A basket full of wine corks on our kitchen counter. Many vineyards now use the artificial "corks" which aren't as cool, but at least some of them are now printing on them as well.
Taken with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5 - 5.6 kit lens. ISO 100. 6 seconds at f8. Yeah, I used a tripod. No flash, lit by a small night light. Click on picture for a larger version.
I really like taking pictures of patterns and textures, in particular as they occur in nature, though I've been known to take pictures of carpeting, because I might be able to "use that pattern somewhere."
So naturally, this little pile of leaves covered in snow and ice attracted my attention.
Click on the picture for a larger version.
I know that it is well after the Christmas season for most people, but we just got to the end of our indoor decorations yesterday. The outside decorations are still largely encased in ice and are staying right where they are until the thaw that is coming over the next couple of days.
When I realized the time was short for our decorations, I rushed around the house taking pictures. I think our house pretty much looks like something you'd see in a magazine or movie during Christmas, thanks to my wife, and I wanted to capture that look for posterity. Unfortunately, "rushed" is the key word and very few of the low-light pictures are acceptable for publication. Here are a few I liked enough to share.
This Santa is one of perhaps two dozen in the house. This particular one is on a vanity in our bedroom. That's right, even our bedroom is decorated like crazy! The gingerbread house in the background was made by my wife, daughters, and mom. They make at least one every single year. Each is unique. My wife, Dianne, designs the pattern and makes the walls, the kids decorate, my mom provides a workshop, helping hands, and many candies! One year, they did a model of the Kirkwood train station. We keep the gingerbread house all winter and then give it to the possums and raccoons in the yard. Expect to see pictures of this later.
There nothing too special about this picture, other than this is what I was looking at as I ate dinner the other night. I grabbed the camera and snapped the picture! My dirty plate and wine glass was just in front of this. The blue lights in the background are reflections of some of the outdoor lights in our china cabinet. It's a real live poinsettia!
If there is anything we have more of than Santas, it is Nativity sets. This is as it should be, since Christmas is ALL about the gift of God's son. Like the Santas, we don't even put them all up each year. They are rotated from year to year. This one, however, ALWAYS gets put up. It belonged to my grandparents and is a match to one my parents have...so it is like I grew up with it! One of the wise men were broken at some point. I need to repair it, but I'm not exactly sure where it is, which upsets me.
I also didn't realize until last night how really poor this picture was, but I really wanted to post one of this Nativity set, and now it is taken down! So, I did what I could with it, and here it is! And yes, we have little lights and lighted garland EVERYWHERE in the house during Christmas. It's a Christmas wonderland!
So, just a couple of pictures, but definitely representative of the beauty you'd find in our house at Christmas!
Well, today is the official last day of Christmas, being Epiphany, so although ol' Saint Nick has turned into a secular character for most, I thought it would be appropriate to show him leaving town for the season! By the way, in some cultures Christmas is celebrated today!
Taken at this year's "Gardenland Express" exhibit at the Missouri Botanical Garden. My entire extended family goes to this every year, right after Christmas...usually the day after.
Here's the details: Nikon D60, Auto-mode, flash off. (Camera selected f5.6, 1/30 s, ISO 500). I tracked the motion of the train as I took the picture, which is how Santa is sharp and everything around him is progressively blurred. Click on the picture for a bigger view!
Oh, by the way, even though Christmas is over, I still reserve the right to post more about this Christmas.
There are a number of places in St. Louis where it's just not possible to take too many pictures. The Missouri Botanical Garden (or as us long-time residents call it "Shaw's Garden"), is one of those places.
The Climatron is one of the coolest structures inside the garden, as it contains a mini-rain forest. This shot is a shot of one of the waterfalls in the structure. I take a lot of pictures of this! If you are bored, you can look through "One Dad's Life" and probably find more.
Here's this week's version! The most amazing thing about this photo, if I do say so myself, is that it is reasonably sharp - AND IT WAS HAND-HELD! No tripod or other supporting device was used. Big deal, you say? Well, to get that silky smooth water, long exposure times are required. In this case, one quarter of a second. I actually have one from the same vantage that is a bit sharper, but liked the composition of this one better, so this is what you get today!
Boy, the "One Dad's Life" complaint department has been working overtime, fielding complaints of there not being enough updates here. The problem is the "One Dad's Life" complaint department fields, seemingly, 72% of ALL of the complaints in the St. Louis area, and since the complaint department is really just me, I haven't had much time for blogging.
So, it's Christmas time (still) and I've totally missed out on all the great Christmas posts I could have written. As a token, I give you our Christmas Tree, 2009 edition. It looks a LOT like the 2008 edition, unless you look really close.
I was in my office wrapping a set of Wizard the Oz PEZ dispensers I was giving my wife, when I heard a sleigh bell, a meow, a small "thunk", and my dog jumping up on the couch to look out the window. Then the noise was over in a flash! Well, I grabbed my camera and ran upstairs, hoping to catch Santa in the act.
Let me tell you, that guy is FAST.
The cookies were mostly eaten, the egg nog was empty (and the glass knocked over - from the cat, obviously), but nothing had spilled out since the glass had been DRAINED. There was also a note to my youngest daughter, answering some questions she had for Santa, and two new Hogwarts Gryffindor scarves left for my daughters.
Missed him AGAIN!
Anyway, here's what the tree looked like!
Today's wordless (or as wordless as I usually get) post is from the same cookie baking tradition I discussed here and here. The cookies in the first picture are actually called "Colorful Cookies." I can't remember the name of the second cookies; we made them for the first time this year. Our emphasis in 2009 was "pretty." I think these fit!
Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens, SB-600 flash.
While browsing through an antique mall in the little burg of Tracy, Missouri, I ran across this old-time Remington Typewriter. I love these old typewriters. My parents used to have a similar model which I always loved. There is just something magical about these typewriters.
Taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ8 point and shoot camera I carried in my jacket. ALWAYS HAVE A CAMERA WITH YOU!
While I can do pretty good on subjects that don't run away, my wife has a knack for taking portraits. We spent Thanksgiving in Leavenworth, Kansas with Dianne's family and one day we spent some time in a park with the nieces and nephews.
As I was going through the pictures last night, I came across this shot of my niece. I liked the way the light was coming through her hair, so decided to play with it just a bit. I made a crop that isolated my niece a little more, then played with the saturation and levels a bit to make the following picture.
The thing is, I'm not sure I like the result any more than the original shot! So here is a once in a lifetime (or at least this week) chance to decide for yourself whether I should have just left my wife's original shot alone. For comparison, here's the original uncropped, unmolested image straight out of the camera.
I honestly don't know which I like better! Go ahead and let me know your preference. By Monday, I should be over any rejection.
Taken with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens and SB-600 flash.
Photo credit: Dianne Mueller
Tampering: Gregg Mueller
My youngest daughter and some of her cousins whirling around on a carousel.
Taken on a restored C.W. Parker Carousel at the Carousel Museum in Leavenworth, KS. This carousel could move! More pictures coming, too.
Nikon D60, Shutter priority mode on 1/4 second, f14, ISO800, rear curtain flash. Rear curtain flash is fired at the closing of the shutter, rather than the opening - results in freezing the action at the END of the blur.
