I took my son to the river today and the sun was so bright!  The reflection in the water was gorgeous and we had a great time.  

river
 

Every year, I send postcards instead of Christmas cards.  The post office will print and mail them for me, making my life easier!  This year, we went to the desert and I let the kids decorate a bush.  We used vintage ornaments shaped like fruit.  

Here is the photo we ended up using.

Wishing you all the best during this holiday season!

The Southern New Mexico State Fair provided a lot of opportunity for pictures.  My son just turned three and was finally old enough to appreciate the things we saw.  He was fascinated by the curves of the giant ice cream cone and had to make sure that his matched.

My nephew got a new puppy for his birthday.  

They named her June Bug and she is adorable!  

My boys are pretty cute, too!

We visited my brother-in-law's 'farm' yesterday and I took a few pictures for him.  I don't like chickens much, but those eggs sure are tasty!  

These fellows were very friendly.  If I would have gotten a few inches closer,they may have taken a bite out of my camera!

Are you having fun yet?!

I'm pressed for time, but wanted to make sure and get an entry in before another challenge passes me by.  Here are a few action shots I've taken in the last few weeks.  Enjoy!

With my new Canon Digital Rebel thanks, Dad

Splash!
Drinking as sport.
Off with his shoe!

And a couple with the lensbaby, which is much harder for me to use than I imagined.  The exposure was all wrong on this one but I loved how saturated the colors were.  The only thing I did on this one was to darken it just a bit because everything was so washed out, but this is pretty close to the original.  Also with the lensbaby:  tball game.

Finally, just for fun, here is a film shot I took using slide film, cross processed.  The track meet we went to had a special race for the little ones and my youngest was serious about staying in his lane.  

I was thinking about Photographica and the  Emotion challenge when I took these shots on Friday.  My daughter, a freshman, was competing in the district track meet.  She has never run before this year and started the season late.  She has a natural gift for running and competes in the 1600 meter and 3200 meter races.  This was her last meet of the year and, as a surprise, her biological father flew in from California to see her race.  She sees him twice a year when she flies out there, but he has never been to any of her school or sports activities before.  When she saw him walk through the gate, her reaction was priceless.  

tears of joy when she first saw him

all smiles after the tears were gone

I love taking pictures here in New Mexico.  Here are a few of my recent favorites:

Sunset:  this was taken in northern New Mexico, an hour south of Farmington.

 White Sands:  This has to be one of the most photographed spots in the state.  It is gorgeous, but the glare!  It is tough [at least for me] to get a good picture.  Luckily, I live close enough to go all the time.  My kids love it, although going up isn't as much fun as coming down!

Rio Grande:  Fishing is one of our favorite things to do and we often go camping on the Rio Grande, south of Caballo Lake.  This picture was taken just as the sun was going down.

I hope you enjoyed a little look at the world I live in.

This is going to be a tough theme for me because I always feel uncomfortable taking pictures of strangers.  I can count on two hands the number of shots I've taken in the past two years or so...  This will be a great way to push myself and try something new!  This is a photo from the fair last year.  I was set to take a picture of my son when this girl bumped into me.  I got the shot of her by accident, but I'm glad I did.  She and the other kids were having so much fun with their silly string fight!

And in other news, you might remember a story I posted here some time ago [http://www.photographica.org/story/2005/11/9/181527/906] that featured a picture of  Frank , another stranger that I asked to photograph.  That picture is featured in the current issue of JPG Magazine!  It is my second 'published' shot, so I am thrilled.

for tditzgb

I finally got time to go by and take a better picture of our 'big indian'.  I didn't actually get out of the car, so I didn't find out who carved it.  But here are a couple of pictures:  through the window [tinted!] and after rolling the window down!  At a different park, I took a few pictures of trees:  fabulous color and fun with shadows.

NOTE:  no post processing on any of these photos.  I used slide film [200] and had it cross processed.  I love the saturated color!

I love taking pictures of my kids, but the boys are especially fun to photograph.  My four year old is going through a 'tough' phase.  My eight year old is turning into a young man, one who gets annoyed with the attention.  Sometimes, enough is enough!

This was a hard challenge for me, as I try not to do too much to my photos.  The more I mess around with them, the less I generally like them.  I decided to use a couple shots I took with our new 'snapcam'.  It was a snap together camera that you build yourself.  I bought it for the kids and we had a lot of fun with it.  I had the winding mechanism on wrong, so the film didn't move along.  We ended up with out 24 pictures in 6 frames.  

before 1 before 2  before 3

We started out with black and white film, so I adjusted the tone to sepia and increased the shadows using Picasa.

 after 1   after 2   after 3

I liked the originals ok, but since it was an 'oops' roll, I thought I would go for a more striking look.  I would recommend this camera for the young photographers on your holiday list.  My kids learned a lot about how a camera works.  

 

I haven't had the time for much lately, but I wanted to get in a submission for 'thirds' before it was too late.  I hadn't heard of this rule [guideline!] before, so thanks!  

american:  fence at dusk

shed:  not the most interesting subject, but I was just practicing

leaf:  my favorite of the bunch

 self portrait:  my reflection in a plastic christmas ornament that I was photographing in the desert.  Happy Holidays!

I pass by this house every day when I drop off my son at school.  Sometimes I see an old truck in front.  I've always wanted to stop and take a picture of it.  Today, I did.  Frank, the owner was eager to tell the story behind his improvements.  He has been rear ended many times, so he installed a special bumper and extra lights.  When that didn't work, he added the writing.  And the pictures?  They are for the drivers who can't read.