Today I learned about camera tossing and had to give it a try.

BFD

I downloaded a photoshop action from a site called deviantart and left a comment which included a link to my blog.  Georgina Illingworth from Leeds, Yorkshire, UK downloaded that same action and followed the link to my blog.  She left a comment on Day 114 with a link to her blog, A Message In A Milk Bottle where I found a link to a site called Lost and Taken which offers free textures.  My desire to use a texture led me to take this photo.  Isn't the internet cool?  

If you're from a country other than the United States I'd love for you to leave a comment and introduce yourself.  Blogger provides some basic stats so I know you're out there.  Today I had a page view from Slovenia.  In the last week I've had seven page views from Belgium,  and I've had a total of 73 page views from Germany since I started the blog. 

Thanks for the comment Georgina and I hope you get your spider problem under control.

This guy was pretty comfortable with me getting close so I was able to get several variations.  I'll post some more in the "Read More".

I was complaining to the kids that I didn't know what to take a picture of and they said, "Do something abstract".  

Craigslist came through.  I sold my truck tonight.  Probably would have been a better picture if I had asked Travis from Galesburg if I could take his picture in front of the truck but this is what I have.

Sister/Brother, Madison 13, Logan 10

This came out better than I expected.  I got the idea from Ulrich Collette

Quarrel

There are many reasons people do a 365 project.  For me, it's an exercise to try to overcome perfectionism.  I wanted to do a 365 long before I ever tried it.  My main reason for not trying was that some days the pictures would suck.  Then someone pointed out that by avoiding the bad pictures I was also missing out on the good ones.  Day 24 is a good example of that.  So, here is a bad one that it pains me to post but it's the best I have.  For more about constraints fueling creativity check out this video.

Waiting for supper off the grill.

My only night at the fair this year.

I seem to be drawn to doors and windows.

County Fair week means a collection of bracelets.  This will always be a memorable fair as it was the year President Obama stopped by.  No pictures of that though.  We were already on the road to Great America when he rolled into town.

Spent the day at Six Flags Great America.  I didn't bring my camera in because I didn't want to lose it on the roller coasters but on the way home I got a shot at another Andrew Bush style car portrait.

Cheerleaders team photo

Jr Tackle Football pictures.

It seems like these moons are more impressive to the naked eye than they are in a photo.  

Chase Jarvis posted a weekend photo challenge on his blog to make a driving portrait similar to those found in the book "Drive" by Andrew Bush.  It turned out to be more difficult than I expected but here is my entry.  You can see Andrew's photos at andrewbush.net

Clinton, IA

These aren't skydivers.  They have some sort of fan behind them so they can fly around.

French Creek Park

Back yard wildlife

I had a different idea for today but it didn't work out.  I decided to use this picture instead which I originally only took to see how close-up portraits look with my point and shoot.  In the end, I like the way it turned out.

Is Day 100 a mile-stone? "Read More" for a bonus picture.

Shabbona Lake State Park

I wanted to stay and get more pictures of other butterflies but the mosquitos were terrible today.

It seems lately when I don't know what else to do I go close-up.

In 2004 I photographed my first train.  For a couple years I did quite a bit of train photography but I have since gotten away from it.  I think tonight may have rekindled that old fire.

Playing Buzz Word.  I have been looking for a photo that looks good using this Photoshop action.  It's designed to look like slide film that has been processed in print film chemistry.  I like what it does to the skin tones but the rest of the photo usually goes ugly.  I finally found one that worked.

A wasp trying to move in above the thermometer.  I knocked it down after I took the photo.

This blog is part photography project and part visual diary.  This isn't a great photo but it will be a reminder of the time I posted my truck for sale on Craigslist.