Star of wonder...

148:365 The local Reserve receives gov't subsidized power. They give the gift of light back to us all at Christmas time.

This is what the full house looked like:






149:365 Dysfunction in the pop-up book.




150:365 This is my effort to impose shapes on bokeh light as described here. I still need some practice but with any luck you're all seeing stars where none exist in reality.




151:365 This wasn't the best shot I took on Christmas morning but it managed to capture everything that was magical about the day for us.




I got a new lens for Christmas: a 75-300mm. Zoom zoom. While I like this shot a lot, it's the next one that makes it as the shot of the day. Note the lack of snow. There's foreshadowing here.



152:365



153:365 A girl, her doll, their love of hockey.




154:365 Snowed in. Sure this snow-girl is cute but all that white stuff cancelled our holiday travel plans. No flights means no extended family. Boo.

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Well, Happy New Year, one and all. Next week's prompt: resolution.

It came without ribbons...

141:365 The biblical rains and flash flooding made the Saint John river a presence in our lives this week.




142:365 My book club. We're drunk. I loves 'em.




143:365 I got this cycling Santa at a 10,000 Villages sale a few years back. He still makes me smile.




144:365 A glimpse at the Irish Dance Christmas recital I took my daughter to.




145:365 Well, he's definitely a presence in my life. He's also playing with a present he put in our daughter's Advent Calendar: finger flash lights.




146:365




147:365 A big part of my job is processing gift books. Here's a box full that came my way recently.


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Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope you have a happy, peaceful and photogenic one. I don't really think we need a prompt this week but I'll put one out there anyway. Spent. If you're not feeling it now, you will be soon.

Fa-la-la-la-la

134:365 The Nutcracker. SWEET! I really wanted to get a better photo, taken later in the performance but the usher tapped me on the shoulder after my first shot. Rightly so, but still... I was discreet. I did not use a flash. But still... I will mind my manners in future.




135:365 Cindy Lou Who, or Hail the new, ye lads and lasses.




136:365 We won't go until we get some.




137:365 Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...




138:365 He sees you when you're sleeping.




139:365 Peace on Earth (in the air?), or don't Fall on Your Knees




140:365 "Mur" is mine.

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Next week's prompt: presents or presence

Portrait, landscape and working the curve

127:365 My Christmas lights funkadellic style




128:365 I spend 5 nights a week with him so he really ought to be here.




129:365 At the downtown tree lighting ceremony




130:365 The Saint John String Quartet with special guest percussionists




131:365




132:365 My friend Stephen let me use his basement studio again. It was fun, but I still have so much to learn and I'm not sure I know how to learn anything when I am in the company of an over-tired 5-yr-old.




This shot isn't my picture of the day but I did experiment with it in the freeware program, GIMP. Stephen encouraged me to "manipulate the curve" on the studio shots so that the black of my daughter's dress would pop out a bit from the background. I tried it here and may experiment a bit more when I can find a bit more time.




133:365 Landscape: it's definitely changing in all the wrong ways.

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I did make the rounds over the last week but I noticed that some of you haven't updated your shots in a while. Are you still with me? My guess is that you're still shooting daily but have gotten bogged down in the editing and uploading. If so, wipe your slate and start anew tomorrow.

Well, the holidays are bearing down so let's try a seasonal prompt: carol. Make it fun, make it pun. Enjoy.

The cup is 1/3 full

Most of the shots are more about transformation than metamorphosis but, hey, I'll take it.



120:365 Seasons change




121:365




122:365 Unreal city




123:365 At the parade

We had the most amazing snowfall for the duration of the Santa Claus parade. I got some ok pictures but nothing that really captured the beauty of the moment. Part of the problem was that the camera steamed up inside my coat and then wouldn't work properly.




124:365




125:365 Barbie bokeh




126:365

I've been photographing these berries for about 3 months now. Finally today, a berry shot was my best shot.

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So, just like that we're over 1/3 of the way through. Are you still with me? I haven't had a chance to make the rounds for a week. I promise. I'll visit soon. In the meantime, here's a new prompt for you: portrait and/or landscape.

I learned to do something with my camera today. Huzzah!

114:365 Oh book club, how I love you.




115:365 The rising sun made these grasses come alive.




116:365 Snowy love on the line. Or, why don't I just pack them up for winter?




117:365 Hung




118:365




119:365 The photo's neither here nor there but it is proof that I have learned how to create a custom white balance. I can now take pictures in my kitchen. Huzzah. It's amazing what a camera manual can teach you.

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I didn't really take on last week's prompt except that I found those birds in yesterday's post darn engaging. I also was engaged with my camera manual tonight. Let me try for a better prompt this week. How about metamorphosis? No cockroaches allowed, though.

For the birds

One hundred plus days of looking and looking and looking and I think I am starting to see a thing or two. Like, for example, the season changes. I had never noticed before how valuable summer light is. Sure, I've always appreciated summer heat but it took this rainy November for me to really appreciate the quality and angles of summer light.

And then there is autumn morning mist. How is it that I'd never noticed that heavy morning fog is an autumn phenomenon? Meteorologically, it makes sense and, yet, until I started schlepping a camera around I had never really paid attention to its fleeting nature. Nor had I noticed how mist filters light and makes a photo pop.

And now that we're staring down winter, all I see around me are ravenous animals. The squirrels are plump and just a tad less skittish when you walk by their feasting. Birds everywhere are foraging. Just today I saw a crow trying to get the last bit of tastiness out of an empty bag of potato chips. If he hadn't been poised on top of a power line in a snow storm, I might've tried to snap him. And then there was last Wednesday when I stumbled by a large flock of, uh, I dunno from birds, but they looked a bit like brownish cardinals to me. The tree was along my walk to work and it was covered with red berries. I stood transfixed for 10 or so minutes while the birds flitted about, landing, eating, retreating to a higher tree and then swooping in again. I took so many pictures. There were quite a few I was taken with but these, I think, were the best of the bunch.



3rd runner-up



2nd runner-up



1st runner-up My husband thinks this should be the shot of the day, but I chose this instead:



113:365 I like the detail in the top bird's beak. The lower bird is caught in the act of eating.

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So tell me, what have you noticed about the world around you that you had never noticed before?

And, yes, I'll be back again tomorrow night with the rest of the week's shots and with next week's prompt.

Faces from the past

111-365 Origins



112:365 Death Mask

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Next week's prompt: ah heck, I dunno. Bonny Prince William has just proposed so let's try the word engagement.