Photo Challenge

One of my New Year's Resolutions or Goals was to get to know

 my new camera a little better. 

 I found a 30 Day Photo Challenge on Pinterest

 and decided to give it a try.  

 I'm only about half way through, 

have skipped a few days here and will post more pictures later,

 and there may be some that I simply will not be able to do

 because I don't have the right software or hardware.  

Sooooooo here we go.......

Day One

Self-Portrait 

(For this, the hardest challenge so far, I set up the tri-pod

 and used the timer on my camera. 

 I shot pictures for two hours 

and every time I went back to my camera

 to check the results,

 some old woman 

had jumped in front of me and was on the viewfinder. 

 I finally gave up and let her stay.)

Day Three

Black & White

(This old phone should just be photographed in black and white,

don't you think?)

Day Four

Texture

(This was fun - texture was everywhere and I can't pick just one)

 (Krumkake - pronounced Crum Ca Ca

 - a Norwegian North Dakotan Delicacy)

(Snow - a North Dakotan Normalcy)

(A Frosted Spruce Tree)

Day 5

High Angle

(View from the top of the stairs

-stairs that still need refinishing, I might add)

Day 6

Low Angle

(Can you guess what it is?

It's how my kitchen light looks from the floor!)

Day 7

Silhouette

 (Trees silhouetted in a sunrise

across the street from my house)

Day 8

Sunset

(This day I drove west in the snow and chased the sun 

until I finally got a few good shots

Then while home in Texas

I found another sunset out behind my house where 

yard chairs were waiting for friends to join me)

Day Nine

Bokeh

(Bokeh, as explained in my tutorial, 

is the "aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas of a photograph",

-it has something to do with a thing on the camera called aperture.

All I know is that focusing on something green in the kitchen window 

is much better than focusing on endless winter)

Day Ten

Lens Flare

(Oh, this is the most fun!

On this overcast day, I walked around the block trying to get some lens flare

but I wasn't tough enough for however cold it was

and the kind of clothes I was wearing,

so I tried it inside

with awesome results.  See also Day 8 for another lens flare)

Day Eleven

Landscape

(Winter landscapes in North Dakota are sort of monotone

but I found more contrasts 

south of the river in the Roosevelt National Park

where buffalo still roam)

Day Twelve

Portrait

(This is Copper

wondering why I wasn't throwing his ball...

and this is precious Elijah

two weeks before his successful life-saving heart surgery)

Day Fourteen

Light Painting

(typical night scenery in Western North Dakota

 -pump jacks lit by natural gas flares.)

Day Eighteen

Frame within a Frame

 (which also qualifies under day 1

 Self Portrait)

I'm learning a little about my camera and photography in general,

but still can't quite figure out how to 

make aperture, shutter speed, and iso

work together.

And what is that f thing?

But I want 

you to know

that I know

that 

National Geographic

is not going to be knocking on my door -

ever.

But I do appreciate YOU for stopping by!

I hope your life if full of breath taking sunsets, 

 and 

lovely landscapes.