Weekly Header Challenge -- Signs of Fall

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Signs of Fall

Chosen by Lew.

I love this week's theme.  Then again, that was easy, since I love all things autumn, and I tend to break out my camera and go exploring in a big burst before the really cold weather hits us here in Chicagoland.

Here is the full image of my header:

Red leaves, McDowell Grove, Naperville, Illinois.

Fernando and I went for a walk at a local forest preserve.  I hadn't been there in ages, and although there wasn't a lot of color because most of the scenery is scrub trees and "natural" vegetation, there were pops here and there.

Here are more signs that it's fall.

Brown, crinkly leaves...

More opportunities to warm up the house with baking...

Pops of color along the river...

A harvest moon...

Autumn colors on the prairie...

Ladybugs congregating on our south/west windows...

And my favorite image, which I see every day for just a week or so through my kitchen window.

Jacob's tree.

This is a very special tree.  My dad gave us this little stick of a tree for Arbor Day the year Jacob was born.  We put a little plastic fence around it--actually, there were two trees but one kept getting mown over by the lawnmower!--and it grew two or three feet tall.  Then we moved, and we took the tree with us.  But, we moved to an apartment while we waited for a house to be built (or not--long story), so my parents transplanted the tree into their back yard.

We ultimately moved into our current house, and that autumn had my dad re-transplant the tree into our very own back yard.  It's a small tree for 23 years of age, but it has always been called Jacob's tree, and for a mere handful of days in autumn, it is a beautiful reminder of the glory of autumn, and of God's faithfulness to us in our family's journey together.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - What's Up There in the Sky?

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ What's Up There in the Sky?

I almost forgot to post this week--argh!  Travel--especially when you get home at 3am and collapse into bed--messes with my head.  I keep thinking today is Monday...

You get the benefit of fewer words, and mostly pictures.  ;)

Here they are:

My header, which is the moon over my parents' lake house in the Adirondacks of upstate New York:

ISO 100, 17-85mm at 17mm, f/14, 30-second exposure (counted in my head)

More of the moon, way up there in the sky:

ISO 100, 70-300mm at 300mm, f/5.6, 1/800 second

The Florida moon, along with a few asteroid trails!!

ISO 100, 17-85mm, f/8 64-second exposure (again, counted in my head)

Below is the moon, along with Jupiter and Venus (Craver inspired this one):

February 27, 2012

ISO 100, 17-85mm at 17mm, f/22, 53-second exposure

Captured an airplane just to the left of the steeple below.

An annual airshow at the local airport, half a mile from home.  These below shots were taken from my back yard.

Way up there in the sky, for the last time, went the Space Shuttle Endeavor!  We were lucky enough to experience the launch (about 50 or so miles away) when it was delayed almost two weeks, and our vacation with friends began!

Fireworks are up there, too, especially if you're sitting really close to the launch site.  Two of my favorites from last year's Independence Day celebration:

ISO 100, 17-85mm at 17mm, f/8, 4-second exposure

This little guy thought he was way up there in the sky, too!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- WEEK 9 -- 2/26-3/3

Project 2012 -- Week 9

February 26 - March 3

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Read the Project 2012 guidelines.
2.  Take and choose pictures--from one to seven--and create a blog post with them.
3.  Copy the code below to place this button in your blog post:

<center> <a title="Project 2012" href="http://christineannephoto.blogspot.com/p/project-2012.html" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://i765.photobucket.com/albums/xx297/heritagemom12/01%20Blog/Proj2012_blogbutton.jpg" /></a></center>

4.  Fill out the little form below.
5.  Insert the URL of your blog post (not the main URL of your blog).
6.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 9 Photos

I've decided that instead of a separate link for the linky page and for my own photos, I would combine the two posts into just one.  The links will always be at the top, so you can readily see them and visit others' blogs.  Okay, here we go...

A friend posted a picture on Facebook from the evening before, and that inspired me to go out and capture a similar scene.  Jupiter and Saturn were both visible to the naked eye!  I experimented with shutter speed, since a longer one creates blur (since the earth rotates), and a shorter one won't capture the light from the planets.  I chose the below with a 53-second shutter speed.

[57] Moon, Jupiter, Venus

I noticed that the above and below images have my new copyright watermark on them.  They should've been changed to my normal proofing watermark, but oh well.  After a cold evening shooting the planets, it was back indoors to shoot some food.  :)

[58] National Pancake Day

[59] Cinnamon rolls

For Leap Day, I wanted to capture some jumping.  Thomas was extremely happy to oblige.  We started in the kitchen with him jumping straight up.  Nothing spectacular, but except for his shirt, it looks like he's floating!

[60] Floating in the kitchen

Then we ran to the cloudy and drab outdoors to capture some more spectacular shots.  Click here to see the whole jump sequence.  Yes, that is our patio table.  Yes, it is glass.  (Fernando told me we were crazy to try that; I hadn't even thought about it at the time!)

[61] Happy Leap Day!

We had thunder, lightning, and hail on Friday!  It was the first storm of the year.

[62] March hail

I love the below close-up of the hail, which was pea-sized.  There's nothing exciting about the shot, but I managed to capture a splash to the left of center.  I thought that was pretty cool.

[63] Hail on the stoop

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Treasures on a Winter Walk

On another one of my winter walks--while Fernando was in therapy--I was excited to capture more of the Lord's beauty in this season of cold and stark.  His beauty is all around; sometimes I just have to deliberately stop, take a breath, and look around.  Ellie helped me capture yet more proof of His love in the beauty we saw around us.  Come walk with me!  (All Scriptures are taken from the NASB.)

You will make known to me the path of life.

Psalm 16:11a

They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house;

And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.

Psalm 36:8

He changes a wilderness into a pool of water

And a dry land into springs of water.

Psalm 107:35

You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;

You greatly enrich it;

The stream of God is full of water.

Psalm 65:9a

Behold, I will do something new,

Now it will spring forth;

Will you not be aware of it?

I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.

Isaiah 43:19

But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen,

where My people are living,

so that no swarms of insects will be there,

in order that you may know that I, the LORD,

am in the midst of the land.

Exodus 8:22

Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy

Before the LORD, for He is coming,

For He is coming to judge the earth.

Psalm 96:12b-13a

His shoots will sprout,

And his beauty will be like the olive tree

And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

Hosea 14:6

He is before all things,

and in Him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:17

Behold, A king will reign righteously

And princes will rule justly.

Each will be like a refuge from the wind

And a shelter from the storm,

Like streams of water in a dry country,

Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

Isaiah 32:1-2

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

Psalm 46:4

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;

What is man that You take thought of him,

And the son of man that You care for him?

Psalm 8:3-4

Day to day pours forth speech,

And night to night reveals knowledge.

Psalm 19:2

The heavens are telling of the glory of God;

And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Psalm 19:1

The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;

The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;

The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;

The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week One

Project 2012

Week 1 -- January 1 - January 8

It is Week One in this special year-long photography project!

Instead of the goal being to take (and post) a picture every day, my goal is to use my camera, Ellie, as frequently as possible throughout each week, and to post my (up to) seven favorite images here on my blog.  Some of these images may be from my professional shoots; most will be from everyday life.  Plus, my "favorite" does not necessarily mean an image that can be enlarged and put on a canvas (though I hope to have a few of those!).  Some of my favorite images are of my own family, or my ordinary/simple life at home, whether cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry; or nature walks, tea parties, and vacation time.

I plan on posting seven images each week, with Week 52 containing nine images for those extra two days at the end.  Here are my favorites:

Putting all the Christmas decorations away...  You can read about my ornament organization here on my family blog.

[1] Boxing up Christmas

I had to submit a photo of my husband and me for a workshop we'll be presenting at our state homeschool convention.  I used my 50mm portrait lens and a tripod, with the camera set on the 10-second timer.  I composed a shot, pressed the shutter, ran around and posed myself!  After about 40 minutes and 10 shots, I was done (my husband was very accommodating!).  I ended up choosing one of the first shots I took, too!

[2] Self portrait

I visited a dear friend last week, and her lovely daughter put together a beautiful luncheon for the three of us.  Read about it here.

[3] Luncheon muffins

A nature walk at the Naperville Riverwalk yielded some great shots.  It was so nice to have mild weather in January!  The rest of my images below are from my walk.

[4] Tree-lined path

[5] Grass on tree stump

[6] Moon through the branches

[7] Glorious sunset

Thanks for leaving an encouraging comment!  I look forward to seeing your images throughout the year!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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