Pinterest, Albany, and Other things

Today is the day. I am leaving tonight on an airplane.

To see my brother. Who lives far, far, far away in Albany, New York. I am so excited. I can hardly handle it.
This is my first time on a plane in like, ten years. Or more. And the first time on the East Coast. And my first time traveling alone.

I am sooo nervous. And exctied. And unbelieveably STOKED. (No, I am not a hippie for saying "stoked". However, I am pretty awesome, if I say so myself.)

To help further my excitement, nervousness, and all of those other awesome things, I found a Pinterest board that I am now obsessed with, (Thank you, Erica Moore!)
If you aren't on Pinterest yet, have you been under a rock this whole time? Check out my boards here. I'm addicted. Seriously.

I have a few ideas of what I want to see while I am there, time permitting! I have linked the pictures to their pinned owners. Pinterest is not always a reliable resource of who owns what images. But I have linked to the owners according to Pinterest. (If this is correct, image owners, please email me and I will remove the images.)

This is probably the first thing I will see, considering it is at the Airport.



"Building Bridges" at the Albany International Airport Gallery



The Aquaducks Tour, through the Hudson River! I would love to go on this and see downtown Albany and the Hudson River!



Washington Park. I would love to go during the Tulip festival, but it is in May, unfortunately. I'd still love to go to the park, though.



New York Capital Building. I don't know why, but this is so interesting to me. The architecture is amazing!



Palace Theatre. It is so beautiful. I need to see it for myself.



Bob and Ron's Fish Fry. This is apparently an Albany landmark. I hope to eat there with my brother and Julia.

Thank you, Erica, for your amazing Albany Pinterest board and inspiring me to see some of these sights while I am over there!
This isn't even counting all the things I want to see in NYC! Eeeep. I can't get too excited, 5 hrs more of work today before I can get into vacation mode!

I promise to take lots of pictures while I am gone. :D

Hmm.. A little worried now.

Wordless Wednesday, But with Words

All day long I have been hearing this buzzing. I don't know if it is actually a sound, or in my ears. I think it is the printer that is right behind me. I might have to hurt the poor thing. It is quickly giving me a migrane.
So, I took a moment to step outside my office and breathe in fresh air. Cubicles don't have much of that, do they?











Linking up with Project Alicia,The Paper Mama, Sarah Halstead, then, she {snapped}, and The Foreign Domestic

Wordless Wednesday, But with Words

All day long I have been hearing this buzzing. I don't know if it is actually a sound, or in my ears. I think it is the printer that is right behind me. I might have to hurt the poor thing. It is quickly giving me a migrane.
So, I took a moment to step outside my office and breathe in fresh air. Cubicles don't have much of that, do they?

Day 4 of the Pinterest Challenge : Outdoor Photography Tips

I don't know about you, but I have totally been following the Pinterest Challenge by Courtney from Click It Up A Notch!

Today's post was about Outdoor photography and taking advantage of  golden hour.

So I decided to join in on the fun and see what I had to show you that shows off the golden hour, which I have shot during a few times,  as you can tell ;).

Nana - Wordless Wednesday, but with words

I just had to show this picture of my Nana hard at work. She does needlepoint (she's sketching the letters in these pictures), ceramics, painting, all sorts of things.
She is one of the best artists I know and I have always been inspired by her.
She has been through a lot in her life, but still she keeps her head up.

This Wordless  (ish) Wednesday is dedicated to you, Nana! I love you and miss you <3
(The best part is, she didn't even notice when I was taking these!)

The Paper Mama

Sutton Is One

It's amazing to me that some families don't spend time together.

Mine used to quite a bit before my grandma died. But recently, since Sutton and Drake were born, we see each other a lot, which I think is amazing since most people don't even really acknowledge second or third cousins. But to me, family is family.

I didn't get to go to Drake's birthday party, but I went to Sutton's on Saturday. She is too cute. Sutton is cute as a button. (That was the theme of the party).

My favorite picture I caught is this one of my mom and Drake playing with a toy duck. It quacks. It is pretty much the best thing ever.





And here are some other shots I got on Saturday...



Her cake was soo cute!





This is Birthday Girl with her auntie Jessica (aka Weso, so we don't get confused.)



237 Buttons on that "S". Can you believe that?

 

These shots certainly took more thought than usual because we were indoors, using mostly light from outside.
Which I had never done before.
I think I did okay, though.

 

What do you think?

Night Photography - Black and White Style

I went a little black and white crazy today when I was looking at my night shooting pictures (finally -- I am so behind!). I love these images of my tiny little town.

The funny thing is.. when I was a teenager, I hated living in such a small town. (Really, we aren't THAT small. 10,000+ people.)
But now, I love it here. I love that I can always find a parking space, that traffic is getting caught behind a semi, and that the people here are nice (mostly).

Besides, who needs big towns and cities when you have such pretty places like this? (15 sec. , f/1.8, ISO 100)



Or like this... (4 sec. , f/1.5.6, ISO 100)



Or places that look dark and mysterious... (1 sec., f/1.8, ISO 100)



Or places that are pretty much dead at 10:30 pm on a Saturday night...? (1/10 sec. , f/1.8, ISO 400)



 

Some things I learned in this little project:

1. I need a tripod. One of my facebook friends let me borrow one, but I have yet to use it. Maybe tonight since I can stay up late??


2. Long shutter speeds mean low ISO.
   Luckily, my little rebel handles ISO pretty well. I love that little camera.
   I should name it.


3. I need to play around with perspective. Once I set my camera on the ground for  that shot above, I fell in love with the perspective. Need to try different perspectives.

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go play with my camera.

Have a great weekend!

Night Shooting

Saturday night, I tried something I had never done before.

I was nervous.

I was scared.

But mostly, I was excited.

Why? Because I am a total photography nerd.

So, when Kate at Captured by Katelyn Elizabeth asked if I wanted to head out and get some shots of our town at night, I was so down! (Even though I was tired because it was 9 pm and I am an old person.)

Kate and I have a lot fun shooting together. We are mean to each other. We joke. We laugh. She makes fun of my old woman-like driving. We make a good pair. And for once, I got to show HER something instead of the other way around. (I am a n00b.)

I played around with long exposures around Christmastime of my tree. But I never done anything like this.  It was a learning experience. Which we all know I need.

So do you want to see what I got?

Here is an example:



I had so much fun! I will be posting some more that I got soon. What do you think?