324: 7 Day Challenge

Tonight CNU's Photography Club hosted Mark Warren, a photographer that I met while assisting the main photographer at a friend's wedding earlier this year. Mark was very helpful to me the day of the wedding and shared a lot of his insight and experience with me. I mentioned him to the Photography Club and they wasted no time getting him to come in to speak to the club.

I was newly inspired to better myself as a photographer as a result of this session. I am challenging myself to, for the next seven days, shooting only in manual for my Photos of the Day and not doing any post-processing in Photoshop. This, as Mark said, will challenge me to think before I shoot and work hard to get the correct settings. I anticipate a few of the shots not being all that great but this week is about learning.

Here is Day One of the Seven Day Challenge: Flowers From My Husband

322 & 323: Weekend Fun

This weekend was full of fun events including a cupcake themed birthday party for a 2-year old, CNU's Captains' Ball (semi-formal dance for the students), the Mu Nu Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi's Beta Class First Degree and the Super Bowl.

322: Emily's Eye

The Captains' Ball theme was Night Out in the Big Cities and in the Rio Room there was a face painter. This photograph is of Emily, a CNU student, that got her eye painted and feathered. I like this shot a lot because of the expression on her face and in her eyes, as well as the actual art of the eye painting.



323: Mu Nu

I know that I have written here before but I am very glad to have the opportunity to support the brothers of CNU's Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi. They are always good for a laugh and truly have grown as individuals and as a brotherhood since I met some of them almost four years ago. I snapped this of Jen and her new little brother Zack this afternoon at their event. Jen is ridiculously crafty and made these shirts for them. Love it!

321: Rainy Ride

It is a very cold and rainy night here in Newport News tonight. I snapped this from the car (Eddie was driving) with my pocked digital. I like the abstract outcome with the lights due to the longer exposure.

320: Quarter of a Century

Tonight the Trivia Team gathered for a special edition of Thursday Trivia to celebrate the 25th birthday of team member Matt. His mom brought a most delicious cake (probably the best icing I've ever had) that featured an amazing replica of a quarter (get it...25?) that included his birth year as the date on the quarter. (I'm now thinking that if any of you have a 4 year old about to turn 5 I think a nickel themed party would be amazing. Instead of a clown you get a Thomas Jefferson impersonator?) Anyways. Here is a shot of the singing of Happy Birthday for Matt.

For the record, the team had its return to First Place this evening. Woohoo!

319: Argyle Wednesday

I'm not sure how I got started but I've been wearing Argyle on Wednesdays to work for quite some time. It is a trend that has been catching on in the office, which is kind of fun. Today was an especially good day with five of us sporting argyle sweaters and two in argyle socks.

Here is a closeup of the sweater I wore today:


And because I am a funfactophile:
-The argyle (occasionally argyll) pattern is made of diamonds in a diagonal checkerboard arrangement. The word is sometimes used to refer to an individual diamond in the design but more commonly refers to the overall pattern.

-The argyle pattern is derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland.

-It was much used in the golfing dress of the early 1900s, both for jerseys and for the long socks needed for the plus-fours trouser fashion of the day.

318: Fun with Skype

Tonight Eddie and I "skyped" with Ellen and Kevin (Eddie's siblings). I had never really used it before and really enjoyed it. Ellen was able to use some funny functions on her webcam to add some extras to their video feed. I was able to "take snapshots" using the Skype program. While I didn't take it with a camera I did "take the snapshot" using the computer so I'm going to count it for my photo of the day!

317: Thinking ahead to summer...

A friend mentioned Cape Cod to me on Facebook today and it got me thinking ahead to the summer. Eddie and I have gone up to the Cape every summer that we have been together and we just love it. I hadn't taken a photo yet today so I took a photo of part of our Cape Cod Baseball League throw that we have on our couch.