202/365 Urban Art

"Urban Art Texas Style"

Nothing says Texas better than a big ol' armadillo.

201/365 Shades of Blue

"Packing Shades of Blue"

Sorry, I forgot to post this yesterday.

Shades of blue should have been a no-brainer for me.  Everything in my physical world is blue because blue makes me happy.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a whole lot of time to give to this today.  We are leaving Monday for two weeks in England and so were busy getting stuff gathered and packed.  As I separated my clothes into the stacks of requisite concert black and the other stuff, I realized I had a huge stack of blue clothing.  Big surprise:-)  So here is today's photo - my shades of blue wardrobe.  Nothing special, but it is me.  I once heard someone say, "I don't wear outfits; I wear clothes."  Yep, that's me.  I  grabbed a bunch of my favorite stuff.  I hope when we get to England, I have something that I something to wear that doesn't make me look like a poorly dressed gypsy.

200/365 Two Scoops

"Frozen Family Fun"

Today was one of those days when everyone was a willing participant in the daily photo.  After a nice vegetarian dinner at home, prepared by Brooke, we headed to our local frozen yogurt shop for two scoops - each.  Mine is the one in the front - cake batter and cappuccino yogurt topped with reese's peanut butter cups and graham cracker crumbs.  Yum!

199/385 A Source of Happiness

"Eat, Drink and Be Happy"

I am blessed that there are so many, many things in my life that not only make me happy but bring me great joy.  Most of those things I photograph often.  I decided today to head toward the silly rather than the serious side of things that bring me happiness.  This is not to belittle the prompt but to attempt to document all the little quirky things that make me, me.

For the most part, we eat fairly healthily.  We buy organic and make and prepare most of what we consume.  I, however, do have a weakness for animal crackers, not just these iced ones, the plain ones too.  These just happen to photograph better.  As a child, my mom would give a box of the Barnum and Bailey animal crackers, you know the ones in the red and yellow box with the four animal pictures on each side and a shoelace-like handle, to snack on as I sat in the grocery cart.  They also took me to my happy place through all of the stresses of college and graduate school.  And diet coke . . .all I can say is that there is something about those bubbles.

We all have our weaknesses.  I feel so much better now that I have shared one of mine with all of you.  And in case you are wondering, there are plenty more where this one came from.

198/365 Begins With "S"

"S is for Strawberry"

I waited way to late in the day for this one - after choir rehearsal and a few beers at a local night spot with choir members as we celebrated our last rehearsal before leaving on Monday for our two week tour in England.

197/365 I Spy

"I Spy, You Spy"

I'm not sure whether this picture is I spy a cat in a box or the cat spies me with the #*@$ camera.

196/365 Old and New

"Old and New"

Last night we met some friends for dinner down in the Bishop Arts district in Oak Cliff.  This is a funky neighborhood that has been totally revitalized over the past several years.  It has gone from a run down section of town to a lively hot spot for specialty shops and dining.  For those of you not from Texas, Oak Cliff is home to the Texas Theater, famous for being the location where Lee Harvey Oswald was apprehended after the shooting of President John F. Kennedy.

Last night there was a huge street fair going on to celebrate Bastille Day.  The streets were lined with weldors selling French cuisine, various beverages, craftsmen and there was also a variety of entertainment - everything from musicians to jugglers.

One of the assignments I am working on this month for my photography class is street photography.  I don't feel very comfortable photographing strangers and I feel even less comfortable asking them if they would mind of they take their picture.  But, I knew this would be a great opportunity to give it a try.  I opted for the paparazzi style of photography - shoot quickly and hope that you get something good without being noticed.  Generally this involves literally "shooting from the hip."

I thought the woman above was interesting for several reasons.  I liked her eyes.  I also liked all the shapes here - the stripes in her hat and shirt with the circles on her umbrella.  The "baby bump" provided a nice contrast of mom as older life and baby as the new.  Because this image was taken on the sly, it is not as sharp as I would like it.  I added the sepia tones in post processing to further play on the old look of a new photo.

The next image right now is the best one I have thus far for the photo assignment for the class.

"Bastille, Bands and Beer"

The expression on this woman's face is much more serious than the situation deserved.  The gentleman is putting a wristband on for her that says that she is of age to buy and consume alcohol so that she doesn't have to continually show her "credentials" each time she purchases a drink.