Wordless Wednesday

11/9/11 First Snow
(as seen from my office window)

Foto Friday

Hyde's Mill

I purchased my first DSLR late in July this year knowing that I had a handful of photoworthy trips and events happening in the coming months. For the first few weeks I brought that camera EVERYWHERE I went and took pictures of EVERYTHING. I was starting to get the hang of the basics. And then work ramped up, and my free time became virtually non-existent, and my camera sat for weeks on end safely tucked in it's bag.

I had a little time while in Kona for work to play with the camera again. Much time was spent working hard to capture sunsets, ocean views, and athletes in motion. I stumbled upon some great photos, but genrally came back feeling frustrated at my inability to use my expensive new toy to the fullest of it's capabilities. I also came back wanting like 3 new lens, a flash, and a new camera bag, but that's a while other story...

On Saturday 10/22/11 I headed out to Hyde's Mill with a local photog group. This was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone as this was a group of all new people, I was going alone, and I was feeling RUSTY with my relatively new Nikon 3100. The group was, for the most part, super friendly, and many of them were in my shoes not so long ago. There were a few pro's in the group, but mainly there were just there to answer questions and give pointers. I've never been shy at asking questions, so I took full advantage of picking their brains.

A pro I'm not, but here a few of my favorites from my afternoon at Hyde's Mill in Ridgeway, WI.

A shot of the original water-powered mill in Iowa County. This was a test in difficult lighting (direct sunlight, none the less), framing a photo, and capturing moving water. No easy task as I learned that when I adjusted for one condition, say moving water, I had to then compensate for the other condition, direct sunlight. Definitely a learning experience!!

Close up shot of the original mill wheels, once powered by the water wheel. This was me playing with macro, sans a proper macro lens. It was also a test of my limited DSLR knowledge and how to focus on the near, and soften the far.

If you were paying attention of your surroundings while on your way to Hyde's Mill, you would have noticed a quaint church on your right as your turned onto Mill Road. I, however, did not. This was taken from 1/2m away, up the hill, on Mill Rd. I toyed with bringing the distance into focus while letting the foreground soften and merely frame. I also had the epiphany of, duh, using manual focus to force the camera to take the shot.

Behind Hyde Church was a quaint cemetery, mainly filled with headstones and monuments dating from the early to mid 1800's. This is another attempt at macro work, sans proper macro lens. The sharpness of the photo is lacking, but I still love the color of the interesting moss, and the softness of the background.

All of my photos can be found on my flickr site....just click on the widget on the left to take a peek.

Three Things Thursday

Thailand Edition

1. For better or worse, come hell or high water (too soon...?), our airfare has bee purchased. We waited too long to nab the best of deals, but came in under our max, which is promising. On Thanksgiving day we start the 23hr trip to Bangkok....and don't head back to the good ol' US of A until December 13 (19 whole days!!!).

1 1/2. If you all note in your calendars to make sure we make it back on December 14th that would be excellent. Check the blog, stalk me on Twitter, peruse my facepage, shoot me a text, or perhaps stop by (if you're in the area), just please make sure we're alive and on US soil. If not, please contact the US Embassy.

2. Now that the tickets are purchased, I'm actually getting, um, nervous. All this time I've been cavalier and bold. I've talked the game of a season traveler, of an adventure seeker. But now that the proverbial ball is in motion I'm wondering what I've gotten us into.

I've wanted this to be a low-budget, backpacking adventure, with maybe a touch of luxury along the way. I wanted to arrive in Bangkok with little more than our backpacks, a fistful of Bahts, and nothing but time. Sure we'd have a checklist of things to see and our dog-eared LonelyPlanet guidebooks to help us get there, but other that it was a game of wait and see.

But now I'm wondering if this fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants plan is really such a good idea....

3. Then there's all the unknowns. Like, can I find vegetarian food? Will anyone understand us? Will the flood waters be down? Or, will we be able to find potable water? What if one of us get sick? What if, what if, what if.... But isn't all these what if's and unknowns that make it an adventure?

November 1st

Not to state the obvious here, but today is November 1st. November is busy month in my world. Many, many birthdays (including my own!), Thanksgiving, the Saris Gala, an abundance of loose ends to tie up at work...before our trip to Thailand, typically the first snowfall, and so on.

But what November 1st signifies to me this year, on this day, is the start of my pre-training plan training.

It's no secret that my fitness level is way, way down. It's actually been on the decline since July 2009. As of late though it's taken a even bigger hit. I can probably count on one hand how many runs I've taken in the past two months, all of which have been miserable might I add. Starting a training plan 3 weeks prior to leaving the country for almost 3 weeks seems silly, but to wait until after our trip is like putting all of eggs in the proverbial basket. Instead, I had hoped to start ramping up my fitness level over the next few weeks so that it won't be as much of a shock to the system when we get home. In December.

But instead, I am coughing, and sneezing and sniffling here at my desk. I am eating some questionable Chinese takeout, the spiciest item on the menu just hoping to be able to taste something, and staring out the window. Staring at the 60 degree day. Staring at the sunshine. Staring at my coworkers coming and going from the lunchtime runs and rides. I ambitiously packed my running gear just in case I felt up to a lunchtime run...but it never made it out of my car.

So here it is, November 1st, the start of my training, the month I turn 30....and here I sit.