I'm alive...

For almost a year, I've posted nearly daily. Now that my 365 project is done (hurrah!), I'm not taking photos on as regular of a basis. Mostly because I don't *HAVE* to, and I'm also debating my next 'big' photo project. Found alphabet or colors. (If you want more explanation, let me know)

The also small wrinkle in my photo life is that my job this summer is part of an 8 week uber-intensive schedule. I have managed to take a photo in some crazy times in the past year, but I think this summer rep schedule is just going to take the proverbial cake.

This is NOT me saying that I'm not posting anymore. This IS me saying that there will be gaps between posting. I have a few entries up my sleeve that I just need to sit down and compose and post. They'll be coming soon.

I'll try to keep you updated, even if its just a textual anecdote or a basic picture or two.

So stick with me, and keep checking back for updates. You never know when I'm going to have the time or the motivation to post some photographic or anecdotal fun.

Thanks for reading!

An Evening in Forest Park

Warning: Mom, there are birds in this post. Ducks and another bird that I don't know, but he/she is integral to the post. Sorry!

The other night, I was desperate for a good picture for the tail end of my 365 project. I was tired of random photos that I happened to take it home. It had also been extremely rainy lately. So with a clear evening at hand, I decided to go for a drive, and ended up in Forest Park. By the time I had made the decision to go there, I decided I really wanted a sunlight/sunset on water picture, so I ended up parking by several bodies of water that are cut-through by a jogging/biking trail.

I first saw some ducks, a family swimming across the calm pool of water, mirror-like in its stillness.





Then, I crossed the road (yes, to get to the other side), to see what kind of life there was in that body of water. I met this tall, white bird. I'm not sure what he is - but he was very tall, very skinny, and very white. As the night got darker, he seemed to get whiter.

But what was more amazing about him was watching him eat. He ate fish, unsurprisingly, but it was the manner in which he got his fish that was amazing. He'd stay very still, and then very slowly creep forward and then, super quick, lunge with his long neck and beak into the water and grab his prey. He almost seemed to tiptoe as he moved. It was amazing. And beautiful. But what was even more amazing was his incredible wingspan. Looking at the bird at rest, you'd have no idea that he had a huge wingspan. I stalked this bird on both sides of the road because I just was amazed at his behavior - and I wanted to get pictures of him in flight.









All this was broken up by this dog who decided, much to his owner's dismay, to take an unplanned dip:



And since so much time had passed, I stuck around for a lovely sunset picture:





All in all, it was an hour or so well spent. I saw the sunset, I saw ducks, I watched and learned about a big white bird. And I have the pictures to prove it.

Task #57 - Complete/ Day in My Life

57. Photograph a Day in My Life and Blog about it.

I chose to do the Day in My Life project as my birthday. I will most likely repeat this project at a later date at some more mundane day, but yesterday begged to be recorded, especially since it fell the day after completing the 365 project.

7:30am

Woke up, but after going to bed very late, went back to sleep.

8:30am

Finally decided I was up. Checked email - lots of facebook love.



9:30am

Time to get showered, dressed and packed for the day.



Saw the message my awesome roomie left for me on our whiteboard by the front door:



10:00am

Drove to my parent's house for brunch. But first, present time! No wrapping needed - I ordered this one on my own, but it was partially gifted by my parents as well:



Just opened the box. It's so pretty. Syncing it up for the first time:



10:45am-ish

Brunch with my parents. Mom got up early and made my favorites: popovers!



A brief nap, laundry and other everyday stuff occurred here. And maybe some toying around with the iPad.

1:30pm/2:00pm

Time to work on my birthday cake. Mom worked on the batter as I prepped the bowls to dye the batter six different colors to make my rainbow cake. That's paste food coloring - very potent in color.



See? But since a little goes a long way, we were tentative in the coloring at the beginning. Our theory was that the batter would get lighter in color when cooked.



You have to pour it quickly - gravity is both our friend and our enemy. Six bowls, six colors, six spatulas. Mom and I switched off every other color.



Ready to go in the oven!



3:45pm

Cake's done! It looks amazing! We're not going to ice it, but just sprinkle some powdered sugar on it.



Research and purchasing of tickets and reservations for a trip in August happened here. No pictures taken, sorry.

5:00pm

Portrait photography meet-up. A chance to play around with lighting equipment that I don't own without having to rent it. Also fun to chat with photographers of various skill levels.





7:30pm

Birthday dinner with my parents and roommate at a Mongolian BBQ place that also has a buffet. First, you have the appetizers:



Yes, that's toasted ravioli you see. So what? It was there, and it's St. Louisian. :)

Then it's time to mix your own veggies, meats and sauce and they grill it up for you:



9:00pm

Birthday cake with my parents, my roommate, and my parent's neighbors:



Look at the cake! It turned out SO well!





11:50pm

It's been a long, fun and exciting day. Even with the rainstorm. Time to curl up in bed with the iPad.



Thanks to all who were a part of my birthday, whether in person, by phone, by text or by facebook message. Thanks for making me feel so loved!

Task #14 - Complete

14. Take a picture every day for a year.

What a year it's been. I'm using blurb.com and making a photo book of it - and it is going to be amazing.

---

365/365



My what a year it's been. It is amazing where I (and subsequently this camera) have been in 365 days.

364/365



A lovely sunset after a rainy day in Forest Park.

363/365



Clematis, up close and beautiful at the Missouri Botanical Garden.


362/365



Exploring Forest Park - this is the rear 'lobby' of the Muny in Forest Park.


361/365



Our garden at my parent's house. Flourishing away from our TLC.

360/365



Not every day can be a great picture - today was a day of mundane tasks including laundry.

359/365



Black and white cupcakes made for Mother's Day.

358/365

I don't go into downtown St. Louis much, but for meetups with meetup.com, I have twice now. I went to Kiener Plaza for a meetup that got cancelled last minute. However, I did get to enjoy the absoulute MASSES of kids dressed up for prom, and more than a few wedding parties.

My only big beef was with the photographers who kept ignoring traffic laws/traffic lights in order to get the right picture in front of Busch Stadium. If you're going to stand in the street, fine, but then have someone watch the traffic light. Grrrr....

357/365

One of things I love about the Missouri Botanical Garden is the subgarden sections they have. There's a daylily garden that come June is bursting to the max with daylilies. But they also have an equally amazing iris garden, and that one blooms in May. Two years ago, I drove back to STL with a good friend of mine, WS, and we went to the Botanical Garden with my parents because she's almost as nuts about photography as I am. We were almost bowled over by that iris garden and spent ages snapping photos. I knew that I wanted to go see it again, so when MBG emailed me about it, I went almost immediately. It was SO worth it. I had almost 1000 pictures from that day, and a majority of them were from the iris garden. So many to choose from but this one was the clear winner - red irises seem to be very rare.

356/365

Meet Manny, the pug puppy who was temporarily my neighbor for a few days. He really was too cute for words and very cuddly. I got many a good picture of this little one. He's 8 months old and will keep his family on their toes.

(Sorry, Pippin)

355/365

Tommy doesn't have to try very hard to be cute, but there are a few things he does that just make me melt. And one of them is this: lying down with his head on his paws. He doesn't do it very often, preferring to lie on his side or on his back. But when he does, he's just too amazingly cute and I have to haul out the camera.

My little pensive puppy, who will be 10 soon. My how time flies...

354/365

I dogsat for my parents recently, and I absolutely enjoy the time I get to spend with my pups. This last time had a double bonus: also adore my neighbor dog, Cody, and Cody had two friends visiting at the time. His buddies were two pugs named Harry Potter (the older one) and Mannfred (the 8 month old puppy).

So out came the camera, and the dogs obligingly posed. This is Cody, and he's absolutely adorable, isn't he? Don't let this serious expression fool you, he's a happy pup!

353/365

I do enjoy sunsets, and I like taking pictures of them in unexpected places, like this. Along Olive Blvd. Look at how it paints the fences along the cemetery, and highlights the power or telephone lines. This was totally taken from a Walgreens parking lot during an errand run.

352/365

The St Louis Metro Area encompasses a pretty large amount of land. I tend to forget that until the opportunity to go far out of my normal sphere of travel arrives.

I belong to a group called freecycle, which promotes swapping items for no cost, versus letting them end up in landfills. Sometimes the stuff is junk and only worth parts, but more often than not, the items are good quality or even almost new. on Day 352, a HP scanner came up on the list. Long time readers will remember that one of the tech items I've long drooled over for was a scanner. This one appeared to be compatible with Mac, and I immediately wrote back, asking if it was still available.

It was. Except this guy was all the way in Mehlville, down by Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, our local military cemetery like Arlington. It took this freecycle opportunity to pay a visit to this famous and well-known cemetery. It was a brief but amazing visit. There were perfectly aligned white headstones, marking the burial places of veterans and spouses from many many years, covering an amazing amount of land. It was both awe-inducing and tragic.

I'm glad for the opportunity to go there and pay some respects.

351/365

I'm really not very much of a girly girl. When I was younger, I loved wearing dresses. As a grown-up, I like wearing them on special occasions. I'm also not one for manicures and the like.

However, I've worn nail polish from time to time. I generally don't like wearing it as it requires upkeep, and tends to flake off easily in my line of work. However, I'm trying to get myself used to having longer nails. I'm so used to cutting them from my piano playing days that I've got to relearn how to have slightly longer nails.

But no matter what, I've always liked sparkly things, especially holographic sparkles. I bought a few new colors to play around with at Walgreens recently.

Boring story, but sparkly picture.

350/365

My roommate and I are definite sushi fans. So when she was on vacation, she found sushi-making supplies for a steal of a deal. So last Friday, Day 350, we made our own sushi. This required a trip to our local Chinatown, which just happens to be in University City. We went through several stores, including one at where the cashier spoke NO English to me. Thank goodness I could read the total amount. It was pretty funny.

We bought ourselves ginger (which we go through in copious amounts), the seaweed wrapper and the proper rice, and sushi vinegar.

Since neither of us wanted to gamble with raw fish, we decided to make vegetarian (and shrimp) sushi. Here are our first rolls. No they're not perfect but boy were they tasty! They certainly will not be the last sushi we make... it was SO much fun. It is a messy task though.

349/365

The joys of a quiet day/night at home... is cooking something that takes a little longer than boiling water for pasta. This recipe I found using my recipe spinner app on my iPhone. No kidding. Gotta love technology.

348/365

I was over at my parent's house... literally a brief visit, which turned into lunch and a visit - and Pip was being super cute and cuddly. Except this girl moves really fast for the camera - so it took practically a million shots to get a good one of this pup. She's on my lap and there's a bunch of shots where she 'rushes' the camera.

347/365

I love going to the Butterfly House even if it is far away and humid-as-all-that inside. And it steams up all of my equipment so that I had to sit there for a half-hour before doing anything... but it was totally worth it. There are butterflies EVERYWHERE and these blue morphos are SO hard to catch on 'film'. They fly around like crazy and rarely stop. Much less with their wings open. I must've taken 1000 photos and kept less than a 100.

346/365

Not all my days are interesting... today's photo comes from doing the dishes. Gotta love bubbles. All I had done was put water and soap into the dish and turned it on full force. The result was a plethora of bubbles that were different sizes. And this is what happens when they're backlit and you have a bored photographer.

Sometimes a study in textures is fun.

345/365

Day 345 was the day that I partcipated in a really cool Meetup.com meetup. The meetup was a scavenger hunt, with the theme of Decay, Isolation, Creepy and Weird. We had to find the 25 objects on the list within about 6 hours.

As a photographer, I love urban decay. I love it because a rundown building has stories. It has history.

I joined the group with the ringleader of this meetup and we went to some really cool places. Places I'd never go by myself. Ever.

What an absolutely fun day, I couldn't stop smiling for awhile. Check out my flickr photostream for more pictures...

344/365

Dining in my house is very informal, except when you are having the parents over. It was a spur of the moment idea, but it was great fun. I cooked an old standby that I've updated to make it slightly healthier (ground turkey instead of hamburger). A good dinner and a movie (The Soloist), and good times were had by all.