Eagle at Sunset

There were many eagles at the beach that evening and this ended up being the best I captured.

Date: 1/25/10
Aperture: f/4.6
Shutter: 1/250 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 154mm

More Sunset

I just love this one of Augustine.

Date: 1/25/10
Aperture: f/5
Shutter: 1/100 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 180mm

Alaska

Alaska is a wonderful place, but there are a lot of misconceptions about it! I've gathered some of my posts about it here, so you can hopefully understand what it is really like here!

About Alaska
My Town's Quirks

- We don't have thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes and hardly any flooding, but we do have volcanoes and earthquakes!

Plants
Pushki

Wildlife
Always Look Both Ways
Going to see the Eagles
Twins!

Winter
March 2010 Blizzard

Sunset

Yet another incredible sunset on 1/25.

Date: 1/25/10
Aperture: f/4.6
Shutter: 1/320 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 180mm

C's Birthday

C had a lovely birthday on Tuesday.

We slept in late and had a lazy morning. We met Redhead and her Canadian for lunch at a local restaurant we had not been to in a long time. Unfortunately I did not take any photos of any of these times.

Went up to Redhead's house to play some games for a couple hours. We came home and had a lazy afternoon.

I got C a sweatshirt and I was quite pleased that he was pleased with it (he can be particular about somethings) We ended the day with some pumpkin pie that my mom made for him!

Loving Winter

Well, it's official that the days are getting longer!! We're gaining about 5 minutes a day now! Sunset is now at 5:13pm tomorrow (compared to about 4pm Dec. 21) The extra daylight is delightful! It's a long ways till May, but it always seems shorter when I realize how quickly longer days are coming.

I have been having a wonderful winter! I always dread the coming of winter and seem to usually be depressed until the signs of spring (in April...) start to show up. But, I have some theories about why I am in a splendid mood these days:
- A car that starts
- A ridiculously mild winter with little snow
- But most of all: Photography. I am actually outside so much more this winter. I shoot the sunset and sometimes the sunrise, and things in the middle of the day as well. I'm actually enjoying the sunsetting around 4pm because I can actually shoot the sunset while C is at work.
- Plus: The eagles have come back and there are moose everywhere - totally great subjects for me!

I know that I will dread winter coming this fall again, but I know that it will not be so bad. Photographic opportunities abound all year and it just takes persistence to find them!

Young Moose

This time I used the flash. Not perfect by any means, but it lit him up better!

Date: 1/23/10
Aperture: f/4
Shutter: 1/20 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 70mm

A Dream

I had this crazy dream about one of my brother in law's the other night. In the dream, he got one of his really close friends pregnant and they were going to get married. I told the girl I was excited about it because she would become a part of the family. She told me that I was the only person excited about it.

I woke up quite thoughtful and regretful. I'm pretty sure BIL won't end up with this girl, (of course anything is possible) but I wanted it in the dream.

I wasn't planning on telling him about it, but it came up in conversation tonight and I'm glad I told him. He had some ideas on the interpretation of it and stuff and I was quite intrigued. I always dream vivid dreams. And often enough I wake up and ponder them throughout the day. Maybe more of them have meaning to be gleaned than I thought? Anyways, I was happy that he got something out of it and that I made a good choice in letting him know about it :)

Moose!

Had a young moose calf hanging out at my work this weekend. He tolerated a lot of photos from me!

Date: 1/23/10
Aperture: f/4.6
Shutter: 1/30 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 148mm

Fire Around Augustine

Mt. Augustine. I was sad it wasn't steaming :)

Date: 1/21/10
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/50 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 300mm

Another Quake

We were awakened to a 4.9 quake this morning. After it was finished, I lay in bed pondering the "Big One" we are supposed to have in the near future. I really hope that God holds it back until summertime! It would be awful to have a terrible quake in the dead of winter, like now.

Good grief. I was reading about the 1964 quake we had and just read this:

"Since the entire Earth vibrated as a result of the quake, minor effects were felt worldwide: several fishing boats were sunk in Louisiana and water sloshed in wells in Africa."

My word!

Mom's Birthday

Today was my mom's birthday!

We had a family dinner with the 8 of us in town today at the Chinese buffet. A good time was had by all. I just wish I had taken more photos of everyone!

It's C's birthday on Tuesday and so we'll be doing a celebration then too :)

Pink

Date: 1/21/10
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/25 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 48mm

Sunset

Incredible sunset. Feel free to read my thoughts about it here

Date: 1/21/10
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter: 1/25sec
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 33mm

Photo Features!

By Orvaratli
I adore the blues here!

By Bjay70
Lovely riverboat!

By Nate Zeman
Shot here in Homer!

By Heaven's Gate
Such a unique silhouette!

By Jozsef Mihok
A rainbow of color here!

By Narmansk8
A must see large.

By Kevin McNeal
I would love to find a great place to shoot like this!

By Rdmartin
LOVE this bokeh!

By Bob Martin
Another Alaskan image. The water is so gorgeous!

By Paula Cobleigh
Paula has some amazing droplet images and this is no exception!

By Alex37
Ahhh, I just love it!

By Kevin McNeal
A gorgeous sky!

By Darkmatter257
Last but not least, I love this one's sky as well!

Please give them all some love and see them full size!!

Sunset

I love having a flexible schedule right now so that I can drop everything to shoot the sunset if I want to. I had been praying for another incredible one. I was out shooting in the golden hour at about 4pm. I figured the sunset would be alright, but nothing spectacular. I left where I'd been shooting and ran to the bank quickly. When I pulled out, the sky was starting to fill up with color!

I drove to the beach and decided that maybe it would turn out pretty nice. The waves were crashing with so much fury tonight. It was not windy at all, but the waves were quite violent. I ended up retreating to my car after a bit from the cold, but I stayed and watched as the sunset got more and more vivid and vibrant.

It was just fantastic. I was quite amazed because it felt like the first vibrant sunset since the beginning of December. I have probably missed a couple, but it felt like when I was finally able to get out and shoot after being sick twice this month, God brought along a fantastic one. I love it.

Fluffy Clouds

More fun with the polarizing filter. The sunset that evening was not that spectacular, but I still stayed to see if it would get better. I love the colors in this one.

Date: 1/15/10
Aperture: f/10
Shutter: 1/10sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 18mm

Loving my Car

I just want to say what a blessing my new car has been so far this winter!

It has never had a problem starting at all. It's an amazing feeling to me to know that I don't have to plug in my car each night to hopefully guarantee that it will start in the morning. I'm so glad we bought it.

And I managed to get all of the cigarette smoke smell out of it with charcoal briquettes. They seriously work wonders! So now it smells great! :)

More Poot's Peak

More of Poot's Peak. I have been yearning for sunny days with clouds to let me work with my polarizing filter more.

Date: 1/15/10
Aperture: f/4
Shutter: 1/4000sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 70mm

Poot's Peak

Yet again, so sorry for my absence! I managed to catch the 24 hour flu this weekend...though it has left me stuck at home for longer than that by trying to gain my strength back. School started today for me, so that will likely impact my shooting as well.

Poot's Peak off of the Homer Spit. I didn't notice the foreground being blurry until I got home when it was too late.

Date: 1/14/10
Aperture: f/4.6
Shutter: 1/125sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 135mm

Ugh

For supposedly being done with my flu bug, I sure feel awful. I think it is because my stomach is so empty still...but the lethargy is not encouraging eating!!

In other news, school started today. It looks like my classes are going to be alright. My business comm class looks like it is going to be obnoxious. We'll be learning about grammar and such. *sigh* I thought I was done with english classes!

Flu

I caught the 24 hour stomach flu Saturday night. Not too pleasant, but the worst was that it did not let me sleep well.

I'm definitely on the mend now, and just in time for school to start tomorrow!

Experiments with Contrast

This one is definitely an experiment. I have been playing with contrast in Photoshop a lot lately and on this one, I overdid it with the mountains big time, but it's an improvement over how it was.

Date: 1/13
Aperture: f/6.4
Shutter: 1/20 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 18mm

Quake

I've been on edge ever since Tuesday after hearing about the Haiti quake. We have been having minor earthquakes quite frequently as of late (or maybe I'm now really paying attention.)

Tonight, we had a 3.5 one 30 miles from here. It gave us a good jolt for a couple seconds and then was over. I might be used to earthquakes, but they still rattle me sometimes.

Warm

Date: 1/13
Aperture: f/5.7
Shutter: 1/30 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 51mm

Sunset

Date: 1/13

Aperture: f/5.4

Shutter: 1/15 sec

ISO: 200

Focal Length: 18mm

On the Homer Spit

Beluga Slough

Date: 1/10/10
Aperture: f/4.6
Shutter: 1/160 sec
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 168mm

Taken from Bishop's Beach of Beluga Slough at sunset.

Extreme

So sorry on the lack of posts! I have not been shooting since before Christmas! Once Christmas was over, I caught a cold that kept me holed up inside. I am over my cold now, but the weather has stayed gloomy and cloudy, and sometimes rainy. I am missing taking photos!
Date: 12/22/09
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter: 1/1000
ISO: 200
Focal Length: 18mm

Spent a bit of time at the beach before Christmas. The saturation is upped a bit on this one...a bit too much, but I think it's sort of fascinating to view.

Christmas And New Years

Mud Pie!

We had a really enjoyable Christmas. I had to work Christmas Eve, but once that was done, we headed to my in laws' house. Everyone was there except BIL2, so it was a full house. We had a lot of fun and stayed till 2AM or so.

We played Scene It: Star Trek and I wanted to play with Voyager as my piece. I ended up winning the game...oddly enough!

Christmas morning, C and I opened our presents to each other. I got a camera remote so we played with it that morning.

The afternoon of Christmas, we drove out to my hometown to spend it with my parents and the three cats. Had a great dinner and opened gifts there, then C and I headed back home.

I got a new camera bag! It is really nice, but I'm not sure it is big enough. I have been spending my time juggling items to make sure they all fit lately.

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I caught my dad's cold this week. It's been an odd one. I got a sore throat first. Now I have the cough and the nose stuff. But the entire time, I have been feeling fine other than my throat hurting, or my nose being stuffy. I've had lots of energy and stuff.

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We went to see The Blind Side on Tuesday evening. It definitely lived up to the reviews. I can't recommend it enough!

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For New Years, we went to Redhead's house. We watched Ocean's Eleven for kicks. Then at about 11pm, we went outside to their buried firepit and built a little fire. I had to go inside by about 11:30 as the cold was really affecting my nose. I went back out about 10 minutes later to ring in the New Year. It was fun seeing and hearing the different fireworks around town!

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Saw the Princess and the Frog today. It was cute and fun to see hand drawn animation from Disney again! However, I was disappointed with all the voodoo in it. I had been told that it was there, but I wasn't expecting it to be a central theme and popping up every couple minutes. I felt it was a bit much for young eyes to take in. C and I were definitely creeped out by it! All in all it was a cute story though.

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Well, it's hard to believe it's 2010, but here it is!