New Bike

I got a new bike! I'm pretty excited about it...though not so excited about the bike-unfriendly weather outside.

Towed

Not so fun. I'm guessing someone left their car parked for too long, though it's also possible it just wouldn't start.

Toddler in Black

I didn't get many pictures on the day I was heading back, but fortunately I did get one of Hazel!

Raspberry Sauce

Raspberry sauce for cheesecake. Mm.

(And in case anyone wonders: no, I didn't bump the saturation or vibrance! This is really how it looked.)

Buttoned Down

Technically this one was taken at 2:48 AM of the next day, but since I hadn't gone to sleep yet, I'm counting it. Why buttons? I sewed these on! (And nine others not shown.) Thanks, mom and sisters, for trusting me.

Monopoly

Michelle and I played something like five games of Monopoly in a couple of hours. It turns out you can play quite quickly if you just give up when one person has a monopoly (or several potential ones) and the other has no hope of a monopoly.

Also, in case anyone was wondering: the battleship is the coolest piece.

Christmas Cake

Mom made this cake for Christmas dinner. It was four layers, alternating between a spice cake and a citrus (lemon) cake of some kind. It was quite good!

Jack-in-a-Cube

This is a close-up of a fun little project I made in machine shop, where you mill a jack out of a cube of solid aluminum. I was playing with the macro I'd rented.

Unidentified Stationary Object #1

I have no idea what this was, but there was a stack of them next to a building. I went for the more abstract close-up.

Two States

It's been rather wet around here lately, in both the solid and liquid form.

Créche

I made it up to Temple Square tonight, and this Nativity scene was beautiful. (Not to mention eye-catching, placed as it was in the middle of the reflecting pool.)

This kind of thing is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

Light Stand

I recently got a couple of light stands; this is the top of one of them. I look forward to getting to practice my lighting some more!

Close Up

An extreme close-up view of Hazel. I know this breaks several rules of portraiture...but it was my favorite of the evening anyway.

Lemon Cheesecake

This morning I went to a shoot with a local photography club, and the theme was holiday ornaments or treats, with an emphasis on lighting. I had a great couple of hours trying different things and getting to know some new people. These cheesecakes were provided by a group member, and they weren't only for decoration—after we were done shooting we got to eat them!

Distractions

Michelle was talking on the phone, and her roommates were trying to get her attention. This was her reaction to their distraction. (Well, one of them. She had a couple of other good ones, too.)

The Next Day

Snowfall, part two. This is the next day; I admit I wasn't feeling super inspired today, but when I imported this photo I realized there was something I hadn't paid much attention to when I took it: the fine crystals on top of the snow give it an interesting texture (which is more visible in the full-resolution version—too bad Flickr doesn't show those!).

Snowy Conifer

We got some snow today! Not tons, which I'm okay with, but some. This tree seems okay with the snow too.

Christmas Porch

Sometimes I really wish I had some good Christmas decorations. Then I remember I have nowhere to store them the other 11 months of the year.

Frosty Morning #2

I guess I just like cars (and frost), because when I saw this frost-covered windshield while walking to work this morning I loved the muted colors and the symmetry. (I don't have anything particularly for or against Nissan; the logo just happened to be positioned nicely to complement the rest of the image.)

Jump Rope

I was given this jump rope a few years ago, on my mission. We were having dinner with a family and somehow it came up that I had been wanting to jump rope as part of my morning exercise. They said they had an old jump rope that had belonged to their father or grandfather that they would be glad to give me. I tried to turn it down, but they insisted. I enjoyed having something vigorous to do in the mornings...at least when I was in apartments with enough room to jump rope. Alas, I haven't used it much since.

It's a good jump rope, too. The fact that it's leather gives it enough weight to keep it swinging smoothly without getting kinked up (like cheap plastic ones tend to do), and the handles have ball bearings in them, which makes it even smoother. I had no idea jumping rope could be like that.

Padlock

While waiting for the bus today, I spotted this chain and lock on the ground nearby (I think it was locking a small folding sign for a nearby business to a post). I didn't really have anything better to do while waiting for the bus so I played around with different angles and perspectives. The best part was that after I was done, a couple of guys came out of a nearby store an asked what was up with the chain. I was sorry I didn't have a more exciting story to tell them, like a forensics investigation.

Wooden Santa

This Santa doll was merrily adorning the lobby of Zermatt, where I had a company Christmas party tonight.

Shrubbery

These evergreen shrubs have been wrapped with a couple of cloth strips each, presumably to protect the branches from breaking in the winter. I liked the repetition of the shrubs, as well as the way the cloth on the background ones leads up to the one in the foreground.

Nativity Lamb

I briefly walked through Temple Square this evening, and was impressed by the Nativity displays they had, as well as the lights. I'll have to pay another visit sometime when I'm not in such a rush! (Though I'm not sure when would be the best time to get some low-light shots without a big crowd...I don't want to get in the way with a tripod with as many people as were there tonight.)

Mad Dog

I was walking by Mad Dog Cycles this evening when I noticed that their sign was fairly striking, and could make a reasonable photo for today. I've stopped by their shop a decent number of times, and found them helpful and with reasonable prices.

As I got closer to the sign I realized that there was, unfortunately, glare from a couple of spotlights mounted above the sign. In order to eliminate the glare, I would have to either stand far off to the side (which would ruin the dead-on look that had attracted me), or stand really far back (but I didn't have a lens that would let me do that).

Then I realized, while I tried a different vantage point to try to hide the glare on the less-reflective parts of the sign, that the spotlights did a very nice job of lighting up the dog's eyes—which seemed entirely fitting for a mad dog.

Glider

I was randomly given this small toy glider, and naturally, I figured the most appropriate use for it would be photos.

Funhouse

I was wandering around outside before church when I decided I liked the way the windows of the HRCB distort the reflection of the library.

Also, I like geometric shapes.

Ready to Rip

Various CDs I've acquired over the last six months or so. I'm ready to rip them (finally!) so I don't have to keep breaking out the physical discs.

First

Tonight I went to my first concert that wasn't held in an auditorium or concert hall. I'd heard quite a bit about a local group, Fictionist, over the last few years, and decided to check them out when I heard about the performance tonight at Velour.

I had a great time. The opening performer was decent, and Fictionist was fun to listen to. I started making a mental list of my favorite songs...and lost track. Oh well. I'll have to keep checking out their stuff, and maybe pick up an album or two!

Substation

I've wanted to try for a picture of this substation for a while now, since I see it at night on a regular basis. I was in the parking lot of an adjacent apartment complex with my tripod for a while, trying different shots (and doing some bracketing), and frankly wondered if someone would decided that taking pictures of a substation was suspicious. However, no cops came, and the only people who talked to me seemed genuinely curious about what I was doing.

Sometime I want to get some photos of the one up by the mouth of the canyon, too. It's much larger and more impressive, plus I think I'd have more chances for different angles. (Most of the sides of this one are obstructed, and I had parked cars to further restrict my positioning on the one good side.)

Two Faced

Playing with lighting and a convenient box of goldfish crackers. I think I actually like them better as a photography subject than as a snack. But I know I'm in the minority.

Courtney

My friend Courtney, trying on a hat. She's pretty awesome (with or without the hat). Also, photogenic.

Scaffold

As I was walking by this construction site I noticed that there was a light illuminating part of it, which isn't normally the case. This partially-complete wall (for a parking garage, I think) looked interesting. I need to wear warmer clothing the next time I take long exposures in 18-degree weather, though!

(It's hard to tell, unfortunately, but the curving black lines are rebar protruding from another, closer wall.)

Blokus

The end of a game of Blokus I played with a few friends.

I was yellow.

New Jacket

Michelle got a new jacket a few days ago and wanted some pictures; I, of course, love both helping and getting some practice shooting!

Hair Time

Hazel had fun helping brush Michelle's hair.

Focused

Hazel was rather intent on a bag she discovered.

Blizzard

Yesterday the buzz was all about how a huge blizzard was on the way, and was going to hit last night. One of my friends put it this way: "They said this was big! That we wouldn't see another like it for years to come!"

Most people were a little underwhelmed.

Vagrant Leaf

Leaves seem awfully eager to invade my workplace. We do try to keep the carpet clean...but it doesn't take long to get a pack of itinerants.

Guitar Head

I thought my roommate's guitar might make a fun subject with a suitable backdrop, and then I added bounced flash (I tried several different directions) to find the lighting I liked best. (The backdrop is a blurred-out, underexposed T-shirt, by the way.)

Scene of the Crime

I made sugar cookies with a friend tonight. Ominously. (Or did the photo turn out more surreal than ominous?)

Porch Arch

The arch over this house's front porch kind of jumped out at me as I was walking past today. Perhaps it was due to the strong geometry combined with the stark contrast between the porch's white and the siding's green.

Slightly Premature

I saw these Christmas trees lines up outside a supermarket today and was a little surprised. I can't imagine that they'll last very well all the way up until Christmas! I suppose some people will try anyway, though.

I have to admit, I took this photo mainly to play with one of the features of a new lens: image stabilization. I took the shot at 1/10s, f/2.8, and 17mm (26mm full-frame equivalent). Even with the somewhat-short focal length, there's no way I would've had a chance of getting something reasonably sharp at 1/10s without it. Finally, I was most of the way through importing the photo before I realized I also used an ISO of 1600, and didn't even do any noise reduction. The D200 does better at high ISO than I thought!

Dead Wood, Living Wood

I find that sometimes, going around behind businesses, cutting through parking lots, and going down alleys lets you see shots you wouldn't find otherwise. I liked the texture and color of this fence, but it needed something else to go with it.

Sunset Tree

I'm curious what, exactly, these bud-like things are: it seems far too late for them to be actual buds of some type, or shriveled-up flowers.

Cannot Be Hid

I know I've done several building-at-night photos lately, but I simply couldn't pass on posting this one of the Provo temple, lit up at night. It's too beautiful!

Bronze Brigham

I like his gaze. The sculptor of this statue of Brigham Young (which stands in front of the old Brigham Young Academy building, now the Provo Library at Academy Square) did a good job.

Isn't She Lovely?

One of my gorgeous sisters patiently let me practice portraits on her. In the end, this one was my favorite. Thanks to her for being willing, for having good ideas for poses, and for being my sister!

Parallelograms

I liked the geometric patterns here, as well as the color contrasts.

Maeser at Night

The Karl G. Maeser building lit up at night.