made my life MUCH easier today!
It took us a few tries to get positioned right for the shot... and after about three shots, he decided making goofy faces was kinda fun!

As soon as I put away the camera and tried to do anything around the house, he got really really whiny again... so no other photos for me today.

I almost forgot to mention what my hubby said about these photos... I emailed them to him (I try to email him pics every day while he's deployed) and his response was: "OH MY GOSH... he looks more and more like you every day". That's saying a lot since we all thought he looked just like his Daddy from day one. :)

Photo A Day ~ 24 Jan

I think my kid loves the computer almost as much as I do! He was watching international cartoons online while I was on the phone... and this is how I found him after the call!

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm 1.8, ss 1/13, f 1.8, ISO 400... SOOC/resized for web viewing.

I could have played with the settings a little bit to improve the photo, but I just went with the quickest settings I could possibly use before he fell off the chair!!! :)

Photo A Day ~ 23 Jan

My child is totally obsessed with letters. He discovered the center of our newspaper today. Since most of our news is military and international stuff, we have this center section that gives little news highlights from all over the US by state. It has a map of the US and in large letters it says "American Roundup". My kid is 4. He read American (roundup was a little tricky so he didn't get that one). I squealed with joy... then grabbed the camera!!! Total "Proud Mommy Moment"!!

Canon dRebel XT, 50mm 1.8, ss 1/25, f 1.8, ISO 400, SOOC
But, honestly... I didn't even look at the settings!

Photo A Day ~ 22 Jan

(be back to post the pic)

Photo A Day ~ 21 Jan

I figured since I haven't been following the challenge calendar, I would make an effort to get caught up. I guess I've been too busy playing with the manual settings & learning new things to find specific things to shoot!

So... here's a little bit of my life... my scrap space!

Living in military housing never allows for a real scrap room so I always steal a closet for my space. This area is the near the front entry of my house... the foyer alcove area... in what used to be the coat/storage closet. The brown line on the wall is where the closet doors were... so I guess I stole a little more than just the closet! I took the closet doors down and made an L shaped desk out of my Store-in-Style cubes! I still need to finish making the curtain that will hide it all away, but for now, I love my little scrap space!

(No need to cc... it's just a quick snapshot on auto... and really bad lighting!)

Photo A Day ~ 20 Jan

Random goofiness! My youngest son was having the BEST time being goofy and watching his reflection on the bowl of my Kitchenaid stand mixer. He was especially fascinated by the way his arm looked when it was close to the bowl! And he thought it was pretty great to see my camera in the reflection too!

Nothing technically correct about this photo at all... just a quick snap with my 50mm since that's what I had on the camera at the time!

Photo A Day ~ 19 Jan

Well, there are two photos today... because I'm still playing with my 50mm lens! I took some photos to show my husband how I changed the living room furniture around, then I started working on "focus". Decided the Japanese lamp from last night was a good object to use for my practice so I positioned myself so there was a background object... and started shooting & adjusting!

I took about 35 shots, and got pretty consistent with focusing on the object I *wanted* to be in focus... some near objects, some far objects. I can't even begin to explain how much this challenge has encouraged me to learn more about my camera...

Image #1: Focus on near object, blur background...

Image #2: Focus on far object, blur foreground...

Both images shot with Canon dRebel XT, 50mm/1.8 lens,

ss 1/8, f 2.2, ISO 400, auto WB, SOOC (resized image for viewing)

Photo A Day ~ 18 Jan

I was sitting at my dining room table tonight, reading some photo info online, and decided to play with my camera a little bit... problem was... I was too lazy to actually get up & go to a room with better lighting or more interesting stuff to photograph! ;)

So... here's a tilted view of a Japanese lamp & picture frame on the table behind my leather sofa. That's me & my hubby in that photo! (*Note to self: dust sofa table. HA!)

Canon dRebel XT, Canon 50mm/1.8 lens, image is SOOC...

ss 1/15, f 1.8, ISO 400

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And these were totally random manual settings since I was just adjusting & shooting... learning by doing... :) I was just playing with my 50mm 1.8 lens basically because I'm so not used to shooting with a prime. I forget that my feet actually work sometimes!!! I want the lens to get me closer... I'm either spoiled by zooms or lazy!

Photo A Day ~ 17 Jan

(I'll be back to post my POTD here!)

Photo A Day ~ 16 Jan

(I'll be back to post my POTD here!)

Photo A Day ~ 15 Jan

This week's Photo A Day Challenge is all about showing our hometown... so here's a little piece of where I live. It's not my real "hometown"... but then again... home is where the Air Force sends us! So, I guess the Tokyo area is home for now...

Passed this while out shopping. I was walking down a sidewalk... sort of off the beaten path... on my way back to the train station when I saw this driveway entry. It was a private home, and I have NO idea what the sign says, but I thought it was pretty cool looking! :) The area is very urban, tall buildings on the opposite side of the street, and then there was this entry. The houses behind the entry were bigger than most in the area and the garden area was immaculately kept. The most amazing home I've seen in that area... but I was too chicken to poke my head through to get a better photo of it! ha!

ss 1/200, f 8.0, ISO 400 (cropped & resized for uploading)

Photo A Day ~ 14 Jan

Aren't they pretty?! Flowers from the hubby... (used auto setting... because I had a 4-year-old that insisted on "helping" me take the picture!)

Photo A Day ~ 13 Jan

I took some random shots around the house today but the lightening was horrible and nothing was worth showing... so I'm gonna cheat! I started working on a photo from July. I love this shot of my son wearing one of Daddy's old flight helmets! I think it still needs a little something, but I'm just not sure how or what to do to it now. I'm posting the original and the PSE4 version... any suggestions, help, ideas?

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ORIGINAL PHOTO:

Canon dRebel XT, kit lens, auto setting; ss 1/60, f 5.6, ISO 400

PSE4 EDITED PHOTO: lightened & sharpened...

I'm no expert with PSE4... so I did what I know... anything beyond that will require some really good instructions! ;)

Photo A Day ~ 12 Jan

My 16-year-old is a skateboarding fanatic. He loves it and has gotten damn good at it too! It is fun to try out my photo skill and lenses on him! This shot was one of about 400 I took of him on the street by our house. I don't know why... but of all of the photos... this one just sorta jumped out at me.

Canon dRebel XT, lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM;

ss 1/320, f 5.0, ISO 400, SOOC

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And this next photo makes me laugh... because as this was snapped, I was screaming like a girl and trying to avoid being hit by his skateboard!! ;) I took a series of shots of him on that rail you see in the background and he nearly fell. The skateboard shot towards me and evidentally it was pretty funny to my kid!

(this was taken on the sports setting... the last shot in a series of 4 photos)

Photo A Day ~ 11 Jan

Just a quick shot of my goofball 4-year-old trying his best to mess up my bed within minutes of me making it!

Canon dRebel XT, kit lens

ss 1/60, f 5.0, ISO 400, SOOC

Photo A Day ~ 10 Jan

We took my parents to the airport Wednesday... and while they were getting checked in the boys grabbed some McDonald's. I rarely have the chance to get them all in one candid photo. It's amazing to see those three together... they are just SO different!

Canon dRebel XT, kit lens - ss 1/30, f 5.6, ISO 400,

PSE4: brightened a little and cropped to cut out some other airport dwellers!

Taking Mom and Dad to the airport was really hard... but it was a nice trip. Originally I had planned to go alone to take them to Narita... right up to the time to leave! I could tell my parents didn't want to say good-bye to the boys and then ride a bus for 2 hours to get to the airport. I also didn't want to ride home by myself after saying good-bye to them at the airport. Less than an hour before we had to catch the shuttle bus to Narita Airport, I made a quick trip over to the transportation office and purchased tickets for the three boys!

Having my parents here helped me so much with Tom's deployment. I had their visit to look forward to when he left, and it was wonderful to see them with the boys. Noah had an amazing time playing with Grammy and Papa! I miss them already... and now all I can do is count down the days until Tom comes home. I mean, I'm ok... there's just nothing big coming up to keep my mind off of it. The everyday stuff keeps me busy, but when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet...

Photo A Day ~ 9 Jan

My parents leave tomorrow so I took my mom out for some last minute shopping today. On the way back home my mom wanted to stop off and get some pictures of some stuff on the base. I stopped at the round-about circle so my mom could get some photos of the plane in the middle... and I read the memorial granite slab near it for the very first time! It is a memorial to John F. Kennedy put up by the Japanese workers of Yokota Air Base in 1983. As I was looking through the camera, I noticed I could see my reflection... and I just thought it was kinda cool!

Canon dRebel XT, kit lens, ss 1/80, f. 9.0, ISO 400