I saw this really cool sunset today. At first, I thought I didn't have enough time to go somewhere and take a picture, but I figured that because I had little else to do, I was going to try anyway...so I did. I was surprised that it decided to wait for me to get ready and drive for a few minutes. It wasn't the best location, but I like it a whole lot better than the view with all of the hotels and cell towers in it back by my summer "home." What do you think?
Yeah, I know it's been a long time. I've been a little busy helping my parents run a motel in West Yellowstone. But now that the summer season has come to a close, I've found a little more time to take some pictures. I can't promise anything regular, but here's what I do have, and I hope you enjoy it. It's a new thing for me, taking landscapes, but I REALLY like it and I want to do a lot more of it. Let me know what you think!
These pictures turned out very well. I think that ivory colored dresses are very classy and that brown tux was awesome too, even though the tux shop couldn't seem to get him the right sized jacket. Oh well.
I'm really, really excited for this new year. I've been adding a lot of new equipment to my camera bag and it's helping me to take my photography to completely new heights. To bring in the new year, here's a preview of my first wedding this year - Ashley and Dustyn.
I was looking through some pictures from my vacation this last summer (probably in an unsuccessful attempt to get warm) and I found this picture that I took. I never did anything with it at the time, but I couldn't resist taking it into Photoshop and giving it a little extra life. Because it was taken on a rainy day, it was very, well, blah - not much contrast and way too boring for my taste. So I bumped up the saturation and I added a curves adjustment layer to really make it punchy (for those of you who aren't familiar with the photographer's lingo, punchy means colorful, contrasty, sharper, and just plain old better.) And then I decided to share it with everyone as my Christmas gift to you. So here it is. Merry Christmas, from me.
So all you have to do to get this desktop (wallpaper, for PC users) is click on the picture below. For Mac users, just drag the picture to the desktop. Then you can set it as the desktop if you add it to iPhoto, click on it in iPhoto, and then click on the Share>Set Desktop at the top of the screen and you're done. For PC users, usually you right click on the desktop and choose either Properties (XP) or Personalize (Vista) and then choose Desktop (XP) or Desktop Background (Vista). You can then click on the Browse button to find the picture and use it as a background.
Here's what this image looks like on my computer as my desktop.
I have this very persuasive sister who was able to convince a family of five "kids" (I can say kids because they're all younger than I am) to all pitch in for their parents' Christmas gift this year. Any guesses about what they decided to get their mom and dad? Well, if you didn't guess pictures, then I forgive you, I guess. Some of these siblings have been waiting for years to have their pictures taken again, so I of course was happy to oblige. Actually, these have been done for a week and I've been wanting to post them, but I had this crazy idea that just maybe one of their parents would see them. I know, it's a very, very long shot, but I just couldn't resist anymore. If anybody does know this family, do them a favor and help keep the secret for a few more days.
I really enjoy reading blogs, especially those of fellow photographers that I admire. It's interesting to see what they post, especially when they're not posting pictures. Yeah, I know that I eat up their eye candy photos like cordial cherries in December, but I'm really intrigued by the other things they post that let you know a little bit about them. Like Jasmine Star's last post about eating organic foods and grass-fed beef (it's pretty funny) and Davina Fear's regular posts about staying healthy. Are you seeing where I'm going with this? Those of you who know me well know that I at least attempt to live a moderately healthy lifestyle, or that I like to think that I do. While this post has very little to do with photography, I feel that I should post a little something that lets you get to know me better. And who knows, this may actually help somebody besides myself this holiday season. It's from a Men's Health article that I read online today called Avoid Mindless Eating at Holiday Parties by Erin Hicks. I know, it's sounds so very riveting, doesn't it? By the way, I'm paraphrasing, so be sure to read the whole thing.
1. Budget your calories. You already know that you're going to be at a party where there will be no shortage of food, so plan ahead and save set aside a few hundred calories for the party. That way, the food you do eat won't be extra.
2. Hit the veggie platter. Appetizers are usually high in calories and they're made so that you eat a lot of them. But veggies are perfect for late night parties because they have very few carbohydrates and are less likely to be stored as fat.
3. Pick protein. Turkey or ham is a good option.
4. Talk more, eat less. Spend more time talking to people and you'll eat less.
5. Shrink your plate. This idea is really basic, Brian Wansink (author of Why We Eat More Thank We Think) has challenged people to eat their largest meal of the day from a 10-inch plate rather than a 12-inch plate for one month, which would equal 22 percent fewer calories and a loss of around 18 pounds per year. Awesome!!! Check out his blog here.
6. Shake up your cheat day. One cheat day a week isn't going to hurt anyone and it can be good for you. If you usually cheat on Sunday (like me) then you can simply rearrange your schedule for Christmas day on Friday this year.
7. Wake up to yogurt. Eat something like the day after and like yogurt and a glass of water so your body can detox itself. And don't overdue it on the leftovers. Keep it light for the rest of the next day too.
8. Burn it off. This was really interesting to me. Workouts simply aren't going to undo what we do to ourselves this Christmas. Check out these numbers to see what it will take to burn off calories from some common foods.
2,100 jumping jacks = 1 cup of egg nog
280 pushups = one glass of wine
1 hour, 30 minutes of calisthenics = one serving of nuts
2 hours of moderate walking = one slice of pecan pie
13 minutes of jumprope = one shot (of alcohol, I guess)
Well, that's the short version of that really cool article. Be sure to check out the full post here
P.S. Be sure to check back soon, as I have some cool shoots coming up and plenty of new pictures on the way!
