Into the Fray

My new friend

2007-09-25T23:05:00.000-04:00

Last week, I brought a little, six month old kitten home from a local animal shelter. He's gentle, sweet, loving, and most importantly, enjoys cuddles and kisses. His name is Niko and he's my first, non-aquatic pet.

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Actually, I feel kinda... wrong calling him a "pet". He's more like a cute, fuzzy, friend. A friend who's a bit annoyed with me, at the moment, 'cause I had to trim his claws. I managed to get this image before I went and pissed him off... it's like he's reminding me that under his soft, furry exterior lurks a true predator. Just one claw is all it takes. Heh.

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Fresh from the Garden

2007-07-28T21:36:00.000-04:00

Didja know Jersey is known for their tomatoes? This is why.

I picked these today out from the backyard, along with a slew of basil (in the background).

Alas, their beauty didn't last long as I massacred them as an offering to the bruschetta Goddess. :D

There's just something so cool about growing/picking your own herbs and veggies... no pesticides, utterly fresh, and no other random weirdness.

Crochet on Ice

2007-07-22T18:12:00.000-04:00

See... I have this thing with hobbies. I jump from one to the other, focusing solely (usually) on one at a time. I seem to have fallen into a crocheting hole. *snickers* I have way too much yarn than any woman under the age of 60 should own. It's truly a sickness. I've been making purses for friends and family members, various pouches and scarves and blankets and shawls and...... blah. Anyway. I've not abandoned my camera, just slowed down as I didn't wanna burn myself out too quickly.

Must..... resist...... urges to combine...... both hobbies! I'd rather not bore people with images of yarn and froo-frooness, but I think I can make the hooks look nifty. Mebbe. I'll put it on my things to try list. I'm always looking for boring and mundane things to photograph, 'cause sometimes you get something neat.

Which brings me to glass of ice water. I dunno why I decided to snap pics of my swiftly condensating glass (damn humidity), but I did. I like how it looks like it's glowing. Oooooooo... ghost glass... whoooooooooo. *makes slow, flappy arms and obligatory ghost noises*

*ahem*

Sorry about that.

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I'm /so/ easily amused. :P

Green Vase

2007-07-11T19:39:00.000-04:00

When you were a kid and you got a new toy, it was the best thing in the world.. you played with it until you wore the damned thing out, broke it, or you got bored- whichever came first. This is how I feel about my close-up/macro filter. Hopefully, I won't break it, and I don't think you can technically wear one out... and hell, I'm certainly not bored with it.

While looking at nifty photos, I've always been automatically drawn to extreme closeups, especially where they look nothing like they do as a whole and a bit abstract. So this is what I've been doing: scouring my home for things that while quite mundane, can be made to look almost... other worldly (I've always liked that term).

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This is a vase I came across in my pantry closet. I like it fine. It's unique, it's glass, and well... it's pretty. :D It's an odd shape, kinda like a pitcher with an oval rim and spout like things on either end.

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Gel: Take 2

2007-07-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

This time, I just didn't take a close-up of the bottle, but squeezed a li'l out. *marks her words with a farty-squeezy-gloppy type noise*

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*hums and doesn't mention that this is the only angle she caught where it didn't look like a mini, pink pile of translucent dog poo*

Ode to Hair Goo

2007-07-07T05:39:00.000-04:00

Ahh... hair gel. A curly head's best friend. Behold it's... bubbliness. *snerts*

Just a drop...

2007-07-06T22:00:00.000-04:00

My first (of probably many) images using water as the main subject.

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I just love close-ups.

Glass and new lenses

2007-07-05T04:20:00.000-04:00

*hops around like a mad woman running solely on caffeine and pixie stix* Damn skippy! Switchin' to bigger thumbnails on this one, baybee...

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Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about, people. I love my new ... wait, is it a 'closeup lens' or a 'macro filter'? Whatever it is, I wanna marry it. No, really. Wouldn't you?

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I sat on my living room floor for a couple of hours, testing out all sorts of ways to get a decent closeup and I'm finally happy with my results. I would have uploaded larger images, but I thought these were a good enough res to show them off without taking a million years to load. This is just a small, glass/crystal/I dunno goblet that, I believe, was a favor from someone's wedding. I just love how the light refracts and swirls around all the li'l nooks and crannies of the design. A shame the darn thing is so nicked and scratched; it woulda been awesome if it were new. Not to mention if I had thought to wipe my damn fingerprint off the surface. D'oh.

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Apparently, one of the secrets is staying -very- still and having adequate lighting. And no matter how still you think your hands are, they're not still enough.. I learned that the hard way. As I've mentioned before, I have no fancy equipment, but I do believe I need to invest in a tripod. For these pics, though, I used a combination of a two second timer and a pack of cigarettes to raise/steady the camera. High tech, eh? :D Usually, I kinda wing it and make due with what's handy, cheap, and useful. When there's a lack of sunlight, I use a small goose-neck desk lamp with a $5 'daylight' bulb. You know, those weird squiggly ones. Even my new lens.... *hears a chorus of angels singing whenever she types the word 'lens', looking off and into the distance; seemingly lost in a day dream....*

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Hmm? Oh... yeah. Right. What was I saying? Oh, yes. My lens. Even my new lens was basically on the cheap, compared to a lot of others I've seen with similar features. I have to keep reminding myself that this is just a hobby and I don't need all the gear, so I'm being choosy on what I spend my dough on. I'm happy to say I think I made a very good investment of, oh, $30 or so, give or take shipping, for this beauty.

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Heh, obviously, since the lens is /in/ the picture, I couldn't use it to /take/ the picture... so, well, it's not as clear, but I kinda like the hint of abstractness it has. Yay me.

I am so a happy camper, right now.

Lemonade

2007-07-04T22:22:00.000-04:00

What says summer more than Lemonade? Before making a batch, I rinsed off my lemons and was just about to start reamin', but something made me stop and grab my camera. I got a new close-up lens and wanted to play. So I did.

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I didn't get the some of the shots as crisp as I wanted to (even though I tested out my new 'toy' on a dime and was pleasantly surprised at the magnification and clarity), so I guess I'll just have to practice a bit more on what settings to tweak and when.

*wanders off with a naughty song about lemons stuck in her head* Damn you, Robert Plant...

Turtles!

2007-07-01T03:55:00.000-04:00

I have a rather vast turtle collection. No, not of actual turtles, but turtle related... items. Figurines, pens, books, stuffed animals, little boxes, etc. You name it- if it's in the shape of a turtle, I probably have it. I can't quite explain my love for 'em, all I know is one day I bought a small turtle pendant and that was the end of it all. *snickers*

This is my turtle pen. I LOVE this pen. Not only is it a turtle, but it has a big ol' hematite stone at the end. The turtle's shell is embedded with all sorts of small, semi-precious stones and stuff.

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And these are my crystals. When I was a teenager, my grandmother got me this pair of Swarovski crystal turtles, with li'l jet eyes. They're my favorite of all my 'collection'.

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Red-Tailed Hawk

2007-07-01T03:30:00.000-04:00

Back in '02, there was this young red-tailed hawk that decided it was gonna have, er, lunch in my yard. Luckily, I didn't get a good shot of said lunch (which was a bunny of some type), but I did get a few semi-decent shots of the hawk. Now, these were shot with a much older camera than I have now (not to mention I didn't even know how to work it properly), so they're not all that crisp. I decided to post these, though, after I accidentally deleted all my new pics from the park off my memory card. I needed /something/ to fiddle with, and besides.. it's very rare you're able to get this close to a hawk- in the Jersey suburbs, at least.

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There I was, just sitting in a lawn chair in my yard when this poor thing, about two or three yards from me, was trying to drag it's prize away. The bunny, however, was heavier than the bird had imagined, so when he/she went to fly off, it almost smacked me in the head. That woulda sucked- no one needs a disemboweled bunny thwacked against their forehead.

Oh, but there's trees, too!

2007-06-26T14:20:00.000-04:00

These are the last (probably) of my Lake Onondaga posts. When I see this one, I wanna say, "Everybody streeeetch!" *snickers*

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Same trees, different angle.

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Backyard Exploring

2007-06-24T18:21:00.000-04:00

Yeah... more flowers- what's it to ya?

I like to wander about my yard, trying to see what looks interesting. Apparently, my neighbors' tiger lillies decided they wanted to come play over on our side of the fence- a few seeds having made the journey and planted themselves beside our tomatoes. At least they'll have some company. :)

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Hell, even weeds can be pretty. Well, I think they're weeds... they dwell amongst the plethora of various, wildly growing flora all over our property.

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For this one, I had to lean over my neighbors fence. As long as they don't think I'm taking pics to case their house, all should be well. :P I'm assuming it's some type of lily, but my ability to peg types of flowers is quite lean.

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Cloud Lake

2007-06-24T00:49:00.000-04:00

Yes, yes... it's more from Lake Onondaga. What can I say? I was shutter happy that week.

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I toldja clouds were my latest obsession.

My best friend

2007-06-23T20:53:00.000-04:00

This is my gorgeous best friend (back off, fellas- she's married) whom I went to go see up in Liverpool.

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Yes, that's black patent leather...... we were playing dress up. ;) I stuck her in all sorts of positions to get some *ahem* classy shots. Take that however you wish to. Muahaha!

S.. I love ya and I can't wait to visit again. I was all sniffly onna bus, but I put on some tunes and staved them back. Even though I was there for a week and a half, it wasn't long enough.

The Park

2007-06-23T19:43:00.000-04:00

This is another picture from the park in Syracuse on Lake Onondaga. The only major edit I did to this was to get rid of a picnicking family on the grass in the distance. To said family: nothing personal, but you got in da way of mah shot. :P

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Have I mentioned how much I love PhotoShop? I've been using it since I was thirteen (I'm now twenty-six) and it never ceases to amaze me.

Pale Petals

2007-06-23T17:37:00.000-04:00

I have no idea what kinda flowers these are, but this is another shot I took while in upstate NY while on vacation. My best friend's neighbor had a few flower pots hanging outside and I just couldn't help myself. I just loved the color of these blooms.

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Like I've said before, I'm really not a girly-girl that wanders about going for flowers and moonbeams, but c'mon- this is just so pretty. I'm a jeans 'n t-shirt wearing metal chick, who curses like a sailor (sometimes), loves macabre imagery, and all sorts of other fun, unsavory stuff, but nature- pure and simple- just boggles my mind. Also, flowers don't complain if you don't get them in the right light... they stay still and let me take my time; heh.

Sun on the lake

2007-06-23T17:26:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a week and a half long vacation from my best friend's up in Liverpool (near Syracuse), NY. While there, I had the pleasure of going to a park nearby that was right on Lake Onondaga. It was late in the day, mebbe around 7 pm or so, and I was lucky enough to get this shot. I'm obsessed with clouds, lately and I think this is my favorite picture I've taken so far.

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Mmm... beads.

2007-06-23T17:16:00.000-04:00

I think I took this the same week I played with nail polish. It just about rained the whole week and I was getting a bit of cabin fever.

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I like taking pictures at odd or interesting angles to see what kinda stuff I can get. This was the only decent one out of a batch of over 40 images. A shame that the best one came of the most boring beads I own. You should see my, ah, collection. I'm an utter craft maven, so I have tons of sundries abound in my home. Just wait till I start taking pics of my crochet projects. ;)

A Rose By Any Other Name...

2007-06-23T16:53:00.000-04:00

Since I posted about the little house, I might as well post about my grandmother's rose bush. When the little house was being built, my grandmother received a rose bush as a sort of house warming present (if I recall the story correctly), which they planted right out front. I'm not quite sure who it was a gift from, as my mother doesn't remember. Mebbe my aunt will- I'll have to ask her.

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When the little house was demolished, we had to make sure we saved the rose bush, since it had flowered beautifully every year since it's planting. Since roses are so picky and usually need careful attention, I call it the 'enchanted rose' for it's lack of needing to be tended to or pruned to produce such lovely blooms.

With my grandmother gone, now, it's like having a little bit of her blooming every year. Sappy, yeah- but that's all right. :)

Eye See You

2007-06-23T16:40:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 6/07/07. ]

Once again, another rainy day has kept me inside to take pictures of random household items. This time? It's not just any ol' item. It's me. Well, more specifically, my eye.

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What can I say, I was bored. Again.

The "Little House"

2007-06-23T16:31:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 6/03/07. ]

Back in the '50s, my grandparents built their home, here, on this street... as did my grandmother's brothers and sisters- all in a row. I dunno whose home came first, but our yard is technically two properties: one for the small, 'temporary' house for the family to live in while they built the other, and a larger one where the main house now sits.

This is the 'little house'.

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Taken in '05, after the season's first snowfall @ dawn.

Er, was the 'little house'. 'Tis no longer.

We had to tear it down 'cause apparently, it was an eyesore. An eyesore? To who? If ya ask me, it looks like a cute little cottage in the middle of a wooded area- not something you'd find in a fairly metropolitan area such as this. Actually, I think it was adorable, dammit. But alas, one of our yenta neighbors called the township so many times that they came out to inspect it.

It was really a glorified storage unit/bicycle garage, for a while. The roof had been chewed by squirrels, and the entire thing was being engulfed in ivy. Because it was falling apart, though, we were told to either fix it or get rid of it. So we did- we tore it down. *sniffsniff* My mother, my uncle, aunt, and mom's ex all worked on breaking the structure into bits and now, the spot where the house stood is an overgrown area of weeds, ivy, and bunnies. Lots of bunnies (yay bunnies!). If you ask me, the lack of any structure there looks worse than it did when it was, apparently, an 'eyesore'. Damn neighbors.

It was always a dream of mine to fix it up and call that my home. It'd be like my own little house, but under the family's umbrella of safety and, well, it woulda been a LOT cheaper to live in than any apartment in this area. My mom and her brothers (my aunt wasn't born yet) grew up in that tiny little home, then it eventually became my great grandmother's house until she passed away. My mother and uncle both lived in that house, separately, as well- it was like a stop on the road to real life. The coming of age child who desperately needed their own space, but wanted to be near mom and dad, could head in there and feel like they had their own li'l pad- but close to home. VERY close to home. Like, a few yards. Heh. My cousins even lived in there for many years until they eventually bought their own home a few towns away.

If walls could talk, I'd bet those walls woulda been utter chatter boxes... and I woulda loved to listen to all the stories.

NJ Sunshine

2007-06-23T16:20:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 6/03/07. ]

See, people? The sun does shine in the state of New Jersey...

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... contrary to popular belief.

This was taken a year or so ago, I believe- and I was standing on my front porch. At last I didn't have to go far for the view.

Playing with nail polish

2007-06-23T16:05:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 6/02/07. ]

When it's raining outside and there ain't any cute doggies or pink flowers, there's always nail polish... muahaha. (Yes, I was very, VERY bored.)

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This is a grown woman's version of finger painting. *grins*

I have this bad, bad habit of walking into drug stores and buying a buncha bottles of nail polish, simply 'cause I fall in love with the colors. I never have any actual intention of using 'em for their rightful purpose, but they come in handy... apparently. *chuckles*

Da Coco monster!

2007-06-23T15:34:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 5/26/07. ]

This is Coco.

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While unfortunately, she's not /my/ dog, but she is for the weekend while my cousin is away. Ain't she cute? Amazingly, this shot was the first one I took of her- can we say total ham? She's such a good photo subject... 'specially when ya got cheese. *snickers*

Classic Pink

2007-06-23T15:25:00.000-04:00

[ This post was originally on another blog I was keeping on 5/24/07. ]

I've been reading this blog, lately, and it inspired me to pick up my digital camera and go wandering around the neighborhood to take some photos. So I did. And here's my result:

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Now, I'm not the usual girly froo-froo type to go around snapping photos of pink flowers. In fact, I hate the color pink. But that's all right, 'cause there's just something so classic about this particular shot. I like it. If you don't, screw yourself. :P Even though it looks big, the bud of the flower was under a half inch across. Zoom is mah friend. :D I don't, however, quite know what it is... it's off of a bush in my front yard. It may be a geranium, but don't quote me on that.

A little disclaimer, here. I am, by no means, a photographer- I have a (somewhat) dinky digital camera and have rarely taken photos of anything other than silly shit to send to my best friend. I don't even know how to use the settings ON said camera -- I just point, click, and see what button/menu item does what. I've tried reading up on the basics of photography, but all the terms and numerical values just makes my head hurt. I just go with the flow.

The beginning...

2007-06-23T14:10:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess this is my inaugural post. To keep it short and simple, this is where I'll be dumping my photos- sometimes with backstory, sometimes just 'cause. I've just begun to really try to get to know my camera and started posting my images on my MySpace. Eventually, I decided I was just gonna make a photo only blog.

I don't use fancy schmancy equipment, lighting, or anything of the sort (unless you count what I've pegged my 'Ghetto Pod' [ instructions here ] as fancy). When I got my camera, I used it to simple take stupid pics of random things for my best friend. It cost me around $180, when I bought it new.

This is my camera:

A Canon PowerShot A75. Ain't she puuuuuurdy? *makes doe eyes* No, she's not some high end digital SLR or anything, but she packs a wallop. I'm an electronics geek- totally, but I never get anything above what I think I'd need. Want? Sure.. I want a high end camera with a buncha telephoto and macro lenses, but I don't need it. ;)

I need to name her.... any suggestions? :D