October 31

spooky, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Spooky is the challenge for today.  Decided to follow E and C as they went around the block for trick or treat.  But oh was it cold out.  Passed a house which had this full figured animatronic spewing smoke.  (Animatronic, is that even a word?)  C, who is only two, was totally fascinated by this character.  He got as close as he could, waiting for the smoke to envelope him.  Of course, as soon as I saw the face I immediately thought "spooky!" Unfortunately, the smoke stopped but I took the picture anyway.  I wish I could have gotten a picture with the smoke enveloping the animatronic too, but alas, the kids took off and I no choice but to follow.  I did distort the picture in Photoshop, lengthening the mouth ever so little.  You have to wonder what other countries think of our fascination with this ghoulish holiday.  I guess the US and Canada are the only ones who go over the top in celebrating it. Go figure.

October 30

triangular, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Today's challenge assignment was to find something triangular.  Couldn't think of much until I walked past this catapult at the zoo.  And to my surprise I saw a triangular shape base made of trunks and tree branches.  Couldn't ask for anything better.  The only vision I have of a catapult was when it was used in the tv show Little People Big World and one of the boys was severely injured.  Theirs may have been constructed out of heavy timber while this seems to be more out of tree branches.  Not sure if the zoo actually use it as they have buildings in close proximity.  I'm sure there are places to drag it to so that people can see a number of pumpkins catapulted and smashed to smithereens.  Oh what fun!  Surprisingly there were tons of people at the zoo today.  I thought the weather would keep them back but no such luck.  And when I found out little M wasn't coming I hightailed it out of there and sought the warmth of my vehicle.  Could have found refuge in some of the buildings but there were way too many kids to my liking.  That's what I get for not leaving early and getting there when the doors first open.

October 30

halloween, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

So I am back to taking pictures again. I've joined several groups on Flickr and am trying to figure out how most of them work. Two of them give out challenges- daily or weekly. One you can post to only for a week after the challenge and one gives dates when challenges will end. This cage hangs on a tree near my house. Every day that I drive past it I always look to my left as I catch it in my peripheral vision. I know it's there; yet it always catches me by surprise. It is rather creepy- even more so as I got closer to take this picture. Of course, I posted it to the wrong group and got slapped on the hand for it. The group that I thought I was posting it to actually wanted a "macro" photo. I understand where they are coming from as they have tons of members who are posting daily. Will have to rethink my photo for the assignment as I'll need to use a macro filter.

October 27

Through a Hole, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Have been in a funk ever since the demise of the dailyshoot.com site. It was that site which gave me the incentive to go out and practice my fledging photography skills. But ever since it closed down I just couldn't come up with daily assignments. I did join a group through Flickr that is trying to get out some daily things to do. Perhaps it will take off like dailyshoot, but I'm sure it's difficult to keep up with the postings. Today's assignment was to take a photograph through some kind of hole- of course, there's nothing around me that constitutes an interesting photo. I was going to try taking a picture of a magnetic paperclip holder, but someone had already posted that. And with most of my garden going dormant, there's not much going on there either. So I ended up pulling out this cheese grater and tried to get a close up with my macro lens. Would have been more effective if I actually grated some cheese at the same time, but the dog would have been all over that. He may not hear much anymore but he sure can sniff out a hunk of cheese. I kind of like how the colors are reflected here but don't think much of the composition. I think I'm going to really look like a beginner if I post this to the new site. Looks like there are a lot of "pro" photographers posting and I'm feeling rather inadequate. Guess I'd just better bite the bullet!

October 15

Intruder Alert!, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

Intruder alert!  Intruder alert!  It is my well-known opinion that this cat does not belong in my backyard.  In fact, he doesn't belong within 10 blocks of my yard.  I actually have birds that I enjoy feeding and watching year round.  You know darn well that the only thing on this cat's mind is his next dinner.  By the look on his face you would think that he has spied his next meal, when in fact, his beady eyes are gazing on our dog whom I've sic on him.  Yes, that's right.  I opened the sliding glass door and said, "go get him, boy!"  The darn dog's eyes must be fading as he couldn't pick up the cat even though he was less than 20 feet away.  So I took the dog by the collar and dragged him toward the cat- ever so slowly.  Eventually, the dog does see the cat, but does he do what dogs are suppose to do?  Nope.  He starts wagging his tail, strolls over to sniff the ground, and then totally ignores the animal.  What's wrong with this picture?  Aren't dogs and cats mortal enemies?  If not, they should be- that or I need to get one of those motion detector sprinklers.  That might take care of this cat or at least convince him to take up residence in some other yard.

October 10

Garden spider, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

I feel like a lost soul without the guidance of the daily shoot. I guess there is a group somewhere in Flickr that I could join but I haven't found one yet. There is a Macro Monday that I could have posted this to but the assignment this week had nothing to do with spiders. And they seem pretty strict about sticking with the theme of the week.  And then there was another one that appealed to me but it was closed to newcomers. So that being said, I came upon this spider as I was pulling weeds and decided to try my hand at macro shooting again. An unsuspecting honeybee had been caught in the web and was entirely surrounded with spidery web stuff. And as I moved closer to the web this spider came out of its hiding place to protect it's prey- like I was some kind of threat!  Wanted to use my macro lens as I am still having trouble getting it to auto focus.  Had to get pretty close to the web and all I could think about was getting entangled with this spider.  The wind was whipping the web and spider around so I eventually just settled on using the action button.  Figured if it would catch a kid running it might to the same with the movement of the web.  I am not found of spiders but I do find this closeup interesting.  Tomorrow's shot might be rather interesting.  I am preparing for my first and last colonoscopy and may be spending the entire evening close to my bathroom.  Hmmm....wonder what my focus for the day will be.

October 6

autumn fog, a photo by scookster on Flickr.

For the last Daily Shoot assignment, make a photograph today that is important to you. One that says what you want to say.

I am totally saddened by two events today.  First, the death of Steve Jobs and secondly, the demise of dailyshoot.com.  Steve Jobs brought so much to the computing world and it's because of him that I am totally in love with Apple products.  In fact, when I first began teaching way back in the 90's it was on the Apple IIe.  So much has evolved over the last twenty years.  I can only hope that those who continue the Apple line will be as inventive and innovative as Jobs was.  As for dailyshoot, it too is ending today.  It seems like yesterday that someone introduced me to the website.  I had just started out experimenting with digital cameras.  Never thought I'd be interested in photography, even though I lived with a professional photographer for many years.  But a good friend of mine and I began talking about our similar interest, so I went out and purchased my first Nikon.  It was this site that got me thinking about the different aspects of photography and the creativity that's behind it.  I often shot a picture a day yet several days could pass because the assignment was way out of my league.  But I enjoyed looking at the site on a daily basis, trying to come up with a somewhat presentable photograph that I could post.  So for my last photo I give you my interpretation of the pond next to my son's home.  It was early morning and the fog was lifting off of the pond.  It's a great place to shoot geese but none were in range.  The pond grasses are slowly browning and as I crouched to the ground I got a pretty good shot of the fog.