30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 30

Day 30: Self portrait.

Wow I can't believe this is the last day!  These past 30 days flew by.  I can't believe this is over.  It's been fun--thanks for stickin' around through the good, the bad and the ugly!
Confession: this self portrait shot below was one of 90 that I took of myself.  Yes, that's 90.  Ten away from 100.  It's a bit extreme, I do admit but it had to be done.  I got a lot of weird shadows, double chins, fake smiles and blurry eyes on those 90 shots.  This shot isn't the best one, but as I was looking at all 90 options, this one, along with a few others really stuck out at me.  By looking at this picture, I think I know what people are talking about: I do in fact, look like my mom!  I had to remind myself multiple times while scrolling through that I was actually looking at pictures of myself and not her.  Anyway, I think this one really looks like her for some reason so I am posting it.  :)

Have a SPOOKY halloween!

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 29

Day 29: Black and White.

Trick or Treat?  I may or may not have eaten three pieces on the way home from buying these tonight.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 28

Day 28: Flowers.

Who said they had to be real?

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 27

Day 27: From A Distance.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Days 25 & 26

Day 26: Close up.

Day 25: Something Pink.

All three pink, all three found in the bathroom and all three are used at least once daily.  :)

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 24

Day 24: Animal.
So I had my camera outside with me after work, hoping to catch some squirrels in action, but was having no luck.  Much to my surprise, the neighbors cat who happens to be taking a liking to me and my yard lately, was out doing his/her thing so I pounced (pun intended) at the opportunity.  I have no idea what this cats name is, I just know that it meows a lot and seems to like my front step.  Here it is using the yard as a scratching post.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 23

Day 23: Sunflare.

Did you guys see this sun today?  No?  Me neither.  I had to swipe this generic sun picture from some sight on the internet because the sun wasn't out today.  Another bad luck day with sun-related pictures. I did technically take a picture of my computer screen, so it is actually a photo of mine...it's just a photo of a photo that isn't mine.  Please don't try to download and sell this masterpiece--I know it will be difficult not to, but please try and hold back.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 22

Day 22: Hands.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 21

Day 21: Faceless Self-Portrait.
I could have pulled a Kim Kardashian or Lady Gaga and posted a picture of my butt for this photo; that seems to be the thing to do these days.  However, I don't think anyone would want to see that so I opted for shooting the backside of the other lump about three feet above my rear end, instead.

WARNING:  Clicking on the Kim Kardashian or Lady Gaga links will give you nightmares.  I don't recommend it.

URGENT!!!

I interrupt this 30 Day Photography Challenge to bring you some breaking news!

AP NEWS WIRE: 2013. Oct 21 12:36 PM CDT
HASTINGS (AP) Facebook was down early this morning and may still be experiencing some minor glitches.  I hope your food supply is high and the batteries in your flashlights are fresh--the world may stop spinning.  Everybody please go into panic mode because the World is currently in a state of Code Red.

Ok, in all seriousness... That blurb did not actually come from the Associated Press, I of course crafted that one up, but still.  In all reality Facebook was and maybe still is experiencing glitches early this morning.  I know this because a big portion of my job requires me to be on Facebook.  When Facebook wasn't cooperating with me for about a half an hour this morning, I decided to take matters into my own hands and figure out what was going on.  So I did the most logical thing:  I went to Twitter.
I logged onto Twitter, searched the hashtag "Facebook" and wouldn't you know, the answer to my question was in front of my eyes, about 1000 times, in 140 characters or less.  Who knew that Facebook being in a state of semi-limbo could cause such a fuss.  I grabbed a few screen shots of the twitter feed for proof.
Allow me:

Believe me, this bunch of tweets was just a small portion of the tweets out there.  Did you notice that actual, real-life NEWS channels were tweeting this garbage out???  One tweet (not shown) actually said that a NATIONAL news station in the UK actually talked about the story ON AIR.  Either it was a really slow news day over there, Princess Kate wasn't anywhere to be found so they could photograph her 'post-baby bod' or Facebook is truly taking over our lives.  We need to get a handle on this.  It is really sad.
My favorite tweets of course are the ones who are making fun of the fact that FB was down.  Like when Rob Johnson or @RobOnTheRun said: "#Facebook down?!! How will the girl who didn't talk to me in high school flood my news feed with pics of her 4th daughter's beauty pageant?!" and when Mark Arum or @MarkArum said: "#Facebook is down.  I have no way of knowing if my friends took their kids apple picking or pumpkin picking this weekend."
Hopefully Facebook will be back online soon so we can get on with our lives, jobs and so that Zuckerberg and Google can continue to take over the world one LIKE at a time.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 20

Day 20: Bokeh.
The definition of this is where the object in the front is in focus and the object(s) in the background are out of focus.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Days 18 & 19

Day 19: Something Orange.

Day 18: Your Shoes.

Jeans day at work on Friday, so you get my work shoes along with my jeans.  

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 17

Day 17: Technology.
Are they computers?  Are they phones?  Who really knows.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 16

Day 16: Long Exposure.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 15

Day 15: Silhouette.

This photo always gets me.  I am horrible at it.  Don't judge the bad photo or the fact that I had to tweak it a bit in Photoshop to make the shadow a bit on the dark side.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 14

Day 14: Eyes.

In other news...I broke down and turned my heat on today.  Sad.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Days 12 & 13

So I had a little goof on day 12.  First of all, there wasn't much of a sunset due to the very overcast afternoon.  Second of all, I was at a wedding on the evening of day 12 and wasn't able to go outside  to even see if there was a sunset.  So I had to cheat a bit.  I took day 12 & 13 photos both on day 13. Please forgive me.  :)

Day 12: Sunset.

Day 13: Yourself with 13 Things.

Not the most flattering photo, I admit.  But if you dare to look close, there are 13 mini pretzel rods shoved in my mouth.  Needless to say my lips were pretty dry after having those shoved in there while I tried to capture the winning shot.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 11

Day 11: Something Blue.

For Rory.  No One Fights Alone.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 10

Day 10: Childhood Memory.

I was racking my brain today, trying to think of what I could photograph for today's subject.  I was at a loss.  I happened to go into Target over lunch and what happens to be on display right at the front of the store??...Cereal from my childhood!  And in the vintage packaging to boot.  I swear my grandma always had Count Chocula on hand whenever we slept over.  That and Fruity Pebbles of course.  :)

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 9

Day 9: Someone You Love.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 8

Day 8: A bad habit.

If driving nearly 80 mph in a 65 mph zone while taking a photo isn't a bad habit, I am not sure what is.
Keep in mind that I don't normally take pictures while driving (that is pretty much as dumb as texing in my book), but for this instance, I just had to.  Speeding is a horrible habit that I have.  Thankfully I have yet to get a ticket *knock on wood*.  I'll be sure to let you know if I ever do get one.

Disclaimer: This photo wasn't taken with my Sony -- I broke my own rule.  I forgot my real camera at home and using the camera on my phone was the only way to document this scene.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 7

Day 7: Fruit.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 6

Day 6: From A Low Angle.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 5

Day 5: From A High Angle.

...Country roads, take me home to the place I belong...

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 4

Day 4: Something Green.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 3

Day 3: Clouds.

Wow, once again, for the third year in a row, there was not a cloud to be found on Day 3.  Well, actually technically there were a ton of clouds because it rained all day but it was just one mass of grey sky with no differentiation between the actual "clouds".  So, I give you possibly the most boring photo you'll ever see...the grey "clouds" in the sky today.  Also, can we get the Guinness Book of World Records people in here...I think I just set the record for the most use of the word "clouds" in one paragraph ever.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 2

Day 2: What you wore today.

A glimpse of the outfit I wore to work on Day 2.  Ironically, this is the same outfit I wore in last years Day 1 self-portrait.  I don't think I intentionally planned that.

30 Day Photography Challenge - Day 1

Happy October 1st!  You've obviously been waiting for this day to arrive--I know, I know, me too.
October 1, 2013 turned out to be a really nice day.  So nice that I went on a boat ride and captured my first day challenge.

Day 1: Self Portrait.
Stay tuned...29 more to go!