Photos as I Like It

New 2012 Photo Challenge: Reflections

2012-01-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

It's time to start up this year's photo challenge. After last year's ambitious photo a week with 52 crayola colors, we're scaling back to a more manageable plan this year of 12 shots, 1/month. This year's subject is reflections, but in order to have a similar theme in all of our work, we have a primary structure/object that the reflection should appear in each month.

Here is the plan for the year:
January: Building
February: Mirror
March: Water
April: Beverage
May: Glasses (Eyeglasses, drinking glasses, etc)
June: Object (silverware, etc)
July: Statue
August: Vehicle
September: Window
October: Furniture
November: Monitor/TV
December: Holiday Item

I'm looking forward to seeing how we all represent this years theme. There may even be a few more people playing along and sharing their photography.

Crayola Challenge: Yellow Green

2012-01-02T18:44:00.000-08:00

And, done. I have now completed all photos for this year's challenge of 52 Crayola colors. Thank you to Molly and Sarah for playing and inspiring me all year.

Crayola Challenge: Yellow

2012-01-02T18:40:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Wisteria

2012-01-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Wild Strawberry

2012-01-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: White

2012-01-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Vivid Tangerine

2012-01-02T18:35:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Violet Red

2012-01-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

I love this photo of Maddie enjoying a popsicle on the beach and have been wanting to use it for some time.

Crayola Challenge: Violet

2012-01-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Turquoise Blue

2012-01-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Spring Green

2012-01-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

I took this photo when I was on a short vacation in Colorado back in October. This shot specifically was taken in Nederland, a small town outside of Boulder in the mountains. I love the leaves and the white bark of the aspens.

Crayola Challenge: Sky Blue

2012-01-01T23:11:00.000-08:00

This is actually the very first photo I took in this year's colors photo challenge, back when I was looking for Aquamarine. It wasn't at close to a match, but I held onto it, hoping it'd come into use later. I think it works nicely for sky blue.

Crayola Challenge: Silver

2012-01-01T13:10:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite buildings in Los Angeles, the Disney Concert Hall. I love all the different angles and the way the sky reflects. It's supposed to look like a rose if you are able to view it from above, Mrs. Disney's favorite flower.

Crayola Challenge: Sepia

2012-01-01T13:07:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Sea Green

2012-01-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

Over Labor Day weekend on my traditional trip to Seattle, Galen and I decided to take a short destination trip first and headed out to Port Townsend (see earlier posts http://blog.cyrenahillyard.com/2011/08/port-townsend-wa.html and http://blog.cyrenahillyard.com/2011/09/western-washington-from-spit-to.html from selects from that trip). On the way back we took the ferry to Whidbey Island so we could drive over Deception Pass.

Crayola Challenge: Salmon

2012-01-01T13:02:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Royal Purple

2012-01-01T12:56:00.000-08:00

This photo of Marin on her birthday in the royal chair and with crown is just perfect for "royal purple".

Crayola Challenge: Red Violet

2011-12-31T17:14:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of Marin and Makenna enjoying the ocean even on a cold chilly day in September. Despite the chilly day we enjoyed a cousins BBQ with the Eltings.

Crayola Challenge: Red Orange

2011-12-31T17:12:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Red

2011-12-31T17:11:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Plum

2011-12-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

This is a small piece of the City of South Pasadena's self-built float. South Pas has a long tradition of building the cities Rose Parade float by city residents and no large companies. It's always something fun and playful.

Crayola Challenge: Pine Green

2011-12-30T12:28:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Periwinkle

2011-12-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Orchid

2011-12-29T22:24:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Orange

2011-12-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Olive Green

2011-12-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

Western Washington... from Spit to Glaciers.

2011-09-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

On my second day in the Port Townsend (extended) area, we drove a little west and first went to the Dungeness Spit, the world's longest natural sand spit. After lunch and a walk along the beach, we headed into the mountains to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. From this ridge, only 17 miles, pretty much straight up, we could see a view of the Olympic Mountains on one side and the Juan de Fuca Strait and Canada on the other side.

The path downhill to the Spit winds through a small forested area before dropping you out onto a small sliver of land heading straight out into open water (below).

After our 17 mile drive into the Olympic National Park, we reached Hurricane Ridge with this incredible view of the Olympic Mountains, where if you look closely in this first photo and the one below you can see the glaciers.

A fairly tame black-tailed deer fawn was eating by the side of the road with two other older deer. I used a telephoto lens, but I'm not really that far from where they were hanging out. They ate a little, watched the humans watch them and wandered on their way.

Port Townsend, WA

2011-08-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on the blog, and even longer since I've posted something that wasn't for the colors photo challenge. I'm taking a mini vacation in the Port Townsend, WA area for a couple days before I enjoy the usual visit to Bumbershoot over Labor Day weekend. I found a lot to photograph so far on the first day and had a chance to review them and felt like getting these favorites posted right away. The first photo is of the Point Wilson Lighthouse in Port Townsend right near Fort Worden, which is the second two photos. There are actually two buildings in the lighthouse photo, a small office/museum building in the front and the lighthouse behind it, but I liked the merged version. The Fort is where there filmed An Officer and a Gentleman. The last photo is taken from the beach outside the cottage I'm staying. This is right on Discovery Bay, just a couple miles outside of Port Townsend. The sky was beautiful and the bay so calm. I was the only person out there for awhile until this kayaker made his way along the coast and into my photo.

P.S. I think I found olive green at the Fort, and hope to catch up soon with my colors.

Crayola Challenge: Midnight and Navy Blue

2011-07-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

Midnight blue and Navy blue are so close in color, it's a very subtle difference. So, I've decided to go with this photo as a combo for the two colors. Navy blue is the slightly brighter blue of the darker colors in this piece. Midnight blue is the darkest color. The photo is of one of the many pieces in the Art in the Street exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary in downtown LA.

Crayola Challenge: Melon

2011-06-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

I love the mix of detail and softness in this photo and it overall just has a sense of the color "melon".

Crayola Challenge: Mahogany

2011-06-25T10:12:00.000-07:00

A little something different for mahogany. I took this photo of a wall mural at Fairyland, a children's playground in Oakland. Mahogany is the color of the middle fairies pants, and I felt the soft border was appropriate for this threesome of fairies.

Crayola Challenge: Maroon

2011-06-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

I love this shot of a butterfly I took at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens butterfly pavilion. It really shows what my macro lens can do. The detail is just incredible. And, I was inspired by my friend Slade to enter some photos into a contest for the first time, and as soon as I saw this image I knew I had something I wanted to share. If you like it as much as I do, please vote for me in the National Wildlife Federation photo contest.

Crayola Challenge: Magenta

2011-06-25T09:06:00.000-07:00

I really like the reflection of the neon lights on the sign in this one.

Crayola Challenge: Lavender

2011-06-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

I struggled with lavender for awhile, as like Molly I was surprised how pink the lavender crayon is and not what I expected. I tried several different shots and finally decided on this one of my pillow case.

Crayola Challenge: Jungle Green

2011-06-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Makenna asked to do a "photo shoot" at the park last weekend. She was very cute, picking the spot at the park and her multiple poses. I've been looking for jungle green for awhile now, and just realized the color of the jungle gym in this photo is a good match.

Trip to Fairyland

2011-06-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

I love this series of shots of my niece Makenna from last weekend at Fairyland...

Pre-Fairyland, all glamor and ready to go.

At Fairyland, enjoying the rides.

Post Fairyland, all worn out.

Crayola Challenge: Green

2011-05-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Gray

2011-05-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Gold

2011-05-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across the annual Concorso Ferrari show on Colorado Boulevard last weekend, and took many photos of this car trying to see if it would work for one of my green colors, but then found the gold exhaust pipes.

Crayola Challenge: Fuchsia

2011-05-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Forest Green

2011-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

So Grown Up...

2011-05-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Dandelion

2011-04-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Cornflower

2011-04-17T22:54:00.000-07:00

I moved recently, and in the process of packing and unpacking all my stuff, I've definitely been rediscovering the things I own, giving me an opportunity to find many new items to photograph for the Crayola challenge. This is a soy sauce dish for use when eating sushi.

Crayola Challenge: Copper

2011-04-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

I found this candle stand in a jumble of sale items at the local nursery. It all seemed so unexpected and out of context, but I loved the setting and pile of stuff that had nothing to do with a nursery.

Macro Flowers and Leaves

2011-04-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

I went to the Huntington Gardens this past weekend to test out this amazing new macro lens I was recently given, and these are a few of my favorites. I really enjoy taking macro photos and looking at ordinary objects in a new way.

Crayola Challenge: Chestnut

2011-04-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

Taken in the Chinese Gardens at the Huntington Gardens.

Crayola Challenge: Cerulean

2011-03-27T23:13:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Carnation Pink

2011-03-27T22:00:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Cadet Blue

2011-03-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

Crayola Challenge: Brown

2011-02-28T21:35:00.000-08:00

I took this picture of stacked crates a couple of weeks ago thinking it might be bittersweet, but I quickly learned bittersweet was really part of the orange family. I like the little bit of yellow peeking through the stack, so was happy to realize this would work for brown.

Please welcome a new player to the photo challenge and check out Lindsay's blog.

Crayola Challenge: Brick Red

2011-02-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

This is a small section of one of my favorite teacups given to me after my Grandma died. I always loved the teacup set she had and it reminds me of her having it hanging in my house. I was very excited when I realized this would work for one of my photo picks in this challenge.

Crayola Challenge: Blue Green

2011-02-13T21:07:00.000-08:00

This was one of the 600-700 "Common Dolphins" I saw out on a boat last week. It was really amazing to see so many of them, and how they liked to swim along with the boat. As a bonus to my color entry, here is a video I took of them swimming along.

P.S. If you're following closely the original list of colors, you may notice I skipped blue gray. We've discovered it's very difficult to find the right photo without being able to actually draw something with the crayon, and blue gray is one of the colors that Crayola retired awhile back. We will be updating the list with the replacement colors, final selections TBD.

P.P.S. Molly has joined in the fun of the photo challenge, check out her blog postings here.

Crayola Challenge: Blue

2011-02-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Black

2011-02-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is an old favorite of Johnny, but the photo I've wanted to use for black since I knew I would be doing this photo challenge. It's actually one of the first digital photos I took when I received my first DSLR.

Crayola Challenge: Bittersweet

2011-02-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

Crayola Challenge: Aquamarine

2011-01-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

I've started a new photo challenge for 2011, Crayola Colors. Having completed the alphabet challenge last year, Sarah and I decided to do a color challenge, but not just any colors, the original box of 64 Crayola Crayon colors. We've removed 12 colors so that we have 52, 1 per week. We're a bit behind, but we'll catch up somewhere along the way. Come back regularly for updates to see the rest of the list:

Aquamarine
Bittersweet
Black
Blue
Blue Gray
Blue Green
Brick Red
Brown
Cadet Blue
Carnation Pink
Chestnut
Copper
Cornflower
Forest Green
Gold
Gray
Green
Green Blue
Lavender
Lemon Yellow
Magenta
Mahogany
Maize
Maroon
Melon
Midnight Blue
Mulberry
Navy blue
Olive Green
Orange
Orange Red
Orchid
Periwinkle
Pine Green
Plum
Raw Umber
Red
Red Orange
Red Violet
Salmon
Sea Green
Sepia
Silver
Sky Blue
Spring Green
Turquoise Blue
Violet (Purple)
Violet Blue
Violet Red
White
Yellow
Yellow Green

ABC Challenge Completed: Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z!

2010-12-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is long overdue, but here are the final photos of the alphabet photo challenge I've been working on this year. Computer problems and travels slowed down the postings, but I'm now happy to share my final picks for Q through Z. These photos were taken in many places new and familiar to me, from Wyoming to Portland and Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Location: Moose, Wyoming

Location: Cannon Beach, Oregon

Location: Los Angeles Zoo

Location: Mark Taper Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Location: Downtown Portland, OR

Location: San Francisco Airport

Location: Union Square, San Francisco, CA

Location: Downtown Portland, OR

Location: Emeryville, CA

Location: Muir Woods, CA

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

A walk on the beach.

2010-11-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, OR

Yellowstone Photo Workshop

2010-09-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few picks from the recent photo workshop I took in Yellowstone... more to come soon when I am home and have a chance to do some post processing work.

Bumbershoot 2010: a great night under the Space Needle

2010-09-05T09:43:00.000-07:00

ABC Challenge: P

2010-08-31T22:37:00.000-07:00

ABC Challenge: O

2010-08-15T19:12:00.000-07:00

Buddy

2010-08-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was able to meet my friends, Heather and Kristin's, dog Buddy. He is a very sweet and well trained puppy. The early morning light (we were up for the 3-Day for the Cure opening ceremony, pre-sunrise) created a really nice glow on his golden lab fur.

Selects from the Worldwide Photo Walk

2010-07-31T19:58:00.000-07:00

A few favorites from the Worldwide Photo Walk last weekend. Last year I did a downtown LA walk and this year headed a little north to Ventura to explore a new area.

ABC Challenge: N

2010-07-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Found the latest in the ABC Challenge in Ventura this past weekend while I attended a photo walk as part of the third annual worldwide photo walk. This was part of a series of carnival rides that were parked and waiting to be set up for the Ventura County Fair.

ABC Challenge: M

2010-07-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

ABC Challenge: L

2010-07-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-04T23:56:00.000-07:00

Congratulations and Welcome to the new addition to the Farley's Family!

2010-06-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

The new Farley's on 65th is celebrating their grand opening today. If you live in the Bay Area, be sure to stop by and see the new place in Emeryville. They are already getting great reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/farleys-on-65th-emeryville-2.

ABC Challenge: K

2010-06-24T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here is my "K". I had fun fiddling with settings in PhotoShop with this image to enhance the old wood feel and help bring out the rope to really show the K.

ABC Challenge: J

2010-06-24T22:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, I'm posting my "J" in the ABC Challenge. I'm a bit late, and have been holding out for something that felt more like a J, but I like this shot and it's time to move on to the rest of the alphabet. Many letters still to come.

Happy 4th Birthday, Malia...

2010-06-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Now stop growing up, please!

Happy 10th Birthday, Koji.

2010-06-06T19:25:00.000-07:00

10 years olds are not fans of posing for the camera.

ABC Challenge: I

2010-05-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

I thought up this letter "i" after attending my friend Claudia's wedding. This is a small part of the table center piece, including one of the red tulips that were the main flower throughout.

Thanks for the color effects help Sarah.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Makenna

2010-05-08T18:08:00.000-07:00

Practicing for her big moment.

Congratulations, Claudia and John!

2010-05-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

ABC Challenge: H

2010-04-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

I actually posted this photo a few days ago when I was in South Carolina and really liked the irony of the new fire hydrant in front of all that remained of a burnt down house. After I posted it, a friend noticed there is an "H" in the photo, and now that I see it too, I like it and haven't found anything better, so I'm re-posting this as the latest installment in the ABC Challenge.

Swinging Fun

2010-04-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

There is something I love about this series of photos, even though I didn't capture Maddie's face that well, but the pure joy of being 3 and on a swing with her candy ring.

ABC Challenge: G

2010-04-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

A day late and not my favorite letter, but here is the next installment in the ABC challenge series. I will admit this one took a bit of styling to create, and was oddly inspired by the Jamba Juice logo.

Stella and Molly

2010-04-10T18:27:00.000-07:00

International Pillow Fight Day: Downtown Los Angeles

2010-04-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

ABC Challenge: F

2010-03-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

This was taken at the Gamble House in Pasadena. I figured the Greene and Greene masterpiece of the arts and crafts movement had to have a few lines that might work for me, and I was very pleased with this light.

ABC Challenge: E

2010-03-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

Ford Twin I Beam

2010-03-14T18:19:00.000-07:00

Little League Opening Day

2010-03-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

My favorites from Costa Rica

2010-03-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

ABC Challenge: D

2010-02-20T10:21:00.001-08:00

I am posting my ABC Challenge early this month, since I'm off to Costa Rica for eight days. I found this staring straight at me during my flight home from DC last week.

There will be no postings while I'm gone, but I'm sure there will be plenty of photos to share when I return.

ABC Challenge: C

2010-02-14T20:33:00.000-08:00

Interestingly, C was harder to find and take a good photo of than A or B. I decided to go with a very script version of a C. I hope you're all enjoying the challenge, it has been great for me to have an assignment to work on.

Stormy Sky

2010-02-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

Coloring requires concentration.

2010-02-07T12:47:00.001-08:00

Cake?

2010-02-06T13:07:00.000-08:00

ABC Challenge: B

2010-01-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the next installment in my series of finding images to represent the letters of the alphabet. Spent a lot of time with my nieces, ages 2, 3 and 4 this weekend, and there was many a tiara lying around, but not until late this afternoon did I see the shape of a B when playing with the angles. Be sure to check out my friend Sarah's version of B as well.

Happy Birthday Marin

2010-01-30T21:25:00.000-08:00

Where's the ball?

2010-01-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

ABC Challenge: A

2010-01-09T23:06:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to start a new year long project along with my friend Sarah over at Muro Fiore. As suggested by her brother J, every two weeks we must find an object that looks or represents the next letter of the alphabet (this could be a building, a tree branch, a fence, etc...). A turned out to be easier than I thought, and I'm already thinking ahead to B, which I think will be a bit harder.

Please feel free to provide suggestions for any letter(s), I'd love to hear your ideas and comments.

A girl and her dog.

2010-01-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

A boy and his dog.

2010-01-03T10:00:00.000-08:00

A few last Christmas lights.

2010-01-02T09:00:00.000-08:00