TNMC

It has been remarked that I don't post many pictures of people.  Well, there's a very good reason for this.  People don't generally react well to having a big camera pointed at them.  They get nervous, self-conscious or angry in many cases.  And this shot is an excellent example.

Good photographers know how to make people comfortable in front of the camera.  This is so far not in my skill set.  I promise to work on it though.

Although I can guarantee that my young fan here will be giving me a dirty look the next time I see her.  No matter how nice I am to her.

Sat 10 Jul 2010

Day 81: Go Away. John Shea

These yellow jackets are actually a lot less happy with my presence than you might think from this photo, if such a thing is possible.  As soon as I appeared, the two standing wasps took an obvious defensive stance.  They started buzzing their wings, even though they were making no effort to fly.  A moment later, several more popped out of their nest.

This is what long lenses on cameras are for.  I kept my distance but still managed to get in nice and tight for the shot.  I can be fairly reckless about personal safety, but I'm not stupid.

Fri 09 Jul 2010

Day 80: Drinking Problem John Shea

Yes, just very recently I gave you a picture of my cat.  And now I'm doing it again.  Is it because I've developed a sudden Hollywood style fear of new ideas?  No.  Am I pandering to the large and vocal cat lovers demographic?  No.  Is it an attempt to cash in on the public's love for wallowing in the failures of others?  Bingo.

My cat has a drinking problem.  I've talked to her about this at length but she won't listen.  She just keeps going through the same horrible cycle over and over again with the same predictable results.  So, maybe this public exposure of her problem will finally push her to get help and make the changes she needs to make to get this problem under control.

We can only hope.

Thu 08 Jul 2010

Day 79: Back on Track John Shea

I'm almost caught up now.  If my math is correct, I owe one more photo and then I'm back on track. 

The first shot is of a dead butterfly I found on the side of the road.  I'm just full of romance and whimsy with that shot. 

The second shot is actually today's photo.  Taking photos of tiger lillies is a pain in the ass frankly.  The flower is so big and sprawling that getting the whole thing in focus is tough.  This time I went with a long lens and stepped way back.  That put the background way out of focus but gave me just enough depth of field to keep the flower focused.  I was surprised to discover the spider web in the shot after I took it.  It had completely escaped my attention prior to that moment.

Wed 07 Jul 2010

Day 76: The Test Shot John Shea

My wife and I had a lovely date a few days ago, enjoying a rare moment without the kids.  While driving home I noticed the beautiful light as the golden hour arrived and asked if she would let me take a shot of her in that light.  This is the first shot I took, before making adjustments to the camera.  Later shots were much better in terms of adjusting for the light.  But my wife quickly grew bored with all of this and lost the great smile that appeared in the first shot.  So I'm going with this shot because a great smile beats perfect camera settings.

And yes, for the record, I have these photos for the blog out of order a bit while I'm catching up.  This was actually taken before the dragonfly photo.

Wed 07 Jul 2010

Day 75: Dragonfly on the 4th of July John Shea

Sadly, a few days ago my computer was taken out by a nasty virus that I was simply unable to remove.  Eventually I gave up and resorted to the nuclear option.  I wiped the hard drive clean and installed a fresh new operating system.  This became my excuse for finally upgrading from Windows XP.  Vista looked like a turkey right from the get go, so I waited it out and eventually Windows 7 arrived.  And that's where I am now.  It's certainly better looking than XP and has managed not to crash on me so far, so that's nice.  I am majorly annoyed at having to reinstall all my software and drivers from scratch.

Anyway, photography did not stop while I was offline for a few days.  So now we're going to get caught up.

The first shot is my cat Maggie.  I like this photo because it almost makes her look fearsome.  If you know my cat, this is hilarious.  She is both tiny and the world's worst mouser.  Plus, she's almost dog-like in her affections and general neediness.

Up next is this gorgeous sunset over the old DQ.  There's not much to say about that.  Sunsets are reliable sources of beauty for photographers.  I almost feel lazy taking a shot like this and posting it.  But it is a great sunset, so deal with it.

I'll be back later today with some more photos to get caught up with.  Now I need to work out just how far behind I am...