Potstickers Blur

I'm continuing to play with blurring images due to my moving the camera in some way. This is the neon sign over the Potstickers Restaurant we ate dinner at last night. I moved the camera very slightly but the effect was to turn a very ordinary neon sign into this wide, swooping glow of color. cool!

Cherub Blur

I was trying more motion blur shots at the restaurant tonight.

Tree Blur

Took this shot in the afternoon during a break in a rainstorm. It's a reflection of our maple tree in the parking strip all blurred by the ripples from the raindrop.

Sparkly Pencils

Sparkly pencils I found on my walk around the house.

Slipper Lamp

Architechtural detail from the our fireplace. These two slipper lamps sold the house to us! When we moved in they were dull and so not working our electrician told us they were junk! Fortunately, we found a guy who repairs lamps and electroplates the metal. These gleaming fixtures now give us joy each day we're in the house!

Cozy Cat

I took a walk, (okay, a limp) around my house today looking for new ways to photograph familiar subjects. Here's Malibu framed nicely sleeping in the red chair. She's a scardy cat and resists photo ops like this; she zoomed away soon as she heard the focus mechanism on the camera working. But I caught her at least in one cozy pose for my blog.

Storm Trooper Boot

Today I met with the orthopedist for an evaluation of my broken ankle bone. Good news is the foot's not broken in the usual places for this kind of injury. Instead I broke a piece, a corner, if you will, off the outside ankle bone, the lateral maleolus. I need support while the bone heals but I am cleared to walk if I want while using this storm trooper boot. After sitting around making a little nest around one end of the couch recliner for the past week, it's a joy to be able to move about again! I feel let out of broken foot prison! That said, it's still slow going. For now I am still needing one crutch to help stabilize myself. And the boot is nothing if not clunky and inflexible. My ankle does hurt a lot and is very swollen. I'll be four weeks in this cast then we'll see what's up after that. I wonder if I can get a refund on my dance lessons I was to start next week?

How It Looks Today

My daughter took this photo of my broken ankle with the bruising in the ankle and lower leg and the swelling. It looks both better and worse today than it did right after the accident.

Oh Foot!

I took a goofy fall today and broke my outside ankle bone. I stepped off a curb funny and slammed to the ground without any notice. Irritating and embarrassing. My daughter helped me to the intermediate care facility and to amuse ourselves while waiting for the doc (when I wasn't groaning with pain), we posed my injury for the camera I always carry in my purse.

Mike's Drive-In

Mike's Drive-In is a local burger chain. They have GREAT burgers, seasonal shakes, onion rings, and frys. This is from the Milwaukee Mike's.

New Guy In Town

Guess where I went shopping today?! Portland has a brand new Ikea store. The place has been crazy busy since opening July 24, 2007. Today was the first time I've actually been able to get a parking space near the door! I love their primary colored flags. The sun was out today (I know a rarity for Oregon but it IS summer for awhile), so the colors aren't as intense as I would have liked them to be.

Griffith Park Observatory

We met our daughter,Carolina, and her finance, Ylan,at Griffith Park for a visit to the Observatory. It's been remodeled recently. I think the building is classically beautiful! This is more of a documentary shot than something for art.

Walk The Line-Rail And Shadow

Architectural detail at Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles, CA. The sun was very bright and in perfect position to make a dark, strong shadow of this rail. Some may not like the feet in the pic. I do.

Another Driveby--Chopsticks

I've driven by this sign, at a restaurant named Chopsticks near Hollywood and Highland (Los Angeles), countless times and have always wanted to photograph it in some way. Turns out, my little project of doing motion shots while driving (my husband was driving, not me) was perfect for this neon! In my shooting haste, the photo turned out fairly crooked. From there, I accented the crookedness in Elements 4, rotating it another 6 degrees to the left. I like how the bright colors now splash diagonally across the screen.

Olive Tree With White Lights

This is an olive tree in the parking lot at our hotel in Los Angeles. Its branches were twined with white lights. I was playing with a motion technique one of my teachers, Carol Leigh, offered in one of her recent Creative Edge Alumni posts which is to shoot from a moving car (my husband was driving). This shot is pretty cool, I think! I did have to adjust levels and saturation a bit because the camera sensor was overwhelmed with all the lights in this quick grab shot and the RAW image was quite washed out.

Art Deco Roof Detail

I'm a fan of Art Deco anything. This is the roof line detail at the Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles, CA. It kind of looks like three cabbages all in a row.

Sun Art

Some people look for hearts. I look for suns. I loved this art piece I found at our hotel in Los Angeles. The piece was quite large, filling a good sized wall. I cropped in camera for a more interesting composition.

Four After Seven-The Clock At The ArcLight

While in Los Angeles for the Emmys we went to the movies at our favorite theater, The ArcLight. Their enormous clock, hanging above the ticket sellers, reminds me of a Bulova watch for some reason.

At The Emmys

Obviously I did not take this photo but I couldn't resist including it here. A couple of weeks ago, one of my husband's clients was notified they'd won an Emmy and they asked him to receive it for them at the awards in Los Angeles! These were the Creative and Technical Emmys held a week before the Prime Time Emmys. It was the most amazing, first-class party I've ever attended! Of course we DID have to sit for four and a half hours through all the awards. Still, it was the Emmys and we had an amazing, thrill of a lifetime experience! Here are the two of us on the red carpet going in to Shrine Auditiorium.