Archive for March, 2010

Didn’t manage to get out of work when it was still sunny outside so I made a quick stop along the way home and snapped a few shots.  Very little light to work with and no tripod to steady things.  I had hoped to catch a rugby game but due to the rain it was canceled.

Babbling Brook

At lunch today I saw this BRP Can-Am Spyder motorcycle in the parking lot.   The all black styling caught my eye and I plunked off a few shots mostly thinking they would be the backup photo if I didn’t find something else.

BRP Can-Am Spyder

Then on the way home I stopped by a pony baseball game and took a few shots thinking I had something nice.  As you can see from the lack of photo below they all ended up on the editing room floor bit bucket.  Will have to try that again some day soon.

Today after a lovely lunch date with Rebecca I snapped a few photos of silk flowers in a flower pot outside of Sam’s Club.  I wasn’t all that thrilled with the results when I reviewed them in the camera and hoped I would find something else.  Well as the image shows below, I didn’t find something else.

I did take the camera out with me when I went roller blading this evening and I guess I  just wasn’t focused enough as I only snapped a few images and nothing better than the plastic flowers.  Pretty bottom of the barrel stuff.

This blog is turning into the flower-of-the-day blog and that is not what I envisioned when I started it.

Plastic Flower

Daffodils are a really great flower.  You dig up the soil, dump in a bunch of bulbs and ignore them and they come up year after year just as colorful and as majestic as the year before.  In addition to being a low maintence flower they are also the first obvious signs of spring as they come up early and stay blooming for a long time.

I thought I had a shot earlier in the day but when  I looked at them,  I just wasn’t happy.  Out in the dark I went just with the camera and the built in speedlight.  I have not used the camera much in the dark and it was a pretty good  learning experience how it behaves and focuses in extremely low light.

Daffodils

The California Poppy is a remarkable plant.  I caught these poppies just as the sun was going behind some clouds and the rain was starting up.  Definitely not as is impressive as the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve but still a pretty sight.

California Poppy

Rebecca and I went to Reno for her Birthday…well we ended up there after going  for a drive.  Saw this puppy just enjoying the mild almost spring air.

Going for a drive

This was my first introduction to rugby.  Even after shooting most of a game and reading up on it on wikipedia I’m still not convinced I understand the game well enough to describe how one would play it.  It is obviously a very physical game.

I think below is one of the better shots of the day even though it is not a picture of my nephew Mathew who was playing and was my reason for shooting the game.

Rugby

But I might get into trouble with my little Sister if I don’t show her little 6’5″ boy as well:

Mathew trying to avoid being tackled

After the game one of the players from the opposing team came up and asked if I had a website.  Since I was asked I figured I would post a pile of the outtakes here in case someone wishes to have a copy. My usual rules of copyright etiquette apply here.

Here is the album:   Rugby Photo Album

Please leave a comment or email [email protected] if you wish to get the full resolution image.  The full resolution images won’t have the clear text watermark.  It will mostly likely be free unless you are planning on making a load of money with it.

Before I get to the question of the day I would like to thank our sponsor.   Eileen gave a birthday party for my wife.  In addition to being a simi-retired nurse she is also a Mercy Corps volunteer and is volunteering a year at MaryHouse.

Eileen singing Happy Birthday

And now the question:

What is the thing to the  left of the cutting  board?  This is in an older Sacramento house.  The flat long board is obviously a cutting board but what is the 2×4 inch square board?  It has never been used.

What is the board?

Not sure I captured the exact scene in this photo but it still shows how just how beautiful a day it was.  These Oak trees are outside a strip mall (link to Google maps showing location) and for whatever reason they somehow always strike me as being out of place.

Didn’t manage to grab a shot until I got home from work and by then the sun had gone down.  Went for a walk in the dark  and managed to find someone out with her dogs.  As I said before I never a met a stranger with a dog who wasn’t nice.   In situations like this it would have a been nice to still have some daylight left.  The built in speedlight just doesn’t do a great job of lighting this sort of scene where I can’t choose the background.

Jill with Clara and Fritz