336/365 - Jim - Broken Arm

( f/5 50mm 1/30 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

My mother showed up today to babysit and told us her tragic story. She was walking out to her car this morning and was looking the other way when out of nowhere a pile of mulch jumped in front of her and caused her to trip to the ground. Everything she was carrying went flying and she tried to catch herself with her right arm. Little did she know it was not up for such responsibility. She complained all morning how she couldn't move it and had no strength in it. We told her to go to the doctor and get it looked at. She tried every excuse not to go, but finally went. They took some x-rays and found out she had a radial head fracture. So she came back with a cast and sling. I later took her to Giant Eagle Pharmacy to pick up her pain killers. As you can see, she didn't want me to take her picture. There is nothing technical about this photo. I just wanted it on here for memories :) I broke my arm when I was in 4th grade and all my mother cared about was whether I had clean underwear on when I went to the hospital. I finally had my chance to get her back.

335/365 - Jim - Unknown Plant

( f/3.2 50mm 1/400 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Can someone tell me what this plant is? It has these orange flowers all over it and the seed pods hang down and spring or explode when you squeeze them. Since I was a kid, I have always loved to find the largest seed to squeeze and let explode. I'm not sure how I never knew what this plant was called. Maybe I actually have been told and have since forgot and when I hear it, I'll say "Oh yeah!".

334/365 - Jim - Hide and Seek

( f/2.8 70mm 1/500 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Jameson and I walked around the yard before the sun set. The light was hitting these trees really nicely, so I told Jameson to go hide behind one and peek out at me. He thought it was pretty fun. I used a fill flash to give it a little more even exposure, but it kind of over exposed instead, so I fixed some of that in Lightroom.

333/365 - Jim - S'more

( f/9 70mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

I asked my mother what I should take a photo of today before she drove home. She didn't have any answer at the time, but had an hour to think about it. So she called me and said to take a picture of a S'more. I said that was a good idea and that I could eat it afterwards. Yum. I used a creme brulee torch to toast the marshmallow, which I held on a toothpick. By the time I finally got to eat it, it was cold and not that great. At least not near as good as it looks.

332/365 - Jim - Parabolas

( f/22 10.5mm over 100 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

I didn't know what to photograph tonight, so I looked at my email and found an article on fun light painting. I cut a piece of fishing line and tied it to an LED flashlight. Then tied the other end to the ceiling and used my fisheye lens directly below it. A good toss of the flashlight and then I opened the shutter with the cable release and let it go for at least a minute and a half. I think I would have gotten some better results with a rope that would go back to center faster than what fishing line did, but some of them turned out alright. Here are the best four.

331/365 - Jim - What is that thing...

( 105mm 1/60 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

More macros to guess. This time I included some easy and some very difficult. So let me know what you think they are and I'll let you know if you are right. I will be impressed if they are all solved.

330/365 - Jim - Another Moth

( f/5.6 50mm 1/250 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Today was almost a repeat of yesterday where I took Jameson outside to play. This time I just wondered around the yard and kept my eyes open for anything interesting. This moth landed near where I was standing, so I took the opportunity to get really close. I cropped and added vignette in Lightroom.

329/365 - Jim - Grass Seed

( f/1.8 50mm 1/8000 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Jameson and I were playing in the back yard today. The grass in our mini garden grew so high it has seeds. I had Jameson hold one up so I could get a picture of it and have him all blurry in the background. He was less than cooperative as 2 year old boys tend to be. I was able to get him to hold it up, but he waved it around so much and I just got lucky with this shot. At 1/8000 of a second shutter, it froze like a deer in headlights. I got quite a few good shots while the sun was setting. It makes me wonder why I bother to shoot at any other time of day...

328/365 - Jim - American Bald Eagle

( f/3.2 70mm 1/40 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

While on my way home from a birthday party, I stopped when I saw this eagle coming in for a landing. I couldn't believe my eyes, so I got my camera and took a photo of this statue. Did you think it was real? Maybe I fooled some of you... I've only seen one bald eagle in the wild before and it was so far up in the sky that I had to take a photo at 200mm and then zoom into that to be able to tell it was a bald eagle.

328/365 - Shawn - Fireworks Over the Allegheny

( f/4.5 38mm 1/15 sec ISO 1600 Nikon D40x )

This was taken with my first DSLR camera that I sold to Shawn when I upgraded to the D300. It is pretty difficult to take fireworks photos while hand holding the camera, let alone while hand holding on a boat, but he did a pretty good job of it. Here is his poetic description of the night he took this photo. Thanks for the guest post, Shawn.

The green and red navigation lights of all of the boats sway and reflect off of the Allegheny river. If you could look to the left you would see all of the onlookers lined up against the railings of the convention center. If you could feel the air around you it would remind you of laughter, smiling, good times, and hope. Awe speaks into the air with booms and flashes. The river current never stops its incessant tugging at the anchor lines as we lose ourselves in the flow of the Allegheny. The bridges pull like arms holding us in an embrace of the city of Pittsburgh. My hand holds that of one so close to me and we both squeeze all the more tightly. Our souls twist together on this night when the sky has become so bright in the darkness. Dreams fill the mind as we worry about naught and stare at the overhead spectacle with the bright eyes of children.

327/365 - Jim - Jamaican Fish

( f/16 35mm 1/160 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

We got this wooden fish in Jamaica after we got married there a little over 6 years ago. It has been sitting on a speaker in our living room for a long time and I never thought to photograph it until now. Picturing it in my head, I just thought I would put it on a white background and that would be it. Then I thought it would be cool to have bubbles in the air around it. I didn't bother with that though and I didn't want it to be just a plain white background. I found this blue blanket laying on the couch and thought it would be perfect with some ripples. Turned out to be pretty cool and best wooden fish picture I've ever seen :) I sure would like to go back to Jamaica someday...

326/365 - Jim - Beware of Bubble Beard

( f/2.8 48mm 1/60 sec ISO 100 Nikon D300 )

I was just settling down for a nice nap when Carol said I had to come back and see Jameson. So I climbed out of my slumber and got my camera. When I got in the bathroom, there he was with a mohawk and beard. Is it a glimpse into the future? Maybe... I rarely do soft photos, so I thought I would give it a try and then added the white vignette to make it even more soft.

325/365 - Jim - Warhol Portrait

( f/11 105mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

Courtney was reading my mind when she said I should do a Warhol portrait because that was my plan. Warhol did portraits by creating a large silk screen matte and putting that onto canvas, then painting in the areas with over the top colors. In some he also did some outlining of features, which is what I did here. I also applied some textures to give it a canvas look.

324/365 - Jim - Warhol Inspired

( f/11 105mm 1/125 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

After going to the Andy Warhol Museum, I knew I wanted to do some similar art using Photoshop. I raided the cabinets for this can of soup to photograph. I was hoping for some tomato soup, but mushroom is all I could find. I don't even like mushrooms... Anyways, I used Photoshop to do the rest and make it look similar to an Andy Warhol painting. Click here to see the original photo.

323/365 - Jim - Got A Guess?

( f/14 105mm 1/200 sec ISO 200 Nikon D300 )

It's not very difficult. I couldn't figure out what to photograph today, so I grabbed the macro lens and got some close-up shots. You can click here to see the answer.