10,000 Pictures Later...

And I'm still going strong with my D600.  Yes, I rolled over my camera.  Only 9 months young!  I broke my own record.  My D7000 took a little over 12 months.  My D40 took almost two years.  What does that tell me?  I'm taking more pictures than ever.  I'm pushing my skills, expanding my knowledge, and well...I just enjoy taking pictures.  I take pictures of everything that peak's my interest or creativity.

I naturally see lots of leading lines, colors, textures, contrast, and mood.  I take pictures of things or objects that pop out at me.  I take pictures to document what I'm doing.  It could be a hobby like knitting.  I take pictures of my yarn, my garment, or work in progress to share with my fellow knitters.

I take pictures to document events.  They could be baptisms, baby dedications, plays, musicals, civil war weekends, wine tastings, or sports.

I take pictures of people.  Weddings, senior portraits and class photos.  I'll also include street photography.

I take pictures of buildings.  Old, new, contemporary, traditional, wood, brick, and/or stone.

I take pictures of flowers and plants.  Mostly flowers.  Bright colors stand out.

I take pictures of food.  I'm a foodie!  I take pictures of what I bake and what I like to eat.  I take pictures when hubby and I are dining out on our date night.  He's well aware of the 10 second "photo pause" after our food server delivers our food at our table.  Snap! Snap!  And yes, we do pray before we eat.

I take vacation pictures.  Reminders of "fun in the sun".

So, here's the 10,000 picture taken with my D600:

Can you see the spider?

I was following a bumble bee in our garden.  He got caught in a web and was trying to break free of the web.  Something caught my eye.  A black widow spider came out!  Unfortunately, I didn't have my zoom on my camera.  I did have my 60mm micro lens, but there was no way I was getting too close to spidey.  I'm sure it would have been a Kodak moment to get closer...like within an inch.  I just couldn't do it....

Oh and I guess I do take pictures of bugs and critters.  Just not too close.

A Chris-Myth Busters Musical...A Picture Taking Event

I am so behind in my photography posts.  It appears I won't be doing my technical posts until closer to Christmas weekend...which is coming up soon!  I'll have a few days off from work and can spend some quality time taking pictures and examples.

In the meantime, I do have pictures from a Christmas musical/play from our church last Saturday.  I was the "designated" photographer and had my space up and front and center.  Picture this...center aisle bull-pen.  The director, the videographer, and I were holed up in the bull-pen.  I thought I would be able to "walk up and down" the bull-pen to get some close-ups and some further back wide-angle shots.  Well...I was able to get a lot of close-ups.  I somehow got stuck in the front as the videographer and the director moved their seats and equipment closer to the center aisle.  I was blocked in.  Not a bad thing.  I had to make do with the 2'x2' area and the tiny kindergarten chair as my seat (so my head wasn't blocking the video camera).  It was all in fun.

I only had time to attend the last quick dress rehearsal they had for that week and took practice pictures (lights and settings).  I didn't have the whole program in my head and ended up being surprised during the actual program.

When the lights were dimmed, my trusty D7k and my gut instincts took over.


To my immediate right, the kids popped up and stood in their chairs and sang:

These cute kids were standing on their tiny chairs: angels, wise men and women, & shepherds
32mm, f4.0, 1/125, ISO 2200

Getting closer...
44mm, f4.5, 1/125, ISO 2200

...and closer
120mm, f5.3, 1/80, ISO 3200

The actual play took place over towards the center and to my right:

26mm, f3.8, 1/125, ISO 3200

This was a very cute moment during the musical:

18mm, f3.5, 1/50, ISO 3200

Check out the shadow in the background:

22mm, f3.8, 1/60, ISO 3200

Of course, the kids enjoyed the spotlight:

18mm, f3.5, 1/100, ISO 3200

I took a picture of the poster the night before:

24mm, f3.8, 1/80, ISO 3200

And after the musical/play, the cast members posed for me:  

18mm, f3.5, 1/125, ISO 2800

The director with his flashlight (rehearsals):

Lights out!
40mm, f4.5, 1/125, ISO 560

A beautiful performance during rehearsals:

18mm, f3.5, 1/40, ISO 3200

I didn't have too much difficulty with the lighting and getting the shots I wanted.  I left my camera on P-mode.  My exposure was set to 0 (zero).  Normally I would bump the exposure up or down slightly, but the spotlights were bright enough to leave it at 0.  The metering mode I use mostly is center-weighted average.  I also primarily use single focus point which allows me to move the focus point around before taking a picture.

I've tried using the multiple focus points (e.g. d9, d21, d39, and auto) and had frustrating results.  I stick with single (e.g. s) point  and I can control where the lens should focus.

Even though I had my external SB-600 flash with me, I did not have to use it at all.

I took 200+ pictures during the musical/play and had only a handful that were not useable.  Not bad, huh?

Sunshine!

Early this afternoon, the dark gray clouds parted and the sun decided to come out.  It seemed like for days  we were living in cycles of of drenching rain, thunder, and dark gray skies.  You couldn't even see a break in the clouds.  I can't remember the last time I saw the blue sky.  It's been a bit depressing around my neck of the woods.  Today, the county schools were closed due to flooded roads.  A rare event especially when school started on Tuesday.  

There have been pictures of the area where water was everywhere.  A picture that caught my eye was a parking lot flooded with water.  Some cars were under water...I could see only the flat roofs of the cars.

The last remnants of tropical storm Lee had vanished.  Now, we have this:

26mm, f11, 1/500, ISO 100

The 12+ inches of rain was much needed here.  It feels good to be outdoors and in the sunshine.  It feels good to get some vitamin D.

Blueberry

That's the color I see when I look at my hubby's truck.  After taking several shots at different angles, I saw variations of the blueberry color.  Is that possible?  Yes, of course!  I tend to see different shades/hues within a single color.

200mm, f3.5, 1/125, ISO 110

Speaking of blueberries, that's what I currently have in my oatmeal for breakfast.

Local Farm Market

A quick post for today about a local farmer's market that hubby and I went to visit last week.  Buckland Farm Market.  We bought some peaches, sweet corn on the cob, watermelon, and sweet cantaloupes.  

Naturally, I have a sweet tooth and hung around the sugar aisle:

Look at all the beautiful colors!

Inside their bake shop

There's an onsite bakery.  More baked goods on display

Refreshment area.  Notice the metal wash tub...

...where these little baby chicks were keeping warm

They carried several different brands of honey, jams, jellies, salsas, sauces, snacks, and candies local to the area as well as produce from the local farmers.

The Sky...Remnants of Irene

Last night and into the early morning, the wind and rain pelted against the house.  Every now and then I would wake up for a few seconds and then fall back asleep.  We were fortunate that Hurricane Irene gave us a good dousing of the much needed rain.

This morning, I looked up into the sky and saw some beautiful cloud formations.  They were low clouds that were still swirling in a counter-clockwise rotation.  Remnants of Irene.  It was 9am when I took these pictures and the wind was still blowing a nice cool breeze around me.

32mm, f16, 1/640, ISO 100

29mm, f18, 1/800, ISO 100

27mm, f18, 1/800, ISO 100

The sun is out and warming up a new day.

Bees a Buzzin'

I was looking for an opportunity to take some pictures and I stumbled upon these bees out in our garden.  Though not as hard as taking pictures of hummingbirds, bees still are a challenge.  They like to move around and fast.  Just when I think I've got the perfect picture, they move on to another flower.  A challenging task is trying to take picture while they are in flight.

200mm, f5.6, 1/1000 ISO 100

200mm, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 100

200mm, f5.6, 1/1250, ISO 100

200mm, f5.6, 1/800, ISO 100

200mm, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 100

200, f5.6, 1/500, ISO 100

The phlox and daylilies are the last reminders that summer is coming to a close and the next season is right around the corner.

A Quick Trip Back Home

Darling Hubby and I were heading out to the beach this afternoon.  After getting through traffic on the beltway in Maryland, I received a call from the hotel we were planning on staying at the beach.  There was a mandatory evacuation in place and they would refund our deposit plus a night's stay.  We were both happy to get back our money.  At the same time, we were both sad not to be able to get away to the beach for even a day just to enjoy a sunny day and a reminder of God's beautiful creations.  

We were approaching Annapolis and decided to stop and take a breather and figure out what to do next.  My hubby could see my mind was going a mile a minute wondering where should we go for the weekend.  We dined on some halibut and tilapia and had a flour-less chocolate cake for dessert.  After feeling a bit more relaxed, we decided to just head back home.  As were heading back to our car we both looked up at the sky and saw this magnificent beauty:  

They sky over Annapolis
(18mm, f3.5, 1/125, ISO 560)

What a way to end the evening.  A reminder to stop and enjoy your surroundings.  

Another Low Light Picture

My hubby loves tomatoes.  I went to the our local farmer's market and came back with these...beef steak tomatoes.  It's only natural I take a quick picture of these beauties:

50mm, f/8.0, 1/80, exp -0.67, ISO 6400

Who Did I See?

Over three of the four days during the commemoration, I kept going back to the Manassas Museum camp site.  It just seemed really interesting there.  A comfortable place to visit.  

Here are a few that I found:

Maj Charles Pickett

General Grant

Abe Lincoln

Root Beer Anyone?

Before I left Camp Manassas, I decided to stop at this refreshment stand.

Very colorful stand

One of the signage at the stand

There were several kegs holding homemade cold refreshments.  Immediately, I was drawn to the bottles:

Keg of wonderful refreshment

You pick the bottle and then your pick your refreshment (root beer, cherry fizz, or lemonade):

Cool looking bottles and great colors!

I took home a blue bottle filled with some fantastic root beer for my hubby.

Charge!!!!!

This morning, I headed out to another location near Old Town Manassas where other soldiers were camping out:  Camp Manassas located near the grounds of the Jennie Dean school.  I wandered out to a field to take pictures of some cannons.  In a distance I saw a group of riders who were in formation.  I heard the bugle and then "Charge!"  I snapped a couple of shots and realized they were coming at me.  A few seconds after this picture was taken, I almost stumbled.  I wasn't sure if they were going to stop in time.  They did...in unison about 10 feet away from me.  My heart was racing.

There were many vendors from the Civil War era:

Coon River - sold custom made uniforms

Working on a leather belt at Heritage Leather

Using drop spindles and carded roving (fiber) to create twisted yarn

The yarn wool yarn was beautiful!

The wool shop

A funny sign that caught my attention

Getting ready for their charge...notice the Bugler in the back middle

Young and old they did a great job

Cannon and artillery

Wagon used for transporting the injured

Basic Tools

Toys and candies

Shopping in the Emporium

Variety of woolens and accessories at the Emporium

More accessories at the Emporium

It was a mostly cloudy day and the thick humidity stuck around.  I endured.  There was so much activity going on at this site and so many pictures were taken.

I left my camera on "0" exposure and I thought it did a pretty good job.  The clouds helped a lot.  I used my 18-200mm lens as I knew I would be zooming in and out a lot and couldn't rely on my feet to move fast enough.

As I look back on the last few days of my photog experience, I should have gone out in the late evening to take night time shots of the camp sites with their candles glowing.  Hmmm...there is another commemorative event coming up next month...the Second Battle of Bull Run/Manassas.