katydid...practice her macro skillz.

Admittedly, I'm not very good at the macro photography. I tend to not have my focus in the appropriate places & I have little patience for a light breeze (totally reeks havoc with the necessary slow shutter speeds). But I'm trying. Here are some forest shots from Red Rock Regional Park from Memorial Day. I love how this area has all these great hiking areas.

Evidence of my funky focus habits. I should have been focusing on the spider. Instead, the side of the web is in focus.




And, some motion issues. The ladybug is a little fuzzy.


Now some shots I'm proud of. I love the sharp focus going on with the leaf & twig and that the background was appropriately blurred out. And the flower? I love the lighting. It's like the flower is hiding something. And these two photos had very little photoshop'ing. The leaf one had a bit of color popping & the flower I think I left as-is!

katydid...or rather was, taking pictures these past few months

It started with a {plane trip} to Chicago for work. My flight got delayed leaving Chicago, so I really had the *entire* Chicago experience! (I also had deep dish pizza while sitting next to 2 Chicago Bulls players!)

Next? Well, to spend a little quality time with the husband we decided, along with the rest of the DC metro area, to check out the {Cherry Blossom Festival}. I used a new technique- Through the Viewfinder (TTV) where you build a contraption & take a picture with your macro lens thru the viewfinder of an old camera. In my case, a Kodak Duaflex. Hence the scratched, slightly dirty, square images. Tres retro, no?

And then, what did I do? I bought a {house}. Well, my husband and I bought a house. Needless to say, that took up much of my time, what with the searching, fretting, packing, cleaning, shopping for curtains/rugs, and ultimately unpacking.

Hmmm...what came next? Oh, yes! Another work trip! This time to {San Francisco} & I was able to combine it with visiting my friend {Sarah}. She really is the hostess with the mostest! Thanks Sarah! I had some seriously fabulous {wine}. Do you Fume? Or para-surf?

Then just 5 short days after arriving back from San Francisco I went to Pittsburgh for the weekend. And forgot my camera at home!

So, as you can see, I've been a mite-bit busy. Forgive me for the long time a-comin' updates. Tomorrow I'll try to update from the photos I took this weekend.

katydid...have fun with nesties!

I met some fellow Nesties at the Iwo Jima Memorial on Sunday to take pictures. It was sunny until, of course, we started. Then a layer of thin clouds rolled in which tempered the sun and looked really cool! I got a bit obsessed with the sun & back lighting...forgive me. There were also several very cool trees near the memorial...

katydid...have a good birthday.

The best birthdays are when the fall during the weekend so you can celebrate them properly.

We went to the US Botanical Gardens & they were having an orchid exhibit.

A picture from last weekend.

katydid...feel inspired.

More pictures from last weekend! View of my favorie monument: DC WWI.

katydid...fall off the wagon.

And got back on!


I forgot to take a picture a day a few times & then I was "too tired" to take then & then it was official: I had broken my resolution.


But now I'm back! Sort of. I don't want to do the picture a day gig if it makes me dread taking pictures. So, I'm amending the resolution: I do my best to take the pictures, but if I truly don't feel like it, I don't have to.


I headed down to the National Mall today. The weather was nice, so what I felt like I ought to be outside. I'm glad I went. While I was unable to a decent photo of my favorite "monument", the DC WWI Memorial, I got some other good shots that made up for it.


I'm finding I rather like landscape photography. Perhaps it's because of all those period-dramas set in the English countryside I watch?!? Which, by the way, I'm lusting after a vacation to the UK. Anyone want to pay me to go & take photos? ;)






And, finally, my favorite shot of the day:

katydid...survive Vegas.

Last Monday thru Thursday I was in Las Vegas for work. Getting there was...hellacious. We were an hour late leaving, encountered strong headwinds, almost ran out of fuel (so we had to stop in Denver), and experienced 1.5 hours of non-stop & extreme turbulence. The whole trip was 8 hours sitting in the plane seat and was the worst flight of my life.

But, I survived [barely]! Vegas itself wasn't too bad. I'd like to go back when it's slightly warmer to go hiking & try some of the restaurants.

Sunday, Jan. 27th: Batida de frambuesas- milk & raspberries blended with ice. I got these all the time when I was in Costa Rica. !que rico!

Monday: Finally on land! Red Rock Canyon (I call the second picture "Land Before Time")

Tuesday: The Palms. Literally.

Wednesday: Viewing the Casinos

Thursday: I actually forgot to take a picture (forgive me, I was travelling home), but here's another shot from Wed.

Friday: Movie Night! We watched National Treasure at home. And had Pull N' Peel Twizzlers.