Goodbye!

I have been meaning all year to go take a picture of this sculpture in the plaza. So, on my last day, I finally drove my butt down there to photograph it. I can't believe I actually am done with this 365 project. I have spent the last few months (ok, the last seven to eight months) cursing myself for deciding to do this, but I am so glad I did. I think the blog was the best part, since it kept me from just silently quitting when it started to become tedious. My photography skills have improved exponentially, but the biggest change has been how I see the world as full of cool things worthy of recording. Thank you to everyone who took the time to look at my photos and for occasionally prodding me to post when I fell behind. If nothing else, it is cool to look back and see what was going on everyday of my life for an entire year.

Long exposure

I took this photo on my back porch at night. It was very dark outside, but I set the camera to take a 30 second exposure, and I like the light it picked up, along with the rich colors. I am almost done, so I am messing around trying to make my last photos count.

Wheel

I took this photo from the old Pacific Union train engine in the park. Its a cool piece of history, and I'm surprised I haven't done much photographing of it before.

Fall

A year really has gone by! The leaves are beginning to turn. Matt and I are trying to schedule our engagement photos soon to take advantage of the fall foliage.

Sketch

Even when I'm in the middle of big art projects, I like to sketch in the evening to keep my skills sharp and come up with new ideas. The foreshortening on this elk wasn't easy, so I was glad with how well it came out.

Difficult

Since my blog is almost over, I tried to take another "things on my cat" photo. I tried to put my lens cap on Stash's head like a little hat. She, however, would have none of it. After biting the lens cap a few times, she went for my hand. So, this is the closest I could get.

Depot

Rachel and I went to the Farmer's Market, and I took this photo of the new bronze statue outside the Depot.  I like that Cheyenne is putting some money into public arts projects. This evokes the cool history of the Depot and I like that the statue is female. I tried to make it look a little antique-y for that reason.

Penny Cross

Matt got this penny from a friend of his, and turned into a necklace. He lost the necklace somewhere, and then I found it and hung it around my car mirror. I just moved it from the Taurus into my new Corolla.

Chainlink Fence

Thief

These little thieves are stealing the green tomatoes I have left! I had seven left on my plant, and they were are stolen in a matter of days by squirrels in a pre-hibernation pig out.

My Mac

I have the coolest computer ever at work...a massive HD Apple with all the software you can imagine. To get an idea of the scale, look at my coffee thermos on my desk.

New Car

I bought a new car!! I am so excited. It is a 2010 Corolla S, and is the perfect blend of sporty and economical. We are keeping the old Taurus though, to use as a commuter car.

Farmer's Market

Wow...the year really has flown by. One of my first pictures was at the Farmer's Market. I have been just as faithful this year. I regularly buy green chiles, lettuce, onions, bread and peaches. Mmmmm..

Broken egg

Dammit.

Rockies

We went to the last Rockies home game of the year with our friends Mark and Danny. We always want to go to the games all spring and summer and time just flies by until the season is almost over. Even though the Rockies lost big time (9-1), they had a huge fireworks show at the end. We got to go down on the field to watch the show. It was a blast!

New Kitchen

My parents have their new kitchen done! I love how big and nice it turned out. It has a cool modern Western-y feel to it.

Bags

Stash loves bags. I'll never understand why cats feel the need to cram themselves into tiny places. She will just lay inside a bag and purr.

Cars

We went down to FoCo after work to look at a new car for me. We were checking out an Accord from craigslist, but it wasn't very nice. But, we went to dinner at the Beach House Grill. I took a photo of the street from their rooftop patio.

Lights

Pretty lights.

Dried

Remember my pretty engagement roses? I still have one of them dried and on my nightstand.

Fishing

We went out for a fun day fishing in Saratoga. Unfortunately, for the first day of the year, I forgot my camera. I blame Rachel and Chris for going out for drinks with us the night before and making me so tired I forgot my camera. Bummer.

Composition

I used this little brush in a cup to try some different composition placements.

Star

Another macro photo...a star bead hanging from the wall.

Buddha

I bought this little buddha at a souvenir shop in Chinatown in San Francisco. He he is still as happy and lucky as ever, even if he is a little dusty. I actually really like how this photo turned out.

Sick

Today was the first day at my new job, as a Graphic Designer for Taco Johns International and it was awesome! I really think I will love it. Unfortunately, I am still fighting a cold and spent most of the day coughing up a lung. Rachel gave me some of her crazy hippie tea that helped a lot.

Holster

Matt made this cool leather holster out of a pattern once worn by Jesse James. I took some cool photos of it for him.

Experimental

I am trying to do some funky settings while I only have a month left. Some turn out good...some not so much.

Mush

This is stuffed zucchini, but none of my photos looked like much besides mush.

Bath

I took a nice bubble bath tonight. :-) I love how fast I can set the shutter on my 60D.

Artist

I am really looking forward to starting as a full-time graphic artist. I will get to be creative all day, and shamelessly talk about artsy things like color, perspective and composition. This is  little figurine I have that always reminds me that I want to be an artist.

Swimming

If you can't tell, the park is my favorite place to take photos.

Garden

I had to go to Fort Collins for a gallery meeting tonight. I got home starving, and we needed to go grocery shopping. I didn't want fast food, and we had some produce. I cooked some tomatoes off of my plant, threw in some zucchini from Sheridan, white wine and spices. It made a killer sauce that I put over some spaghetti. Only took 10 minutes and tasted wonderful! Maybe Matt's intuitive cooking skills are rubbing off on me.

Dabbling

 

Fire

On the way home from Sheridan, we saw this grass fire outside of Casper. It was moving pretty quick when we went by.

Baby Shower

I went up to Sheridan for a fun three-day weekend with Deb (Matt's mom) for Carrie's (Matt's sister) baby shower. We went to the spa, did some shopping and, of course, went to the baby shower. Despite the heat, it was really fun. I am lucky that I will have such great and welcoming in-laws! Good thing the shower was that weekend...Carrie had her baby (a boy named Jack) two weeks early on Labor Day!

Scar

I decided to take a photo of the thing I am most self-conscious about and put it on my blog. Odd, I know. I have this scar from a mountain bike accident I was in a couple years ago. Even though I had an ambulance ride and a trip to the ER, I escaped with only bumps, bruises and some serious road rash. While I don't like this ugly thing, it always reminds me to be grateful for everyday and how lucky I am that all I have from that accident are some scars.

Wedding Dress

I picked out a wedding dress! My mom and I went to two more dress shops today, and I showed her my favorite dress. It was also her favorite, and my bridesmaids loved it too. I took the plunge and bought it! I took this picture in a Fort Collins dress shop.

Screw

I was rear-ended awhile ago. I have been trying to see how long it will take before this screw that was embedded in my bumper from the other car falls out.

Heron

I finally got some good photos of the heron-type birds in the park. I snuck up on a couple of them and they didn't see me until I had some great up-close shots.

Sludge

The water around the edges of the park are looking a little swirly and green.

Whitetail

As we were leaving the mountains, we spotted a couple whitetail buck in velvet. I got a couple pictures as they they took off into the brush.

Rainbow

Despite the weather forecast, we still went camping in Fox Park. We have the coolest site in the world up there. It is up in the trees overlooking a beautiful creek, with only a campfire ring to mark it. No one else around either, which is the only way to camp in my opinion. We had a small thunderstorm roll through, but it left the most beautiful, full, double-rainbow I have ever seen in my life. I couldn't get a photo of all of it since it was so big, but here is the end of it. I have never seen a rainbow where it hit the ground before. I kept telling Matt to go look for the pot of gold, but no such luck. :-)

Prints

I can't wait until we move into a house and can get one of these (a dog, that is)! Oh, and it has been rainy and muddy lately.

M

This is right outside my door at the YMCA and somehow I have never noticed it before.

Flap

Rabbit

Much cuter picture of a rabbit than the one earlier this week. :-)

Hawk

As I was walking into work, I ran smack into this hawk enjoying a bunny he must have just caught. He was right outside my car and didn't seem too fazed at all the people walking into work. Sorry the quality isn't great, I took this with my iPad.

Sheep

Is it wrong to be so excited about a new painting when I  only have the composition and the sketch done?

Mountains

We went for a drive outside Laramie so Matt could play with a new gun and I could take some pretty photos. I got this one of the grass. One good thing about this blog is it has made me see outside my usual photo subject boundaries.

Moon

Park

Whenever I am lost for inspiration, I am glad I have the park so close by.