Capture Your 365

Another week…another week of Capture Your 365 photos!

bright background

ISO 800, 50mm, f/4.0, 1/40 sec

Day 243 – Bright Background: We have had a lot of overcast evenings lately and I thought I would try something different for this photo prompt. At first, I was going to photograph the pink clouds as the sun was setting, but them I saw this huge area of sunflowers. The breeze was blowing, so I had to hold the sunflower to keep it from blurring in the photo.

everywhere a sign

ISO 800, 50mm, f/5.0, 1/60 sec

Day 244 – Everywhere a Sign: Birthdays a pretty special days around here! I made this birthday banner a few years ago. We hang it up the night before the person’s birthday, and it usually stays up for days after the special day.

still life

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.5, 1/125 sec

Day 245 – Still Life: Homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade iced coffee…just because

back to school

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.5, 1/80 sec

Day 246 – Back to School: Starting year 15 of homeschooling and my only student this year requested homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I thought I would add homemade smoothies to make breakfast just a little more healthy.

indulge yourself

ISO 200, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/800 sec

Day 247 – Indulge Yourself: One of my favorite places at home is our backyard beach retreat. After lunch on nice afternoons, I will head out there with a homemade iced coffee and a book. It is the perfect way for me to recharge after a busy morning.

on the left

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/1.8, 1/5 sec

Day 249 – On The Left: My son is one creative, musical young man. He was watching some videos from a band called Rend Collective Experiment one evening. After watching the videos, he decided to recreate one of the instruments they were using in the video. Doesn’t it make the perfect prop for this photo prompt?

Did you capture photos and share them on your blog this week? Be sure to let me know if the comments. I would love to visit your blog and see your week capture in photos!

Capture Your 365

Five for you this week!

pink

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/80 sec

Day 229 – Pink: Pink is not my color, blue is. My home is decorated with lots of blue and I have a lot of clothes that are blue. It is hard for me to find pink things around my home. It was getting to the end of day and I remembered that I still needed to capture a photo from my day. A cloud filled evening sky usually has some shades of pink, so I stepped outside and saw this lovely summer evening sky with just a few shades of pink. Perfect!

measured

ISO 100, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec

Day 230 – Measured:Pinterest is a wonderful way for me to store recipes that I want to try (I even have a whole board devoted to recipes I would love to try!) No more piles of clippings from magazines collecting dust in my home. But every now and then, there is a recipe I find that sits on my counter just begging me to give it a try. And since I had just about all of the ingredients at home on this summer day, I decided to make it!

spin

ISO 100, 50mm, f/14, 1/80 sec

Day 233 – Spin: Kelsey and I were meeting a young mom from church at one of our local parks. Since I knew they had swings, I just had to bring my camera along! She wasn’t spinning too quickly, so I knew I didn’t need too fast of a shutter speed to freeze the motion. This was my favorite one out of the bunch. I love how her braid is ‘flying’ out away from her. And I love that my 13 year old daughter is not ‘too old’ to swing for me.

abundant

ISO 400, 50mm, f/16, 1/320 sec

Day 234 – Abundant: Kelsey and I were able to spend the whole day with friends up in the foothills today. My friend and I were able to talk all day long while the girls played, chatted, swam, and made fun videos. It was a wonderful day! On the way home, I knew I wanted to capture the sunset. We pulled over a couple of times to get just the right shot. I love the sun flares on this one.

local landscape

ISO 200, 50mm, f/6.3, 1/80 sec

Day 235 – Local Landscape: As I have mentioned before, there are some days when we just stay home all day long. I could have driven around town to find something away from our home to photograph for this prompt, but why not take a picture of my own backyard since it is part of my local landscape and a place I enjoy spending time. Especially reading over in those red chairs with my iced coffee.

Have you started to Capture Your 365 yet?

Capture Your 365

Ready for a few glimpses into my take on the Capture Your 365 photo prompts from the last week?

sunflower

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/10 sec

Day 223 – Sunflower: I have to admit that some days, I really have trouble figuring out what to photograph. There are many days during the week that we just don’t go anywhere, and to try to find things that fit with the photo prompts, well, creativity can only go so far. Thankfully, I have these fake flowers inside my home since we are not growing sunflowers this year. If I had left the house on this particular day, I could have stop at many different places along most of the roads leading out of town to take pictures of actual sunflowers. Oh well, at least I have this picture.

play

ISO 800, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/60 sec

Day 224 – Play: Kelsey had a friend over on this particular day and they played quite a few rounds of Clue. I figured this was the perfect thing to photograph for this prompt! But now that I am looking at the photo on the screen, I realize I should have focused on Colonel Mustard. Poor guy must have gotten hit over the head with the wrench in the billiard room while trying to solve the crime.

remember

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/50 sec

Day 225 – Remember: Now, I don’t usually take photos of photos, but my photo wall was the perfect subject for this photo prompt. I just love the memories that are displayed here. Makes me want to be sure to have other photos printed and displayed so they can be enjoyed, rather than sitting on the hard drive of my computer.

bonus

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.2, 1/40 sec

Day 226 – Bonus: Two photos in a row of other photos, I am thinking I need to get out of the house a little more often! Okay, but this one really fit the prompt also. Back in June, after completing my two photography classes, I entered this photo of the Bay Bridge into our town arts and crafts contest. I was really surprised when they called to let me know that I not only won a first place ribbon, but I also won Best of Show!

Are you picking up your camera everyday to capture moments of your life?

Summer Day? or School Day?

A couple of weeks ago, we drove up to the closest IKEA and Kelsey found a loft bed that she thought would be perfect in her room. She even told me she had enough money to pay for the bed herself. We didn’t buy the bed that day, but she did come home and she did take all the measurements necessary to see if the bed would fit in her room.

This morning, we measured the area in my car (a Saturn Vue, not a huge SUV) to see if the bed would fit. We decided to take the chance, make the drive, and do our best to fit the bed in the car.

Once we arrived at IKEA, we saw that the bed came in two flat boxes, so we were not sure if they would fit. Since we made the drive, we decided to go ahead and buy the bed and take the pieces out of the box to fit everything in the car.

The best part of this was when we went up to the register and Kelsey handed the clerk a wad of cash that she had saved up to pay for the bed. A gentlemen at the register next to us was impressed that she was paying for the bed herself.

IKEA loft bed in my car

Yay! Everything fit!

Once we arrived home, we got right to work: moved out the old bed, vacuumed, and got started putting the new bed together. It took quite a bit of work and coordination, but we were determined to get it done!

new loft bed

So, goodbye to the picket fence bed and hello to the new loft bed!

So if you ask me, I love these kind of summer/school days. I am a big believer in that every lesson does not need to come from a textbook. We had a great day together, overcame some obstacles, and persevered. It is hard to see her growing up so fast, but I love to see the young woman she is growing up to be.

Compassion Hunt

Have you been able to participate in Compassion’s Photo Scavenger Hunt?

Here are the photos I was able to capture and share on my Instagram account:

6ed6e712eb0511e2875e22000a9e016c_7[1]

f9e8783cec3811e2a47822000a9f3c30_7[1]

da910f10eef611e2b30a22000aa80109_7[1]

14048d96eff911e2979622000a1fb04f_7[1]

7a623eb6f08b11e2b97522000a1f97e9_7[1]

c74c5fa0f31411e284fa22000a1f9c87_7[1]

15b95f6cf3ab11e2b2d322000a1fb8fa_7[1]

594e1194f47a11e285e022000a9e51fb_7[1]

32703c00f54211e282e122000a1f9aae_7[1]

68111b44f88b11e2bb3922000aa81ffe_7[1]

This has been a fun scavenger hunt to participate in and I hope you enjoyed my photos! But if you are not currently sponsoring a child through Compassion, would you consider looking through photos of children who are waiting to be sponsored?