Run For Your Camera

The other morning I was walking back from campus after taking a final, and saw something similar to the image above. The sun had recently peaked over the mountains, was backlighting the clouds, and rimming the edge of the mountain. Moments like that don't last long, so as soon as I got to my apartment I grabbed my camera and ran over toward Kiwanis Park to get a clear shot of the mountain. By the time I got there the moment was gone, but it was still picturesque as you can see above.

Sometimes it's nice not to have a camera at my side, because I can't get anywhere fast with one. I always want to capture those moments I see and share them. Often it's better to enjoy what's there for a moment and gone the next, rather than missing the joy of the moment because I was caught up trying to preserve what was always meant to be transitory.

And just for fun here's a picture that I've posted before, but with a couple of filters added to it.

The Collision of Man and Nature

About a year and a half ago I took the picture above (It's actually a combination of two different exposures). I used it in an art show and titled it "Please Recycle." The title had a little bit to do with the framing as well, because I made the frame from cardboard. But this picture gave me an idea for an art show that I'd like to have some day. You see, the blades of grass in the picture are actually growing out of a gravel pit in what I would call an industrial area. So what intrigues me the most about this picture is the collision and coexistence of man and nature; or the combination of man-made-inorganic-material and organic life. Since then when I see some subject that seems to fit within this idea, I've just got to take a picture of it. Well my collection of images for this future art show is growing, and below are a few more that I took this afternoon.

Photos on the Fly

So I took a handful of photos in between classes this afternoon. Here are a couple of them...

Let It Snow!

Isn't snow beautiful! When it's snowing it doesn't feel so cold, but then the sky clears up the air starts to freeze. The only good thing about a freezing clear sky is that it makes for great pictures. Here are a few from today:I didn't have any finals. What else was I supposed to do?

Done and Done

Finals are finally here - I mean - finally over. I finished all my tests and projects last week, and today I plowed ahead and eliminated my last paper. Done and done. Now all I have to do is waltz into a final on Wednesday afternoon, turn in a paper and I'll be free. I've never been done with all my finals so soon. And now that I'm looking back on this semester I realize that it's actually been a lot of fun. Never too stressful (well, it had its moments), but plenty of fun times to balance the work load. The best decision of the semester was probably going to folk dance tryouts the first week. The other great decision of the semester was to sign up for bowling. Between folk dance and bowling I was required to have fun in the middle of the day Monday through Friday. My attendance was perfect.

We moved into a new ward this semester and I am happy to report that the new ward is awesome! Besides the apartment needing some minor repairs here and there, and my car getting dinged while it was parked on the street, this semester on condo row has been superb.

The other bit of exciting news is that I finally got my new digital SLR. I got a Pentax K200D. It's a great camera and it's compatible with all my old lenses. I haven't had much time to play with it just yet, but here's a sneak peek at it's coolness with some pictures I took today.