Tenacious

Once again, I made a foray into my neighbors' yard. It seems that the tulips, leaves and apples are occasionally more photogenic on the "other side." I have been watching these apples for a while and after our recent snow, thought I should capture a photo or two.To do this right, I need a ladder since the apples are about 10 feet up the tree. I also need better light, though this photo let me experiment with the flash exposure compensation built in to my camera.As a look at this photo, incidentally, I am wondering if the idea of Christmas ornaments (round balls on trees) was inspired by tenacious fruit that refused to fall?

What's In A Lei?

The answer to the question posed in the title is "plumeria." Plumeria are the fragrant flowers that grow on trees - but not in South Dakota. :-(These plumeria were growing in Hawaii. I was reading that in some Pacific cultures the plumeria is associated with vampires and in others the trees are said to provide shelters to ghosts. Ghosts and vampires must smell good in these places because the fragrance of these flowers is strong and pleasant.

Walls of Glass

The most famous Gothic cathedral in Paris is the Notre Dame de Paris. But I think St. Chapelle is the most beautiful, primarily because there is so little stone and so much glass in the walls.When I walked into this structure the first time, I stood for several moments in amazement. This structure was built in the 13th century. If I'm amazed, imagine how someone from the 1300s would have felt when walking into this sacred place the first time.

What If God Was One of Us?

Joan Osbourne's song "One of Us" asks an interesting question:"What if God was one of usJust a slob like one of usJust a stranger on the busTrying to make his way home?"Neither of the men in this picture is God (I don't think). And we aren't on a bus, either. We're somewhere under Paris riding the Metro. The gentleman on the left is my friend Billy, The Lutheran Minister. So I guess he's close to God. At least that's what he tells me.The man on the right was wide awake and lucid until Billy started talking to him about the marvels of Lutheran theology (or some such subject) and you can see the effect this had . . . Can you say "soporific?"But I do love my friend Billy.

Where's George?

This is a composite picture of two scans I made of a dollar bill I found in my pocket yesterday. I have seen the "Where's George" stamp on money before but today I decided to track this bill. I went to the web site wheresgeorge.com, put the serial number in and found that this particular bill had traveled to Watertown from Ohio. How it got here I don't know.I told my students about this project and gave this dollar to a student who is going to Florida for Christmas. She needs to spend it there and with a little luck, I'll be able to follow my dollar's journey.

Details

By Scott Shephard

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Most of the photography I do is very personal and maybe even selfish. I rarely think, "What will they say about this one?" when I push the shutter button. When I frame something, I am more often studying the object being photographed than I am recording it for posterity.Thus, the details that I often capture, such as the back of my daughter-in-law's wedding dress, are nothing more than . . . details. Later, when I am sifting through my photo collection, some of the details jump out at me. And so I present today's Picture of the Day.What I like about this picture isn't my doing - I like the symmetry of each button and loop and their symmetrical relationship to each other. I also like the curves and lines that adorn this dress. Finally, I like the warm, soft light that plays on this subject.The light wasn't my doing either. I just found it. And often that's what photographers do best.

Canon 5DII 70-200mm 2.8 1/250s f/3.5 ISO400 200mm

Another Cute Kitten Photo

My son Brian helped me resurrect some photos I had taken years ago. There were 90 in the collection but I chose this one, mainly because of the amazing blue eyes. I'm guessing that not everyone looking at my blog thinks every kitten is automatically photogenic. You'll have to move on to other things if you are one of those people. . . .Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email

Basketball Hex

At the Watertown Civic Arena, the south bleachers put the fans pretty close to the action. In this case a Roosevelt basketball player is getting some friendly help from the Watertown fans as he attempts to throw the ball inbounds. He seems oblivious.I find it interesting to study the various expressions on the faces of the Watertown fans. Are we showing good sportsmanship here? I don't think so, but I'm a little old fashioned. . .Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email

Little Lizard

This little guy briefly flitted into view, posed for this photo and then flitted back into hiding. This is a gecko, as you may know, and you find them in unlikely places in Hawaii, including bedroom wall and bathroom mirrors. They are harmless and, as you can see here, colorful.Subscribe to A Photo A Day by Email

A View From My Window?

The actual view from my window today shows bare tree, evergreens that seem less green than they did a month ago and a thin layer of snow and ice trying to cover what is left of the grass in our back yard.The scene you are looking at today appears only when I close my eyes and think of Mexico. . . .

11-23-10 Wonderful Freckles

I went looking for a portrait to post today, in part because I don't post many and I thought it would be a good change of pace. As I was looking, this one jumped out at me.There is really nothing fancy about this shot. It is a fairly standard head shot done outdoors in open shade. I know it's outdoors because I can see the sky in the catchlights of Amanda's eyes. The photographer is reflected there, as well, if you look closely enough.What struck me about this photo is that the subject is clearly very relaxed and she has a very real smile - maybe even a Mona Lisa smile. I also like Amanda's freckles. Generally, the eyes are the focal point in a head shot. And then what? In this case the answer is the pattern of freckles playing across her face gives the viewer's eyes something more to do. My experience in taking photos of young people is that they wish they didn't have freckles. But in Amanda's case, I'm glad she did.

13,910

In keeping with my "Big Island Diversity" thread, I thought I'd post one more photo, this time from the top of Mauna Kea. This photo shows where the title of this post comes from, though the official height of Mauna Kea is 13,796 ft. My Garmin GPS uses satellites to estimate altitude and so it has us a little higher than we really are.This photo, incidentally, was taken the same day as this photo. I would have no photo if it weren't for my adventurous brother-in-law, who convinced us we needed to go to the top of Hawaii. My wife kept her eyes shut on part of the drive up and I didn't like the idea of wind chill and snow. That's why we left South Dakota for our brief trip to visit our son Jon a few years ago!