Finding My Zen

Day 55: Finding My Zen, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was Illustrate your idea of peace and harmony--or maybe just peace and quiet--today with a photograph. This is my attempt at illustrating peace and harmony.

I can often find inner peace and calm through music and this song, Some Good Years, just puts me in a good place. The harmony part? Well, have you heard The Cowsills sing? Definitely harmony!

Date Taken: February 24, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 1/320
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Do You Know What I Am?

Day 32: Do You Know What I Am?, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

So, I hadn't taken my photo for the day and didn't want to use Nemo as the subject again (though I know I will in the future) so I decided to take some pictures of one of my favorite things.

It hangs around my neck on a lanyard along with my school keys every school day. There are days I just couldn't teach without it. My younger students think it's really funny and many of them think it's a pen. It's way more reflective than I thought it would be.

Do you know what it is? It's my USB flash drive! I have other flash drives but this is the one I use most of the time because I always know where it is since it's hanging around my neck. That reminds me, time to put it back on the lanyard.

Date Taken: February 1, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 85mm 1.8
Exposure Program: Manual
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Mouse & Keyboard and Mouse & Keyboard and ...

Mouse & Keyboard and Mouse & Keyboard and ..., originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

When I saw the Daily Shoot assignment for the day was Make a photograph that features repetition., I immediately thought of the repeating computers, keyboard, mice, etc. in the lab.

Date Taken: January 31, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure Program: Manual
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 640
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Week 12: Shopping Anyone?

Yes, these are all mine. I know I can't be the only one with this problem. I love gift cards but the problem with them is ... if I don't spend the entire amount the first time I use them then I lose track of the balance left on them. Honestly, I have no idea what's left on at least half of these cards. I've tried:

Keeping the last sales slip with the card so I always have the balance but I either lose them or I end up with way too many little slips of paper in my wallet or purse so I throw them away.


Keeping a list in my purse of all the cards I have and their current balance. I either lose that or forget to update it and then I'm right back where I started.

So, I end up with lots of cards with some kind of balance on them that I don't use. Why don't I? Well, I don't carry much cash so if I'm buying something for $20 lets say and I don't know the balance then I worry that it will be almost enough to cover it and that I'll have to charge some really tiny amount to make up the difference.

Someone needs to invent something to keep track of all of these that you can carry with you and easily use. I know!! We need a small electronic device that you can just run the card through and it will tell you your balance! Okay, so maybe we don't need yet another device to carry with us. So, how about some kind of app for the iPhone or iTouch that lets you keep track of them easily? Of course then I'd need the iPhone or iTouch. Hmmm, do I have a gift card that would work for that?

Date Taken: March 20, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/7.1
Focal Length: 71 mm
ISO Speed: 640
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Day 41: My Favorite Things #5

Don't you just love technology? I know I do. When I first started working with computers, I worked on mini-computers for business that were the size of a washing machine or bigger and had 40 MB (yes megabyte) drives and main frames that took up entire rooms that needed their own air conditioners! It simply amazes me how small storage devices have gotten. Today's picture is of one of the flash drives I use to take data back and forth to school or between machines that we don't have networked (yet) here at home. Before flash drives I would have to burn a CD to transfer files - this is much faster and holds a ton more. I love it! This photo was taken outside using a piece of purple paper as a backdrop.

Date Taken: February 10, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 63 mm
ISO Speed: 125
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 35: My Favorite Things #1

This week, as the song goes, you'll be seeing pictures of a few of my favorite things. First up is my iPod nano. For this shot, I took a piece of lime green paper outside and set my iPod and headphones on it and snapped this shot.

Date Taken: February 4, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 4 - The View From Here

Today was an uninspiring day photographically speaking - rainy & cold (and I don't take my new camera out in rainy) and children who groaned "not more pictures" when they saw me grab my camera. So, I'm sharing what I see each night as I sit at my desk surfing the web, uploading photos, looking for inspiration, etc.

Date Taken: January 4, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Flash: Flash did not fire