Memorial Day

It's a day to honor the men and women that have serve this country. Regardless of rank, classification, job title or other boring detail, every man or woman that now serves or has served in the armed forces should be honored today.
I do find that there is a distinction between Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Armed Forces Day. To me, in my heart, the distinction lies with making this day, Memorial Day, a day to honor those that have lost their lives serving this nation.
Maybe I'm right with my thoughts or maybe I'm wrong, but the point is, today is not just about hot dogs, cold beer, lemonade and marking the opening of the pool. So as you're enjoying those things think of the people before us that have given their lives so that we can splash, gossip, and hit home runs today with our family and friends.

Nikon D300s Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 @34mm
ISO 200
cloudy, foggy overcast
aperture f/2.8


I'm not going to lie, I over exposed this shot. I went out in search of a flag, preferably one that was buried in the fog that blanketed this area yesterday morning. I found a few but nothing was quite what I was going for. Making one last stop, I found a flag in a quiet downtown park surrounded by trees and greenery. I thought "Yes! This will work." Getting out of the car, walking through the park and up to the flag, I found it surrounded by these monument markers. WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and then the Gulf War(s) monument.
I was struck. All the other monuments had numerous names, 10 or 20 on them. But, here there were just two names. Two names of two loved ones that had not been forgotten. These tulips were the only flowers placed on any of the monuments.
Gone but certainly not forgotten.

I was so distracted and moved that I really didn't take the best photo. I guess I don't read my histogram really well through tears. Thankfully, shooting in RAW allowed me to recover most of what was lost. I'm still not happy with the composition. Maybe I'll go there again today and make it right.
Whatever you do with this day, take a moment to remember those that have lost their lives. May they all rest in peace.

xoxox,
Brandi

Happy Easter Everyone

I hope you've had a wonderful, indulgent Easter spent with family and friends.

We've got one of our great 3C1D friends with us tonight. I'm sure you all remember MamaLu.
Here's what she's got to say today.


Here's my shot for today. The leaves pick up the green from the grass in Saturday's picture with Scott and Justin. Since today is Easter, and as it's (supposedly) spring, I wanted to depict renewal and rebirth. The daffodils are easy to tie in with that theme. With humans, one type of renewal and rebirth is based on emotions triggered by memories that never die, but lie dormant until a word, a photo, a song, a scent - something - triggers them. These are precious gifts, as are the flowers in spring. Enjoy.
Mamalu




Bring on the spring! From all of us, to all of you, Happy Easter.

My Heart Belongs to you

or however those cheesy sayings go. Valentine's Day theme a tad bit early is up for today. But before I get to that I would like to announce our Talkless Thursday (i.e. Wordless Wednesday) winner for this week. Random.org has spoken and decided that Amanda was our winner. So Amanda please email 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com and let us know when you will be able to post your picture! Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

As for the story behind my picture, I was actually thinking about the wooden beams in both pictures. The wooden dock and the wooden whatever that the chain was on, also the reflection in my shot gives the look of chains as well. You also have the angles of the shots. That picture was from my recent trip up to Bayfield Wisconsin . A beautiful lake town on Lake Superior. We were walking along the harbor looking at all the boats. Each Friday the boats do a "parade of lights" around the harbor where they decorate their boats and "parade" them through the harbor in front of a very rambunctious crowd who claps and whistles to show their appreciation the decorations. Very fun to see if you are ever up in the North Woods of Wisconsin. Oh and Bayfield also has sea caves that ice over in the winter time, something I would LOVE to go and see one day. Now on to my picture for today.


Nikon D90
ISO 200
Aperture F/7.1
Shutter 1/250 sec.
Exposure 1.3 steps (oops didn't realize I had that)
Lens 18-200mm at 200mm
Manual
Two off camera remote flashes, one had on a lightly tinted filter

I would not suggest using your camera to the very top end of its capabilities, I was trying not to do that, but for this picture it turned out okay. When I saw Brandi's shot I kind of groaned, not because of the picture, which is really pretty, but because it was a flower and pink. Two things not very prevalent in my household.

I lugged my camera around all day today trying to find inspiration. Do you ever have one of those days when you feel like you're in a creative void? Today was one of those days, maybe it was the gloomy, cloudy day? Or just my mood, but nothing came to me all day. So what do I do when I get home, but have a snack and I happen to LOVE the candy hearts that are out for V Day. Aha pink!! And kind of romancey just like a flower, now to just be able to get the shot.

I had no idea what I was looking to do for the shot, still life photography has never been my strong suit. I'm more of a portrait and nature/animal photographer and I love travel photography though that would not be my strong suit either. For this shot, I just set up different things and began to shoot away. Nothing very exciting came from the shots at first, but then I thought about zooming in because I find that you can get a drastically different picture by doing that and a different perspective. So what type of photography are you drawn to? What causes you the most difficulty?
Later all!
Sere

Happy New Year!

Hi Sere here! I am celebrating the New Years with family right now. We are getting ready to eat and play some games. Hope your New Year is equally blessed.


Olympus Stylus Tough
Aperture F/3.5
Shutter Speed 1/2 sec.
ISO 250
No Flash, Straight out of the camera

My husband and I have been lucky the last couple of days to have spent them skiing and since I am not the best on skies I brought my point and shoot, shockproof, freezeproof camera to the slopes to be on the safe side, instead of my regular DSLR camera. My point and shoot definately has it's place in my world, but not necessarily for taking the best pictures, at least at low lighting conditions. Or I can't figure out how to do it the first time using this camera.

I was trying to show the ambiance of where we were in this shot. The champagne for New Years Eve, the fire in the background for warmth and the snow for our skiing adventure. We were in the "chalet" ski lodge for New Years Eve and the picture was facing outward to the hills. My connection to Brandi's shot was the champagne and/or drink.

Now I am off to enjoy family time! Cheers!

Cheers!

I hope everyone is preparing for a wonderful, safe New Year gathering.

From 3C1D - Cheers!

May 2011 be happy, healthy and wealthy for us all.


Nikon d40
ISO 800
aperture f/4.5
shutter speed 1/10 (not bad for hand held)

Goodbye 2010.

xoxo,
Brandi

Christmas Eve with Brandi

Jay'me is celebrating the holiday with her family far away from a computer. I happily offered to post in place of her.

May your Christmas Eve be exactly what you want it to be.

Mine is....


Nikon D40 kit lens
natural light
shutter speed 1/10
aperture f3.5
ISO 800

Mele Kalikimaka...

.... means Merry Christmas in Hawaiian, which is where I would LOVE to be about right now. Who wouldn't right? I was just listening to Christmas songs today and this one came on (you can't have Christmas songs without Bing Crosby singing some of them) which made me think about one of my Christmas pictures that I had taken a few days ago. So I am connecting to Brandi's picture by a song; along with the fact that Mr. Hippo looked like he was in some water and my picture has water in it.



I couldn't figure out how to align this center so, sorry.

Nikon D2X
Lens 18mm to 200mm at 105mm
Aperture F/8
Shutter Speed 1 sec.
ISO 400
No Flash, I did add a soft filter to this because I like the look of it and filters are fun, otherwise not much else was done to this picture.

If you look really closely you can see that this ornament says "Aloha Hawaii" on it. I have a tradition of picking up an ornament from every place that I vacation at. So our tree is full of Colton's handiwork and ornaments from the different places around the country we have been. It's a lot of fun to put the ornaments up and talk about and remember that particular vacation and something that we had done. Colton also really enjoys helping me to pick out the ornaments so it's a good way to get him to come shopping with me as well.

Sere

Frosty the Snowman

Brandi has been playing around with different perspectives. Scott has been using HDR and both have been getting some great shots. Poor Jay'me has been having some technical difficulties and doing a great job working with what she has. My latest photography obsession has been getting those awesome warm, glowy, Christmas lights as a background. I have spent the last few nights practicing, messing around with all my settings to get this right. It is probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. We, down in the central part of the state have no snow (all you northerners are stealing it from us) to use for my Christmas portraits, so lights it is. I actually love Christmas lights, they are one of the absolute best parts about Christmas but I have always had a hard time getting them right. So while this shot is far from exactly where I want to be, considering where I was at (read, I shudder at looking at my Christmas light picture archives) I was pretty pleased with what I got.

Nikon D2X
ISO 400
Lens My Nifty Fifty again (love this lens!!!)
Aperture - F/2.8
Shutter Speed - 1 sec.
No Flash

All I did to the picture was give it a touch of fill light in Lightroom. Mr. Snowman was an absolutely perfect subject. He never argued or gave me a goofy, unnatural smile and he always sat exactly where I wanted him to sit. I had a lot of fun practicing on him. My connection to Brandi's picture is tenuous at best. If you look at her shot you can see some holiday lights and decorations set up around the storefront, that's what I used as my connection. Sorry but it is the Christmas/holiday season and I had to jump on anything I could :).

The key to getting nice Christmas lights is to have a really, slow shutter speed, so use a tri-pod or something to help you stay steady, and as low(wide open) an aperture as you can get to get that nice blur look. Also your subject should be not too close to the lights themselves. Mr. Snowman here was a few feet away in reality, and do not, I repeat do not, use a flash unless you absolutely must. Here is an article worth reading about to help you with those holiday light pictures.

Now settle yourself down with the lights off and your holiday lights on, grab yourself a cup of hot chocolate or coffee or whatever floats your boat, and join me in enjoying this most beautiful part of the holiday season.

Another photo from the urban correspondant

Hey kids, Brandi here! BigDan won last weeks Wordless Wednesday and he'll be tonight's photographer.
BigDan first visited us here. He came back for more. Silly, silly boy.

Dan always says it best himself so I'll turn things over to him....

Sere's picture made me immediately think of finding a place where Kath and I could have 5, 10, maybe 15 dogs. We absolutely love them. Both of our dogs are special needs dogs and when we went on her web site and found out she had retired breeders, we almost called the realtor. But, as cute as the puppy is, I also thought Christmas.

After mass, I took a couple or twenty beautiful shots of the Nativity Window in our historical landmark Church. It was back lit by the morning light and the central birth scene is gloriously surrounded by hundreds of pieces of glass, all picking up bits of light. The window is two stories high and was originally made in the 1880s. It is truly irreplaceable. On the drive home, I was beginning to compose a paragraph about the progression of various ethnic groups that have made up the congregation in its 150 year history and how the art of the church reflects those changes when we were stopped at Western and Roosevelt by a couple of cops and and a private van blocking the intersection. We pulled into the White Castle parking lot, got out of the car and watched motorcycle after motorcycle after motorcycle parade by in their journey from 83rd Street to Belmont. I was shooting like mad, but pretty soon slowed down and started waving. Within minutes I had tears streaming down my face as Kath and I waved and they honked back. The sound was incredible, almost moving your soul... and then, every once in a while people would laugh as some scooter would putt by. It seems we had run into the annual Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade.

I am a sucker for acts of kindness. Whether it is God's Son coming to us to teach us about Peace or several hundred motorcyclists riding down Western Avenue to bring toys for kids in need, to me, it is all Christmas.


Nikon D3000
VR 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6
Focal Length 170 mm
F/10
1/200s
ISO 400

Thank you Dan. Thank you for sharing your story. Thank you for being a wonderful, kind, human being. Thank you for hanging out with us here at 3C1D.
Go check out Dan's blog here. While you're there (or here if you like) wish Dan a Happy Birthday, for today is his special day.

Thanks again, Dan. Come back anytime, we love having you.

Let's Eat

From our tables to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.



Nikon D40 kit lens
ISO800
f/3.8
ss 1/40sec

Wordless Wednesday with Sere

Well folks, big surprise I am up yet again for Wordless Wednesday :). We also are still looking for Rachel, the winner of last week's Wordless Wednesday. I don't believe we have heard from you yet. Please contact us at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com.

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

Commenter's (that's you) must comment and guess how the photo associates with the previous (Tuesday's) photo. We will take a look at every commenter's comments and randomly select a winner on the following Saturday. The winner will get to be our guest photographer on the following Tuesday. If you can't make Tuesday, we will pick another day that works for you. We aren't too picky. So if you think you have an answer (or even if you don't), leave a comment, you might just win!

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

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

Ready, Set, Go.....


Nikon D90
Nifty Fifty Fixed 50mm lens
Aperture F/2.8
Shutter Speed 1/60 sec.
ISO-200
On camera flash