Sparkling symmetry...

For the challenge of "symmetry", I decided to shoot my ring. I inherited the diamond from my grandmother. It's an antique mine cut...something they don't do anymore. I received it as a loose stone and Bob had it set for me when Jenny was born. It's special to me. This was the first time i set out to intentionally try to capture reflections, so I shot this on a mirror and I learned something new. I was confused by the "ghosting" in the reflection. A friend explained that it's because the reflective part of a mirror is the back surface of the glass. So you get one reflection off the top surface, another (the strongest one) off the bottom, and double and triple bounces of light reflected within the glass. He said it was probably more than I wanted to know, but that he was after all a physics major! :) I thought it was interesting!

You lookin' at me?

Love and war...

Most interesting sight that day...At first glance, these 2 look like they're nuzzling, right? NOT! They're fighting. There's a 3rd duck behind (referee?), and he and the duck on the right were ganging up on the white duck. Don't know why...but it was very entertaining!

Visit to Duck Creek...

Kara, Jenny, and I were excited to take Hannah to see real ducks for the first time. One of her favorite signs is "duck" and she loves her little rubber ducky. I was just sure she would be signing "bread" the whole time we fed the ducks, because this girl LOVES her bread. But, she actually wasn't feeling too well that day. She'd just had her 15 mo. immunizations. She wasn't running fever YET, but she was pretty sick by that evening and for the next 3 days. Think she got a virus on top of the immunizations. At any rate, she had no appetite...so no wonder she wasn't interested in the bread. She loved the ducks tho' and it was a good distraction for her before her nap.

Do not disturb...

Apparently, a very good book. But she did not like the ending!

Splash!

I've been seeing lots of cool splash shots on flickr lately and really wanted to try one. This was fun! Set up was camera on tripod, macro at f/8, flash on...and took a bunch of pics with my remote shutter release while I dropped banana slices with my other hand. It was easier than I thought. I want to try again in natural light with a more colorful bowl. Note to self: pick up something cheap and colorful at Walmart).

Fiddlehead...

About a year ago, I posted a picture of a fern unfurling. I mentioned that it reminded me of the scroll on top of Kara's cello. I've since learned that their nickname is actually "fiddlehead". :) And some people EAT them! Did you know that? At any rate, one day our challenge was "shaped like a letter". Couldn't resist the fiddlehead....quite obviously, the letter P. Love the detail with the macro. And be impressed...this was handheld on a breezy day. Wish I could have had a more interesting background, but this was the only angle to get the P. :) Again, I did not have to crop at all.