Addie has been feeling a bit left out since Sheila entered my life. Not only did it turn out that a storage spot became available for Addie soon after I adopted Sheila, but also I’ve taken Addie only on a few short excursions since my west coast trip last summer.
Today, Sheila and I hopped into Addie and drove up to Moonstone Beach in Cambria, exercising Addie’s generator along the way.
These are a few images I know we all enjoyed!
Primarily using the prompts from expertphotography.com, I captured images using mainly my camera and sometimes my phone or tablet. For the first month of this year-long project, I found some of the prompts challenging (“Feathers” on a cloudy windy day), some sweet (“Cuddle Toy” with Emmett’s very very important stuffies), and some fun (“Made Me Smile” with Sheila). A few times, I asked permission of the subject (“Coffee“) before taking the photo. Other times, the subject realized that I was taking a photo and played along (“Leading Lines“). Now and then, I would take only one photo and use that; other days, I would capture multiple images and select one to post. Although I took the posted photo on the assigned date, there were some days I would take it at the start of the day and other days when I would wait until the very end of the day. Only a couple of times did I delay posting that day’s photo until the next day or so.
What have I learned so far?
1) This challenge will be a challenge! We’ll see if I make it through all 366 days of 2024!
2) Focusing on my photography gratifies me. It’s fun to think about each day’s prompt and how I can capture my interpretation of the prompt.
3) Camera lens choice helps create the image I have in my mind. With three lenses, selecting the right lens is key.
4) I enjoy developing photos in Lightroom and want to get better at editing. Of course, the better my initial photos, the less editing is needed.
January 1: Resolution
January 2: Excitement
January 3: Macro
January 4: Breakfast
January 5: Sky
January 6: Free
January 7: Cuddle Toy
January 8: Chaos
January 9: Cat
January 10: Made Me Smile (Sheila with the “toy zoomies” and wanting me to toss her toy during yoga savasana)
January 11: Food
January 12: Shopping
January 13: Close
January 14: Home
January 15: Landscape
January 16: Fire
January 17: Boots (“These Boots are Made for Walking“)
January 18: Technology
January 19: Stars
January 20: Coffee
January 21: Homemade
January 22: White
January 23: Fish
January 24: Shallow Depth of Field
January 25: J is for…
January 26: Leading Lines
January 27: Crisp
January 28: Lunch
January 29: Pickle
January 30: Letters
January 31: Feathers
The only way to get better at something is to practice, practice, practice.
I love photography. AND I want to get better at it.
From one of my FujiFilm photography groups, I learned about the 365 Photo Challenge (366 this year due to Leap Day!). Every day, I will attempt to post a photo based, when possible, on a prompt from expertphotography.com. (This is supposed to be fun! If I miss a day and make up for it later, so be it!)
My vision is to break up the year into the months and post the prompt and photo for that day.
On with the challenge!!!
Note: To read my reflections after completing this challenge, click here.
A few days ago, I returned from a FABULOUS trip to one of my favorite cities to visit with family and friends while seeing Fall foliage!
Although my trip to New York started ominously with an unexpected overnight stay in Dallas due to thunderstorms and a canceled flight, everything else was FANTASTIC.
I spent meaningful time with wonderful friends and family, saw gorgeous Fall foliage and beautiful flora, enjoyed Hadestown on Broadway, wandered through museums, gardens, and Central Park, ate lots of ice cream, drank several Manhattans, and played with photography.
Instead of creating a day-by-day blog, I decided to group my posts and photos into these categories. ❤️
Visiting friends and family is one of the biggest reasons I love New York. Although I took many photos of friends and family, I’m choosing not to post those photos. Instead, I’ve sent what I feel are the best of those photos to the people themselves.
Here, though, are a few photos others have taken of me!
There’s nothing like a good Manhattan! Not only the borough of New York City but also the beverage!
At several Elks Lodges across the country, I’ve ordered a Manhattan. Some have been pretty good, some not so good. Sometimes the bartender has needed a lesson in how to make the drink (“I’m a beertender, not a bartender.”). Other times, the drinks have been expertly crafted.
While in Manhattan, I decided to drink Manhattans – and review each drink and experience. 🙂
My first Manhattan was at Tessa Restaurant. I went there on my first Friday in NY. Given I was solo during the Friday dinner rush, I had to sit at the bar rather than a table. Two of the three people (all friends) sitting next to me were second year med students and their friend, who the day before broke his wrist biking in Central Park, is a second year law student. The drink itself was really good! Not too sweet and very tasty.
A few nights later, I went to Harvest Kitchen, where the food was excellent but the Manhattan was a bit boring. I learned, too, that I prefer a straight up Manhattan rather than on the rocks. My server was a young man from Albania who had been in NY for less than a month. He was on Maui for two years and lost everything to the wildfire. He came to NY to replace his identification, visa, etc, and is working at the restaurant to support himself while in NY.
On Halloween, I chose NOT to watch the parade in Greenwich Village. Although I used to like crowds, I now prefer to avoid them due to COVID and other germs – and the risk of terrorism.
Instead, I walked to Broadway, enjoying the many kids in costumes trick-or-treating at the local businesses. That evening before seeing the excellent show, Hadestown, I went across the street for a bite and a Manhattan at Hurley’s Irish Pub. I had quite the multi-cultural experience! Mediterranean food (hummus) and an American beverage in an Irish pub! The drink tasted good and didn’t feel very strong…until it did! Manhattans tend to hit about 20 minutes after I finish the last sip. I know NOT to order that second drink.
The daughters of one of my best friends now live and work in NYC. With their busy work and school schedules, the best time for us to get together was for happy hour. At The Horny Ram, I got to not only catch up on their fabulous lives but also have another Manhattan! This beverage was not my favorite. Although it had a good cherry, it was mild tasting and a bit boring. The conversation, though, made the total experience wonderful!
I had my final Manhattan on my last night in the City. My mother’s best friend’s son (my “fifth brother”) and his wife met me in the city at Legasea, so we could have dinner and chat. The food was delicious, the conversation wonderful, and the drink okay. For the first time, I considered ordering a second drink, but (wisely!) chose not to.
My findings:
1) Straight up Manhattans are better than on the rocks.
2) I would absolutely return to Tessa and Hurley’s for a Manhattan.
3) Further research shows that although other cities have drinks named after them, having a Manhattan in Manhattan is the BEST!
With Adriana, the professional photographer I toured with in Cusco, Peru, I began learning how to take street photos of people. As she told me, New York is a great place for street photography!
Many times during my two weeks in New York, I walked around and covertly took photos of others perambulating around the city. The day after the New York City Marathon, I noticed that MANY people wore their marathon medals while exploring the city. At first, I slyly took their picture – street photography.
Then I remembered The 9:09 Project by Mark Parsons, in which the main character returns to the same place at the same time and ASKS if he can take a photo of people walking at that specific time and place. That gave me the idea to ASK marathoners if I could take their photo. I know, having WALKED ten marathons, that regardless of the time it takes to finish, anyone who completes a marathon – and especially those wearing a medal the next day – feels PROUD of their accomplishment. As they should! Other than one person, everyone agreed – often with glee – to have me take their photo. One person asked why, and I told the truth – I’m new to photography and wanted to practice taking photos of people on the street. The partner of another person asked me if she could take a photo of me taking a photo of her marathoner – something to add to their marathon experience! Another marathoner told me he’s from Michigan and runs to raise money for cancer research at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
The stories, joy, and accomplishment they shared with me while I captured them with their medals made me feel so happy for them!
Greenwich Village – this reminds me of a Beatles album cover!
Longwood Gardens – I took a couple other photos of the boy in the red plaid jacket and sent them to the boy’s grandmother
Central Park saxophonist
Central Park – a photo of a photographer with fall colors and cityscape
Yep, there’s no way I can go to New York and NOT go to a museum!
This trip, I returned to The Whitney and explored, for the first time, two new museums.
After reading the book, The Personal Librarian about J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, the Black American woman who was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white, I knew I wanted to visit The Morgan Library.
Around the corner from where I stay when visiting New York is the New York Historical Society Museum and Library, which I decided to happily explore this trip.
Untitled (PF.1016, Eucalyptus Grove), 1961, ink on coated paper on board
Untitled (FF.1211, Paul Lanier on Patterned Blanket), 1961, felt-tipped pen on paper on board
Untitled by Malcolm Bailey, 1969, acrylic on composition board. Malcolm Bailey based this painting on diagrams of a ship carrying abducted Africans to the Americas that were published in 1780 by an English abolitionist group.
Early Sunday Morning by Edward Hopper, 1930, oil on canvas
Music, Pink and Blue No. 2 by Georgia O’Keeffe, 1918, oil on canvas
Hart Island Crew by Kambui Olujimi, 2020, watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper. Hart Island, off the Bronx coast, is a potter’s field that was run by the city’s department of correction until 2021. It has served as a burial ground for the city during numerous epidemics. In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 deaths overwhelmed the city’s morgues, incarcerated people were brought in to dig trenches as long as football fields, where coffins would be stack three deep.
Gallery of Tiffany Lamps
Enchanting Imagination: The Objets d’Art of André Chervin and Carvin French Jewelers
There’s natural beauty and there’s also human-made beauty.
I enjoy the lines and surprises of good architecture. These are some of the beauties I captured.
While considering when to visit my friends and family in New York, I knew I wanted to experience the wonders of Fall Foliage. This journey took me to several locations where I tried to capture the majesty of these annual colors. Out of the HUNDREDS of photos I took, these are the ones that I feel best capture the beauty and variety of Fall Colors. (I have a gazillion more photos of flowers and other beautiful subjects, but these pictures focus on Fall Colors…)
What a fun afternoon!
Yesterday, Sheila and I hopped into Addie to give the two of them time to get acquainted. We headed up to Cambria to look at the scarecrows. Sheila did a FANTASTIC job waiting while I snapped photos!
Meet Sheila, my three-year old 25 pound terrier catahoula mix (we think!). Last Sunday, only three days after returning from Peru, I went to Woods Humane Society to take a look at dogs. I knew I wanted a 25-30 pound dog who is good with kids and other dogs, likes to hike, and is a good traveler.
They brought out Sheila (not her name then – “Sheila” is the pen name I used when I wrote stories as a child), this sweet timid dog almost afraid of her own shadow who Animal Services had dropped off at Woods three weeks before.
She slowly warmed up, and I was smitten when Matt, the Woods handler, picked her up and she cuddled right into him. That told me that all she needed was a bit of loving.
A few hours later, giving myself time to think and talk over the decision, I returned to Woods and brought Sheila home.
She so quickly adapted to home life that we think she was probably an abandoned pet. Makes me so mad that someone would desert this sweet and wonderful doggie!
I’ve introduced her to kids and other dogs, and she does wonderfully with both. Today, I took her on her first hike. Well, she took me! She practically pulled me up Islay Hill!
It’s been about a week since I’ve been home, so I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on this AMAZING adventure.
My group? They are the BEST! I couldn’t have asked for a better group! Fourteen smart, well-traveled, fun, and interesting people from the UK, Canada, and the US. About half married, about half solo (some partnered, some not). Average age approximately 52, youngest 35, oldest 70. Around half male, half female. ALL PHENOMENAL!!!
Additionally, our guides ROCKED! Kind, helpful, knowledgeable. They did everything they could to make us feel welcomed, appreciated, safe.
G Adventures offers several different styles of travel – Classic, 18-Thirtysomething, Family, etc. I chose National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures. (“National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures is a collection of unique tours designed to take you deeper into the cultures and habitats of the places we explore. They offer more inclusions compared to other G Adventures Travel Styles, greater hands-on exploration, interactions with local experts, and the freedom to roam, all within the structure and security of travelling in a small group.”)
This was a great choice! The itinerary includes both adventure – Inca Trail – and many cultural interactions and explorations. Plus, our accommodations were upgraded. My roommate had been on three previous G Adventures trips, all Classic, and will now only sign up for the Nat Geo trips. I highly recommend take a National Geographic Journey with G!
Of course, I had heard of Machu Picchu before booking this trip. What I heard, though, could never fully represent the ENORMITY and AWE of this inspiring sight! Yep, it’s a place one MUST see in order to fully comprehend!
Along with the magnificence of Machu Picchu, I saw other Inca ruins, a Huaca Pucllana pyramid, and many pre-Inca sites.
Furthermore, I saw some gorgeous murals, churches, parks, etc.
One thing I’ve noticed…when I first started traveling, I fell in love with colonial buildings and plazas. For example, Spanish buildings are in Spain (duh!), Mexico, and Peru. The effects of colonialism are prevalent throughout the world. I’m ready to see “different” – different architecture, different city layouts, different homes, different cultures.
We were so fortunate to have terrific weather! It rained hard the last night on the Inca Trail, changing to a light drizzle by morning and stopping before we hiked to Machu Picchu. Other than that, the weather in Lima, Cusco, and on the Trail was the perfect temperature. The rainforest, of course, was what one would expect – hot and humid.
What I love most about traveling is meeting people of different cultures, learning about them, and experiencing their foods, drinks, and lifestyles. On this trip, our guides – Katy, Leo, Elvis, Leo, and Gina – shared their lives and culture with us. Additionally, I had the great opportunity to chat with Adriana, my private photography guide, and learn about her, her profession, and her life. As well, I chatted with others I met informally during my travels.
Something that completely engaged me was the spiritual illuminations my Inca Trail guide, Leo, shared with us. He not only provided factual information and explanations, but he also linked everything to Quechuan religion, spirituality, and community. So enlightening and meaningful!
At the beginning of the year when I traveled to Mexico, I was the only one of the eight of us who spoke NO Spanish. I felt like an idiot! I hate that feeling, so I’ve been studying Spanish using the Duolingo app for now 265 days. I was shocked at how well I could communicate on this trip! My accent is horrible, my grammar needs lots of work, and my vocabulary is weak. Nonetheless, I was able to communicate in Spanish most of the time when needed. This included on public transportation, in restaurants, and bargaining in the market. What a big difference!
What I’d love to do – in the next year or two – is take a Spanish language course in a Spanish-speaking country for a month while also taking some photography lessons. Perhaps Cusco in 2025?? 🙂
I feel immensely grateful for everyone I met, for the privilege of being able to travel, for my body’s ability to hike and persevere. Traveling opens my world up to the beauty of other cultures, people, and scenery. This trip, although at times exhausting and challenging, was simply AMAZING!!!
One of the “rules”* about photography is each image should tell a story. After Machu Picchu, I spent an additional three days in Cusco and took over 500 photos. Culling them to my usual ten for this post: impossible! Instead, I share 24 photos, each of them helping to tell the story of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
*Another “rule” is that rules are meant to be broken!
For my “treat within a treat,” I booked a private half-day photography tour in Cusco through Amazonas Explorer.
And what a treat it was! Professional photographer Adriana Peralta met me at my hotel. After showing her some of my favorite photos I’ve captured, we set off for the San Bas District via Plaza de Armas.
The experience was as much a “tour” as a private photography lesson. Not only did our personalities mesh, but also she shoots with a Fujifilm camera. She was, therefore, able to explain and teach me various settings for different types of photos. Additionally, after capturing shots I generally like to shoot (wide open aperture with shallow depth of field, frame-within-a-frame through doorways and archways, etc.), she taught me street photography. I learned settings for street, along with how to hold my camera and focus tips.
My favorites out of over 150 photos:
