Week 35: Happy Birthday E!

Happy Birthday E!, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Seventeen years ago on August 29th 1992 at 07:46am, we welcomed our oldest daughter to the world. She was 19" long and weighed 6lbs 3 ozs. and was almost 5 weeks early.

She amazed me then and continues to amaze me now and I cannot imagine how empty my life would be without her.

This week's photo was taken after my now 17 year old daughter opened the cellphone she wanted for her birthday. Now, if the activation would only kick in I'm sure she'd be ecstatic!

Photo Taken: August 29, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm f1.4
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Manual, Spot Metering, Auto White Balance

Week 34: 1st Grade Art & Computer Project

1st Grade Art & Computer Project, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Near the end of last school year, our 1st Graders took photos in a park with some parent volunteers. They each took one photo from far away and one close up. The close up photos were then uploaded to the student's computer in the lab and each student created 4 different colorized versions of their photo using PhotoFiltre during computer class. The photos were then printed and transferred to a canvas by the volunteer art mom.

I was happy to be given one of finished pieces by the class. If you can't tell what this is, it's a photo of some roots of a tree. The upper left version is a negative image of the original, the upper right is a sepia version with a saturation boost and the bottom two are colorized versions using hue/saturation or other adjustments.

Date Taken: August 22, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Manual, Spot Metering, Auto White Balance

Week 33: California Dance Academy 2009 Open House

California Dance Academy 2009 Open House, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

My daughter's dance studio had an open house this past weekend and I took some pictures including this one of the front of the studio.

If you live in or around the San Fernando Valley and you are looking for a dance studio, I would recommend checking out California Dance Academy

And, yes, once again my Friday Foto (Phriday Photo) was not taken on a Friday!

Date Taken: August 15, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 32 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Program AE

I used a combination of Program AE & Manual for the shots I took during the Open House.

Week 32: Shooting the Moon

Shooting the Moon, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

This week I had intended to take a picture of my oldest daughter at the first college we toured but I forgot my camera. I had happened to take some shots of the moon because some of my friends were posting moon shots so I thought I'd share one of those this week.

The longest lens I own is an old Sigma 70-300 that I had with my old 35mm Canon. It doesn't really work with my new digital SLRs. I can only shoot with it if I have the lens wide open so while I would have preferred to shoot this at about f11, I had to settle for f5.6.

Date Taken: August 7, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Sigma DL 75-300mm f4-5.6
Exposure: 1/200
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off
Exposure Program: Manual

If you are interested in more of my moon shots, you can see them in my Facebook Moon Shots Album.

Week 31: Summer Work

Summer Work, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Even though I teach, I don't have summers off. I have to spend time in the lab getting it ready for the next year and at 1-2 hours for each computer that takes awhile not to mention lesson plans and other things for the next year. I am also in charge of the school web site which needs updates during the summer including changes to the Student-Parent Handbooks which I am currently working on and is the subject of this week's photo.

Once again, not taken on Friday. On Friday I was at a taping of Ruby & The Rockits and they don't allow cameras so I didn't even bring mine.

Date Taken: August 2, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/125
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 65 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual

I also took a series of shots of Nemo in one of his favorite spots. He loves to sit on top of the chair in the office when someone is working on the computer. Here's a slideshow of some of the shots I took of him.