Last post of January -- desperation!

I made it. Only missed one day (the 7th) and am still not sure what happened to that day. This picture is for my Dad. He was a car guy -- today it's model cars. In past days, they were the real thing. I learned to drive in a 1955 Chevy like this one (except it had 4 doors). So many memories with these old cars. I played around with Topaz filters on these model cars.

Blue skies

It's been 12 or so days of grey, cold, rainy, dreary skies.

What a GREAT day today was.

Hands at work

I'm not happy with the few photographs I took today, so am posting a shot from my Cuban trip.

We met an artist (Francisco Gorillo) in Old Havana, Cuba. I enjoyed seeing his work and bought a small piece. A lot of his paper is handmade and very textured. His work, as you can see here, is very detailed.

Gerbera close up

Remember those droopy Gerberas? Well, they are still in the vase, still droopy, but looking better in a macro shot.

Edges

An assignment last week for Carol Leigh's "Photo Motivation" workshop was edges. This was one of my shots for the assignment. It's not as easy as it looks. Can you guess what it is?

Self Portrait

Couldn't resist this one.

Nostalgia

I found this camera at a garage sale and just didn't want to leave it behind. Took me back to my childhood and all those black and white photos. Love 'em!

Abandoned house

I drive by this house on Hwy 80 (east of here by Auburn) and finally stopped yesterday to photograph it.

The house is as grey as the skies have been all month. Do you see the Christmas lights still up? The graffiti is new in the past few weeks. Sad to see.

Tools of the trade.

Visited an art gallery in Auburn CA this morning -- this was taken in the ceramic studio. So many classes available here, plus the gallery.
http://www.placerarts.org/

Droopy gerberas

Gerbera daisies mean "cheerfulness." These gerberas were in plastic when I bought them, I removed it and stuck them in this vase -- they just aren't doing well and don't look too cheery. Maybe tomorrow they'll perk up a bit.

Planning the move

My 5-yr-old grandson is learning how to play chess -- pretty soon he'll be able to teach me!

I took this photo on my last visit and had forgotten about it.

Edges

An assignment this week from Carol Leigh's "Photo Motivation" group is to shoot edges. This qualifies (I hope) because of edges on petals and edges on vase.

http://www.photomotivation.com/

Salmon dinner

OK, so I'm not a food photographer -- but this was an excellent way to prepare salmon & wanted to share it with you. Equal parts raspberry preserves and honey, spread over salmon fillet and bake (on aluminum foil) for maybe 15 minutes (depends on thickness). Meanwhile, use some of the raspberry/honey and thin with apple juice. Cook down until thicker. After cooking salmon, flip it over onto plate & spread the raspberry/honey/apple juice over top. Add new potatoes & spinach salad. Yummy!

Hawaii here we come

Working on travel arrangements to Oahu in March, so these fabric leis seemed to be a good subject today. I'm using the clear glass mannequin head, although I'm not sure I included enough of it in the photo. What do you think? I also used Topaz simplfy on this image. It's all about color!

Flowery blues

Playing around with different ways to photograph some vintage hats. They belonged to my late aunt and most are from the late 40's and early 50's. Love this one -- but can't imagine wearing it.

Spring is here

at least in the grocery stores. Because it's still cold & gloomy outside. I bought some daffodils for the kitchen table. Can you read the code? It's binary coding that spells out daffodil. Thanks to my son, Mike, and the web site that did the conversion.

Camera lens

Macro shot of a Instamatic camera. Remember those?

Dachshund

I'm still going through my photographs from Cuba -- forgot about this little guy. We saw a lot of dachshund's in Havana. This one was just walking along a city street. I liked the wall behind him too, so much texture.

Old photos

I've been scanning old family photos, decided to photograph one of the piles of photo albums. I love those old albums, black pages, those corner edge things that hold the photos on the pages. Oh, that cute little baby is me! A few years ago ...

San Francisco Exploratorium

This photo was taken with my iPhone using an app called "QuadCamera". I'm having so much fun with this app. This exhibit was about light & revolving sticks. If you look closely you'll see the four separate photos that were taken about a second apart, then combined. You can see the differences in the sticks as it revolves around.

New neighbors ...

I'm so lucky to have new neighbors with a beautiful baby boy. Mom is letting me come over and practice my portrait photography. So far the 5-month old seems OK with it too.

50's housewife

Anybody remember this? Couldn't decide which one to post, so decided to post both. Trip back in time at a local antique store. Loved the kitchen and living room set up -- couldn't resist the mannequin head with the great hat, feather and veil.

Cherries

This photograph I took last summer when the cherries were at their best (before I ate them). Wish they were in my kitchen now!

Shadows

More from the archives. This was taken in Cuba -- I liked way the shadow added to the clean lines of the building.

Salt 'n Pepper

Lunch in a paladar in Cuba. This is a private residence licensed by the government to serve lunch to tourists. The house had a lovely pool that shared a common wall with the Caribbean ocean (I've posted several images of this pool.)

I liked the salt 'n pepper shakers next to the plates. The food was great too!

Fortune cookie

I liked this message -- couldn't resist capturing this moment.

I'll be sure to post a picture of the "payment" that arrives ... soon ...

Planter

Planters come in all sizes & shapes -- the folks at a Loomis CA restaurant (The High-Hand Conservatory) are very creative in their use of an old International truck.

http://www.highhandconservatory.com/

Mt. Rose highway

I drove up to a spot called Reindeer Lodge (not open during winter). They have this great field full of old stuff, including this tractor & fire truck. Unfortunately it's all fenced off with warning signs & nasty looking fences. I'm going back in the spring to photograph more. It's up Mt. Rose Highway out of Reno.

Splash!

While touring Cuba, we had lunch at a home licensed by the government to serve meals. There are certain restrictions: only family members can help, limited number of people can be served. We had a wonderful meal at a paladar in Miramar area of Havana. This pool was incredible -- it meets the Caribbean ocean. I have posted several other views in my website www.photosbyjudy.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladar

Santa's looking worried

Packing away the Christmas decorations at my Dad's house -- Santa looks sad that he has to be packed away in a box for another year.

Good morning 2010

Good morning 2010. Nothing better than a latte to start the day -- although this was yesterday's break. My sister & I went to a near-by coffee house "Walden's" and I shot this with my iPhone, using an app called "quad phone".