8x8 Gallery // 365 Project: Week 25

I've committed to a photo-a-day project for 2015. I may not always post them to Facebook or Instagram, but they'll be collected and archived here on the blog and I plan to print them all out. It's fun to see how the year unfolds. Here's week 25: 

169: Butterfly buffet at the Morton Arboretum

170: Field of Dreams at the Morton Arboretum

171: Calm before the storm

172: Summer days (photo for World Hashtag Project: #WHPLowAltitude)

173: Stormy weather

174: Evening hangs

175: Patriotic

8x8 Gallery// 365 Project: Week 21

I've committed to a photo-a-day project for 2015. I may not always post them to Facebook or Instagram, but they'll be collected and archived here on the blog and I plan to print them all out. It's fun to see how the year unfolds. Here's week 21: 

141: Night Lights @ High Knob in the Shawnee National Forest

142: Happy @ Buzzard's Roost in the Shawnee National Forest

143: Sometimes you have to take a crooked path in order to reach the light. 

144: The Road Home

145: Cattle Drive in Thomas Hollow

146: Half & Half

147: Ozark Water Park 

8x8 Gallery // 365 Project: Week 20

I've committed to a photo-a-day project for 2015. I may not always post them to Facebook or Instagram, but they'll be collected and archived here on the blog and I plan to print them all out. It's fun to see how the year unfolds. Here's week 20: 

134: Queen of the Hill

135: Dodging Raindrops

136: One of the few historical buildings in Pierce City, Missouri, that survived the May 2003 tornado, this building was both a firehouse and city hall. It's now on the National Register of Historical Places, but it's privately owned. 

137: Pause

138: Quality Time

139: Exploring the Shawnee National Forest on horseback

140: Taking a break from the saddle to check out the heights at the Garden of the Gods

8x8 Gallery // 365 Project: Week 16

Catching up on my photo a day project. I've been keeping up with the photos, but have not been posting them on the blog lately! Time to remedy that. Here's week 16 of 52. 

106: Happy hour: drinks at El Tapeo

107: The Morton Arboretum is a bonanza of flowers and green right now. The woods are carpeted with tiny flowers, the daffodils are peaking, and the trees are gorgeous. Take your allergy meds & go explore! 

108: Chasing light with Baxter at Springbrook Prairie Preserve

109: Raindrops

110: Rainy Day Distractions

111: Tongue Out Tuesday

112: Happy Earth Day! 

Thoughtful Thursday

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty." :Maya Angelou

(Photo shot at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum Butterfly Haven in Chicago.) 

Thoughtful Thursday

Photo taken at Lost Dutchman State Park in Apache Junction, Arizona, January 2015. 

Weekend Adventures: Starved Rock State Park

I've lived in Illinois for over three years and I hadn't set foot in Starved Rock State Park until this past weekend. I've seen some great photos in my Instagram feed of the fall colors and the frozen ice falls and the park was one of those spots I "always wanted" to go to but never quite got around to actually going to. I finally made it out there, and I'm glad I did. 

Even though it was an overcast day, the temps were in the low 30s. The trails were still pretty icy, so I ended up leaving my big camera in my backpack most of the time I hiked. I kept my phone zipped in my vest pocket for easy access & quick snaps. I'm glad I did that, because, well, I took a big spill and went sliding down a steep trail, putting on a nice show for the other hikers in the vicinity. Thankfully, years of practice (general klutziness & horsemanship) taught me how to fall correctly (yes, there IS a way to do it! Sometimes.), and I didn't really get hurt, just a bit bruised. 

Anyways. The eagles were out also, and I was lucky enough to get up close to this beauty: 

Bald eagle @ Starved Rock State Park 1/31/2015

Ice climbers @ Wildcat Canyon, Starved Rock State Park 1/31/2015

One of many sets of stairs I climbed on my 6-mile hike.

The ICY trail down into French Canyon -- I turned around and took another way in! 

View of the top of French Canyon -- there were 2 ice climbers who got caught by Park Service staff. Oops. 

I'll definitely return to Starved Rock for some more hiking -- probably in the late spring or when the fall colors peak. I'd love to camp there if I can find someone to go with me. 

Weekend Adventures: Through The Horse's Ears

A winter getaway is always nice, especially when the sun never stops shining, the views are incredible, and you get several hours of quality time in the saddle almost every day! I spent 9 days in Apache Junction, Arizona, visiting my mom earlier this month and lucked out with amazing weather and good horses to ride. I rode all over the Superstition wilderness area, hiked up the mountain (more on that later), soaked up the Arizona sun and -- of course -- took a ton of photos. I didn't take the "big camera" with me on the rides, since they were pretty rough, instead opting to take a little point and shoot camera. It got the job done! Sure, quite a few photos turned out blurry, but I did get some cool shots, and memories are forever. Here are a few quick shares from "between the horse's ears:"        

Heading out on my first ride of the trip -- 5 hours in the Superstition Wilderness. After not riding for 8 months, let's just say I was sore the next day!

BLUE skies.

Rojo -- my ride for day #1

Shirley led all of the rides -- she knows the trails around Superstitions like the back of her hand!

 

Looking back as we climbed one of many mountains. The Superstitions are peeking out in the distance.

Admiring the view at one of the many overlooks!

One of the narrow, winding passes where I wasn't afraid of dropping my camera!

Riding into what our group called the "Gene Autry Canyon" It was beautiful!

Riding up an easy leg of Hackberry Trail. We ended up climbing about 4,000 feet on this ride.

Lots of green this year!

Yet ANOTHER vista -- note the tiny ribbons of trails down below.

Heading home on my last ride.

Weekend Adventures: Snow Globe at the Morton Arboretum

Hello, Winter

We finally got some real snow -- just enough to make everything pretty. And since Chiberia  is making its unwelcome return as I write this (temperatures in the single digits and dropping, with negative, double-digit wind chills), I hustled over to my favorite spot in Chicagoland for some photo ops. The Morton Arboretum never disappoints.

To add to the excitement, I had a new camera lens to try out. I just added a 50mm prime lens to my camera bag, and this was my first field trip with the lens. Let me warn you -- I had no idea what I was doing. I'm the type who prefers to learn by trial and error; the user's manual is still in its box. So. I had a lot of photos that turned out not so good: out of focus (the lens focused on the snowflakes near the lens, instead of the trees) or overexposed (I made some weird errors when fiddling with the camera settings as I tried to slow down the shutter speed to capture the large snowflakes that started falling while I was at the arboretum.). It was a learning experience, and I figured out what I did wrong and how to do it better next time. The prime lens has a dual auto/manual focus feature that allows you to manually focus the lens without changing the settings. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite features, as the lens doesn't always focus on what you want it to (see photo #2 below). I could keep boring you with details, but let's get to the photos.

At first, it was a little weird to only have a set field of vision with the 50mm lens -- but I got used to it pretty quickly. I can see why it's nicknamed the nifty fifty! 

Intensity

One of the first photos I took with the 50mm lens. Baxter the blue heeler makes a great portrait "victim." The lens is great for sharp detailing, and look at that bokeh (the blur in the background)!

One of several "mistakes" -- but this one turned out rather cool.

Here, I was shooting for the trees that are blurred in the background, but since I let the autofocus do the work, the lens focused on the snowflakes in the foreground. While not what I intended, it turned out to be a dreamy shot. I haven't decided if I'll keep this one or not. I may post it on Instagram to see if I can get some feedback.

Winter Walk

I love this oak tree at the Arb, and the snow just makes it more majestic. This couple happened to stroll by as I was shooting and made the shot even better!

Meadow Lake

Crystallized

I wanted to see if you could take close-up shots with the 50mm lens. Turns out: YES, you can!  They may not be macro, but the detail is pretty cool. 

I still have a lot to learn and a lot of things I want to do with my camera. Stay tuned!