Forks down and walk away!

I have been eating Christmas leftovers all week long.  Here, the last cinnamon roll falls.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

10/mm - ISO 200

1/60s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

1/2 power

Zoomed to 105mm

Bounced up to ceiling

Gelled with CTO

Front to back

This ridiculously warm day ended in a stunning sunset, which cast a beautiful glow across the Topeka skyline.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
Top:
34mm - ISO 200
1/60s - f/5.6


Bottom:
105mm - ISO 200
1/30s - f/5.6

The end...?

Well, there are only four posts left in my 365-day photo blog.  It has been a lot of fun, and a lot of work.  Since 2012 isn't a prime year, I can't keep up "A Prime Year in Pictures."  So, I will be launching a new blog on January 1, so please stay tuned for more information!  I would love for you to follow me over there.

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

Nikon SB900
1/8 power
Zoomed to 105mm
Bounced up to ceiling

A rose by any other name

A business associate of my husband's sent him a very nice gift of some wonderful olive oil, which is great, because I was running out!  What I really like is that it comes in a quart container!  Like...a quart of oil!  Ha ha ha!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
34mm - ISO 200
1/20s - f/5.6

Holiday haze

Today passed in a holiday haze of travel and shopping, leaving me with only two photos on my camera.  This was the best of the two.  It looks like I feel - a bit fuzzy around the edges (okay, and everywhere else!) and slightly unfocused.  Tomorrow should be an interesting day at work!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

18mm - ISO 400

1/25s - f/5

Merry Christmas!

It is Christmas, so you will have to forgive me a little Photoshopping.  I had to give today's pictures some holiday glow!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

18mm (top) - ISO 200

50mm (bottom) - ISO 200

1/20s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

1/4 power

Bounced up

Merry Christmas Eve!

We enjoyed another wonderful Christmas Eve dinner at my mother's house tonight.  It is our tradition to have a big candle-lit meal together, open a present, and then roll ourselves off to bed.  We forgot to light our most treasured set of candles - a set of wooden reindeer pulling a sleigh, which are running down the dark spot in the middle of the table.  But it is probably good that they got the year off, because one of them is still recovering from having most of his antlers burned off in a "flaming reindeer" mishap a few years back. Do you smell something burning?  Oh no, Rudolph!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

52mm - ISO 200

1/20s - f/5

A little bit of heaven

My sister-in-law sent us the most wonderful set of dipped strawberries for Christmas.  I couldn't decide which one looked more delicious, so you get to see them both.  And I'm afraid that's all the closer you are going to get to them!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

105mm - ISO 200

1/30s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

1/8 power 

105mm zoom

Bounced back over camera right

The smells of the season

Christmas baking is in full swing today, with some chocolate Andes mint cookies in the works here, with special white chocolate-covered popcorn already finished.  The house smells so good!!

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

92mm - ISO 800

1/30s - f/5.6

Nikon SB900

1/32 power

92mm zoom

Bounced up and back away from subject

Blue-hoo-hoo

Chocolate covered cherries are a family favorite, although we are all still mourning Brach's decision to discontinue theirs several years ago.  Queen Anne's just aren't as good.  However, when my husband brought home some chocolate-covered blueberries, I just had to give them a try.  As you can see, they went fast!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
105mm - ISO 800
1/10s - f/5.6


Nikon SB900
Bounced 115 degrees away from subject
1/16 power
105mm zoom

Connect the dots

I was going to take a nice Christmas lights photo tonight, but I forgot my tripod.  So, I was stuck doing an "interesting" shot instead of a pretty one.  This particular light display had us really baffled, until I downloaded it to my computer and studied it further.  It is actually an angel blowing a horn, but a lot of the lights are burned out.  Cory still thinks it is a turkey, though.

Strobist has a good blog post about photographing Christmas lights that I recommend checking out.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

28mm - ISO 800

1/30s - f/4

Swimming in strange seas

My fish ornament looks confused. 

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
105mm - ISO 800
1/60s - f/5.6

Light it up!

Tonight I enjoyed Topeka Bible Church's annual drive-up light show.  Musicians play in the windows, and thousands of lights are synchronized to the music.  It is a really neat experience.  I played with different exposure/aperture combinations throughout the show, and was happiest with a large aperture (2.2) and fairly fast shutter.

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8
50mm - ISO 400
1/30s - f/2.2

Faith has feet

Here are some of over 550 pairs of shoes donated to needy kids by the children of our church last weekend.  They were lined up on the sanctuary steps today, and served as a great reminder to us grownups to be generous.  I love the ones in the lower right-hand corner - I totally rocked those laces in grade school!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
18mm - ISO 1600
1/15s - f/3.5

Night train

So the last thing I saw before I woke up in the hospital was...just kidding.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm - f/3.5-5.6

30mm - ISO 2600

1/15s - f/4.2

Cat naps

Here are a few of my men cuddled up for a long winter's nap.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

58mm - ISO 1600

1/5s - f/5

Winter? Spring?

I left work about 20 minutes early today because the sun was shining after a long day of rain and storms.  By five o'clock it had pretty much gone down, but I did get to take a pretty shot south of town.  The 60-degree weather made the outdoor shot a pleasure to take.  These shades of blues and purples are unusual for this time of year, in my experience.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 18-105mm f/4

105mm - ISO 160

1/500 - f/4

All wrapped up

Twelve days until Christmas!  Presents are (almost) wrapped!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 50mm - f/1.8
50mm - ISO 400
1/25s - f/1.8

LOL

It was Ladies Night at Topeka Bible Church tonight, with a special Laugh Out Loud Christmas special.  We enjoyed snacks and an great performance by comedienne Kerry Pomarolli.   They are repeating the program Tuesday night, so any ladies with a free evening should definitely check it out!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
58mm - ISO 400
1/30s - f/7.1

Spectrum

Tonight we had a special Advent version of Overflow at church.  Overflow is a evening of praise and worship held once a quarter.  It is always a tremendously uplifting experience.  This time they brought in some special lighting equipment which really enhanced the evening.  I love the gradient effect on the light panels.

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

47mm - ISO 1600

1/30s - f/7.1

Ho...ho...no!

The North Pole is melting!  I guess Al Gore was right! 

Nikon D90

Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

50mm - ISO 400

1/30s - f/1.8

Don't burn the cookies!

This gingerbread tree is one of my favorite Christmas decorations, probably because I love gingerbread so much!  It is so time-consuming to make, I never realized how much trouble it was for my mom all of those Christmases growing up.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 50 mm - f/1.8

50mm - ISO 400

1/30s - f/1.8

We remember

Tonight I attended a special Holiday Remembrance Ceremony at Mount Hope Cemetery.  It was a time to gather and remember family and friends who we have loved and lost.  Memory candles were lit, and ornaments with enclosed messages were placed on two trees.  It was a beautiful ceremony.

On a technical note, the lights on the tree in the background are the truest exampleof bokeh that I have ever accomplished.  And I have to commend the 5D on some great low-light capabilities at ISO 1000.  Even at magnification, it is noise-free.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4
105mm - ISO 1000
1/40s - f/4

Brrr!

I hope you don't think this is creepy.  I am not really a fan of the "blind angel/cherub" statues.  I am in Green Bay, WI, on what is probably a warm day for them, but was quite cold for me.  I got out for just five minutes today, and walked by this poor cherub.  He looked cold even for a stone statue.

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 24-105mm f/4
58mm - ISO 200
1/13s - f/8

The view from here

Spending the night on the Plaza in Kansas City.  Here is the view from my room.  My hands were too full of shopping bags earlier to take pictures, plus it is bitterly cold.  So, a hotel room shot it is!  The Plaza has been decorated with Christmas lights for over 80 years, and according to the Kansas City tourism website, the show includes over 80 miles of lights that are put up and taken down each year!

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 50mm – f/1.4

50mm – ISO 400

1/60s – f/4.5

Where's Fenton when you need him?

I have a herd of deer on my living room walls.  Apparently they are my theme this Christmas.  I promise not to post pictures of Christmas decorations all month-long, but I am getting ready for a trip tomorrow, and didn't get to do much else tonight.

Nikon D90

Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6

32mm - ISO 1000

1/8s -f/4.2

Deck the halls with...deer?

No, I didn't go hunting this weekend and bag a 10-point buck.  Every year my mother holds a "December the First Party." It used to religiously be held on the first, but now we just go with the first Sunday of the month.  

She makes a great meal and we decorate the house together.  This year we are going with a red, white and deer theme.  There are two deer in the shot (and at least nine more outside of the frame).  Can you find them?

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

47mm - ISO 2500

1/40s - f/4

Hail Gladdening Light

Hail Gladdening Light / sun so bright

Jesus Christ / end of night / alleluia

We are singing this song at church this weekend (Joyous Light).  It rather ironically came to my mind while I was turning off the electric candles on the stage after service.  Hey - safety first, people!

  

Nikon D90 
Nikkor 50mm - f/1.8

50mm - ISO 200

1/30s - f/3.5

Blech!

Christmas is my cat's favorite time of year because he gets to play with all of the Christmas decorations.  Whenever he hears the first rustle of garland coming out of the box, he comes running.  Here he realized that it doesn't taste as good as it looks!

Nikon D90
Nikkor 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6
58mm - ISO 200
1/30s - f/5


Nikon SB900
TTL
Bounced up

Cheese!!

When someone asks "Will you take my picture?" always say "Yes!"  There will be plenty of people the rest of your life who say "You aren't going to take my picture, are you?"  This guy was a lot of fun - full of smiles!

Canon 5D Mark II

Canon 24-105mm f/4

55mm - ISO 200

1/50s - f/4

Canon 580EXII

1/8 power

Zoomed to 55mm

Bounced up to ceiling