Project 365 - Photo of the Day - April 3, 2008

Today I was up bright and early and in my workout clothes by 7:30 a.m. I ditched the camera this time and walked, very quickly, through our complex. It was on the cool side this morning but as I walked I warmed up quickly. It was a very nice workout and I was back in the house within a half hour and my coffee was waiting for me. I had some yogurt and granola (homemade thank you!!) and I enjoyed my coffee as I worked on the crossword puzzle. What could be better?

By 10 a.m. I got the kids out the door and off we trekked to Fort Lauderdale beach. I was mad because there is no more free parking anywhere along the beach. So I coughed up the quarters for the machines and we sat literally 10 feet from the car. It was very windy and the lifeguards had the warning flags posted. There were rip currents and man of war in the water, but it was nice enough to bask in the sun for a little while, read a book, eat lunch and wade up to our ankles. I had lots of opportunites to take photos and I endulged myself. I must have taken at least 400 shots, but these are the ones that I liked the best.




This seagull was sitting directly in front of me. He wasn't scared of me when I moved as close as possible to get this nice close up shot. In fact, he really didn't move all day, he was still there when we left at 3 pm.



This was a different bird and I was playing with my telephoto lens and the focusing. I don't have autofocus on the telephoto lens, but that is okay, it is just more challenging and I have to pay attention to what I am doing.



I liked this one because I was playing with the shutter speeds and I was able to freeze the water droplets that splashed up at Rachel's face. I liked this shot because it reminds me of a shot that you would see in an ad for suntan lotion or toothpaste!



Another bird! Still having fun with the focusing and moving with the birds as they flew by although you don't see the movement because I had a fast shutter speed on the camera.



I just liked the colors in the sand which is more like ground up shells. I was sitting at the edge of the water watching the girls and I looked down at the sand and decided to snap a few shots. There is a definite warm feeling, you can almost feel the heat coming up off the sand.



Playing with the shutter speeds again, I had it all the way on 4000 and I was able to freeze the splash of the wave as it crashed against the girls. My goofy daughter decided to swim with her glasses on! Thank goodness she didn't lose them.



More freezing of motion.




And this one I just liked because it was like a still-life painting . . . my chair and all the stuff that we lugged to the beach.