I cried this weekend

When I brought in the mail on Saturday, I found a note from my cousin who administered my favorite aunt's estate over a year ago. Enclosed in the note was a check for me that was the result of finding some extra money in a CD of my aunt's. In the note, she wrote "perhaps you can buy something special that will bring you fond memories of Dinny every time you look at it". Tears immediately sprung in my eyes and I couldn't even finish reading the note!

Of course, I am thrilled to receive unexpected money but what could I buy that would bring back memories. My aunt was a person who loved life and was thrilled with everything she saw. She was always a very fashionably dressed person so maybe I should think of something fashionable to buy.

Cemetary photos

Sunday, I visited a large cemetary to take photos. I was pretty amazed at the number of old gravestones on the property especially, since Phoenix is not a very old city. I had no idea this graveyard had been there so long.

I spent most of my time in the older portion of the cemetary and there was nobody in that particular area so it was a good time to take shots and it was also very peaceful.

Even though our photography assignment this week was not to do fill flash photos, I got one good example and I now see the purpose in using this technique. The first photo below shows an example not using the fill flash. You can see heavy shadowing especially on the statue's face.

Below, is the same statue but using a fill flash. See the difference? The statue's face is much clearer.

The tombstone below was one of the more sad one ones. Two twin girls born on the same day (of course) and died on the same day. Apparently, recently visited by a loved one.

Another sad one and an old one.

My new photography hobby could land me in the poor house

My new hobby has so far cost me several hundred dollars and there appears to be no end in sight. I guess I should have figured that photography, like all hobbies, is going to become extremely expensive if I let it but I never imagined that software could cost $700 or that a tripod could cost $700. Just recently, I heard one of my classmates say that one of his lenses cost $800! Fortunately, I also understand from another classmate that if you become pretty good with your camera, you can forget about all the other outrageous expenses associated with it. This particular person, has a consumer camera (not a fancy SLR) and her work is astonishing. She does a lot of abstract and artistic photography and she is really good at it.

I do plan on investing in a telephoto lens and a macro lens. I will also buy the Photoshop CS3 softwar because even though it has a sticker price of $700, I can buy it for $285 because I am an enrolled student. That is a really good deal!!!

Another day at the dog park

Went to the dog park Sunday morning to let the dogs romp. There was a young English Pointer that wanted nothing more than to play with someone. He was all over the place in search of a pal. Eventually, he found a discarded dog frisbee that he picked up hoping to tempt others to be his friend. I took several photos of him. The poor guy. I hope he found someone that could give him a run for his money.

An Expedition to the Desert Botanical Gardens

Saturday, our photography class took a field trip to the Desert Botanical Gardens to take photos of the Monarch butterfly expedition. While it was fun and a nice day to be outside, I would much rather be taking photos of hummingbirds. The same sort of butterflys get boring after awhile and when you have seen one Monarch, you have probably seen them all. Anyway, I took over 100 photos of butterflys and probably only 5 were in anyway decent. I have posted some of the better ones here.

Portrait of a Dog

Our photography assignment last week was to go out and take photos using the flash. Our built in flash was set at one or two stops under and we were to go out at high noon and take some shots. I took several in downtown Phoenix during my lunch hour but the subjects I chose did not show much difference using flash versus using without flash. Anyway, I decided to take some more around the neighborhood on Sunday but started in my back yard. My dog Roscoe kept getting in the way so I decided ok, if he's so interested in being in the picture then HE will be the PICTURE. Below, are several photos I took of him with the flash on. He turned out to be an excellent subject.

Diamondbacks

When I took this photo of a banner on City Hall, I was sure that the Diamondbacks would win at least one game against the Rockies. So far, they have not. Hope springs eternal.

Photography class

Last week, our photography assignment was to take some framing shots. Kind of hard to find interesting subjects that are framed by something else but I came up with a few things that I have posted here. The three photos above were taken in Ponderosa Park, Prescott. Tom suggested two of the pictures and I'm glad he did. He has a much better eye for photography than I do. He would be a whiz at photos, I'm sure.

I think this would qualify as framing as the grave with the angel behind it is framed by the monument to the right. I don't think Arizona has the most interesting cemetaries in which to take photos of. Not like those found back east anyway.

We have a Ponderosa Pine growing through the roof and floor of our cabin (the back porch) and I thought it would be an appropriate framing picture

Fortunately for me, so many of the homes on Mt. Vernon street are framed by trees.

Being put on hold

Today, I was put on hold on the telephone for about four minutes but instead of becoming irate, I was just the opposite all due to the fact that they were playing this Louis Armstrong number.

Finally!! Flowers to photograph

Here in the desolate desert of Phoenix, the flowers are nowhere to be seen...yet. But, Prescott had some flowers that I was able to photograph and here they are (just don't ask me what anything is): A wildflower growing near my neighbor's yard.

A close up of the same.

A super-macro of the same. Kind of artsy if I do say so myself

A rose at the Sharlot Hall Museum

A multi-colored rose that comes complete with a ladybug

A nice salmon colored rose