Happy Halloween!

We had a driveway Halloween party tonight at a friend's house.  The weather was perfect, the kids were cute and the sugar was prevalent.  Now it is off to bed to sleep off the sugar coma!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

Left: 48mm - ISO 200

1/25s - f/4.8

Bottom: 22mm - ISO 200

1/4s - f/3.8

Nikon SB900

Didn't record settings (oops!)

Bounced up with diffuser

Trick or treat?

Treat, of course!  Who really wants to be tricked?  I made some peanut butter popcorn treats for our Halloween party tomorrow night.  The real trick will be to see that they survive the next 20 or so hours until the party!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.58-5.6

90mm - ISO 200

1/40s - f/18

Nikon SB900

1/2 power

90mm zoom

Bounced up and to the left

Origin unknown

I have no idea what kind of bush this is, but it looked really cool in the fading light of today.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
98mm - ISO 200
1/20s - f/5.6

Rough rider

I don't know how many miles this truck has on it, but the weathered exterior suggests quite a lot!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
24mm - ISO 200
1/50s - f/5.6

Autumn

The Fall colors have finally arrived in Topeka this week!  I was afraid that we would be stuck with just brown leaves everywhere, because it has been so dry this fall, but the reds and oranges have finally appeared.  

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole year.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

58mm - ISO 200

1/20s - f/5.6

The slide not taken

I came upon a little park today that I had never been to, and stopped to wander around for a little while.  It had one of those super-slick metal slides that sends you streaking down in a flash.  Sadly, it didn't occur to me until just now that I should have tried it out for myself.  There wasn't a soul around, so if it tossed me off, I wouldn't even have been embarrassed.  I must be getting old.  Maybe I will go back tomorrow and give it a try!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

21mm - ISO 200

1/125s - f/11

Building blocks

Goodbye, Chicago.  Maybe next time I will get out in you for some fun!  I love all of the buildings downtown - they look like a small (but very large) child was playing with a set of blocks and turned them all on end.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

65mm - ISO 200

1/25s - f/7.1

Riverline

I had the chance to walk around a little bit tonight after dinner and enjoy the sights of the Chicago skyline at river-level.  It really was a beautiful sight.  I would have liked to have used a slightly smaller aperture to turn all of the lights into twinkles, but I didn't have my tripod.   

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4
28mm - ISO 1250
1/30s - f/7.1

The Gentle Breeze City

Hmm.  That doesn't quite have the same ring as "The Windy City," but the weather was just perfect in Chicago this afternoon.  I am in town briefly for a convention, and the view from my room is pretty cool.  The ivy in the bottom photo is climbing up the walls of the convention center.  I liked the contrast between the monochrome city and the bright ivy. Tomorrow I hope to get some photos around the city, if I get a break.


























Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4

Top:  24mm - ISO 200  1/15s - f/22 
Bottom:  40mm - ISO 200  1/60s - f/8

Fore!

Even though it is super dry around here, a lot of burn piles have been going this weekend.  I have no idea why.  I liked the effect that the tree branches and barbed wire have in the foreground.  They are really just black lines across the scene.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

90mm - ISO 800

1/20s - f/5.6

Sweet treats

I made a ridiculously sugary dessert tonight, and shot the sugar as it was melting into the corn syrup.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 200

1/60s - f/4

Canon 580 EXII

1/16 power

Bounced up and back

Sick kitty

Our cat, Pyrite, was feeling a bit under the weather tonight, so I took her picture before Cory took her into the vet.  Hopefully she will be back home soon!

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 400

1/25s - f/4

Seeds of envy?

Can you tell that after a full day of meetings, errands and cleaning I didn't find much inspirational material for my blog today?!  We were cleaning up the garage a bit, and I ran across some spilled grass seed.  Some of the seeds appear to have green paint on them, which I thought was a bit odd. 

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 1250

1/30s - f/4

Birds on a wire

Monsters Inc. is a great movie.  But for me, it paled in comparison to the animated short "Birds on a Wire" that ran before it in theaters.  It was so cute and funny that it completely spoiled the actual movie for me.  I thought of it today when I was headed to Maple Hill, KS for some dinner and saw some birds settling in.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

55mm 0 ISO 100

1/1600 - f/4

Fairy dreams

As a little girl, I always wanted to believe in fairies, but was too logical to sustain the concept for very long.  This is a little statuette of a fairy on a lily pond, with a backdrop of some water lilies that I shot last weekend.  I just like her dreamy expression, and the way the light is cast on her face and the lily pad in the background.

I'm not sure if this second shot works or not, but I like it.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

Top:  70mm - ISO 800

1/20s - f/5.3

Bottom: 105mm - ISO 800

1/20s - f/5.6

Trash Mountain

Today I had the privilege of working on the tech team at a benefit for the Trash Mountain Project, a Christian organization that cares for children and families who live in trash dumps across the world.  These people make their living scavenging, sorting through piles and piles of refuse on the chance that they can find something to sell.  It is not unusual for someone to spend their whole lives, from birth to death, in one of these camps.  It is a desperate, dangerous existence.  

Trash Mountain Project is currently operating schools, kitchens and medical clinics at dump communities in Cambodia, Honduras and the Dominican Republic, but with approximately 1,000 of these communities throughout the world, there is much work left to be done.  Their mission is to "[bring] children and families living in trash dump communities into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by addressing their spiritual, physical, emotional, and educational needs." Below are photos during the set-up time and the dinner.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

 Top:  28mm -ISO 3200

1/10s - f/4

Bottom: 28mm - ISO 640

1/25s - f/4

Dusty mulch

Today I took pictures at Sharefest, a city-wide service project, in which a network of churches around town worked on landscaping projects at many of the city's schools.  I had a difficult time with the strong light throughout the morning.  I normally avoid these times of days in my photography, because I have such little control over the light.  It was a good experience because it showed me an area that I need to work on.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4
32mm - ISO 200
1/1250s - f/4.5

Lotsa rubba

Just a silly picture today.  Here are some instructions, in case you want to make one of your own.  (I didn't make these.)

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4
105mm - ISO 100
1/320s - f/9

Boo!

These people REALLY like Halloween!  I would normally shoot a much tighter aperture to make the lights and colors more crisp, but I didn't have my tripod with me and had to shoot wide open.  Fortunately the dark/light contrast of the scene was quite strong, which saved the day.

 

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

73mm - ISO 400

1/15s - f/4

Azureus fungus

Well, I decided to keep my day job after giving "paint-your-own-pottery" a try with this mushroom.  I think it offended one of the cats, because I found it knocked over in the flower bed a night or two after I stuck it there.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

85mm - ISO 200

1/80s - f/5.6

Cups and pieces

Today I grabbed a snack for my husband and I to enjoy while watching a favorite show.  But, he had the same idea.  So the Reese's live to see another day...

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm - f/3.5-5.6

105mm - ISO 400

1/30s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

TTL

Bounced 135-degrees away from subject

Strumming

I have always wanted a harp, so I bought one at the KCRenFest a few weekends ago.  It is a cradle harp, which fits in the crook your arm.  Here are two views.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm - f/3.5-5.6

Top:  

90mm - ISO 800

1/3s - f/5.6

Bottom:

105mm - ISO 800

1/6s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900
TTL
Bounced up to ceiling

What the...?

One of my favorite foods from my childhood was banana chips.  You simply slice them up, put them on a tray, and stick them in a dehydrator overnight.  They look pretty funny, but taste delicious.  I think the ones you get in the store and in trail mixes are freeze-dried, because they taste like powder.  These are soft and gummy, or hard and crisp if you let them go a little longer.  But, with the whole house smelling wonderfully of bananas, that is hard to do!

Canon 5D Mark II

Promaster 70-300mm f/3.5-5.6

300mm - ISO 1250

1/60s - f/5.6

Jewels of Fall

May and June are traditionally thought of as great months for roses, but you may not have known that October is also wonderful for many species, at least here in the middle of the country.  Many bushes are in a second bloom period right now, and it is much nicer outside - not as hot, crowded, sunny or buggy.  

We have a wonderful rose garden here in Topeka, and I spent an enjoyable hour there today.  The roses are stunning of course (check out my Flickr stream to the right for more pictures), but I also love the water lilies.

(For my email subscribers, click the title of this post in your email to go through to the blog and look at the Flickr photos).

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

105mm - ISO 200

1/1250s - f/5.6

Fallen

Canon 5D Mark II

24-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 400

1/60s - f/4

Dialed in

This ain't your father's grand piano, that's for sure.  I love the iridescent glow of the surface and the knobs on this keyboard - the newest member of the Zipperle household - created partially because of the long exposure. 

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

80mm - ISO 200

1/4s - f/5.6

Life in books

I found a great new way to display photos today at a friend's house.  Very cute!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

52mm - ISO 800

1/40s - f/4

Bubble bubble, toil & trouble

Tonight we have the first of what will undoubtedly be a series of bubble pictures.  They are remarkably hard to photograph while dodging hordes of hungry mosquitoes.  I did like this one, however, which captured some deep colors.  A prime lens is a wonderful thing.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

50mm - ISO 200

1/60s - f/1.8

Midnight sun

Tonight I took a long exposure out at the lake.  I love how the dirt on my lens created lens flare from the moon.  Now I will go clean my lens!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm -f/3.5-5.6
18mm - ISO 200
1/30s - f/10

Arrrrr matey!

We had a great time at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival today.  There are a few weekends left, and you should go!  This weekend was Pirate Weekend, so there were plenty of fearsome pirates running around, including the beautiful yet fierce wenches below. 

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

65mm - ISO 320

1/80s - f/4

Get away

Do you ever have those days where you just want to chuck it all and run away to an island somewhere for some R&R?  Today was one of those days for me, when I just wanted a change of scenery and an escape from my mundane chores around the house. 

Canon 5D Mark II

24-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 320

1/13s - f/4