Photo-a-Day 2016: February

Day Thirty Two Reflections 1/7 In an effort to push myself to see things from a different perspective, I decided to give myself weekly assignments, where I will photograph things in a certain theme for seven days. I had decided upon sunrises for this first week of February, but if you saw the sunrise, or lack thereof, this morning (I know, I know, the sun DID come up, but the actual 'sunrise' was not visible due to the clouds), so, to reflect my change in perspective, it will be seven days of reflections. (On a side note, if you have any suggestions for weekly themes, please send them my way! Of course, they have to be fairly broad and general - like, if you want me to take a weeks worth of a bear wearing a little jacket and boots, and riding a pink unicycle with a bunch of balloons, I should definitely be able to get that seven days in a row.)

Day Thirty Three Reflections 2/7

Day Thirty Four Reflections 3/7 "Duckface and reflection"

Day Thirty Five Reflections 4/7 In my photo adventures today, which led me downtown to pick up my accomplice, I was drawn to the 'golden window' building (it's a bank... I think) for the reflections, since it's 'reflection' week. I was so busy trying to get the flag to reflect in as many windows as possible (three, in case you were wondering, but I liked this shot better), that I didn't realize until getting home and throwing the shots on the computer that the flag reflections are backwards - like the flag is blowing the opposite way in the windows... This was the only flag around, and plus, all the flags usually blow in the same direction. Not sure how the optics and reflections played this, but weird for sure.

Day Thirty Six Reflections 5/7 Visited the BioPark today. Saw the Tazmanian Devils out and running around (first time ever for me), and now that I think about it, a proper description for them would be ROUS - they look like a Rodent of Unusal Size. Are they rodents? No, but they still look like small ROUS's. There were many reflections. Some were rather complex, like this where the underwater world of pillars and light beams and sea lions blend with the trees and construction fencing. I like how the shape of the lower pillar is mimicked by the shape of the sea lion, and how the patterns of light seem to join forces with the shadowy trees. There were quite a few strong images from this set today - I will post them soon, but will have to work through a bit of a backlog of editing first... and away!

Day Thirty Seven Reflections 6/7

Day Thirty Eight Reflections 7/7 Today my son asked me, "Are you a mama Buddha?" ... And now I know what I want to be when I grow up.

Day Thirty Nine Mike 1/7

Day Forty Mike 2/7

Day Forty One Mike 3/7 Got your nose!

Day Forty Two Mike 4/7

Day Forty Three Mike 5/7 Listening to the musical selections in the shower at Graft :)

Day Forty Four Mike 6/7

Day Forty Five Mike 7/7

Day Forty Six Shadows 1/7

Day Forty Seven Shadows 2/7 Step stool at sunrise

Day Forty Eight Shadows 3/7

Day Forty Nine Shadows 4/7

Day Fifty Shadows 5/7 Overcast all day, so no shadows outside... playing around with artificial lighting and homemade masks...

Day Fifty One Shadows 6/7 PLENTY of sunshine today! Hence, plenty of shadows :D Hanging over at my sister's house for a moving sale...

Day Fifty Two Shadows 7/7

Day Fifty Three Avian Friends 1/7 So, thus begins the week of bird photos. There were several Starlings visiting the pond out back, so they were featured for today. This photo is not super sharp, because, for some idiotic reason, I decided to shoot at 1/60, handheld with a 500mm lens, so it's kinda surprising I got anything semi-sharp at all... Here's to better results over the next week :)

Day Fifty Four Avian Friends 2/7 Did most of my bird watching indoors today, through the window. I did go outside with the kiddo for a bit, but wasn't too excited about the cold. Due to the snow/rain, we weren't visited by too many birds today. I did see a crow, a robin (which was my runner up for today's photo), some starlings flew overhead, and, of course, our resident sparrows and finches. These doves were preening after the snow, and were framed nicely by the tree branches.

Day Fifty Five Avian Friends 3/7 Went down to the Bosque del Apache this morning. Arrived at sunrise. So beautiful - one of those moments when "Land of Enchantment" is perfectly fitting. Not too many birds there now, most had gone north already, but the environment was spectacular, and we got to see the last of the winter visitors... See more photos here: http://www.radiantmoonchild.com/e-journal/land-of-enchantment-bosque-del-apache

Day Fifty Six Avian Friends 4/7 House Finch - we have a whole group of them who live in a trumpet vine in the back yard. They can be quite noisy and violent with each other, but they are always there for photos... especially helpful when most of the other birds are not visiting.

Day Fifty Seven Avian Friends 5/7

Day Fifty Eight Avian Friends 6/7

Day Fifty Nine Avian Friends 7/7 Tiny yellow finch (?) preens after bath

**Note: I decided to include Feb. 29th with next month's posting, as it is the beginning of the 7-of series, Macro. :)