Sunset on the Road

Jeff and I headed to St. Louis to see his family for Thanksgiving and on the way down I took these photos of the sunset. I love my camera for these kind of shots.

Of course I couldn't get photos without the dirt on the windows (above fuzziness)

The windshield wipers making an appearance.

But you can see how lovely the colors were.

No Service

Two weeks ago Jeff and I drove towards northeast Iowa for an evening (you'll see more pictures from that trip). We had no real plans, just a hotel in Davenport that night. As we were heading out we passed through the town of Grundy Center and Jeff decided to drive around the main square. There was a nice county building in the middle of the square and some shops. We were about to head back onto the road when we turned one of the corners we noticed an abandoned church that demanded more attention. It was slowly being reclaimed by vines and the effect was fascinating. We stopped and walked over to take pictures. I would have taken more but there was a dog barking on the other corner the entire time we were there. I just love the look of the ivy and the general rundown state of what was once a very lovely building (although the Weber grill is a bit confusing).

Halloween

The Cardinals were playing the series at the time. Jeff slaved over that one. 

In October, one of our good friends came down from Minneapolis and stayed with us for a couple days. Since it was right before Halloween we decided to carve pumpkins one night. Jeff and I had bought a few to carve and it was a great night. I roasted the seeds (which didn't last two days) and we had jack o'lanterns on the porch for a couple days. The first night we went out with candles and lit them up and took pictures. I love how the camera takes dark shots. The ones above are both Jeff's pumpkins. The ones below were Josh and mine.

 Left to right: Cooperative, Josh's, mine

Rainy Day

It's November and it's raining. I woke up to rain and fog and lovely 50 degree weather. A rare treat this late in the fall. I love rainy days. I feel more energized on rainy days. I get more done. I'm sitting writing right now but I thought I'd actually post a picture since I promised to post one daily. Oops. I have to learn not to make these kind of promises.

This is from a trip that Jeff and I were taking up to Minneapolis this summer. The storm clouds up ahead were impressive and a bit intimidating. But we kept driving anyway. By the time we got up there, it was just the tail end of the rain. But I snapped some pictures of the rather scary clouds.

Misty

This is my favorite picture of my kitty, Misty. I've taken well over a hundred photos of our spoiled kitty but this one is probably the cutest. I love the light and the look on her face. As she gets older I realize how wonderful it is to have photos and videos of her.

In the Spirit of Fairness

To be completely fair and honest, I wanted to show you the difference that the Super Vivid setting on my  camera has on the pictures I take. Here are two pictures, of the exact same tree, taken seconds after each other. The first one has super vivid, which should be apparent.

The one below does not. Now I'll admit that the one above looks more like what I was seeing that day in the bright sun. It is closer to the colors. Which might explain why I took so many pictures that day. All my pictures tend to be dulled just a bit from true color. But this has been the case with every camera I've ever owned. Either way, fake or real, that super vivid is a really cool feature for photos of the fall colors.

Daily Shots

Last November I got a camera for my birthday and wrote about it here. Over the last year the camera has become a regular companion for me. On the weekends I tend to grab it before I leave the house most days. It's light, fits in my pocket, and takes the kind of photos that I always wished I could take. I'm a little in love with it.

And I want to share some of my photos with you. In an attempt to make sure I post a bit more, and to show off some of the beautiful things this camera can do, I'll be posting a picture everyday. We'll see how long this lasts but I love the idea. This will push me to post and push me to get outside to take even more pictures. Win-win, in my book.

So here is my first picture. It was taken with the Super Vivid setting on my camera so the colors are a tad more intense than they would be with other cameras. But this is much closer to what I was seeing that day. It was one of the more glorious days we've had. This was taken right outside the Iowa Arboretum in Boone County. You'll see more pictures from that trip. I took well over 60 in the arboretum alone.