365 Day Photo Challenge - October 2011

It's looking like I won't have a lot of time to work on my daily photo journal this month, so most of my shooting will probably be done with my Droid or my ELPH 100. I haven't been getting good pics with my Fuji X100 - I can coax a few very nice pictures out of it but most of them are absolute crap. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or something's wrong with the camera. Maybe it just isn't suited for the kind of pictures I like to take. I don't have time to figure it out AND get a picture posted every day so I'm not even going to bother. For now, here's to another month of pictures...

October is my favorite month - the temperature is perfect and the fall colors are great for shooting pictures. The only bad thing is the days are getting shorter. It's pretty much dark when I come to work and by the time I pick up my kid, get him started on his homework, and empty the dishwasher the sun is almost going down. So maybe a lot of pictures this month will be work related... I shot a couple rolls of film through my Holga 120 last month... they won't make it into my 365 project but if they turn out good maybe I'll make a priority of shooting some to post here. Also last month I bought Photo Op: 52 Weekly Ideas for Creative Image-Making which has lots more cool photography ideas and I really hope I get the chance to try some of them. It's a lot more instructional than Photo Idea Index so I won't have to crank up the creativity as much to get them done. As always, hope you enjoy the pictures...

Spent all day Saturday at the new (old) house cleaning up and attempting to have a yard sale - no customers though. Alice and the kids got bored so they decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. This was taken with my Coolpix 4800 right at the edge of usable range with full optical and digital zoom.

Since yesterday's garage was such a colossal failure (not one single customer!!!) I decided to try again today. Wrote a better ad for craigslist, started two ours earlier, and made a whole $11.00! Taken with my Droid phone.

OK - I know this picture's image quality is bad - but I had to share it anyway. What the heck was this guy thinking. In case you can't see it clearly, it's an anti-sway bar on a jacked-up 4x4 with 6(!!!) shock absorbers - for what? He lessened his ground clearance, added weight, maybe even added a small amount of aerodynamic drag. Besides all that, it looks stupid. I guess some people have more money than brains. Also, I really need to clean the windshield on my Buick. You didn't notice that though... Taken with my ELPH 100.

My two boys goofing around by the station wagons. I finally got the younger one (Robert) to get over his camera shyness (it involved begging, pleading, and ultimately bribery). Cloudy today, looks like it might rain tonight. Taken with my Coolpix 4800.

The deal seems to be holding - Robert is still letting me take pictures. Here are my two boys checking out an old game (Starcraft) that Yuan just installed on his computer. Taken with my ELPH 100.

My son Robert's first trip to the dentist - one filling, two teeth pulled, and not even a whimper:) This picture is one of the reasons I love my ELPH 100. I doubt the would have let me in taking pictures with my K200, but with the ELPH 100 I don't even think they knew I was taking pictures...

Skeleton

Another shot of my 64 Valiant. Check out that patina:) It's almost enough to make me want to keep it this way instead of restoring it... Taken with a Fuji X100.

PBX wiring

Going to check out the new (old) house. I love drive over the last hill on Pyramid Highway into Sparks - always an awesome view. Today I was treated to these storm clouds hanging over the mountains south of town. Taken with my Coolpix 4800.

I love collecting model railroad locomotives and I love terminal railroads so this little AHM Docksider is a natural for my collection. Actually, one of the reasons I got into photography was to take pictures of my model railroading so I guess it's about time to post a picture of some of my stuff. I'm hoping to start building my first model railroad soon so hopefully I'll have a lot more to post over the coming year. Taken with my ELPH 100.

When I was a kid I loved eating Pop-Tarts - not just any Pop-Tarts, they had to be Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts. So today I was heading to the cafeteria for lunch, and look what I found in the vending machine... Mmmmm. Taken with my Powershot ELPH 100 set to Super Vivid.

One thing about little point and shoot cameras is you can't experiment with different lenses. Well, almost can't - just finished relaxing with a beer in my Man Cave (aka garage) and decided to see what shooting through my beer mug would look like. Most didn't turn out that great but I like this one. Shot with my ELPH 100 through "beer goggles."

My son loves to play but isn't always thrilled when we make him clean up. It's like "how do you know I did it?" Well, duh... Taken with my ELPH 100.

Done painting!

Looking out the window of our new house. I'm really in love with that little blue house. The yard looks junky in this picture, but since this was taken they have completely re-landscaped and it looks awesome now. Counting our house, there are now 4 homes on our block that are undergoing major upgrades. I love this neighborhood:) Taken with my ELPH 100 set to Super Vivid.

Nothing exciting here, just my pair of work gloves sitting on the counter top. Yawn...

Another non-exciting picture. I really need to get some yard cleanup done...

Sometimes my ELPH 100 gives really surprising results. Usually they suck but once in awhile it doesn't. I was hoping to focus on the flower with this, but the cool thing is the flower is so far out of focus that you can actually see what's behind the flower - too cool!

Some rusty clippers I found when cleaning out my garage. I think my ELPH 100 does a better job with this type of close up shot than the fancy and expensive Fuji X100...

Fall is my favorite season - I like all the colors the leaves turn, I like the tempurature, even the way the sun lights the day just looks better than the other seasons. Super Vivid on my ELPH 100 really makes the colors pop:)