A Year In The Life Of My Traveling Camera

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Week Sixteen

102/365
Puzzles are now the hit in our house!

103/365
I got out of the shower one day and found Artem in one of his toy tubs singing, happy as a clam.

104/365

105/365
I saw the moon on our walk home (our building is on the right) and thought it was neat the way it was peaking between the buildings.

106/365
Cars are the big thing for Emiratis. The faster, shinnier, more expensive, the better. This new Lamborghini was parked outside the Ministry of Education. Go figure?!

107/365
The next day at breakfast, we saw someone's Rolls Royce parked up front in the "special lot". Wonder why they didn't park our Mercury Mountaineer in this parking lot??

108/365
Wanna guess who dressed Artem today?

Week Fifteen

95/365
Just practicing taking low-light pictures without a flash. I took this as the sun was almost gone and behind a building, but was practicing with different ISO settings.

96/365
Nothing fancy, just the low light settings again.

97/365
Emirates Presidential Palace. I could have stayed here all day taking pictures. Absoultely beautiful!!

98/365

I can't pick one picture for this day. These are SOC shots and I did not do any touchups whatsoever, as evidenced by the dust on my sensor (which I'll get cleaned when I get back to the states). Anyway, this is Earth Day and I don't think mother nature could have given us a prettier day to experience. The colors today were sooooo vibrant!!

99/365

I love photographing strong, old trees.

100/365

I made it to 100! Woo hoo!

We went to Heritage Village and even though it was closed, it still provided me some great things to photograph.

101/365

Week Fourteen

89/365

90/365
At my photography class we were practicing "panning" where you focus on one bright item (like a red car) and move the camera with it as it moves. It turns out really cool, the one red car is focussed while the rest of the cars are streaked. So the instructor tells us that the day we practice panning, we won't be able to find a red car, it'll only be dull color cars. He told us we'd wait forever but won't find a bright car. He jinxed me!! The day I tried to practice panning, I waited...and waited...and waited, but no bright cars. I finally snapped this picture because I thought it was so funny that I couldn't find a bright car just like my instructor said.

91/365

Plumeria on my kitchen table.

92/365

Practicing night photography without a flash. Still have a long way to go. A tripod would help too!

93/365

This is just a random picture that I found amusing. A whole display of American flags in the middle of Abu Dhabi.

93/365

This boat washed up onshore while I was taking pictures of Artem playing in the sand. It practically begged me to take it's picture.

94/365
The key to any good party...FOOD!

Week Thirteen

82/365

83/365
My goal this week was to practice shooting plants and flowers. At my photography course in Dubai my instructor suggested we pick one thing for the week and take pictures of only that subject, so by the end of the week we'll be better at that particular subject.

84/365
Boy vs. Stairs...Stairs 1, Boy 0

85/365

86/365

87/365

88/365
Yes, I know he's not a plant, but how could you pass up that face?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Week Twelve

75/365
Women's mosque. The men and women have seperate mosques. Men are expected to pray five times per day and just before it is time to pray, a man comes on a loudspeaker at the mosque and recites what sounds like a very loud prayer/song in Arabic letting everyone know it's time to get to the mosque to pray.

76/365

77/365
One of the things I love about Abu Dhabi is how green it is. When we first moved here, I preferred Dubai b/c it was more "westernized" but now that I have spent more time here in Abu Dhabi, I actually prefer it to Dubai. It's a much prettier city and they do an excellent job of keeping everything very green and well manicured.

78/365

Happy One Year Court Day! Artem was given a new motorcycle in honor of our one year anniversary for our court date in Moscow. This is the exact motorcycle that we bought him last October but that one is in Texas right now and he was really missing it. What can I say, Daddy's got a soft spot??

79/365

Today I attended my photogrpahy course in Dubai and learned so much from my awesome instructor. He helped me learn a lot about metering, ISO settings, shutter speeds, and the need for a tripod. He made us shoot everything on "manual" and I'm not scared of the "M" on my camera anymore and have shot exclusively in "manual" mode since I took the class. Now I've got to practice, practice, practice and I'd love to take another class at some point and build on my new foundation. I hope there is a difference in my pictures now that I've taken a basic course.
80/365

One of several pools at the Atlantis hotel we stayed at in Dubai.

81/365

The flowers at the Atlantis were breath taking!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Week Eleven

68/365
This is the nail that broke while Randy was hammering and shot into my eye.

69/365
No pictures today b/c I was in the doctor's office again for my eye.

70/365
Artem is determined to conquer this wall. (Our live-in maid is helping Artem)

71/365
My favorite thing about Abu Dhabi is bendy straws!! I'm serious. All the restaurants have bendy straws and I love them.

72/365
My newest obessession...The Noodle House...a chinesse restaurant in Abu Dhabi. You mark your order on the form with the noodle shaped pens. The food is delicious and I ate duck for the first time in my life and I loved it!

73/365
Ever get the feeling you are being watched?

74/365

This crane is HUGE and was right outside our window. It was lifting up pre-formed cement slabs to create the dome of the new mosque they are building next to our building.