Time On My Hands

With no work and apparently a lack of better things to do with my time, I sifted through some photos and discovered these ones that I had never edited due to the whole computer crash and loss of Photoshop. I figured that I would do some editing. It was fun for me to see how the photos changed. And because I'M interesting in it, shouldn't you be too? Check out the original SOOC shots here.

The Great Salt Lake AGAIN!

My friend wanted to take pictures out at the Great Salt Lake. She thought I could teach her something about photography. Ha ha! :)  It was still fun.

It was also interesting at least being back there during the daylight (if you call sunset time "day") after so recently experiencing it at night.  Almost the EXACT same spot as before. Different focus/angles.

Practically the Coolest Thing EVER!

So let's just start off by saying that I have amazing friends that share ideas and knowledge with me. In this case, Adam was the teacher. He didn't seem to mind, or didn't let on that it bothered him, that I knew next to nothing about the technicalities of camera use or photography. He just shared and shared and shared! (All very interesting stuff)

I've seen Adam's pictures like these that he has done previously. I always gave him a hard time that he must have taken the photos during the day. I knew that wasn't the case, but it's more fun to tease. 

Wait, let's back up. Did you hear that? Do you think you didn't really read that? These photos weren't taken during the day.

THESE  PHOTOS WERE TAKEN AT NIGHT!

THAT IS THE MOON LIGHTING UP THE LANDSCAPE NOT THE SUN!

I took these photos and I still look at them and can hardly believe it. So crazy to me. Basically, it was all about tripod use and opening my shutter for long periods of time to let lots of light come in. It's practically the coolest thing ever! (thus my title) 

It was fun just experimenting. You can tell that the shutter was open for a long time due to the lighting that just glows, or in other cases of the cars driving by and you see a line of their tail lights. Or even the planes I caught flying overhead that now look like shooting stars.

And then we played around with other aspects. I believe Adam called it ghosting. He would stand in the frame for part of the time the shutter was open and then move out.

Then he pulled out his cell phone to create this lighting while attempting to move around quickly so he wasn't caught in the same place long enough to be photographed.

The bugs were out and biting and since they preferred Adam over me, I said we could wrap up our session and call it good after these last shots of the train. (I know there have already been plenty to look at, but at least you didn't have to get bitten by bugs to see them!)

 

There's always so much to learn from everyone! Thanks Adam!

My 4x6 problem

I've realized recently that I have a real problem with taking most of my photos vertically (meaning 4x6, meaning it's width is shorter than it's length). I don't know why exactly, but there must be something about how I can arrange my subject in the shot vertically better than horizontally. But no matter the angle, Baby Miley is adorable!

Here's the one shot of the set that isn't vertical. Better enjoy it while it lasts!

50 mm

We went to an outdoor movie at the capital and I brought my camera. It seemed to me that most of the photos I had shot recently were all with my p&s and I missed my DSLR. It felt so good to use it again. I also used my 50 mm for the day. I usually have my zoom lens on because, as the name implies, it zooms (duh) which sometimes makes shots more accessible, but ever time I use my 50 mm I remember it is my first love....well, as far as camera lenses go. Yay for my 50 mm!

Kittin'

Okay, so it's really kitten, but I couldn't help myself after the last couple of posts. We've now had Fui Vakapuna for 2 1/2 months now and we just love him! We just call him Fui for short.  Arnell tradition (my family) is to name our pets after BYU athletes. Jeremy let me continue the tradition. (Not to mention that Jeremy was extremely nice to let me get one considering he would rather have his dog at our house, but I've already discussed that here.) These photos are not recent and even looking at them now makes me miss those days when he was so tiny, but it is fun to see him grow too. 

Fui loves me. I tell Jeremy that Fui loves him too, but he shows it in different ways. Anyone else already feel like I'm posting something about our child. To continue the trend, here are some facts about Fui:

*My favorite thing about Fui is how he loves to cuddle right up in my neck by laying on my chest. We will sleep like this.
*Fui loves to play. He chases balls, strings, socks, plastic bags, flies, twist ties, fingers, toes.
*He loves to tear up tissues. He finds most of his tissues to play with by jumping in the garbage can and fishing out used ones. Gross. I know.
*He can jump so high!
*He starts out playing really nice by not using his claws until he gets really into and then I come away with wounds.
*Going outside in the back is one of his new favorite things. He won't wander around the entire yard, just the part against the house and under the deck. He hates coming back in again.
*He is curious about going outside in the front, but is too scared of everything that is out there.
*He loves running loose in our unfinished basement.
*He purrs and purrs and purrs.

I sure do love him!

Hikin'

(Anyone notice a theme for today yet? Don't ask me how I suddenly got motivated for more postin'.)

Ensign Peak (Maybe based on today's theme I should call it Ensi'n Peak). It's an easy hike. That's good. It means I have a place to go when I get in the mood to do something outdoors but I don't have much time.  Thus, here's my brief post of hikin'

(our house is somewhere out there in this view)

Shootin'

I like to go shootin'. I pretty much always go with my friend Louise. She is my shootin' buddy. (We've also been muddin'.) I'm wearing my shootin' glasses that my friend Louise gave me the first time we went shootin'. Yes, they are my BYU sunglasses. They are for lookin' out of to see my targets that I'm shootin'.

Today's post is brought to you by the missing "g".  Because every "ing" should lose it's "g".

Cruisin'

I've been putting posting off. Of anything and everything. I'm lacking motivation. So here is my lacked-motivation-post. 

Cruisin' in the Caribbean 2010! The adventure was more fun than the pictures portray! (We went with Jeremy's brother and his wife, Larry and Stephanie respectively. You may see them in pictures too.)

Here I am upon departure. I know I look excited.

Jeremy looks a little more excited at least. Though the smile is probably just to humor me and the camera.

I don't swim on ships. It must be a disease. Symptoms? Two cruises I have been on. Two cruises I have failed to don a bathing suit and take a dip in the swimming pools on board. (Neither did I get in with other clothes on nor nude.)  I'm sure it's a fun part of the trip. Especially when they have a water slide! We meant to go. Best of intentions. All thought, no action. Here's a picture of the possibility that could have been.

But I did participate in many cruise ship adventures besides swimming. This was a dance class. I danced with Larry while Jeremy and Stephanie sat in the audience and watched. Pretty lame of them right? :)

I tried sushi for my first time. It was free. (Well, besides the cost of the cruise itself.) I'll try a lot of things when it's free. It's hard to pass up such a great deal! One of the three I tried was okay. Oh wait, hold up, I tried two of them. One of them was okay. I know I said I'd try free things, but one of those was gross enough looking at it that eating it wasn't an option.

Another food I was willing to try based on it's "free-ness." Escargot. We got two plates for our table in the dining room. Might as well, right?

Verdict--The butter/garlic sauce they drench it in is fine. It's the rubberiness of the creepy crawling thing that really does me in. Thank goodness I will not be having a craving for this expensive dish at a later time when it's not free.

Pineapple Fanta. Jeremy claims it is the best. Made with that real sugary (or Lesli, "surgar--Rrrr matey!") goodness, not our imitation grossness of high fructose corn syrup. Honestly I couldn't tell the difference, but Jeremy loved it and that's what matters, which is why I let him drink half of mine. Aren't I a good, thoughtful wife? ;)

We went snorkeling a lot. That's all Larry wanted to do. Well, that and eat. I don't currently have any of us snorkeling so you'll have to miss out on seeing our first stop in the Cayman Islands. We snorkeled 3 out of 4 ports. Our second stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We swam with the dolphins! What an exciting, once in a lifetime adventure! Sorry we didn't pay the $30 per picture or the $70 DVD price to show you proof of us in the water with the dolphins. Here's a picture I took before we went in. It's all you'll get. After we were done, we went snorkeling in that water on the other side of those rocks.

Our ship. Larry would say over and over how blue the water was. We would tease him. A lot. But it was true. It was....or is. (Oh, and Jeremy didn't really want to have his picture taken with the boat, but I made him because it makes it oh so much more interesting. Don't you think? Be sure to tell him that.)

Roatan, Honduras. My favorite stop!

We went here...

for some more snorkeling, of course.  The water, once again, was very blue, but clearer here than other places. The beach was such a white sand. We saw SO MANY FISH!! We even saw a barracuda in two snorkeling stops.

Last stop was Belize visiting Xunantunich. I've always wanted to go to Mayan Ruins so this was cool. Of course, since it is something I've always wanted to do, this is where I got sick. I must have been seriously dehydrated. I managed to down 2 1/2 bottles of water to keep from passing out so I could make it through the ruins. I did it! I traded Jeremy the camera for his bottle of water, so most pictures at this stop were taken by him.

 (one of those bottles of water)

This is one view from on top. That's Guatemala over there in the distance. Too bad they don't have a sign marking it, but I guess I can still say I've seen the country.

Of course we were greeted every night by a new towel animal. We figured this had to be the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. Anyone else have a guess?

And, of course, I'm a sucker for sunsets, so here are a few, including one of our group taken by someone else who didn't know how to use my P&S camera so you can see us, but not the sunset.

There you have it! In all it's "basic-ness". Can't wait for the next one (cruise). But to where will it be?

Hmmm........