Day 150

     The first flower of Summer. And a treasure of my childhood.

Day 149

     I feel like today was a turning point for my photography.

     I saw a beautiful deer and my dog, lying in a hole she dug, completely unaware, just feet away. It was really quite amusing. A few minutes later, I went outside to relax, as always, with my camera in tow. And I was surprised to discover that the deer had not moved far at all. As soon as my dog saw me, she noticed the deer as well. And that's when the deer got curious. It walked towards us for a while, and stopped short, watching us, staring into our eyes. Dog didn't bark, didn't move. Eventually the deer moved on and the dog paid more attention to me.
      The old me would have zoomed in and taken a picture of the deer. Everyone can take a picture of a deer. I decided to think a little about the story and instead headed out for a wider picture. I feel that this is a much better picture, a narrative that I wouldn't have gotten had I gone wildlife-style. Though it is not the best picture I've taken, the documentary-photography-longing inside of me says it's one of my very favorites.

Day 147

     Today we did a lot of cleaning out of the house. And thinking about cleaning out the garage. Which brought me back to over a year ago, when exploring my backyard, I found an entire Mule Deer skeleton. It was just so cool, and with my parents permission, I brought home the head with antlers still attached! It is a strange looking thing, but it is just so beautiful. My parents want me to get rid of it, but I insist on keeping it.

Day 145

     No matter how hard I try, I have never been able to capture the mood I get when I simply sit outside. It's definitely happy, but it feels like so much more to that. And that's why I love the outdoors so much. Because it is peace. No matter how awful my day, if I go outside, I'll feel something to make me feel better. Laugh at me all I want, but if I could, I would live purely outside. I belong among these pines. And that is part of the reason that I grew up in the best place ever.

Day 143

     I went outside just before a rainstorm today. The cloud cover is nice. And the colors can become fantastic.

Day 142

Day 141

     Today was my camera's first birthday. So respectfully, I spent a lot of time with it. No, surprisingly I haven't named it yet. Should I? I don't know. I am open to suggestions!
     I spent a few good hours today lying in the grass. And a lot of that time was spent within a few feet of the teeniest bunny that I have ever seen. And, laugh at me when I say this, bonding with it. It was not startled by me or my camera, just innocently ate our struggling lawn. I loved just watching it. And I loved the wonderful weather. This thing is so cute.

Day 140

    Just more experimentation with how light falls. Mostly because it's important and partially because I did not have free time until late at night.

Day 139

     Kind of wanted to get an old film feel on this one. These are my most trusty binoculars, that are actually from way back when. Again, working with the makeshift bounce card!

Day 138

     Today was a day of epiphany. If you use a bounce card on a speedlight, you should be able to use it with on-camera flash! Right? Right! Of course, I do not own a bounce card, but can easily craft one, using a hand or a sheet of cardstock and tape. For now. And of course, it worked wonderfully. And I enjoyed the transparency it created in my hand in my test shots.

Making Art.

     It's been really difficult to focus on my photography here at home. Seems it should be the opposite. But working on making our house perfect (so that we can sell it quickly, move and reunite our family) has absorbed all my time. I haven't been good about concentrating on taking and uploading pictures (or writing things to go with them). And I feel as if that's all they've been for a while. I want to take art. And I'll be better. I am constantly learning and teaching myself about photography, and I need to show that energy in my pictures. *Insert inspiration here.* Here we go.

Day 136

     We have the privilege of really great skies. Tonights wasn't the best, but it was wonderful.

Day 135

     I absolutely love Western Meadowlarks. Sturnella neglecta. Their song is beautiful, their coloring is beautiful and they always signify the glorious days of spring and summer to me. I feel like the bird itself is sunshine. I've never been able to get a picture of them, as they sit in the high pine treetops and scare easily. You can always hear them, all throughout the day and evening but they're hard to find because they're notes carry so far. When I do get to see them, I fell so lucky and so happy. The other day when it was raining, I saw one a far off bathing in the wet grass, and it significantly improved my day. And today I got closer to one than ever before. This time, it was sitting on a Yucca, not using it's classic song but letting out a few notes here and there. And it calmly watched me as I watched it, slowly approaching. It didn't startle, even when my sister called out for dinnertime. Eventually, I went and had my desert, after I had watched it fly away.

Day 134

     The colors of the earth are so much more brilliant when it's raining. Thought most people (as well as photographers) stay in, I head out with a large umbrella and my camera. And in the process see some beautiful things others never get to.

Day 133

     I am so lucky. This is what greets me in the morning. My sweet little girl. Well, one of them.

Day 132

     I don't cook much. I watch others cook and reap the benefits.

Day 131

     Forecast said that it would rain today. Nope, it snowed all day! An unexpected spring surprise!

Day 130

          "The brownies are finished when a toothpick entered one inch from the edge of the pan comes out clean."

Day 129

     Some roses left over from Mother's Day. I think they are more beautiful today than yesterday. Mom, I love you more than you can know.
      A nice thing about being home is being able to use some of my mom's camera equipment! I had beautiful light, but my telephoto lens just wasn't fast enough. So instead of having to raise the ISO, I got to use a wonderful tripod! What a huge help.

Day 128

Day 127

     Today was paint. I expect to be an expert at home improvements by the end of this summer. It will be good for my future.

Day 126

     Got to sleep in today, but it is another day of work. At-home work. Things are starting to come together and I'm getting closer to my days of freedom.

Day 125

     These are the days that I'm stuck at home, inside, doing home improvements. Rushing, working all day. At least I'm with my family at last.

Day 124

(Wanna know a secret? None of this makeup is real! I added it all in Photoshop! Just to see if I could.)

Day 123

     The days of Summer.

Day 122

Day 121