Bokeh

NEW POST FINALLY WOOO!!

I feel like it's been a while since I posted, but it's really only been two days. I've been spending all my time on this painting, done in Photoshop. I believe it's CLOSE TO finished. I will throw it up here, just so you all can see it and give me feedback.

Looks better full-size. And her face is pretty cool close-up, too. The background is made up of a bunch of photoshop brushes, because I admittedly got a little lazy and didn't feel like drawing each little blade of grass separately. But the girl is 100% just paintbrush & smudge tool. It was actually lots of fun, but incredibly time-consuming. She doesn't seem to "fit" with her surroundings, but that was intentional.

Yep. Glad that's out of the way. It's due tomorrow morning, so I kind of worked that right down to the last few hours. Typically, those last few hours are my best times to work, but for this project I'm glad I didn't wait too long to get started. If you'd like an explanation of the painting, or any sort of info, just let me know. And 10 points to anyone who can guess who that is, and what her story is (excluding the people who I've already told, or who are in my class. Ha!)

Anywho...Today Brian and I had a nice afternoon lunch at Sully's. Love love love that restaurant. He got a "special" order (wasn't on the menu) and it looked way too good to NOT photograph:

Mmmmm! 'Cept eggs are icky sometimes.

And they had the cafe all nicely decorated for Christmas, complete with a tree and everything! We sat next to the light-bordered window.

68/365: Some nice bokeh for ya there! So pretty!

AND last night I almost went to bed without a photo, again. I was so busy with photoshop that I forgot all about everything else. So, again, before I hopped into bed, I shot what was outside my window:

67/365: Trojan Field through a frosty window. It's sort of cool looking. Or not. Sometimes I just wing it and hope it looks cool. Ha!

AND....For my wonderful cousin, Joni: I'm so sorry I forgot about Too Close Tuesday again! Here's the post for you. It's an easy one.

Good luck!

Busy day tomorrow. Class in the morning, then some classmates and I are going to spend the day in the art studio working on our drawings/paintings. And then it's the double-header basketball game. Pretty excited!

Action

Today has been quite a day. I'm still trying to shake this cold that I've had since last Monday. It seems to be slowly going away, but I'm still getting into some icky coughing fits every night before bed and then again in the mornings. Try to take it easy and stay out of the cold, but walking to and from school multiple times a day probably isn't helping. Oh well...Bring on the hot tea!

Today my photography class had the opportunity to shoot photos at DSU's women's basketball game. The man who does the "official" photos at the games was super generous and let us use his equipment. To sum it up, I thought it was pretty incredible. Definitely something I would love love love to do for Dustin's games. However, the price tag on the equipment is upwards of $1,000...Looks like it will have to wait a few years, along with everything else I want to get. Haha!

We had to take turns with the transmitters (I believe that's what they're called,) so I didn't get a whole lot of good shots. There's a double-header on Thursday, so we will have twice the amount of time to get our photos, and I'm sure less of the class will show up. I'm very excited to keep playing with this type of photography.

Here are some of my shots from today/tonight:

(I'm not sure which one I want to use as today's Photo of the Day...Please help me decide!!)

During class time we met at the field house and three of us (Travis, Jon, and myself) stuck around and practiced with the lighting. Luckily, the men's team was having practice so we had a fun subject to start with. This was one of my very first shots.

DSU Trojans!

Unfortunately, the side of the gym I was on to take photos was our defensive side. So I don't have the best shots of the Lady T's making points and stuff. Ha.

I was in an awkward place on the bleachers, so avoiding people's heads made for some off-center, awkward compositions. Next time, I will definitely be moving around and finding where the best angles are.

One of my favorites, for sure.

So yeah...It was a great learning experience. I just wish I had some sort of an income which allowed me to buy equipment to do this at Dustin's games. This guy had very powerful lights set at each corner of the floor. In some of my photos, it looks almost like they're playing outdoors, because the lighting looks sort of like sunlight. Very exciting stuff. I can't wait til the games on Thursday so I can keep playing.

Oh! Yesterday's photo is very similar to one I did previously. It's quite alright, though. Be expecting more like this, as I love love love the snow!

65/365: Only 300 photos left! Hehe...I can't wait to see what those 300 will look like. Anywho, the snow that fell early Sunday was so perfectly light and flakey. It's my favorite because if you stop through it, it flies out from under your shoes and makes your shoeprint look ginormous. However, it's TERRIBLE for making snowballs.

In other news, I've been spending ALL of my free time (besides updating this) on a digital painting for my Classical Myth & Media class. I've done digital paintings before, but they've always been based on photos, and usually just traced in ArtRage. This time, I'm basically doing it from scratch, and in Photoshop. First time EVER actually painting in Photoshop. It's turning out decades better than I thought it would, so I'm trying to just keep the vibe up and crank it out quickly, but beautifully. I will definitely be posting the finished product on here, so watch for that!

Doing his thing

Spent a few hours yesterday hanging out with Paul, Dan, and Tyler in the studio. Paul was recording some drum tracks for Dan & Tyler's band and he wanted me to get some photos of him "doing his thing." (I just made that up. He never said it...But I know he was thinking it. Hehe) I hadn't been in the new studio yet, so I was pretty excited to see how it all works. So here are a whole bunch of photos from the weekend:

I have some sort of weird love for finding reflections of people in things. One of my favorites, for sure.

Paul "doing his thing"

Dan waiting to play.

Whole bunch of knobs and sliders and things on the soundboard. Paul in the background "doing his thing."

He's good. And even better if you base a drummer's talent on how many sticks they break. =P

It was a pretty great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Dan played the same song over and over and over and over and I don't know how he (or even we) didn't get sick of it. I shot a cool sequence using the continuous release mode on my camera. Might turn it into a GIF for him.

Nate and Cassie stopped by, and Cassie let me try out her 50 mm lens. She had told me about it earlier and I really wanted to get one, and now I really want to even more. The photo below is a quick shot I got with it. Nothing special, but I can definitely see a difference in quality. SO....Since Christmas is on its way...Who wants to buy me this excellent lens?

And since we were on campus and right next door to my favorite building, I tested out some HDR on beautiful Beadle Hall:

64/365: Beadle Hall...May or may not use this for my photo class assignment. Haven't decided yet.

And FINALLY (working backwards,) on Friday Brian and I did some Christmas shopping in Sioux Falls. Now I'm ALL CAUGHT UP, except for Brian's gift. We also ate at our favorite place in Sioux Falls. Who can guess where that is....?

63/365: My favorite photography trick. Hooray for lights!

OK! Now I'm back on track with the photos. I fall behind sometimes with posting. And the special Holiday posts will begin soon. I was going to start last night, but I wasn't in the mood so it wouldn't have turned out the way I am expecting. But they are coming! Enjoy this lazy Sunday!

Vans

62/365

Ollllld shoes. I'd been wearing these nearly every day for the past 3 years, until purchasing a new pair a couple months ago. Unlike most girls, I am NOT addicted to shoes. I remain faithful to the same pair of shoes until they are nearly worn down to nothing (in this case, there was a hole forming in the soles, soaking my socks whenever I walked through water; and the padding in the back was wearing thin, scraping up my achilles when I walked.) These things have been through everything with me. They've taken me places I never thought I would walk, and propelled me into opportunities I never dreamed of. They've also gotten me through tough days and put up with being thrown around in frustration from time to time.

Though I have retired them, I still slip them on every now and then, just for that old awesome feeling of REALLY comfy shoes. =)

Special Holiday post coming tonight/tomorrow. Well, special to me, anyway. Keep an eye out!

Bundled Up

I have 5 followers! What a fun feeling that is. Hehe...

I have something sort of special in my mind for the Christmas season regarding new posts. Once I get everything figured out, I'll get started on those. I can't believe Christmas is only 24 days away! I'm sort of sad, because Brian will be leaving to go back home on the 17th. I can't wait until they day we get to spend the holiday together. I'm still incredibly excited to be home with my family, though. =)

It's started to get cold outside! I think we're in the low 20's to teens now. I realize that in January/February, we'll be battling the below zero temps, but right now these teens feel mighty cold.

So, to show some love for the things that keep me warm on my walks to class, today's photo:

61/365: My hat and scarf. Love love love being bundled up in them.

Top Chef: All-Stars is going to be on soon! I'm such a sucker for competition TV shows. Definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. Going to enjoy some chai tea while watching it tonight.

Too Close Tuesday

Last night I went to bed without taking a photo. Not wanting to get out of my cozy bed, I picked up my phone and shot the first thing I saw: Water/ice on my window. Looks cooler smaller on my phone, but I'll post it anyway.

59/365: ...I suck at life.

Today the ice crystals on my window were super big and pretty. Used them as my photo of the day, of course! A much better photo compared to last night's in the dark. Ha!

60/365: Looks like it could be a Too Close Tuesday, but it's not. Just pretty ice crystals.

However, this one IS Too Close Tuesday:

Just realized it looks very similar to today's photo. I should have chosen a more colorful one for today. Oh well.

Leave a comment with your guess! Good luck!

Makes everything better

Not feeling 100% today. I have a sore throat and a cough and it sort of makes me unable to talk. I am pretty excited to jump in the shower and take some NyQuil and zonk out for the night. Soon, soon. (First, some ice cream with Brian. Ice cream makes everything better.)

I only took one photo yesterday. It was at my dad's request, and it's of my mom scrubbing the kitchen floor. Ha! I think I better keep that off the internet, or she might disown me.

So, instead, I'll throw at you some more pictures from the weekend.

Mmm, taters!! Brycen and I peeled all these (with a little help from Dustin and Brian) ....They ended up being some super delicious mashed potatoes!

Chance, the family dog. He's such a cutie pie.

Dad carving the turkey on Thanksgiving day. I love all the spoons sticking up from the various salads on the table. Sooo much food!

Tuck Tuck Goose. This is the sweetest little boy in the world.

Proof that he's the sweetest little boy in the world. Is there anything more precious than a sleeping child?

Since all the kids stayed overnight, my dad made these Mickey Mouse pancakes for them the next morning. They were quite tasty. (he also made snowmen) ...The kids loved them. So did I. =)

One of the "performances" at the Parade of Lights. They stacked up into two pyramids...Looked super awesome. (I have a picture of it, but there's people in the way. Sad.)