Stuff I like. And stuff I don't like, too.

So, I've been slack. But I have a good reason! Went to my gym's annual Halloween costume party and had a bit too much fun. At least that's what I thought at first. But since myou hubby and kids got sick too, I assume I caught a stomach bug. It wasn't the Hippie Juice, after all. But wow, was I sick! Not one photo all weekend. Thankfully I began feeling better and went to Mt. Blue State Park in Weld, Maine to snap a few photos. It was cold on the mountain! I wore flip flops and regretted it. But oh well! Shot these two from the side of the road, one town over from where I live: Pretty, right?  And guess what? I finally made my very first sale, on Adobe! Now for 1,000 more ;) Hoping to take some today, but it's looking like a busy one so we'll see. As always, thanks for reading, hope you're having a  fabulous day! Check out my Adobe portfolio HERE Or my  portfolio at Shutterstock HERE Or check out my slightly

Another failed attempt at getting a holiday shot.  Ugh. I think I'm going to make a wreath and decorate that, maybe get some fake snow. Or champagne in flutes, candles, happy new year banners... This was the only one with any promise, and it looks nearly identical to the ones I took a couple of weeks ago.  Shutterstock and Adobe said they had too much "noise" and didn't take them. So I "de-noised" this one through Lightroom,  but I'm not holding my breath. I did get some cute ones of my dogs: My Pappy-Jack who started out a tad suspicious when I told him I wanted to "shoot" some photos of him in the woods, haha. Mercury is always good for a laugh. Nervous little dog. No grateful ones of Angel, had a smudge on my lens that I didn't see til we got home! Oh well, there's hardly a deficit of Pup pictures these days. :) Sorry, not sorry. Thankfully I did get some pretty scenic shots.  Still ho

So my coffee kicked in, but not in time to get any decent holiday shots. By the time I had dinner and dishes finished it was getting dark, UGH. I love the changing of every season here in Maine, but we've already lost 4 hours of daylight! I have too many things to do every day before it gets dark. Anyway. I set up Christmas balls, ornaments, lights and gift boxes, but it just wasn't happening. They were too dark, even though it was before sunset, in front of my window where I shoot most of my indoor photos. I hate using the flash, but did it anyway. So, not good. I was frustrated and my hands were tied, hubby took my car and I couldn't find anything else in my house.  So I went outside, and used my favorite subjects.  One of my two dogs, Angel My kitty's silhouette at sunset Moses with the flash. He HATED that haha. Poor kitty. So that's it for today! I'm thinking tomorrow I will try again for some holiday inspired

Today's challenge was supposed to be a faceless portrait or holiday theme, but since I took my dogs to a pretty scenic place I figured I'd share the pics from there also. Not too bad, although not full color just yet either. I'm still thinking about the faceless portrait,  maybe another big cup of coffee will help me find some inspiration:)

Still raining here, so my beautiful scenery photos have to wait, but we need the rain so it's all good. Wet days mean my hubby isn't outside, so it's very hard to stage a good photo session with him underfoot. So, I just took my dogs to the lake for some exercise and shot a few quick pics and called it a day. Again, not exactly award winning, or particularly challenging either, but at least the entire day wasn't  a dud, right?  Tomorrow's challenge will either be a faceless portrait or holiday themed. We shall see! Hope you're having an AMAZING day! Check out my new but evergrowing istock portfolio HERE !! Or my Adobe portfolio HERE Or my Shutterstock portfolio HERE

My photo challenge is up and running on both Photocrowd and ViewBug, so exciting! Yesterday my challenge was a colorful landscape. I took off for the day with my family, but the leaves are not quite in full bloom around here just yet. Very disappointing because I'm afraid they will fall off the trees before we get the huge amount of color we usually get here in western Maine. So I got some cute pics of farm animals at the Fryeburg Fair instead. However, riding by the Androscoggin River on my way home we spotted a few colorful trees, so my hubby pulled over and we went for a little hike and I took these: I actually think the rain helped these colors "pop". Thanks for stopping by! Check out small but evergrowing istock portfolio HERE !! Or my Adobe portfolio HERE Or my Shutterstock portfolio HERE

Believe it or not, it was quite a challenge for me to take this photo. Our local lake is really dry, so dry that my dog can freely run along the side of it, where the water used to go 4 feet up the retaining wall, there is now 3 feet of beach there. Crazy. On the plus side, the low water allowed me to wade through these lily pads and slippery weeds on the back side of the lake to see this view, which I couldn't see a few short weeks ago without a boat. Saw lots of tadpoles and cute little frogs, couldn't control my camera in time to change the settings from landscape to micro while they waited patiently however, but that's OK! My son and I enjoyed it anyway. Tonight there's supposed to be some cool moon photo ops according to my local weather man, so maybe...even though I promised to actually show up at my Les Mills Body Pump class tonight. It's been too long, gonna feel like I got hit by a truck! So, decisions, decisions. If you're bored, check out my sm

Since I've been out of touch with my contests this past week,  I wasn't sure I'd get one done today. Photocrowd had one that ends tomorrow and seemed pretty simple so I went for it. Keeping in mind my emphasis is on learning my camera and trying new things, not just winning. Matter of fact there is an insanely small chance of that ever happening,  since I only photograph what's in my own little corner of the world with a pretty inexpensive camera and no fancy doodads either. I swear every winning photo was taken of the landscape in Iceland. Hard to compete with that! Anyway, today's challenge is "The Color Brown". So I thought about trees, wood piles, my brown dog. But then, my son's fiancée requested no-bake cookies. Which happen to be BROWN. So, using my always handy wooden cutting board, a mason jar of soy milk, tablespoon of cocoa powder, scattered oatmeal, 3 no-bake cookies, and black poster board as a back drop, this was the final result:

I had so much free time on my hands when I began this challenge for myself, then my hubby got hurt, my kid got engaged and is shopping for a new home, just life. Life is happening. I have only taken a handful of photos in the past week, let alone join any challenges. It doesn't help that my computer died completely and my electronically helpful son has had food poisoning and hasn't had a chance to come by and look at it for me. Hubby's stitches are due to come out today, my teen needs to get 70 driving hours in, my disabled son just wants me to get in the car and drive, anywhere. Oy! Did I mention my washer and dryer recently died on me as well? Laundry mats are super fun! Said no one, ever. Anywho, I'm hoping for a few moments to get some photos up today. Would be so much easier with a computer, but I will "suffer" through on my tablet. :) All is good in the world, just a little chaotic at the moment. Hope everyone is having a great day! So far anyway. It'