San Antonio's Riverwalk Through the Lensbaby Sweet 50

I spent 5 days this month in San Antonio at Click Away 2015.  This was a photography conference put on by Clickin Moms photography forum.  One of the photowalks I took was exploring different types of creative focus, including the use of Lensbabies.

I have the Composer Pro with the Sweet 35 and Sweet 50 optics.  These optics give a circular area of focus radiating into a blut.  You can control the area of focus through tilting the lens and the aperture setting.

I've taken one class at Clickin Moms, led by Caroline Jensen.  And then I took this boutique session at Click Away.  I haven't completely gotten the hang of the Lensbaby yet so I've joined a monthly blog circle.  This is my first post for this circle.

Here are some of the photos that I took along the Riverwalk.

This is my first attempt with the macro tubes with the Lensbaby.

The star lights in the Marriott Rivercenter lobby.  I deliberately blew out the windows in the sky because I liked the reverse effect of light sky and darker stars.

Underneath the Commerce Street bridge at the Rivercenter.

Traffic jam, Riverwalk style

Enjoying the evening

Loved all the bright umbrellas along the Riverwalk

Gothic skyscraper

Aztec Theater

More bright umbrellas.

If you enjoyed what I have to show this month, please check out Kaela Elliott's blog.

November Blog Circle - Dramatic Light

Blog Challenge - Humanizing a Nonhuman

When I was taking Shooting 101, the Best Darn Beginner's Course Ever, from ClickinMoms, I needed a subject for my class assignments.  I don't have kids, the dogs don't always follow directions and Mark just gives me that look.

I have a plastic, pose-able giraffe that I got from a vendor at work.  I've named the giraffe George and my Facebook support group loves when he makes an appearance.  Well, George has made a couple of appearances this month.

George, admiring himself in the mirror

Then this past weekend, George went with me on the ClickinWalk photowalk.

But I just can't trust George to behave himself.  This was at dinner after the photowalk.

What's a person to do? (sigh)

If you have enjoyed seeing George, check out to see what Janecke has up her sleeve.

Monthly Blog Circle - Motion Blur

This month's blog circle theme is motion blur.  If it was in October, it would be easy - shooting airplanes taking off and landing at the airshow.  But I'm posting something just a little slower - actually 2 posts.  I took one in July but I figured it was close enough to count and the other I really did take in August.

In July, my mother and I took the Agawa Canyon excursion train ride in Ontario.  It leaves out from Sault Ste Marie, ON and travels into the rugged Ontario backcountry.  We saw some really beautiful scenery.  And as I was trying to take photos from the moving train, I would wait until we didn't have trees close to the track to blur in the photos.  Then I got to thinking what would it look like to try and capture the blurring trains.   Well, I had a bunch of outtakes but this one I really kind of liked.

In August, we took the ferry across to Bolivar Peninsula.  A flight of pelicans flew across along side the ferry.  This is actually a crop of the photo I originally shot, isolating one of three pelicans.  And you can see that I was actually panning to take the shot.  It's not much of a blur because of the pelican's speed in relation to the ferry - but it works.

I hope you enjoy.  And for more motion blur, please visit Andrea's site.

August Photo Blog Circle Challenge - Smartphone Photos

This month's theme for the Photo Blog Circle Challenge is "smartphone photos".  In June, I ran out of battery on my DSLR so used my phone to continue taking photos at the Slay Family Reunion.  This is a picture of an absolutely gorgeous breakfast sandwich that my cousin ordered.  It's not a great photo but it's the memory that counts in this case.

For more smartphone photos, continue with Andrea's blog.

Monthly Photo Challenge - Beautiful Ugly

The challenge for this month was to capture the beautiful ugly.  I know there are going to be macros of insects and other ways to take ugly objects and make them beautiful through the photo capture.  For me, my ugly is The Beast - cancer.  It has taken 2 of my immediate family, greatly impacted the health of my mom and is winning the battle with my uncle.  I've also lost 2 of my grandparents, another uncle and have an aunt who is also a survivor.  Yes, it's an ugly beast.

In early May, I saw the beauty behind this beast - several hundred people coming together through a local American Cancer Society Relay for Life.  For those not familiar with Relay for Life, it's held at a track or other venue that's conducive to walking laps.  Team members walk - some teams actually have true relays.  Each team is supposed to have at least one person walking all the time.  It goes from 7 in the evening to 7 the next morning, 12 hours.  And the teams all find unique ways to raise money for the ACS.  My company location had a team and our team sold pulled pork sandwiches and baked goods.

A big part of the Relay for Life fundraising is the purchase for luminaria in honor or memory of loved ones impacted by cancer.

These are just some of my family and friends that have had to fight The Beast.

There is something moving about seeing all the luminaria and hearing the roll calls or the other ways that family and friends that have fought The Beast are honored.  It makes me cry every single time I participate.

For more views on making ugly beautiful, please check Tabitha's post.

Monthly Photography Challenge - Looking Through the Glass

The monthly challenge for May was "Looking Through the Glass".  I hoped to get 5 images this month but got 3.  Hey, it's 2 more than last month.

For my first photo, I shot through the windshield on a rainy morning after I pulled into the parking lot at work.  I thought the lights through the rain drops looked really neat.

The next one was my old man dog, Oscar, through the side view mirror.  I was out looking for Texas Bluebonnets and driving down this country road when I happened to glance in the mirror and saw Oscar thoroughly enjoying the spring day.  I had the towing mirrors on because I was camping in my trailer this weekend.

The final picture this month was taken while camping this past weekend (it's been great camping weather this month!!!) and took a photo of my favorite subject, George the Giraffe.  He's my favorite because he usually stays still while I take his photo, always has a smile and doesn't talk back!

All photos this month are straight out of the camera.

I hope you enjoyed these.  And for more fantastic "through the glass" photos, check out Heidi's blog.