Week 11 - Spring

Well Phil lied and it's been very hard to think Spring when it's been freezing, snowing and everything is still BROWN.  I did manage to capture a sure sign of Spring with this beautiful Robin in my neighbor's Birch Tree.

A Robin Redbreast in cage,
puts all Heaven in a rage
~William Blake

Week 10 - Depth of Field

So hard to shoot when everything is so dead and brown.  But thanks to a bit of creativity in the garden, this shoot from my Butterfly Bush offered up some great DoF and colors!

Without inspiration the best powers of the mind remain dormant, they are a fuel in us which needs to be ignited with sparks ~ Johann Gottfried Von Herder

Week 9 - Landscape

This time of year, there is not a lot to look out.  It's dead, brown and lifeless.  So when the challenge prompt for week 9 came up, I wished I lived in Hawaii.  I asked around and my dear friend Maureen pointed me towards a bit of land that at least was building free.

It was cold.  It was flurrying and this was the result.

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show ~ Andrew Wyeth

ABC Photo Challenge

I spent my first 26 days of February  involved in an ABC Photo Challenge sponsored by Levi Moore on Google +.  Never did one but it was fun and I got some great shots throughout the month.  I helped me think outside of the box and I got to view work by other photographers that was simply amazing.

One photographer did the challenge with all food, another with his sax and others with games.  It was truly inspiring to see all the creativity with each letter.  I think the next time one of these comes up, I will pick a theme.

This is one of my favorite shots from the month and you can find the rest of the shots in my Google + ABC Challenge album just by following this link....

Samantha's ABC Challenge 2013

Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me!!

Week 8

The prompt for Week 8 was Other Photographers.  I don't know many true photographers that are local to me and the one I do know, yeah, she took off on vacation.  I was asked by two friends to speak at their Girl Scout meeting about what I do as a photographer.

I share with the girls the different type of camera's I use.  I even had them look at some photos and see if they could tell which one I used to take the photo (cell phone, point and shoot, dSLR, etc).  I talked about being creative, keeping your eyes open as you don't know when a photo op will present itself.  Answered questions and talked about some of the photo challenges I am involved in and how they keep me on my toes and always thinking!

Then I got them all together and told them to give me their BEST photographer pose and this is what the final result was!  I can't wait to join them in April as we all do the same photo challenge.

Thank you GS Troop 54315, you were awesome!

When people ask me what equipment I use - I tell them my eyes
~Anonymous

Week 7  - Shadows

Some weeks I feel it and some weeks I don't.  With not a lot of sun and tons to do, getting out to capture shadows was a real challenge.  It came down to the final hours and I spotted a favorite candle holder and I was pretty sure it was going to give me some Shadow Magic!

I was not disappointed....Partylite to the rescue.  Sometimes it's easier to keep things simple.

If you don't have any shadows, you're not in the light.
~Lady GaGa

Treasure Hunt - February

This weeks challenge was a self portrait in Black and White that showed Joy and Happiness.  Now, those of you that know me well know I don't like being in a photo and I like self portraits even more.  I did not want to "fake" it so I had to find something that truly made me happy.

Baseball was the key and with the nice weather we had this weekend, Dan and I headed down to PNC Park to do the shots.  I wanted the ballpark entrance in the background and Dan was my trigger man.  I set up the shot on the tripod and got in the photo and Dan was there to hit the remote!

We took about 2 dozen shots till I got something I didn't hate....LOL

The only thing fair in life, is a ball hit between first and third.