60/366 - "Happy Leap Year"

Starting the leaping party!

Liftoff... at least for Jonah anyway.

Ready for the next leap.

It is amazing how hard it is for a toddler to jump.  
Harper kept trying until I got the shot.

So since I picked to do this 365 Project on a leap year I actually feel obligated to provide 366 photographs.  Today is the day you get an extra photograph and with that in mind here is a series of photographs celebrating leap year.

Also, as an added bonus if you click over to the Other Stuff site I posted the before from day 58.

59/366 - "Time Out"

(F/4, 24mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Harper likes to play with her dolls like any nice little girl.  Tonight her friend (doll) bit her and had to spend some time in the "Time Out" chair. 

58/366 - "Morning Sky"

(F/8, 24mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

While we were getting ready to head out this morning I looked out the back windows to checked out the sky.  It was a great sky with pinks, blues, and a nice golden color.  I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple photographs.  Luckily one of them turned out nicely.  Unfortunately the view from the street to the tree tops is ugly, littered with houses, telephone poles, and wires.  So I am forced to crop the bottom out of the photograph. 

57/366 - "Early Flowers"

(F/10, 100mm, 1/200 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

We have had an extremely mild winter to date and I hope this continues.  Our neighbor has a green thumb and some of her flowers have already started to come up and bloom.  This is a photograph of some of these flowers, and I can promise you more photographs of her yard as the year moves along.

56/366 - "New Glasses"

(F/4, 105mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 1250, Canon 7D)

Sue had an eye appointment today and I tagged along to pick out some new glasses too.  I think Sue's new Lady GaGa look is awesome.  We had a great time trying glasses on and working with Blake.

55/366 - "Cookie Time"

(F/7.1, 50mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

To be honest this is one of my favorite times of the year and it is because of Girl Scout Cookies.  I end up ordering from a couple different girls and get about 15-20 boxes.  Thin Mints are the best by far.  What is your favorite?

54/366 - "Party Time"

(F/4, 60mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Ever since "Fat Tuesday" Jonah is all about wearing the beads he received, and it seemed appropriate tonight as he packed for grandma's house.  Because when he goes to grandma's house it is a party, with ice cream, movies, and tons of fun.  The only problem is during this trip his little sister will be dragging him down.  Hopefully Harper can keep up with Jonah and his fast paced party style.

53/366 - "Owl"

(F/18, 100mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

I was really struggling with what to photograph tonight.  I threw the macro lens on my camera and decided to walk around the house.  I spotted these knobs on a piece of furniture and spent about 15 minutes taking pictures, messing with the light and other settings.  I like the way the final result turned out.  It looks like an owl is staring back at me.

52/366 - "King Toss"

(F/4, 24mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 2000, Canon 7D)

Today is "Fat Tuesday" and we went to the pancake dinner at St. Andrew's in Highland Park.  Our friend Greg was "lucky" enough to be selected King, which means he leads the pancake toss.  If you are not familiar with this, they line all the boys and girls up by height and race by flipping a burnt pancake over your head and the next person in line must catch this flying pancake on a paper plate.  Repeat this until the last person in line has the pancake.  This is the "King's Toss" to start the race.  I love the face on the boy in yellow.

51/366 - "Give It Back"

(F/4, 32mm, 1/125 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

After dinner the kids were acting fairly cordial towards each other while they colored.  Then Jonah had to swipe the paper from Harper's hands and it started to go down hill from there.  I took this at the beginning before she started screaming bloody murder.  If you would like to see that then head on over to my Other Stuff Blog.

50/366 - "Green Line"

(F/7.1, 102mm, 1/640 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Today while Harper was napping Jonah and I decided to go for a walk.  During the walk Jonah collected rocks, acorns, and sticks.  I collected photographs.  The one posted above is the roof line of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Oakmont.  If you would like to see a few other photographs from our walk head on over to my other blog "Other Stuff".

49/366 - "Beer"

(F/8, 24mm, 1/800 sec, ISO 500, Canon 7D)

Yesterday, I was able to take part in brewing some beer.  This photograph of day was taken during the "boil" which is towards the end of the process.  Below are several shots taken before and after the boil.  Now we have to wait 4 weeks or so until it can be bottled.

48/366 - "Green Bomb"

(F/3.5, 20mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

It is that time of year.  The Shamrock Shake is out for a limited time.  I personally hate it and think it is disgusting.  My lovely wife however loves these green ice milk bombs.  So do you love them or hate them?

On a different note, I made some changes to the blog to clean it up.  Hopefully you like the changes.

47/366 - "Numbers"

(F/8, 10mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Occasionally I will try to establish a theme during this year long process and today the theme is "Numbers".  I decided the theme earlier this week and have been trying to figure out what to shoot today.  I was walking around the house looking for interesting things to photograph.  This measuring tape is on the way to Jonah's room and we are tracking his progress as he grows.  This past October on his 5th birthday he was 43 inches tall.

I told Jim that the theme was numbers and he sent this as a guest post.  His post is of his 85mm f/1.2 L lens which I would love to own but can't really afford.  I think it is for sale, so if you are interested just leave a comment and he will see it.

46/366 - "Wedding Prep"

(F/8, 24mm, 1/125 sec, ISO 400, Canon 7D)

A friend of ours came over tonight so Sue could help her fold the programs for her upcoming wedding.  So I grabbed a quick photograph to make it the picture of the day.  Can't wait for the big day in a couple weeks.

45/366 - "Hug"

(F/5.6, 100mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Today's theme is Valentine's Day.  This thing is actually something that Sue and I purchased when we were in Ireland on our Honeymoon back in 2004.  I believe it was in the gift shop at the Cliffs of Moher.  The cliffs are amazing and when we were there you could sit on the edge if you dare.  I have heard that there are guard rails now because too many have fallen off.

44/366 - "The Answers"

We have had correct answers for both pictures so here are the answers.  Mine was the end of a bunch of bananas.  Jim's photograph was a Zippo Lighter.  Thanks for playing.  The picture for today will be up later tonight.

44/366 - "What Am I?"

(F/22, 100mm, 15 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I think this one is a little tougher.  Do you know what it is, then let me know.  I will post the answer once someone guesses correctly, either on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or on the blog itself.

In addition to my post I have a guest "What Am I?" post from Jim, which is below.  If you guess them both you get....well nothing except knowing that you guessed them both.

43/366 - "Glasses"

(F/2.2, 50mm, 1/125 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I have been wearing glasses since college.  This is the pair that I picked out a couple years ago and probably my favorite pair I own.  I will be picking out my newest pair in a couple weeks and I would like to get something similar.  You can be sure I will probably replicate this picture with my new pair in a few weeks.

42/366 - "Plum Creek"

(F/8, 50mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I had to run out and get a haircut this morning.  I decided to take my camera and drive around the neighborhood a little and find some potential snow photographs.  I was on my way home, when I spotted this scene.  This is a section of Plum Creek, that runs past a housing plan called Oakmont Commons.  The wind was blowing and it was still snowing, so I shot this from inside the car with the window down.

41/366 - "Leaves"

(F/16, 100mm, 1/250 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)
John's Editing

Jim's Editing

Original

I was working from home today and thinking about what I should photograph.  The sky was the typical Pittsburgh gray so something outside was out.  I decided to grab some leaves from the back deck and arrange and shoot them.  What makes this interesting is that I sent the RAW image to my Lightroom instructor (Jim) and we did our adjustments independently of each other.  Interestingly they are pretty close and we similar adjustments.  Mine is the top photograph and Jim's is below.  Enjoy!

40/366 - "What Am I?"

(F/22, 100mm, 4 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I was hoping with our blue skies today that I would be able to get a nice photograph of the moon tonight. Well, there was no moon tonight.  So I decided to do a "What Am I?" feature today.  The colors are accurate, so guess away.  I will post the answer tomorrow.

The Answer is:  Cat Litter

39/366 - "LEGO Army"

(F/3.5, 100mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

Jonah has been watching me do this photograph a day now for over a month, and I thought tonight he could help out.  After dinner, I asked him to get me all of the LEGO people he could find and line them up on my seamless paper.  It is mostly a Star Wars based army led by the fire chief.  He had a great time putting them all together and lining them up.  I am sure there will be more photographs inspired by his toys.

38/366 - "Eye See You"

(F/18, 100mm, 1/20 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

I thought tonight I would do another macro and my eye is the subject.  The colors are straight from the camera, no adjustments.  As my drivers license indicates my eyes are hazel in color.  I am actually quite impressed that this came out this well considering it was trial and error to get this shot.  It took about 20 tries before I could get the lighting and alignment correct.

37/366 - "Bokeh Faucet"

(F/1.4, 50mm, 1/80 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

I think the title says it all.  If you don't know what bokeh is then click the link.  This is a faucet in our powder room.  I placed a white piece of paper behind the faucet so it was not lost in the brown paint on the wall.  Add a little water and shoot.

36/366 - "Church"

(F/5.6, 10mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 200, Canon 7D)

It has been several weeks since we have been to church and this morning we went twice.  We went to our normal 9:00 AM service at St. Andrew's  and then again at St. Michael's for a baptism.  This is a picture of St. Andrew's smaller side chapel.

35/366 - "Matches"

(F/6.3, 100mm, 1/3 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I planned on doing a "What Am I?" photograph today, and I took pictures of several items.  This was one of those items.  After looking through all of the photos I liked this better as something more artistic than as a "What Am I?" shot.  I collect matches from different places we visit and I have a big bowl full of them.  These particular matches are from a restaurant on the South Side called Dish. 

34/366 - "Kerr Museum"

(F/7.1, 24mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

Today was such a gorgeous February day I decided to walk to get the kids from school.  I walk pass the Kerr Museum on my way and of course I had my camera with me.  Jonah and his class toured this museum last year and every time we walk pass it now he tells me people died in there.  I will take his word for it.

33/366 - "Lonely Boat"

(F/6.3, 50mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I worked from home today and had to run to the store at lunch time.  I took my camera with me and drove a few blocks to a new housing development being built to see if there were any photo ops.  The housing plan is right along the river and there is a great walking trail and overlook already built.  I saw this tug boat and barge traveling up the river, so I jumped out of my car, snapped a few photos and this one is my photo of the day.

32/366 - "Pulley"

(F/13, 100mm, 25 sec, ISO 100, Canon 7D)

I was tired of the same old thing and I think one of my critics is too.  This is actually a brass pulley on our grandfather clock that is in our house.  Just a square crop and a little brightening up in Lightroom.