A Place For Us

Day 272



You'd think by now that I would jump at any chance to take what could be a really cool shot. Somehow this is not the case. I was at my next door neighbor's house when a pack of kids came blasting through the house screaming about a rainbow. "Ooh", said several people, "Andy you should take a picture". "Nah" said I. I didn't feel like going back to my house, switching lenses, and the thing would surely fade away by then and I already had a nicely mediocre picture of the model rocket launch from the Cub Scout thing earlier, and it is raining, and on and on.

Maybe I've learned nothing on this photo a day jaunt, or maybe it was just a momentary lapse of reason. Reluctantly I went home, got the camera, switched the lens, and took some shots. I must remember that I will never regret taking a picture, but surely I will regret not taking a picture.

Squeezebox

Day 271



There is some old quote about a gentleman is a man that knows how to play the accordion, but chooses not to. I guess this guy was no gentleman, but the music was alright nonetheless. Or maybe it just seemed alright since we were at the Frederick Oktoberfest - and as you know, beer is part of that.

Pumpkin Duty

Dy 270



I don't know what it is about Friday nights, but somehow I tend to wind up some of my more popular shots. I envisioned this shot as each Trooper carrying a Mellowcreme pumpkin, but the minifigs short arms made this impossible. So instead, the two Clone Troopers had to work together, leaving the Storm Trooper with nothing to do. That is when I spied the bag of candy corn that my awesome wife from Day 264 had also purchased, and voila!.

Shiny Happy People

Day 269




A lot has changed for this guy since Day 11. Sure he still gets rained on, but he is no longer alone. Along with his lady friend, he now loves the night life. He loves to boogy.

(Technical aside: This was a thirty second exposure taken it near total darkness, but for a bit of light painting.)

Moo Cards

Day 268



About a year ago I got this set of Moo Cards minicards for what were then some of my personal favorite photographs. Moo mincards are a bit like business cards, but they are smaller and feature up 100 different images per set. On the flip side is up to six lines of text. For me, this consists mostly of who I am and where to find me type info. I guess the idea with these is to hand them out to people, which as might guess from this photo, I've yet to do a good job of.

This Mess I Have Made

Day 267



For some reason, I developed a case of organizational ambition and decided that the bookshelf in my office needed to be in my bedroom and the bookshelf in my bedroom needed to be in the basement. To accomplish this, everything on these two bookshelves had to first be removed. This is about the point at which I lost interest in the project. Despite this, and counter to my wife's secret prediction, it only took me 3 more days to get these book onto the new shelves and restore order to the universe.

Autumnal Equinox

Day 266



You know why I like the first day of new season? Because I don't have to figure out what the photo for that day will be. Just like I did on the first day of Spring and the first day of Summer, I have again taken a picture of the reflecting orb thingy in the back yard. I didn't realize until later that I was one set of wind chimes away from a hidden Mickey.

Who Can It Be Now?

Day 265



We went to my wife's work group picnic at a nearby park that I did not know existed. They had delicious fried chicken which made me realize that I have not had delicious fried chicken in a very long time. They also a very cool looking playground with ropes and stuff that would have made for some cool pictures had I not been so busy with the fried chicken. We then went kayaking on their lake, which I also did not take pictures of since my camera is not water proof. We then visited their nature center, at which I finally did take some pictures, including this one. I discovered the secret for wildlife photography is to shoot them after they have been stuffed.

Shelley Looks

Day 264



When you've been married as long as I have, you get to the point where you can easily read your wife's expression and know exactly what is going on in her head. Even if you can't, you need to pretend that you can. That is why I tell you that I know exactly what she was thinking here.

Festive

Day 263



My favorite style of beer is definitely Oktoberfest. I'd like to thank Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen for getting married back on 12 October 1810, and starting the tradition of Oktoberfest, which has since led to this delicious style of beer. Along with Spiced Wafers, it is one of my favorite parts of Autumn. Though this glass was a bit less than a Maß, it was followed by a couple more to make up the difference.

Secret Agent Man

Day 262



If you remember those alligators from a few days ago, this is Bad Guy who controls them. Actually, this is the Bad Guy who controls them even if you don't remember those alligators. What this guy really represents is the fact that I could not find anything better to shoot this day. Whenever you see a Lego guy in here, that usually is the reason.

elppAApple

Day 261



Since at home the nearest Apple store is an hour drive away, being able to walk to one in a few minutes while in New York was kind of a big deal. At least it was until I got there. It was nice enough, I suppose, but very underwhelming. I was expecting more, especially since I am recent convert. Ironically, the windows were very shiny though.

AA

Day 260



On the advice of colleague, I decided to have dinner at Katz's Deli. Those of you that remember the "I'll have what she's having." scene from When Harry Met Sally will be familiar with this establishment. It was definitely very touristy - the kind of place where the wall is covered of pictures of the owner (who looks a bit like Rob Reiner, ironically) and more celebrities than anyone could recognize (I sat next to the pictures of Danny DeVito and some German rock band).

Anyway, the food was good, and the waitress was the hardest working person I've ever met. What any of this has to do with this picture is that this a close up of the sign out front.

Walking Down Broadway

Day 259



Day 259 found me back in New York for another business trip. I managed to get out of the office at more reasonable time then I did on the last trip, so was able to walk around a bit before going to bed. This shot was taken on Broadway, and as you can see, it was a happenin' scene, man. Thankfully, Mr. Bike Guy stayed nice and still for me in this 2.5 second exposure.

Comets and Gators

Day 258



There are just so many cool Legos now. These two guys (the green ones that is) are part of a Lego Agent set. I think they are some type of cyborg alligators because they have gearshifts and computer screens. All they are missing are some friggin' lasers for their heads.

BTW, the orange guys are Comets, which is a slightly more expensive way of saying Goldfish.

Gooooal!

Day 257



It is a proud day in a parent's life when your child scores his first goal. The day is even more special if it is several years in the making. The fact that he admits to scoring this goal accidentally should in no way diminish the accomplishment.

This is the Steeple

Day 256



This was date night, and the place we had dinner was just outside Middletown, MD. Though it was raining a bit, it was not enough to deter us from a short pre-dinner photowalk for two.

Happy Mantis

Day 255



I don't actually know if this is the same mantis from Day 249, but I'm going to say it is. The main reason (other than the fact that it looks the same) is that he once again was more than ready to turn to face the camera, and this time it looks like he was even smiling. If this keeps happening, this is going to turn into a Mantis a Day. I pray that does not happen.

Chef Sweetzel

Day 254



Anyone who has lived in the Greater Philadelphia area should recognize this Chef. He adorns the bright orange box of Sweetzel's Spiced Wafers. Throughout my childhood, around this time each year, these boxes started showing up in grocery stores, and shortly thereafter they would show up in our house. They became inexorably linked with Fall. Now that I don't live in the Greater Philadelphia area, it is rare that I get to enjoy these tasty cookies. That is why I exclaimed in a loud and apparently startling way when I found four boxes of these at my local Giant.

Daily Rind

Day 253



After I took this shot, I decided to cut the melon off the rind and put it in the fridge. I cut off many pieces of delicious melon, but not a one made it into the fridge. As it turns out, you can eat too much melon. I'll leave it at that.

An Aside

See more at What The Duck

Sing for the Wind

Day 252



This shot took me a while to get because as I was trying to get the correct angle, I bumped into these wind chimes and it took forever for them to stop moving. Once past the initial cacophony, the sound was quite melodic.

Bowl

Day 251



When I was a little kid, my grandfather had a blue Mercedes sedan. I'm sure it was a nice car, but something about the smell of it always made me feel somewhat nauseous.

For some reason, photographs of this style kind of make me feel the same way. I thought I would give it a try anyway, mainly because I took the picture at noon and the sky was totally blown out. Looking at this shot, I can practically smell that Mercedes.

Upstream

Day 250



What was left of Hurricane Hannah rained down all over us for most of the day. Besides the benefit of canceling the kid's soccer game, it also made this little nearby creek something more powerful and more interesting.

Storm Door

Day 249



As I continue to seek out bugs, so too do they continue to seek out me. This mantis, who may or may not been part of the pack (pride? school? herd? litter?) that we hatched it the habitat back in the spring. Maybe the grasshopper from Day 247 told him that I could make him famous. He was ready for his close-up, and even turned his head and said cheese.

Water is Wide

Day 248



Back in February I got a new Sony Alpha a700. As is the system in our house, Shelley inherited my old camera body, the Konica Minolta 5d. She has been doing great stuff with it, and you should check it out on Zooomr. The nice thing about these two camera bodies is that they can share lenses. This works great when we are both out shooting together. The problem is, we only had one good general purpose, walk-around, zoom lens. Until now.

Today Brown Santa brought us a shiny new Tamron SP AF 17-50 F/2.8. One of the nicest things about this lens is at 17 mm (25 equivalent on the a700) it is the widest lens we have. Because of this, I was finally able to get this shot of our lily pond.

Hop Along

Day 247



Bugs. I love them. Maybe that is why I became a software tester. While I was looking for bugs in The Next Big Thing, I looked out my office window to see this big fella hanging out on the Penn State (the one true University) flag. I grabbed the a700 and ran out to shoot him.

Note: This is probably one of those days that I looked especially silly to the neighbors because this grasshopper kept going back and forth from one side of the flag to the other, forcing me to do the same.

Downside Up

Day 246



Whenever I ask Ella what I should take a picture of, she always says "Me!". So today, I took her advice. I was glad she chose to use the big metal mowing obstacle in our backyard for its intended purpose.

Let the Water Hold Me Up

Day 245



Yes, this is a flower. Another flower. Again. But there is a fish in it, too.

Ahhhh

Day 244




This was the day for the fifth annual Green Hill Manor Volleyball Tournament, where teams from around Adamstown, MD met and competed for the Golden Volleyball. While the adults did battle on the courts, the kids found more interesting things to occupy their attention. I think a kid feels more like a kid if after playing in the hot sun, she can sit back, relax, and enjoy a nice cold bottle of Gatorade.

Dog Brown

Day 243



We returned to the Koi and Wine Festival at Lilypons. The best part was the Dock Dogs competition in which dogs jump off a dock for maximum possible distance. The dogs seem to enjoy it, but not half as much as their human entourage that chose to spend their weekends traveling to these competitions.

Love Light

Day 242



Shelley should get the credit for this since all I really did was push the button. Light painting is fun, and a nice thing to do when you can't think of anything else to take a picture of. Expect to see more of this in the next 124 days and beyond.

Cold and Composed

Day 241



Yes, this is the same subject as yesterday. As I was processing that I shot, I thought of another angle I wanted to try for, and since I'm smart about not putting stuff away, it was an easy thing to do to shoot them again. This is also my entry the TWiP circle challenge, which you can see on Photrade.

Fill Her Up

Day 240



If there were any long time readers of this blog, they might remember these pewter mugs from way back on Day 15. I guess I am just running out of original ideas. I wonder how long it will be until they show up again.