Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 20, 2009

The most significant day for me all year was today. I waited a very long eight years for this day. I was very distracted. I couldn't pay attention to work. I was on CNN with Facebook. It was amazing to see all the comments in real time. The comments were just blazing a trail. I felt very connected even though I was sitting at my desk.



But later some of the staff went down to the auditorium to watch the inauguration on the large screen. These are the images that I snapped while sitting in the auditorium. It was an amazing experience. We were all clapping at the screen, cheering when the president and vice president were sworn in and standing and singing the national anthem in unison. It was one of those moments that I will not forget for a very long time . . . if ever.









The very last photograph was on the web. I cropped it so that you only see the hands on Lincoln bible. I find this image extremely powerful. It isn't my photo, but I wanted to share.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 19, 2009

Shopping. Just saying the word gives me the shivers. I hate shopping. Why? I really do not know why, but I just don't like it. I used to like to shop with my mom because she would pick things out for me and say, "here this would look good with that." And we would shop. But now, I am supposed to do that for my girls and instead, I get the eye roll and attitude. Today we tried to get Rachel and Adina some new shoes. We walked the entire mall and then went to a DSW store. Thousands of shoes and not one for my daughters.

Amazing.

But these are the photos that I snapped along the way to entertain myself.



This was the first store we went into . . . Nine West. The sandals were perfect, comfortable and black leather. But NOOOOOO!! Not for Rachel. Adina only wanted Converse sneakers, and they had to be high top and they had to be red. So with that narrow selection, she ended up with zilch.



Along the way, I decided to check out a sale at NY and Company. I found a pair of pants and earrings for myself. Adina came into the dressing room with me and when I looked at her eyes in that light, I just HAD to snap this photo. Ok, so I used PhotoShop, but only to enhance her eyes to the what I saw in the store.















At Footlocker, thousands of Converse sneakers, none that the girls wanted. I gave up and sat down on the floor, hence this shot!















At DSW Adina wasn't even remotely interested in looking at any of those shoes so she sat, contently, and texted and texted. Thank goodness we have unlimited texting!
























And . . .what is wrong with these shoes? Rachel decided that she doesn't like heels on her sandals. Oy vey. I was sitting on the floor again. I was getting tired!



When in Davie we always stop at this pet store. Rachel was peering down at the parakeets. They were making a huge racket. When Rachel said, "shush" they all shut up for a minute. It was pretty funny.



And the lady in the store liked the fact that I was snapping photos so she opened up the gerbil cage and let me snap away. Here is one cutie crawling onto Adina's hand.

So although we didn't end up with shoes, I bought myself an outfit for work and we played with the animals. Not a total loss and they finally lost their bad attitudes.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 18, 2009

Sunday, a day that we usually stay at home and do a whole lot of nothing . . . laundry and house cleaning. But since we took care of that on Saturday, and we are all home on Monday thanks to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday, we decided to head out to Anne Kolb Nature Center to kayak again.

Although we had to wait about 45 minutes for kayaks, we finally got out on the water about 2 p.m. It was cloudy and cool (not cold) and just perfect weather. Adina and I shared a kayak and Rachel was on her own. Adina and I had a little trouble coordinating but finally got the hang of it and only went into the mangroves twice!! I was suppose to do the steering since I was in the rear, but Adina didn't have the strength to paddle us both, so I doing both paddling and steering and sometimes that led us astray.

I couldn't take any photos on the water because I won't risk getting my camera wet, but trust me, it is pristine and beautiful and peaceful.


























I love this photo because of the reflection of the canopy of trees in the water. You can feel the mood of the day which was rather gray, and the gray of the walkway blends into the mood.




This dragonfly was flitting around from leaf to leaf. I made Adina stand still so that I could shoot several pics. This one was the one that I liked because I was able to freeze the wings in a downward movement.



I love the Florida skies. We may not have mountains or hills, but we have beautiful, expansive skies. This is actually a cold front battling to move into our area. Yeah, I know that cold front isn't like a cold front up north, but it does move heavy cloud cover in and drops the temps as soon as the skies clear and the daylight leaves allowing what the weatherman calls radiational cooling. It will be 42 degrees here on Wednesday night. A bit cool for my tastes! But I will get to pull out the warm sweaters for a few days!



I adore black and white photography and when I snapped this photo I just knew that it was perfect for grayscale! I find this extremely dramatic. We were at the top of the lookout tower and Rachel was busy texting her friends which gave me her profile and she was ignoring me and I was lying flat on my stomach to achieve this angle.























Although we all agreed that this was a really gross fly, I had to take the shot because I loved the green against the pink of the flower.



As we exited the Florida Turnpike I snapped this through the window of the car. Love our sunsets!!



This is my nephew's bird. He was making a lot of noise in the cage so he brought him out to be with the company. He was very entertaining. He dances with you and puffs up his feathers and head feathers.



I snapped this as we were waiting for Adina to change her clothes when we got off of the kayaks. Rachel was shivering because she didn't have a change of clothes. I loved the way her eyes looked and I used a bit of PhotoShop, a new technique I learned thanks to my best friend, Susan, pointing me to the online Digital Photography School.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 17, 2009

Saturday consisted of a heavy workout at my gym, complete with dance exercises! I haven't danced in about six years and I really miss it. I intend on returning to dance class soon. Then I came home to a house full of family members madly cleaning up their rooms, vacuuming and dusting. Wow, very impressive. I got into the act by cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the living room and folding laundry. But then I just HAD to get outside. So at about 2 p.m. I went over to Long Key Nature Center in Davie. It is a brand new park and still has damage from Hurricane Wilma, but mostly it is beautiful.
























As you enter the center, there is a circle of trees with these pillars in them. There is history behind these pillars. I gave you link to read about it.



Lovely vista.



This little fella poked his head up as I was walking on the bridge across the lake. The water is crystal clear and full of wild life and underwater plants.

























As I wandered the trail, which is actually a cement walkway through the woods, I came across this spider. I loved the way the light reflected off his web and he didn't budge an inch. If he did I think I would have just jumped out of my skin and ran for the hills!



This was another spider, much, much smaller than the other one and I really didn't catch what I wanted, which was the way the light sparkled on the web like diamonds. If I had a water bottle with a spray, I would have put some droplets on the web and take the photo again. But needless to say, I still liked this one.



If you look closely, you can see this butterfly's tongue as it sips the nectar from this flower. I followed it around for a while and took a lot of shots, but this one shows the tongue the best.



I impressed myself when I looked at this one. I was doing manual focus and aperture priority and I caught this bee and it was pretty far away. I used my 200 mm zoom lens and a wide open aperture.



I turned this one into black and white (a la Clyde Butcher!) I shot into the light to see what effect this would have. I love the contrast between the water and the lily pads. I happen to love black and white photography. I went to an Ansel Adams show a couple of weeks ago and feel inspired to find shots that translate well in black and white.




Love this one because the line between reality and reflection are blurred. Can you tell where the reflection starts?

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 16, 2009

Yup, the cats again. But this is an actual miracle! To have both cats sleeping on the same couch within inches of each other . . . unbelievable. Gracie usually sounds like a lion if Newton gets too close and then beats him with her paw (no claws, just a warning to move away). But Gracie was aware that Newton jumped up and curled up next to her. Gracie just got up and turned around so that her back was facing Newton and there they were . . . sleeping together like they were friends!




Then when I went upstairs to go to sleep, we had the windows open because the weather has been wonderfully cool at night (for Florida) and we like the night sounds and the little breezes that come through the screens. Well Newton jumped on the headboard, then down behind it onto the windowsill and peeked through and I caught this cute shot. The wood on the left is my headboard and the fabric on the right is the window trimming that frames the entire window!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 13, 2009

Just a quiet moment on a Tuesday evening as we decompress from our days. All three of my family members are completely absorbed in whatever was playing on the television, probably Family Guy!!! Rachel has her crossword puzzle in front of her, something that she does on a daily basis . . . we usually share it and finish it as a team. And of course, Rachel has her cell phone nearby. Can never be without that, she might miss a text from one of her friends! How come she doesn't answer me when I call but always answers her friends . . . .hmmmmm.

Adina is snuggled down on my side of the bed and Joel, well, Joel just being Joel.


It is a peaceful time before we all settle in for the night.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 12, 2009

You can tell that I am not motivated when I resort to shooting photos of my cats! However, I think this one came out interesting because I was able to freeze the water droplets as Gracie was having her daily drink out of my bathroom sink! She will sit for hours on the edge of the sink waiting for me to come up and turn on the water. She is funny like that. She will snooze sitting up. How to cats do that and not fall over?

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 11, 2009

Sunday morning at the park . . . the City of Lauderhill presented a Jazz Picnic in the Park complete with a jazz band and gorgeous sunny weather.

We began our day with canvas chairs and blankets and mimosas! Before long we had a large group of friends and colleagues gathered around. Lots of laughter and silliness too. I didn't post the mundane shots, those are on my Kodak site, these are the fun shots that I liked the best.

I also met three professional photographers and they insisted on having me take their photos as a group and then they made me get in the photo with them. If I ever get a copy of that photo, I will share here.

But for now, my favorites of the day.



In this photo Joel had grabbed our friend, Lynn's, reading glasses and was trying to make a fire on the newspaper. He had tested it on Robert's knee and Robert jumped up in pain! So it was working. But he lost interest in trying make fire.



This is my neighbor's daughter. She was in a hurry to get to the playground. She just looked like she was on a mission and had to get there and looked so grown up (she is only two!). I got down on my hands and knees to get this shot.



Now you can see the photographer if you peer into Rachel's sunglasses. Me with my Indiana State University hat to shield me from that really strong South Florida sun. Don't want to tempt the sun to ruin my skin.



And this is Rachel's comment on my using her as a subject. And also after she had a mimosa!

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 10, 2009

Rachel and I had an unbelievably fun day together. Adina was off at her friend's house in Davie and Joel was at home doing stuff around the house.

We started the day at Anne Kolb Nature Center in Hollywood. We each had our own kayak and for an hour were one with nature among the magroves and crabs that made such loud clacking noises that it sounded like an audience clapping.



Afterwards we walked the nature trail so that I could take photos. Mostly Rachel was sitting along the way texting her friend in Indiana who is still on winter break and was skiing in upstate NY. This photo is of Rachel in the midst of texting.























I adore the Florida landscapes. Expansive blue skies with puffy white clouds with these little islands of mangroves in the lake.



I don't know what these bugs are, but I thought that they were pretty.



Just having fun with backlight!



This is a photo of two crabs fighting. We watched them as they battled and then each went back into their own mud hole.



This sign just made me laugh!



After the park, we went over to the beach. It wasn't all that far since we just had to cross the bridge over the Intracoastal and there is another park where we could park the car instead of looking for quarters for the meters. I was cold, there was a lot of wind and even though it was a sunny day, I must have no blood because I wanted to roll up in the towel and be warm. But I did manage to entertain myself while Rachel lazed in the sun. I took plenty of photos of the seagulls and this one was my favorite.

























Then a bunch of teens decided to do backflips on the beach. They happened to be right next to where we were sitting, so I practiced taking frame after frame and this was my favorite. He just looks suspended in the air as though he would stay there without falling.



After we left the beach, we headed west to pick up Adina. My sweet daughter said that she knew where she was going and basically drove for almost an hour and a half before admitting that she went the wrong way! But I occupied myself while she was driving by taking loads of photos. This one made me think of musical notes on sheet music.



And the last photo of the day was of the moon rising up over the western Broward homes in Davie. On this day the moon was the closest to the earth that it ever gets and it really, really did look HUGE! I couldn't get the color right, it was very yellow, but didn't come out that way on the camera and I didn't want to use too much Photoshop.

Project 365 - Photo of the Day - January 8, 2009

The day started out cool and when that happens . . . fog happens around here. So I jumped out of Robert's car to capture the fog the best way that I could. If Robert wasn't always in a hurry to get to work, I would have spent more time, but I snapped off a bunch and then got back into the car. These are the two that I love.




When I got to work, I decided to photograph my walk into work.



Since I am the first to arrive at 7:30 a.m. I get to open the doors. Sometimes it is a little creepy being in the building alone, but it is all locked up and the security guards are always looking out for us. We have more video cameras on our floor than any other because of the art gallery. In order to take this photo I way laying down flat on my back to get this perspective.

























Then I take out the easel with the bulletin board that announces upcoming happenings in our office and around the cultural community. After switching on the lamp near the two chairs, I turn on the stereo so that we can have soft jazz playing faintly in the background all day.



That is a photo of the front desk. Not really eventful, just a plain old desk but the first point of contact for anyone visiting our offices.



This is another view of the office as I walk in each morning. Look up at the top of the photo and you will see the framed covers of each Cultural Quarterly magazine that I have worked on. I started working on the magazine in 1988 and last year we stopped printing it, but it became an online magazine. I still have freelance writers and a graphic designer working on it, but it just isn't the same.



This is the view outside my office looking down the hallway towards our director's office. I am at one end and she is at the opposite end of the office. We are in the process of cleaning and archiving our old files. That is why you see all of the boxes lined up in the hallway. We are waiting for them to take them away . . . as soon as possible!



And the balanced of these photos are various views of my office. I love my office. It is my sanctuary. I try to keep it as neat and clean as I possibly can because nothing else in my life at home stays that way!!