Dried Rose

I have had this flower for a long time. I have a few bouquets of dried flowers around and some have flowers that are pretty old. This yellow rose is one of them. I actually think it is the one I got on my first date. Ever.

Chain

Chain from a ceiling fan.

Mailboxes

I had another breakthrough when I really realized how to properly use masks in Photoshop. I am trying to stay away from post-editing photos too much (this is supposed to be a practice in good photography!) but I it is also good practice in using post-editing to enhance photos. It is fun to take pictures of everyday things and see how you can make them look cool. Sometimes during the week, I get too busy and slap photos up on here without showing them the TLC they deserve.

Fence

The weather was actually nice on Friday! I took my break time to walk around the neighborhood where I work and take some photos.

Staff

Every year, my office does a orientation for new board members that includes staff photos. The idea is that if the Board members have to come into the office, they will have an idea of who people are. I am in charge of taking the photos and putting them into the presentation. Last year's photos were BAD. Typical, let's-line-everybody-up-under-fluorescent-lighting-so-they-look-like-they-are-in-a-mugshot-or-are-half-dead look. I am limited in what I can do, but Susan helped me put up a dark blanket on the wall and put up a couple of her lights to try to improve them. Here are our two lovely receptionists. (The photo was put on here with their permission, of course.) I see things to improve (like contrasting to the background and less harsh shadows), but I am starting to really like portrait photography. If any one is willing to let me practice on them, they can have any good shots that I take!

Fish Canvases

I have my fish canvases done! I did a brookie, rainbow, cutthroat and brown. Matt is going to help me put them together on two wooden rods in a long row. It should end up looking pretty cool. Any one have a good name for this piece? Since they are four trout skin patterns, I was going to call it "Four Skins," and then realized that was a majorly bad idea when I said it out loud. (Naming things is hard! It always ends up sounding cheesy or unintentionally dirty.)

Panoramic

I made my first ever panoramic shot. I didn't have a majestic landscape handy, so I did one of the thing I see most everyday. The inside of my office! Now you can see the view that I see while I am working all day. Enjoy.

Art

I have been in a framing frenzy for a deal that just fell through. So, I have 12 framed pieces taking up my back room.

Brushes

I love my paintbrushes! I had a revelation with my staged photos the other day. I have always been primarily been interested in action and wildlife photography. For those, you just try to grab the subject clearly and hope the background works. For the photos I try to set-up myself, I haven't payed enough attention to backgrounds. I started paying more attention to having a neutral background when I am taking pics of objects and voila! Much better.

Texture

Here is another texture. Can anyone tell what it is?

Home

I am trying to take pictures from different perspectives and work on depth of field (meaning parts of the picture are blurry and parts are in focus depending on what you are putting emphasis on).

Sunset

I am still trying to do some more texture-type shots. Hey, its Cheyenne in the middle of winter. I don't exactly get outside much this time of year, which is my favorite way to take pictures. So, I have to start getting a little more creative. However, this texture is of a pretty sunset. There is now a little bit of light when I get off of work, so I am trying to take advantage of it.

Quilt

Texture of a quilt! Also with depth of field.

Linen

I am going to try to do a few textures shots. It might be a fun experiment. Here is a rough linen bag that I have. I wanted to get the texture of the fabric and do an interesting cropping of the design.

Day off

Matt and I wanted to do something fun on our day off of work. Did we ever! We went to the Denver Aquarium and ate a fantastic-ly huge inner at Rodizio Grill (Brazilian food) in Fort Collins. I had such a fun day. I even got to feed a stingray out of my hand. Here is a photo of a lionfish. I remember reading an article about these in National Geographic when I was a kid and thinking they were the most interesting fish.

Fetch

I went out to my folks' house for football and snacks. Even though the weather was terrible, I went out to watch Dad and Daisy do their lessons. Daisy is getting very good! And my new camera takes some fabulously clear action photos. :-) If you usually on't click on my photos to enlarge them, I recommend it for this one.

Lettuce

My AeroGarden is growing my salad greens so fast I can't believe it! I am not sure how much I can take off at a time, but I ate a sandwich with my home-grown lettuce and it was quite good.

Another Kind of Magic

My mom brought Matt and I to a fundraiser for a local blues band. The crazy thing was that two of the boys in the band are kids I used to babysit, and are my parents' neighbors. I was blown away by how good they were. The ages of the boys in the band range from 14-17, and they just got invited to a Memphis Blues Festival. It was a really fun night! I would look for them...the band name is Another Kind of Magic.

Lamp

I love this lamp.

Oil Lady

I love my new camera! It is so fun to use, even though it is big. I took this picture of a cool oil drum lady on Rachel's wall.

Fountain

Becky is here! So my mom, she and I braved the arctic temperatures to go down to Fort Collins for the afternoon. They decided not to turn off the fountain in Old Town, and as a result, it was becoming a massive ice sculpture.

Trout

I have been on an art frenzy! I have 4 pieces in the gallery, 2 waiting for the Western Spirit Show, and I just promised 10-20 additional pieces for a coffee shop opening up here in Cheyenne. I am busting out the work! I am currently working on 4 thick canvases that I am painting in trout skin patterns and planning to mount together. This is the cutthroat.

Home

The weather was snowy and windy on the way back. Which meant a long, cramped, scary, 12-hour car ride back. By the time I got home, all I could do was shoot a photo of my suitcase from the trip, take a bath, and crash.

Des Moines

Here is truly a picture from Des Moines. The Adam Emmenecker sandwich from Jethro's BBQ. If you watch Man vs. Food, this is the sandwich that took down Adam in his Des Moines food challenge. We ordered three of them to split between the 6 of us for lunch. Rox and I barely plowed through half of our pork tenderloin, brisket, hamburger, fried cheese, buffalo chicken monstrosity. It was delicious though!

Momma

We had a wonderful time in Des Moines! On this day, we went to the Drake Law School, downtown for lunch, to the Science center to see and exhibit about Da Vinci, and IMAX about Van Gogh, and one of the best dinners ever at a French restaurant (I know, the day wouldn't have been better if I'd planned it). Thanks to my wonderful parents! Here is my favorite photo of the day: m lovely Momma, who was sweet enough to take us to all these places and have an incredibly fun day.

Becky and Aaron

I have been able to post for the last few days because my family went to Des Moines to visit Becky and Aaron! Oh, what a fun time it was. This photo is from our first night there, when we exchanged late Christmas gifts. They are holding my gift, a drawing of their cute doggy, Barley. I am only encouraging their obsession.

Canon

It is here!!! My Canon Eos 60D with 18-135mm and 70-300mm IS lenses. It was very not cheap, but I am so looking forward to using it. My Powershot is still much easier to tote around and takes great pictures, but I really wanted to get this to amp up the clarity of my wildlife photos. I can't wait to start posting pictures from it! Also, I am not going to be able to post until next Monday!

Fort Collins

I had to go down to help re-set the gallery for the month (they let me put up four paintings! Yay!) and got this shot as I was on my way home. They haven't taken the Christmas lights down and the streets still look pretty.

Inferno

It was very cold here, so the refinery was putting off lots of steam or smoke and a very high flame. It was lighting up the whole sky across the streets from my apartment, so I took a photo of it through the tree branches.

Sprouts

Matt gave me an AeroGarden for Christmas and I love it. I started it up on Christmas Eve, and my salad greens are already sprouting!

Hello 2011

I took this shortly after midnight and minutes into the New Year. We watched the ball drop and drank our champagne! Even though the nasty weather kept us in, I feel blessed to ring in the New Year with my wonderful boyfriend and best friends.