Happy World Photography Day!

August 19th marked World Photography Day and I set out on an adventure over the weekend to capture a beautiful photograph of the sunset, which has always been one of my favorite things to photograph. I've never been a sunrise person, so when I got into photography, I started to take photos of the sunsets. My first photos weren't great, but I've improved over the last year, and here I am.

The first set of photos were just taken in my backyard. I had initially come outside to photograph the pretty sun, and at the time I was happy with my photos. However, when I went inside I almost missed an even better shot - the sun had turned a bright red-orange color! I ran through the house to grab my telephoto lens and as I hurriedly put it on, the sun kept dropping. I couldn't get a great photo from where I was, so I ran uphill, where I had a good view of the sun, and I got the photo you see now of the red sun setting.

For the other photos, I went to the top level of a parking garage to get as much elevations as possible to shoot the beautiful sunset. I was really happy with how these photos turned out! World Photography Day provided the inspiration for venturing out and using my camera, which is one of my favorite things to do. Happy (belated) World Photography Day!

Pups at Play

Photographing my wild pups running in the yard was one of the first things I learned to take photos of, but I still like to get action shots of them whenever I can. My dog Blizzy is a one-year-old husky and she has a whole lot of energy. My chocolate Lab, Lady Dave, is also a crazy pup who loves to get her energy out. It's not easy to film them while they're running at full speed so I try to stand in the center of the yard, use a fast shutter speed, and take a whole lot of photos and hope that I get one or two good ones. It's not easy, but I manage (somehow) to pull it off. The shots you see are some of my favorite pup action shots. My dogs usually don't mind me being out with them, but they have nearly knocked me down when they're running at very fast speeds. That's part of why it's so unpredictable to photograph my dogs running and playing. But the shots I get, whether pretty or funny, are worth the unpredictability.

A New Perspective

I had been wanting a macro lens for a very long time. My mom and I recently went to a camera store looking for one, but they explained that macro lenses didn't really exist anymore for the camera that I have. We looked and looked, but the camera store was right. A macro lens for my camera didn't exist...but there was still hope! On my birthday, I received a case of macro filters. These were like tiny macro lenses that you can screw on to your camera. I was so excited to finally have the opportunity for a new shooting perspective! When I first tried it out, I took photos of everything. Inside the house, outside the house, everywhere. The photos chosen for this blog are my favorite shots using the macro filters. I wanted to get some flowers and leaves, and I got a very good photo of a leaf in my yard. I've never been able to get quite so close to a subject when I take my photos using my normal lens. I also took a photo of my mom's crocheting because I wanted to capture the detail of the tiny stitches. My final photo is my personal favorite, and one of the photos I imagined I'd get with the macro lens. It's a shot of my dog's eye. I always wanted to get this shot with a macro lens because I can get so much closer. I cannot wait to see the photos I get with the macro filters in the coming months!