Part 5 Road Trip

This part of the road trip is from Lincoln, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado.  It was our longest most torturous part of the trip.  After already having a day and a half of pure cornfields, we were very much over it.  

I had to do a lot of playing around with my camera to finally get some pics of the rolled hay stacks.  I just can't say how much this trip has really helped me expand my camera knowledge. And the confidence to play around with it.  I'm really itching to start my real photography courses in my program at school. 

I had a lot of fun editing this batch of photos.  The landscaping was just perfect to do some non-typical edits.  I am just in love with these and can't wait to order some prints and get them into frames for that complete look.

I thought as soon as we hit Colorado the scenery would change.  It did in a way.  We went from cornfields to rolling hills of nothing.  I did the driving into Colorado, so no photos of that part.  Eventually, the scenery started to become beautiful.  Colorado was just as beautiful as I thought it would be.  So much in fact that it will get its own blog if not two, so be on the look out for those.

We are getting settled into our house and slowly unpacking our belongings.  I should start getting caught up in my Road Trip blogs soon.  I just have so many photos to still go through and running all these errands to set up house again take up so much of our days.  This upcoming week should be slower and more of my normal routine.

Part 4 Road Trip

This Road Trip series is really turning into a long story.  I might have a hard time finding something to write about once we get to San Diego.  Let's hope not!

The best part of this trip is the time I have while sitting in the car to play with my camera.  I am learning so many things that will really help when I start my in depth photography classes. Most photographers don't like to take photos in monochrome/black & white but instead prefer to alter them post-production. I have always loved taking photos in black & white, which I have gotten out of but thought would be fun to try since I had the time.  

Part 4 of our road trip was from Detroit to Davenport, Iowa to Lincoln, Nebraska.  We had on and off rain during the first half of our trip, but then the sky just became outstandingly beautiful.  Crisp blue sky, pure white puffy clouds with stormy dark clouds forming a thin layer over them met at the horizon by beautiful cornfields.  The blues and greens were just so bright and perfect.  I really enjoyed that leg of the trip.

One of the sites on my wish list for this trip was to see one of the Great Lakes.  Once we got to Gary, Indiana, we stopped at a park/beach along Lake Michigan.  Course after taking a walk with the dogs and the little one along this one path, I was way too hot and icky to get photos of the lake.  No biggie really.  At least I know I saw it

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I am always on the hunt for a reason to use my macro lens.  Its forced me to see the world completely different, and I love that.  Where I would normally bypass an ant on the ground or complain about having ants inside my dwelling, I know run for the macro lens to see what kind of detail I can get.  I was just amazed at how much I could see of that tiny ant with that lens.  Course, I also imagined what a better macro lens would show and it made me so excited I was bouncing on my toes.

We were getting a kick out of some of the names of local businesses, well they could be chains I have never heard of.  After seeing Lake Michigan, we stopped for gas and snacks.  And right there were 3 stores that we were shaking our head for two days over.  The first was Quaker Steak & Lube.  I'm not sure if the look was really how they did things or not, but it looked like a car service station with a diner attached.  Guess you could eat steak or the "best wings usa" as the sign claims while you wait for your car to finish.  Very odd!  Right in that same plaza was Egg on Your Face and Deli in your Belly.  Very odd names for places to eat.

Part 3 Road Trip

This part of the road trip was the most special part.  My cousins wedding.  He means the world to me, and I was so excited that I was able to be there for his amazingly special day.  His now wife is great, and a very welcomed addition to our growing family.

This was my first real attempt at a little bit of wedding photography.  I wasn't very good at it.  In part, my shyness was overwhelming.  Some of it was not wanting to step on their photographers toes and not knowing her side of the family at all.  I didn't want to be some weird stranger getting in their faces.  I was comfortable photographing them though.  

The best part was that it forced me to really start playing with my camera.  I have relied on my auto setting along with some of the other basic auto type settings, waiting to start getting familiar and playing with the manuel settings till I started taking those courses in my school program.  But now I am having more fun in the manuel setting and playing around with everything that I am barely using the auto settings.  So, thank you Derek.  One more piece of wisdom and confidence you have instilled in me.  Thank you for all the encouragement.

Part 2 Road Trip

Finally, I'm able to get this blog done!  A few days late, but being at the mercy of hotel internet what can a girl do?  

Friday (8/14) marked the first day of our cross country road trip.  We did just about 8 hours of driving from the Jersey Shore to Macedonia, Ohio.  We tried to take my daughter to a mall to burn some energy.  Course, typical me, found the deserted closed mall in a not so great area.  So, it was dinner and walking around a little strip mall instead.  The La Quinta we stayed at was quaint and nice.  

We were up at the crack of dawn, even before the Bob Evans opened!, for the next piece of the trip.  Luckily, this was just a short 4 hour trip to Auburn Hills, Michigan - just outside of Detroit. We attended a rehearsal luncheon for my cousin's wedding (why we took this route), then we tried to go to the river area.  There was some festival going on and way too crowded for a toddler in no stroller.  Then to another mall!  We did a lot of those this weekend.

Least I got a few great photos from the car.  The hubby is not big on stopping in the emergency lane for me to hop out for a quick photo shoot.  Hmmm.... wonder why :)  Therefore all the photos in this blog were taken from the passenger seat while we were driving.

The sunrise over the Ohio/Michigan border on Saturday morning was just AMAZING! Breathtaking!  I love the sky and the amazing things to be seen with each passing second.  

Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved watching the military convoys on the highways.  Its always been a moving thing to watch even after seeing one numerous times.  Now being a military wife and adult, I still love watching them.

Coming Soon Part 3 Road Trip - the Wedding.  After that Part 4 Road Trip

Finally New Subjects

I finally got some new subjects for my photography other then my daughter!  My best friend and her boyfriend were all for being photographed.  So, I tried my hand at portraits - I need practice before I take this course in my photography program with the Art Institute.  Non-typical ones with my mother's house and backyard as the backdrops.  We are planning a second shoot at this park that I love soon.

I think they came out pretty good.  I left some color and others I added some different editing techniques to.  

Off to Grandma's House We Were

Our first long stay on our way to California is here at my parents house in New Jersey.  We are staying for 2 weeks, which we have a week and a half still ahead of us.  Our daughter just loves being at Grandma's house.  Here is a little photo shoot from the first few days at Grandma's house.

The picture above just had me laughing.  She so wanted to open and drink that can of Coke.  I thought she made a great model for their marketing campaign.

Front yard portrait photo shoot.  I love the brick wall background.  

She is such a little ham sometimes!

Part 1 Road Trip

Friday, July 31st marked the first part of our move and cross country road trip.  We departed Washington DC, got stuck in the wonderful Friday summer traffic, and headed to New Jersey.  A short 3.5 hour trip took us 6 hours.  Whew, that last hour was rough!  

But I did get the chance to document the trip from the car.  Even though I was just sitting in the passenger seat, I still had a lot of fun trying to capture something different or to document the amazing sky.

There was a big storm rolling through the area, so there were all these dark miserable clouds. And peeking out above those clouds was this perfectly crisp bright blue sky with puffy white clouds.  This is why I love summer so much.  These amazing skies.

When I arrived at my parents house, their front lawn flowers were in full bloom.  It was 9 o'clock at night so I had to wait till the morning to start getting my shots.  As soon as I could, I was out on the front lawn with my macro lens and tripod.  Not only did I hit up those flowers first thing in the morning, but I went back out again in the late morning for even more.  Trying to play around with the different morning light, which was just perfect.