Fresh air and sunshine help

Self-Portrait in goggles, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Seems I remember to do self-portraits at the ski slopes. I liked this one because of the way the light hit the goggles. The sponge lining sparkled!

Here are my rental skis in a detail shot:

Jumping for Joy

Jumping for Joy, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Johannah orchestrated a series of fun photos outside in the snow. I've put them in a set here. Couldn't resist posting these since they are so cute and remind me of how they spent the evening after the storm blew through.

Snow Storm: Cincinnati

The snow shows up better in the larger version of this b&w photo found at flickr.

Here's a color shot to reveal the cardinal that finally stayed put for a photo. They love the feeders during the snow.



What a day! The roads are closed, school got out an hour early in time for the storm, and we spent the afternoon with a fire roaring, hot chocolate, and watching "Pride and Prejudice."

For those interested: Xavier University

I created two sets of photos in "slideshow view" today. I took a set of photos from a variety of perspectives to look at ways I could create arrangements of random objects for greatest impact. The first picture in the slideshow series is a "boring" shot that I used to set the context for the way I then worked with the environment to create a more interesting composition. I call this set: "Study in rakes and brooms."



Then the other set is my attempt to capture Xavier University while seeking the best b&w shot. In the end, I liked more of these photos in color so left them alone.



These are just for fun.

Xavier University stairs in b&w

Xavier stairs in b&w, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

I'm going nuts with photography now. In the 4 degree (that's right 4 degrees Fahrenheit) weather, in pink gloves, I snapped pictures of my campus and the postcard blue sky... and then had to convert at least one of them to b&w. This photo was deliberate for this project. I wanted all those sharp lines... the way the white lines on the steps are skinny and get wider as the steps descend. I liked the long skinny shadow coming at me and the way the railing gets a big flash of white on black in the middle. Patches of snow give more white to contrast the grey.

Are you sick of me describing the photo you can see right in front of your eyes? I'm taking notes in the blog entry to help me remember what I was trying to achieve, so ignore all comments if they are tedious. :)

Squirrel in black and white

Squirrel in black and white, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Jacob put a chair next to our sliding glass window and I got right next to this greedy little guy. Look at the claws on his paws! Such definition. His fur provides the perfect pallette for b&w. I like the black eye and black shells to anchor the greys.

I didn't know I'd like b&w until I started taking them. Fun!

Dog and his girl

Dog and his girl, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Wanted to post one b&w today for the Feb. photo challenge. Jon spotted Rocky hiding under the covers with Caitrin's feet and got me the tripod. I framed and took the photo.

Moon on auto without flash

Moon on auto without flash, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Moon using dusk.dawn setting, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Rocky woke me up at 6:35 a.m. and this was the view right outside our kitchen window. I took these on two different settings to show how settings affect the look of the photo. The first one picked up stars! (I can't see them with my naked eye). The second picked up color.

After

After, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Today I graduated from a table top to a real desk.
Said Caitrin upon viewing it: "Mom you look like a real business person now."

Here's a glimpse of the before (and yes, I really did work like this for about seven years):

Before, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Funschooling

Funschooling, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

My sister called today. We updated each other on our lives, including bird watching, game playing and movie viewing. She said I wasn't "unschooling," I was "funschooling."

Ironically I had taken this photo for today's post to show that we do sit at the table sometimes and work with real school books. But then I looked closer and noticed that while Caitrin is writing out spelling words for a game we were about to play, I remembered that they were "fashion" words from Vogue magazine. She also made "art trading cards" out of my Moo pictures from Flickr.

And caught right in the middle of studying algebra is Jacob's hand on the X Box controller to adjust the music volume and the visual images on the X Box while it blasted "Song of the Heart" from "Happy Feet." Too funny.

Detail shot of fashion spelling list:

My little city lights

My little city lights, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

Being a Los Angeles native, I love to see city lights at night, particularly from high places. My favorite airport entry in the world is LAX at night. Moving to Cincinnati made me crazy the first year. So few hills, no way to get up high and see out. The kids and Jon joke with me because I have this one spot on our way home that has a little rise where you can see lights and I have commented on it *every single time* for seven years. It's at a traffic light so I can never get out of the car to take a picture.

This scene is taken from one of the other hills I love that gives a glimpse of night lights in Union Center (West Chester, where IKEA will eventually be). Tonight I took Jacob to the high school for fall registration and this is the view on the way to Lakota West HS. He helped me shoot this one on our way home. You can see the Marriot hotel on the right (which was there when we had the Trapdoor retreat at my house) and the Rave movie theater on the left (which is new as of two years ago).

I love the little light on the bottom right of the photo that sends out its rays in spokes as if on a wheel.

There is a spoon

There is a spoon, originally uploaded by juliecinci.

My self-portrait for this week reflects my return to reality after leading a virtual life.
The Matrix says "There is no spoon," but today I say "Oh yes there is!"