Phontography with a message

This is my first link up to the Phontography challenge over at Pasando! 

As I was browsing through this weeks NEWSWEEK I found this block of text that jumped out at me and I wanted to share, so I grabbed my phone and put my camera on the "toy" setting and here is what I got....

I couldn't have said it better myself.

You Capture: Togetherness

I woke up this morning and looked out the window and saw this:

While I am not a fan of the spiders
(I usually scream like a little girl), I find their work so fascinating. 

Grabbing my camera I decided to use these images for You Capture: Togetherness over at
I Should Be Folding Laundry's Thursday challenge. 

For me, the changing of the leaves and the numerous spiders are a symbol of "Togetherness" for the Fall Season that is quickly coming upon us.

You can see other great shots of "Togetherness" by clicking the link below:

Feeling a little Black & White

For todays challenges I decided to go black and white. 

While I love color, sometimes the contrast of 2 colors can really make a photo pop! 

First up...The Long Road to China's BLACK and WHITE WEDNESDAY

For this challenge I took a picture I snapped this morning while at breakfast.  We had some errands to run in Everett and I was hungry (as usual and we never want to wait when that is the case) so we found this great little cafe, The Mermaid Cafe.  It was a little, family ran establishment with the daughter working the counter, while mom and auntie were on the grill.  The setting was quaint with local artists' work lining the walls and lots of little touches like the sign above the door that read "See you later alligator". 

 I think my favorite part of cafe was the Mason jar glasses,

well that and the Big Jonny's burrito I had.

Then it's over to Aspire: Lovely Photo Wednesday

I thought I would keep the black and white theme going with this shot of Emily.  She is the elderly cat of our close friend Dann.  Her colors match that of Dann's house...black and white. 

To see other lovely photos, click below!



Its a Blue Touched Up Kinda Day

My goal for this week is to complete at least 2 challenges a day! So far I've been successful (okay Sunday was only 1, but I did get some other great stuff up on my blog).  In continuation of my "self challenge project" here are Tuesday's submissions:

Trendy Treehouse: Shutter Love TuesdaysBLUEThis picture was my first attempt at using 2 pieces of whiteboard to create a white background (thank you to all the bloggers who have posted this little tidbit of DIY information.).  The blue hand is one of many in Kendall's hand collection and if you look closely you will see the gorgeous Frank Gehry 'Torque' Tiffany & Co. ring I was given last Valentine's Day. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. 
 Would you like to see more great shots??  Click below!!  Peart Heart Camera: 'Touch Up Tuesday'  Now to work on my editing skills for 'Touch Up Tuesday' over at Peart Heart Camera!Kendall and I were coming back from my mom's today and while stopped for a much needed coffee (pumpkin spice white chocolate mocha to be exact), I glanced over and in the parking lot I spotted this.....Thankfully I had my camera with me today!  This chicken was wandering about the parking lot of a country gas station.  Even though this picture isn't bad SOOC, I thought maybe I could change it up a little, so here is what I came up with:Here is what I did in Corel Paint Shop Photo Pro1. First I cropped the picture down to eliminate all the wasted space.2. High Pass Sharpen - Radius 37, Strength 67 with overlay blend (what does all this mean).3. Adjusted the Brightness to 15 and Contrast to 30.4. Clarified strength of effect to 13.5. Finally removed the dandelion in the background.
Would you like to see more great editing skills put into action, click on the link below!
   

Happy Monday!

HAPPY MONDAY MORNING EVERYONE! Hope you enjoy these challenges for Monday.

For more great Mellow Yellow Monday shots, click on the link below!  


For great shots of water droplets (one of my favorite things to capture), click on the link below!

SOOC Sunday...which means Straight out of the camera!

Thank goodness for a nice, lazy Sunday! 

It has been much needed and I have found myself practically glued to my laptop

(while watching Sally Field's movies) all day. 

Editing photos, posting photos, finding challenges...all of it makes this girl happy! 

Murrieta 365: SOOC Sunday

This bee found these flowers the minute that I set them outside to photograph. 

I was shocked to see I was able to capture him and get a clear shot! 

YAY ME!

GRAFFITI

LOCATION:VAIN ~ 2018 1st Ave, Downtown SeattleWanna know more???  Click here to learn The VAIN Graffiti Wall's history



An Autumn Stroll

Saturday provided us with an amazing fall morning to take a stroll on the local Centennial Trail.  Kendall and I set foot early in the morning to enjoy the path before the hustle of the day began. 

On our walk we enjoyed many spiders (yuck)

A lovely critter trying to make his way across the path without getting smooshed. 

We actually stopped to help him across (Kendall insisted)

And if you looked closely, this little guy that blended into the scenery

(look at those beady eyes)

 But my favorite part of the entire walk,

was the changing of the season....



LA Kendall takes on PDX

What a trip!!  LA Kendall (who I am lucky enough to have has a partner) and I took a road trip to Portland this last weekend to perform in her first solo appearance on the mic.  Yes, she has travelled the country to play behind the decks...but for tonight, she stepped out front and rocked the mic!  The girls at Gaycation welcomed us into Holocene (amazing venue BTW) for a party the was off the hook!!!!  Portland knows how to turn it out, despite the pouring rain.  We were even lucky enough to have a collection of great friends with us from Seattle.  Here are a few of the shots I was able to get while I wasn't dancing like a fool :)

I've been lazy...

Well not really!  Seems like the last 2 weeks have been filled with lots of events and school and work!  I have had 1 studio photo shoot (pics will be released when I get the A-OK!), photographed 3 events between two HARD TIMES promo nights and my partner's performance and DJ set in Portland last weekend, and to top all that off - 2 family deaths between Kendall and myself. 

So that being said...I have LOTS of photos to edit and get busy posting.  My mind was starting to turn to mush so I thought that I would take a break from all the "event" pictures and try a little creativity with flowers.  I can always rely on my love of flowers to bring me "back to earth".   Here is something I woke up and started working on this morning for "Before and After" over at Pixel Perfect and then I realized that "You Capture's" theme this week was FLOWERS!  Yay for me...2 birds with one stone, or 2 challenges with one picture!

Like I said earlier this month, since we planted a late flower garden we have been able to still enjoy the beautiful blossoms even into late September...I finally went outside and cut some of the African Daisies for us to enjoy inside. 

And with a little tweaking (Corel Paint Shop Pro PhotoX2) here is what I ended up with! 

To see more great shots, hop over to the links below:

 

My Big Boy!

So I am finally getting a chance to put up pictures from Jacob's first day of school, he is a big 4th grader this year. 

He was not the most cooperative model for this Tuesday morning,

even though he was beyond excited for school. 

I did capture these two goofy shots or should I say mug shots!

I was like..."Why can't you just stand there smile and be cute?" 

But instead, this is what he did!

It does show off his cool haircut that we got done at VAIN.  Thank you TT.

He felt uber cool despite what anyone thinks.  That's what I love about our kid, he has his own style and doesn't seem to really care if he doesn't "fit in" with the rest of the kids at his school (and believe me, he doesn't, we live in the "country" folks and our boy is "city" kid all the way)!

Just because....

While we planted our garden a little late in the season, we have been able to enjoy the blossoms well into what is quickly becoming fall.  This post is just some recent shots of our beautiful flower bed outside the back of our house, filled with zinnias, African daisies, morning glory, marigolds and pansies.  Of course I felt the need to "tweak" them a bit for some practice with my photo editing software. I fell in love with soft femininity that I created with the films and filters. ENJOY!

WOO HOO!!

I am EXCITED to announce, that the past few days some of my submissions from the Augush Photo Hunt Challenge have been chosen to be voted upon as the winner of their respective categories!  Please take a peek below and if you would kindly vote for my submissions!  This was my first challenge and I am proud of myself for completing it and even more proud that my photos were chosen as "favorites" of the guest judges.  There were 53 participants in this challenge!  Your vote means a lot to me...so with that, I am saying "Please and Thank You" for your support.

Here is, so far, the categories I have been nominated for (please click the link highlighted and then submit your vote within that post.  You do not have to be a blogger to do so):

Flag to represent me: Please vote for #3

Something in Season: Please vote for #11 

Culture or Ethnicity: Please vote #19

  Indulgence: Please vote for #18 

 

Feminine: Please vote for #14

Perceptive Perspective - Labor

What is labor?

Definition according to Merriam Webster Dictionary:

a : expenditure of physical or mental effort

especially when difficult or compulsory

b (1) : human activity that provides the goods or services in an economy

(2) : the services performed by workers for wages as

distinguished from those rendered by entrepreneurs for profits

Well, those definitions being stated, I would definitely say that the work of DJ L.A. Kendall Saturday night at The Chapel would be my perspective on "labor".  From this photo you can see her effort being put forth with such an intense look of concentration.

 This is my first post for 2babycakes weekly challenge!  I'm excited for more perceptive perspective's to come.  Want to see some other great shots, click the link below!

Shoot - n - Tell: Week #1

UPDATE!!  I won 3rd Place in this Shoot - n - Tell Challenge!!



The infamous Fremont Troll! 
This was Jacob's first visit to this enomorous peice of art that sits literally under the Aurora Bridge here in lovely Seattle. 

  The mammoth sculpture has a hubcap eye and his hand holds a vintage VW bug, which is said to have an Elvis time capsule enclosed.

Jacob was determined to crawl into this troll's hand.

 Want to see other "Shoot-n-Tell" stories, then click below!