Night Shot. Week 52-52

Good Night to 2013.  Here's hoping 2014 bring peace, happiness and great photos.  It's been so much fun participating in this project.  I have loved seeing everyone's pics even if over the last couple of months I seemed to have less and less time to comment.  But thank you all for stopping by over the year.  A massive thanks to Lois... you seriously got me through the year with your lovely comments.  Same goes to you Bobbie! Thanks also to Tammy for organizing it all - I loved every minute.  Thank to Ron for his great sense of humour.  Thanks to Ivor for his great tutorials throughout the year and fabulous photos.  I loved seeing Judi's pictures but it was so frustrating that the site wouldn't let me leave comments. Thank You to KarenAnn for your gorgeous pictures and your kind emails helping me figure out how to use my flash.  And to the many others who took part.  Thanks for a great year.  Now if I can finally remember by password for elements I hope to sign up for 2014!

Macro. Week 51-52

My lens can't really do a great macro shot but I could NOT believe the detail on our christmas cake this year.  My mum bakes the cake in September and her friend's daughter at Cake Magic does the icing - the entire creation is edible!  It was hard to cut into this beauty but it tasted delicious.

And this is what the whole thing looked like before we cut it!

Work. Week 50-52

This was not an inspiring theme at all.  In the end I just took a picture that shows what kind of work I do.  I spend my days convincing people to switch from sugary drinks to water/healthier beverages.  Recently I have been taking a lot of "before" pics of vending machines.  I hope that in a few weeks these are going to look very different.  

Busy. Week 49-52

It's hectic over here.  So busy I didn't have time to post my pics for the week.  Up to here with decorating christmas trees, celebrating with christmas drinks, writing christmas cards and of course... dealing with sick kids. 'tis the busiest season of all.

 Christmas ornament

I write the cards, Charlotte puts the postage stamps on and Annabelle gleefully stamps our return address. A perfect assembly line!

We got through a lot of stamps

In the midst of it all never too busy to bake banana bread

Friendship/Love. Week 48-52

This thanksgiving we were lucky enough to host some very special friends.  The kind of friends who think of bringing fun crafts for my kids, send hot chocolate in advance and who are willing to play on the kids team for "Beat the Parents."  This craft was the best.  We all wrote on the "thankful feathers" and felt very blessed.

It was the best thanksgiving.  Seriously, how can you beat great friends, a fireplace, good wine and the precious love of a newborn?

Ordinary. Week 47-52

I found this theme so hard because when you really think about it even the ordinary things can be extraordinary.  We went for an ordinary hike in a nearby preserve.  The trees and leaves were extraordinary.

Chopped up wood seems ordinary but it is wood from a tree that an extraordinary storm (sandy) brought down.

And sometimes you wish your three year old would be a little more ordinary... here is her extraordinary outfit for our aforementioned hike... some battles are not worth fighting

Old. Week 46-52.

My maternal grandmother had a very busy social life... this was her calendar of events 66 years ago. I wonder how she would have taken to a smart phone.

Vision. Week 45-52

A few weeks ago some dear friends asked me if I could, gulp, take some pictures of their newborn.  Since both sides of their family are huge Cardinals fans I had this vision of getting some baseballs in the background of the shot.  But I had never imagined that this little baby would be so tiny... he truly was a vision to behold in his dad's baseball mitt.  

Wide Angle. Week 44-52

Is it just me or do the remaining themes on the list look impossible?  Or maybe I just did all the ones I found inspiring too early.  Either way I am at a loss.
So I am just covering the main points of the weekend.... leaves and a kitten.  One of the pics isn't even wide angle...
So here goes: raking leaves, blowing leaves, jumping in leaves.... repeat.

And here's the kitten...somehow we found ourselves with a new kitten this weekend. She's darling.

Tradition/History. Week 43-52

Our Halloween traditions involve 1. Carving Pumpkins.  2. Getting super excited about the trick or treat event at the local library and then hiding between daddy's legs the entire time and 3. Making Halloween cupcakes at our friends house.

 The crazy cupcake decorators!

Barren. Week 42-52.

Things look pretty barren after the salt water ocean has stormed across your path...hurricane sandy damage one year on.

I actually took this one earlier in the year for another project but it made me think of barren.

Autumn. Week 41-52

Last week I joined up with a group for a local scott kelby worldwide photo walk.  We went to a local reserve that was devastated by hurricane Sandy.  A year on and it is looking beautiful again.  A lot of the leaves and colors captured Autumn for me

Of course we also walked through the house and these fish just made me laugh.  pucker up

and finally autumn isn't complete until your child has run wild through the corn maze.

Light. Week 40-52

I love what light can do for a photo.  Especially early morning or late evening.  These were some early morning ones in our garden.

Midday sun streaming through a window

Midday light on a house but I like the contrast with the shadow in the window

and I liked this for "light" - an old light, some new energy efficient light bulbs and some natural light at the window.

Water. Week 39-52.

Sometimes I like to challenge myself... try the water theme in a big concrete jungle... when you force yourself you can find your theme anywhere.  You just have to look.  I found water fountains, standpipes for fire engines and the Hudson river.

Wildlife. Week 38-52

I was hoping for something more exciting.  But this is the exciting wildlife within 1 mile of my home...
Butterflies in the garden

Geese and gulls by the lake at the bottom of our hill

Commerce. Week 37-52

Just spent a lovely weekend at a family wedding in Portland, Oregon.  I loved Portland and I hope they do keep it weird. A great town.  I didn't see anything that was typically "commercial" but I loved that it was a city of food trucks.  This one was my favourite.

And I loved that this doughnut place had an insane line just for making quirky doughnuts.  I guess successful commerce is all about the sale of goods and services.  I thoroughly enjoyed the goods (mainly food) that I bought in Portland.