Photo Shoot 2

One of the top things on my "Bucket List" is to become a really good photographer. In case you haven't seen the movie by the same name, a Bucket List is a list of things you want to do before you die. I'm currently working on this one. Poor Hannah...since she is the only willing subject I can find, she has had to endure my amateur photography efforts over the past couple of weeks. She's been a pretty good sport about it, and thankfully the practice (and a little help from Photoshop) is starting to pay off.

This one is my favorite.

For some reason that I can't really explain, I am really drawn to old dilapidated farm buildings. I think it's something about the end of an era; the transformation from rural to urban; my own aging... Whatever the source of the attraction, I've always wanted to travel the rural countryside and photograph these old buildings. Maybe I'll enter a contest someday, or even publish a book of my photos (another thing on my Bucket List.) So last night I went about a mile down Meredith Drive to take photos of this old barn. We'll see what comes of this. I guess I can dream, right?

Paintball

There are some things that I will never understand. Like the attraction men (even smallish ones) have to that which is violent and aggressive and competitive. The constant need to prove who is the toughest. It must be something in the DNA.

Paintball is a game (some call it a sport) where the goal is to shoot your opponent with a little ball of paint that is blasted out of a small, light (and expensive, I might add) air-pressurized gun. The battle takes place in any number of locations, usually at the end of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere. A course is set up in a field or a yard or an abandoned parking lot. There are junk cars, makeshift "buildings" and blow-up barriers that serve as a maze that the players navigate as they "kill" one another. If you get shot, you are out of the game. The team that has the last man or men standing wins. There are prizes, but mostly the winners get bragging rights in exchange for about $100, which covers the entry fee and a case of paintballs.

Yesterday David and Al had some male bonding time as they travelled to Cedar Rapids for the night, and then to Shellsburg, Iowa (which is a "blink-and-you-miss-it" town just north of CR) for a tournament. David's team got second place out of 12. Not bad for 5 city boys.

I just wish he would put as much energy into his school work.

Photo Shoot

So I'm taking this online class on how to take portraits, and it requires some practice. So yesterday, since Al and David were on an overnight paintballing trip, Hannah and I set up the family room as a "studio." The assignment was to use window light and a reflector to shoot good portraits. Here are some of the results.

The lighting pretty much stunk since it was raining all day, so I may have to try it again today. But I'm getting the general sense that I shouldn't give up my day job just yet....

And so we begin again...

There are a few indisputable signs of spring....birds building their nests in our bushes, Al tilling the garden in the never-ending quest for prize pumpkins (somebody please tell me why he has chosen pumpkins, of all things!) and Hannah crouched behind home plate. Life once again moves at lightning speed as we race between games, practices, end-of-school-year events, and weddings (I think Darrin has had a wedding to sing at every weekend since the beginning of April.) But I don't mind. In case you didn't know, I loathe winter. So when the weather holds consistently above 50 degrees, even if it is accompanied by grey skies and a continuous drizzle, I am happy. I really don't mind the inevitable spring "cold" that hits when the pollen count hits near lethal levels (no, I do NOT have allergies!) I certainly don't mind mud puddles, though I'd prefer not to wade up to my ankles to take the dog into the back yard to poop. I sleep best in a thunderstorm. And I absolutely LOVE the daffodils and tulips that bloom in everyone elses' yard, even if I am insanely jealous about the fact that every deer and rabbit in a ten-mile radius seems to know that the smorgasbord is located at in my yard!

Ah yes, Spring is here!!