Weekly Header Challenge - Photo to Portray a Film

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 ~ Photo to Portray a Film

Chosen by Mac.

Well, isn't this week's theme fun?  Although we do watch our share of movies, I'm always stumped to name them.  So I had Fernando shout out some classic or favorite movies, and I tried to see if I could come up with a photo to portray what he shouted out.  Since my header shot is a recent one, I figured I'd use that one.  Here it is in full, with its movie title:

Field of Dreams

starring Kevin Costner

July 2 -- Sox win!!

Here are some more I came up with...

Apollo 13

starring Tom Hanks

This is the actual Apollo 13 module!

Waterworld

starring Kevin Costner

Gone with the Wind

starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh

Fernando's grill after a bad thunderstorm.

Heat

starring Al Pacino

Pickled jalapenos -- canned in my kitchen.

And, one more suggested by my husband, the movie buff:

Bad Boys

starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence

Guys looking tough--the H. Family guys and my guys.  :)

Hope you enjoy these!  I can't wait to see your creativity!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Bird

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 ~ Bird

Chosen by Craver.

Since I kept thinking Monday was Thursday, and Tuesday was Wednesday, suffice it to say I have no idea what day it is!  Other than--it is Header Challenge Day!  And I'm late posting!!  Here are my images of birds, all of which I took on my week-long surprise trip to the Adirondacks in upstate New York.

Seagull, Winter (Military) Bay, Lake Bonaparte.

Eagles nesting on beacon, 1000 Islands, Alexandria Bay, New York.

Seagull at Boldt Castle, Heart Island, St. Lawrence River.

This is a series of cormorants I spied as I was trying to shoot some kids tubing on the lake.

Turkey vulture at Winter Bay, Lake Bonaparte.

My favorite bird on the lake, the loon, was elusive the whole time I was up there.  On the last day, we were out on the boat and I spotted him.  I didn't have time to switch lenses, so I used my 55-104mm f/4L and zoomed in as close as I could, then cropped a bit too.

Thanks, and sorry I'm late this week!  Off to visit your blogs!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Carnival

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 ~ Carnival

Chosen by Lew.

I do not have any pictures from a carnival.  I haven't been to a carnival in years and years.  :/

So, this will have to suffice.  Last week, our city's weekly farmers market became a festival!  The usual farmers market expanded to include all sorts of booths, many representing local restaurants, and it became, officially:

Taste of Bolingbrook

Yes, it wants to be Taste of Chicago--that famous food festival drawing tens of thousands.  But this isn't too shabby, drawing upwards of 30,000 people.  Or at least that's what I heard the estimates to be.  For the weekly farmers market, they normally close off two blocks in this open-air Promenade; for this special festival, they made the top and bottom of the letter "I" with the extra booths.

Here is the full image of my header, which pretty much sums it up at either end of the street:

No rides, no hoopla, just a fun time with Fernando and our youngest, Thomas.  Enjoy the pics!

Famous Daves' free food!

I spotted my neighbor at the cupcake stand!

I had to take several pic's at this booth -- Cali Girl Cupcakes.  (The brownie was incredible.)

My favorite produce booth.

More food.

Mongo and I!!  (He's from BD's Mongolian BBQ, a great restaurant.)

Although it's not a carnival, we had just as much fun!  And we went home with some fresh produce and a few treats as a splurge.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Chaos

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 ~ Chaos

Chosen by me.

So, this week's theme popped into my head, and without a second thought I officially sent it out to our Headbanger group.  Wellll, then I started looking for images.  That was a bit tougher than I realized it would be!  Here are my images for this week's theme.  First, the header, full-size version:

Yes, the motion blur is deliberate.  Settings:  ISO 200, f/6.3, 2-second shutter speed.  I took this image for a photography class, where the weekly lesson was about motion blur.  I had the camera on a tripod so that things would be in focus, and the only blurred objects would be those in motion.  We had friends over, and several of the guys were playing a complicated board game (Settlers of Catan, an awesomely fun game!).  It was pretty messy.  In the midst of that, little Emma came wandering into the frame with my purse slung over her shoulder.  I got the effect I was after--lots of things going on in the image, with the blur showing all the movement, and thus creating the effect of action.  I like the slightly chaotic feel to it.

On to some other images.  When we moved our computer hutch from the family room into the front living room, I snagged a photo of the hodge-podge of wires underneath the desk:

It's pretty scary to me when Danny and Thomas decide to take the computer tower completely apart and clean it out.  What if they don't get everything back to where it's supposed to go??  Look at all those little pieces of real important stuff!!  Aaaggghhh!  However, since you're reading this, you know that the re-assembly was successful.  They're geeks, after all.

Our garage is definitely chaotic, and has been cleaned up since the taking of the below picture.  ;)

I hesitated to show you all the "chaos" in my house from time to time, because, well, messy stuff is rather embarrassing.  So I also included the "after" images, where everything was cleaned up and put back, and is even neater and more organized than before!

The contents of my mud room pantry.

An organized and pretty pantry!

Here's our basement; the food storage area is called our Bomb Shelter.  I don't have a good "after" picture, so you'll have to trust me that it's all neat and tidy.  That's why I take these before pictures, y'know.

The boys' bathroom--a very scary place.

Ahhh, neat and clean...for about an hour.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Water

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 ~ Water

Chosen by Mac.

What a great theme for the middle of summer!  I have a large pool of images to choose from.  (Pardon that pun.)

Here's my header, in full image form:

One afternoon on Winter Bay, on Lake Bonaparte (NY, Adirondacks), these boys were waterskiing.  Of course I had my camera with me.  I have never in my life even attempted this sport, but it is sure fun to photograph!  A few frames later:

Wipeout!

Here are some more water images to cool you off this summer.

Fountains are great sources of water images.

Ducks like to swim and play in it.

Dogs love the water, too.

Of course, people love the water in summertime!

I love the water, too, especially at sunset, on the dock at Lake Bonaparte.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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