30 Days of Creativity - Day 19: Camera Fun

I am reminded of the Little Mermaid and the classic song Kiss the Girl with this photo. Ah, what a classic movie and what a beautiful day to take a walk along the lakefront. We are so happy that although it has been balmy the sun has been out. We've been waiting for this for far too long!

One thing summer always brings is love out in the open. You don't walk around in the winter seeing people holding hands, hugging and kissing on the streets as much as you do in the summertime. Summer is the season for love - old and new. It's also a time to enjoy the great outdoors with friends and family -- the people we love most.

We took a roll on our Supersampler today and this was one of the best shots that came out. We've got to work on focusing the frame on people's faces better than their torsos. Hopefully our next go around will be better aimed.

You know that she's a relative of mine as her tongue is out in this photo. This is one thing I started to notice often of myself in photos is when I don't know how to pose (or I just don't want to smile) I always stick my tongue out. :P

30 Days of Creativity - Day 2: Through the viewfinder

We're not going to let the rain slow us down!

We can already tell that this is going to be a fun month. We are looking forward to keeping you updated on our projects and progresses, but are also excited to see what others are doing as well. You can check out the roster of participants here and the Flickr group of some of those taking part in 30Days.

Now on to Day 2: Viewfinder Views.

As we've slowly watched our camera collection grow throughout the years, so has our collection of cameras that have a waist-level viewfinder. These finders are great for focusing and can be a lot of fun when you use other cameras to capture the image through the finder. Our example today is an image shot from our Olympus E-510 through the Kiev 6C finder. Neat result, right? Yeah, we thought so too. [You'll have to visit again sometime soon to see the actual images shot from the Kiev. We can't turn around medium format film as fast as digital files. :))]

Say "ahhh"

Nope, we are not sick; we are just recovering. We are recovering from packed, in fact over-packed, schedules these last few months. Looking forward for the warm breeze and the chance to relax (perhaps with a homebrew) outside by the lake.

We took a leisurely walk down by the lake this evening. It was wonderful and so nice to see so many other people doing the same thing. I sometimes forget that we live in a big city after being surrounded by our very quaint neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle. It sure is nice to have a balance of both worlds. At some point this summer we are going to get some shots of the sunrise over the Chicago skyline.

Well, back to unwinding and relaxing.

+ I love the above photo from Festifools. I think I love it so much because I so often stick my tongue out in photos. This helps remind me how ridiculous it looks sometimes. It also makes me laugh. :)

solace (does it = beer?)

It's a black and white kind of day. Not for any particular reason, it just is.

We've been a moving target for the past month. It almost seems like we haven't been around at all on weekends, and when we are we have to play catch up from not being around. Through it all we've managed to keep our shelves stocked with homebrews (to the tune of 200+ bottles).

We're getting nervous as the summer approaches, as our place may be too warm for brewing. We just have to wait and see. We got a Dunkelweizen kit at Northern Brewer this weekend, and are hoping to at least add that one to our collection.

Yesterday we went to the AHA Homebrew Rally at Lakefront Brewery. Not only was the beer good (as always!), but it was nice to meet other homebrewers. I was surprised by the diversity of homebrewers. Folks of all ages. So refreshing to see so many beer lovers. Perhaps the best part: Getting free wort (Riverwest Stein to be exact) from Lakefront. Woot, woot! We just paid off our membership for the year with that wort. We cannot wait to enjoy it.

All this talk about beer is making me thirsty. Cheers to the start of a new week!

Sitting & smiling.

While flipping through old photos today, I ran across this one. This one was taken was some very dear pals of ours came to visit. (They are both in the background by the painted trees, and here is the shot they were getting at the same time this picture was taken).

It is pictures like this that make me fall in love again with the awesome photos you can take on a Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Check out the Flickr group here.

Anyway, today I was particularly drawn to this photo. We had a busy weekend - party with relatives in St. Paul, MN - and seeing this photo of myself sitting on a bench by the lakefront in the sunshine makes me feel at home.

Not that I want to return to winter, but this photo makes me feel both comfort & warmth. Makes me want to soak up the sunshine. It also has me wondering how these trees look now. It sure did look neat to see neon colored trees in the white covered ground during the winter. I'll have to take a walk soon and check it out.

Happy Monday all. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to return to my bench in the sunshine. :)

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Note: Turns out the tree painting, "Painted Forest," was a project with the Chicago Park District & Moore Landscapes. I must have missed out on this bright orange bench. Darn.