For Sere

It's Sere's turn today but she's off enjoying some time in a remote cabin in the woods of northern Wisconsin near Lake Superior. When Sere texted me this information I (Brandi) got to thinking.
Here's an excerpt of what went through my brain...
I'm sorry...

"I never talk on the phone anymore. Everyone just texts. Why don't I talk on the phone more? Because Sere and I can't talk for less than 2 hours, ever.
Should we just skip Sere? Should Jay'me just go on Saturday? Should I post something in Sere's place? Gosh it was fun growing up with Sere. Remember that time we got lost in the woods across the street from her house. Of course, I remember getting lost, I was there. Those woods, I miss those woods. They always have the best color... wait.... the woods... I'll take a picture of the woods. Not a picture by Sere but a picture for Sere. The woods it is."



Nikon d40 kit lens
1/640sec ISO 200
f5.0 19mm

This is a tree just off the street where Sere grew up. It sits at the entrance to a forest preserve where Sere and I, along with another friend of ours, got lost in the woods. Wandering for hours, singing and carrying on as only freshman high school girls can do.

I tried this photo from a few different angles to make it unique. In the end I like the classic presentation cut square to give it a more contemporary feel. That same blue sky that caught my fathers eyes yesterday sets off the beautiful fall foliage.

This isn't a photo that will wow anyone but it's a photo taken from the heart for a woman that I've been blessed to know for so many years. Travel safe Sere.

Jay'me is up tomorrow unless we hear from Amanda, the winner of this weeks Wordless Wednesday.

Wishing everyone a beautiful fall weekend. Spend sometime catching up with an old friend, I just did.

xoxox,
Brandi

Friendly Friday Faces

Some of you may know this face. For those of you that don't... this is my dad.
Everyone say "Hi Brandi's Dad!"

Nikon d40 kit lens
1/200sec
ISO 200
f5.6

My dear friend Scott left me next nothing to tie into for Friday faces.

Thanks Scott, you're the best buddy.

I did manage to find some stray dandelions in my yard so I thought I would capture someone blowing the seeds. I annoyed my husband, my mother and lastly my father. They all obliged with very little complaining and minimal bribery. There was just something about the pictures of my dad that spoke to me. I don't know if it's his blue eyes or the balance of the blue from his shirt but, in the end he won.

Sorry Mom and Hubby, maybe next time.
Dad, stop gloating, it's not nice.

I didn't like any of the photos where he was blowing the dandelion seeds. I, like Scott before me, just couldn't quite capture it the way I wanted to.
Obviously, once I omitted the dandelion from the shot all I had to tie into Scott's photo from yesterday with was the layout of the shot and the bright blue sky.

********************
We've awarded the winner from this weeks Wordless Wednesday post. Maybe you guys missed it. Scroll down a bit and you'll see it or you can use our handy dandy archieve function on the right side of the screen. We're still looking for Amanda to claim her victory.
Amanda give us shout at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com so we can add you as a special guest star.

Not Quite a Prairie

Canon 30D
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
Shutter Speed 1/1600
Aperture f/11.0
ISO 400
Aperture Priority
Natural Light

When I left for work today with my gear I had a shot in mind that would have been awesome. There is a prairie on my route that is just spectacular, especially with this fall light. The grasses have that beautiful copper color and the seed literally shimmers. It's a breathtaking sight and I'm dying to capture it with a photo. As you can see, I haven't figured out how to get the shot in my head. Instead, as I was walking around muttering, I nearly stepped on this dandelion. Naturally it's a bit more appropriate in the spring and early summer. But here it was on a crisp fall morning and there I was not getting what I wanted. It was fate - we needed each other.

I was ill prepared for this shot. What I tried to do was blow the seed off the stem as I shot. I even got a couple but the focus was way off. You can see from my settings that I used a 400 ISO setting despite the ample light. This allowed me to use both a high shutter speed (hoping to freeze the act of the seed floating away) and a small aperture (increasing my chance for a sharp image. My undoing was the fact that I had to hold the dandelion with one hand and press the remote shutter with the other all while blowing the seed. Translated, I couldn't see what I was shooting and could only guess. I tried setting up as much as possible but the bottom line is I needed another person or a clamp on a tripod.

You can bet I will try this again next spring with better preparation. It's a shot I know I can get. To the dandelion I say thanks for the bailout and I'll see you in the spring! I promise to really make you shine.

Scott

Wordless Wednesday with Jay'me

Wordless Wednesday with Jay'me

Rules:

The poster must post only one (1) photo and settings. No additional verbiage (other then the rules) is allowed.

Commenters (that's you) must comment and guess how the photo associates with the previous (Tuesday's) photo. The winning guess gets to be the guest photographer for Sunday.


No previous photography experience required. In fact, wanna-be's like us, our encouraged. The only criteria; you must be able to take a photo (any camera will do), email said photo, allow 3C1D to publish said photo and follow the rules...


1 guess only per person. All rules strictly enforced with a paddle (Brandi style)!



Ready Set GO!!!!!!

Cannon Rebel XT

1/8000

f 7.1

28.mm

no flash

ISO 800

2 for 1

It's a special week here on 3C1D. We get to have not 1 but 2 guest photographers.

*^($( Happy Dance(*^#_*&

You met Amy on Sunday and now we get to introduce you to Allison.
Alli won Wordless Wednesday two weeks ago.
Sorry it took us so long to have you with us Alli. We're glad you're here.

Allison is not a photographer or even an aspiring photographer, that I know of. She's a great friend that loves and supports our blog and guessed correctly. Being the super champ she is she took her point and shoot camera out and took this photo to share with us.



Here's what Allison wrote in her own words...
my camera...sucks
my idea...capture nature's sepia early in the morning
my other idea...corn rows where the light is just hitting the tops
my talent...none
my opportunity...fun!

Alli, thanks for playing with us. More importantly thanks for supporting us. This blog is not just for aspiring photographers it's for anyone that likes to look at life through the lens of another person.
I think Allison did a beautiful job of capturing exactly what she set out to get, which contradicts her no talent claim.
She graciously provided us with two photos but I'm a stickler for rules, so I picked my favorite. Aren't I lucky that I got to see both. I just loved that I could feel the crispness in the fall air in this photo. It speaks to my midwest soul.

Jay'me will be stepping up for Wordless Wednesday tomorrow. Let this post and Amy's post inspire all of you to join in the guessing. Wouldn't you just love to see your photo here too?

XOXO,
Brandi

The road goes on and on and on......

I took a look at Brandi's post which got me thinking about music before I went onto Amy's post from Sunday. I want to congratulate Amy on a great photo, we all certainly enjoyed it here on 3C1D and I'm sure you all did as well.

Brandi's Poison song and Amy's train photo got my mind on that old Johnny Cash song "I Heard that Lonesome Whistle".

I was riding number nine

Heading South from Caraloine

I heard that lonesome whistle blow

Very old style, crooner country. I know it's about going to prison and you all can laugh at me that's fine. It brings back memories from my childhood. Besides who can dislike Johnny Cash, he redid a Nine Inch Nails song, Hurt, so awesomely that even non-country people were listening to it. So I listened to that song on You Tube to get me in the lonely train mood. It didn't work so well, but I did have another thought that popped into my head that ended up working.

Nikon D90
Lens 18-70mm at 27mm
ISO 100
Aperture F-8
Shutter 1/160 sec.
Natural Lighting with Sepia filter

When I first saw Amy's post I drew a blank as to how to connect to it. We don't really have trains around here, well except for freight trains and the train tracks are not very interesting and I certainly don't have any cityscapes. I realized that I was going to have look at the details of her photo in order to come up with my connection and very quickly I found it. She has these awesome lines of continuation in her photo. Almost like that train is just going on and on. At first I was like "corn" rows of corn, of which we have tons around here. I took some pictures of corn rows and wasn't liking anything I took. Back to my songs that were floating around in my head and the random thought that popped into my head, remember?

Lonely train songs got me thinking about lonely roads. Don't ask me why, I don't understand myself half the time either. Ah ha, that was going to be my shot! It is more of a personal interest shot then any kind of super technique shot. This is the road going up to my house on which we are literally the only house on the road and at this point in the road it looks like it could go on and on, just like Amy's train. Also the contrast between her city shot and my country shot is pretty stark. I knew immediately that color was not going to work with this shot so I tried it in black and white. It was okay but not quite right. Switched to sepia and voila, it worked!

Can't wait to see what Jay'me has in store for us tomorrow.

Welcome Amy!

Everyone give Amy a warm 3C1D welcome.
Amy is the latest winner of the Wordless Wednesday contest. She made a correct guess on Sere's post here.

A little about Amy by Amy -
A mom of 2, massage therapist, and a person stumbling into mindful living through yoga, qigong, and mediation. I love to read, bake, and now take photos (mostly of my children and whatever catches my eye).


Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
18-55mm 3.5-5.6
1/200s
f5.6
ISO 200

About the photo - in Amy's words
I added some fill light and saturated the photo to draw out the red in the train. I also tried this photo without flash first and then this one has flash to capture the end of the train. I had a fun day of playing with my camera downtown as I am extremely new to photography. I am currently in a digital photography class and it's only week 2. Prior to that I only used my automatic setting on my Canon Rebel. It is nice to be able to control your photo as I learn how to utilize my camera more.Thank you for allowing me to guest post - it forced me to go out and play with my camera more. This is the train I took home after my adventure came to an end.

Amy, I (Brandi) speak for all the chicks and the dude when I tell you GREAT JOB! Keep going in photography, you have a great eye for composition and we look forward to having you join us again in the future.

Another fantastic day, another beautiful picture to inspire your soul. Live big!

Sere is going to start off the work week with something fabulous, I'm sure.