Category: Year One

October 21st/Week 42

by FrauKlein, posted in Doods, Nature/Landscapes, Year One

Know how I love gorgeous architecture, clean lines, and strong colors in photos?  I have like 41 weeks worth of that stuff. 

Well, this post is missing all of those elements.  This week is fun with my UWA (ultra wide angle) Sigma 10-20 lens.  It’s my new toy, and it’s amazing what you can do with it.  So are these amazing photos?  Nope.  But it’s interesting glass  and it’s fun to play with! The distortion can add a lot to photos when done properly, IMO.

For instance – I can fit my entire backyard into one shot.  No, it’s not a huge yard – but I was standing in the doorway from my patio into the house when I took this. 

And you can get really funny photos of your animals, too.   Who doesn’t like a gigantic Buckley nose?  He let me get about 4 inches from his face – but of course, I had to clean off the nose prints from the filter as soon as I got too close.

And no joke – this was shot about 2 inches from Josie’s schnoz. She was a little more patient than Buckley.

So, in the end – no, I didn’t get any stellar shots this week.  But I got a chance to really play with the new lens, and I think I’ll love it a great deal for landscape and architecture shots when I get the time to get out and shoot!

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October 14th/Week 41

by FrauKlein, posted in Architecture, Family and Friends, Food, Nature/Landscapes, Year One

This week is all about D.C.  We visited a few monuments, witnessed the Occupy D.C. protest, had dinner with some friends, and then per our tradition – we made sure to visit the zoo.  We try to do that in every city we travel to because we’re dorks.  As as per the usual, I have a truly ridiculous amount of photos.  My apologies.

Architecture/Monuments:

At Union Station, it’s surprisingly lovely:

The Capitol building shot from a moving bus:

We got to visit the new Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial:

The Iwo Jima Memorial:

The Lincoln Memorial:

Washington Monument shot from the Lincoln Memorial:

Vietnam Veterans Statue:

Christopher Columbus Statue faces the Capitol building:

Even the Metro system underground is pretty architecturally interesting:

The White House:

Occupy D.C Protest:

Wildlife/Zoo:

This was a very casual elephant.

Friends, scenery, and other stuff:

Moscato zabaione, pink grapefruit and quince sorbet, and tiramisu with friends

Shar, Raf, and Ren – such lovely and chill people to hang with.

Keith also likes to take pictures.

And, in fact, this was his idea – I just copied.

This bench was shot by Keith, I just edited.  He likes color picture more, but I think this edited more interesting in black and white.  To-may-to, to-mah-to.

And this little girl was having a BALL running through the sprayers at the zoo.

October 7th/Week 40

by FrauKlein, posted in Architecture, Doods, Flowers, Food, Nature/Landscapes, Wildlife, Year One

Let me preface this whole post by saying that if the photos look bad this week – I’m not using my normal computer, so I can’t quite tell if my color/brightness/etc on these are totally off normal.

However – this past weekend we made it out to Young’s Dairy for their fall farm festival on Sunday.  We got to hang out with some goats, and eat some amazing cheese curds and pumpkin donut holes.  Loooovely.

There are a few random shots in here, too, including my first couple shots of D.C.  There will be more next week, I’m sure. 🙂

Yup.  Josie has her own recliner.

This bird seems to really like to nest in our porch – straight outta Angry Birds, that face is!

Some pretty weeds in our front yard

Young’s Dairy:

D.C. (so far):

September 30/Week 39

by FrauKlein, posted in Architecture, Family and Friends, Food, Year One

This past weekend brought the Oktoberfest at Dayton Art Institute on Saturday afternoon/evening, and a visit to our good friends house for an amazing homemade brunch with lots of playtime with the kids.  And yes, as always, there are an obscene amount of photos.

Saturday:

I didn’t care for Keith’s beer.  Too dark and chewy.

Some of our awesome neighbors in full German kit.

And these are the friends we went to the festival with – motley crew, they are!

Sunday:

I told him to give me his meanest lightsaber-fighting face.

Frankly, I think Keith’s sword-fighting face is way too scary.

September 23rd/Week 38

by FrauKlein, posted in Architecture, Family and Friends, Miscellaneous, Sports, Year One

So this past weekend, from Friday to Sunday, was pretty great… unless you like short posts with very few photos.

Keith’s parents came into town for the festivities.

Friday:

Nothing too exciting happened on Sunday – but on Friday, my husband bravely Spiderman-d down a 27-story building after raising over $1K to benefit the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program.  That was terrifying to watch, but I’m guessing more terrifying to actually DO.  The same evening, I had 4 of my photos on display downtown for the “Downtown in Focus” competition.  Out of over 200 entries, professional and amateur, three out of my four won Honorable Mentions.  So here are some shots of our Friday night:

This was my initial glance up at the building my husband would be rappelling down.  ::gulp::

And this was my first glance at my husband, over the edge and looking a little nuts.

And now he’s just showing off. 🙂

As he is nearing the bottom, I start to breathe again.

Congrats, Keith!

This was one of my four displayed photos, and one of the three Honorable Mentions – the July 4th fireworks.

Here are two of the other three – one Honorable Mention, and one not – the bridge next to my head, and the fireworks again. Sadly, I didn’t get a shot of the third Honorable Mention.

Saturday:

Now on Saturday morning, we all got up way too early to go watch the demolition of the gigantic smokestack downtown.  Since Keith works for the City, he’s in the know about a lot of these cool events and demo sites.  And because I’m married to Keith, I get the chance to shoot some pretty cool stuff.  Lucky me. 🙂 

Shop talk and gathering excitement…

This gentleman was doing the demonstration and explanation to the button pushers.

Last glimpse of the smokestack that has been part of our skyline for a long, long time.

After the boom, we see the first puff of smoke and debris coming from the base.

And there she goes.

Onlookers seem fascinated, myself included.

Once she hits the ground, the ash and debris start swirling….

…enough to eventually obscure the sun, temporarily.

We all start wandering to the site, once the air has cleared a bit and we’re assured that it’s once again relatively safe.

And the smokestack is no longer.

September 16th/Week 37

by FrauKlein, posted in Family and Friends, Miscellaneous, Year One

Randomness this week, with no particular theme.  And none of these are arty or exciting, so don’t get all wound up when you’re bored halfway through my post. You’ve been warned….

Us eating breakfast at Second Street Market:

Our nursery is close to done – just need the bedding!

So HOW COOL are these decals!?  I had trouble deciding which ones I loved the most, but ended up with a bird and tree theme in the room.

So the bird decals were carefully chosen and lovingly placed on the walls in order to complement the canvas of my birds in a tree photo from this past winter.

We also love the furniture.  It’s nice a solid and a very pretty cider color. 

Quite simply the most comfortable glider/ottoman EVER.  And the stars and moon cast a very soothing glow when the overhead lights are off.  Perfect for reading to our kid. 🙂

This is the other canvas I ordered of one of my first shots with a nursery in mind. 

Lastly, this blanket is one I designed on Cafepress and ordered.  Perfect for our situation.  Our baby will be LOVED like no one else.

And finally, I collect things:

Now, ask me if I paint my nails.  Sure I do.  Like twice a year.

I also like to smell good. 

Chuck P. is the BEST WRITER.  I have all of his books.  And all of Stephen King’s, too.  And Dean Koontz.  And lots of others. 

And I have LOTS of Converse.  I have lived a lot of life and walked a lot of miles in these shoes.  And guess what?  They make baby Converse.  I’m sure I’ll have a collection of those, too. 🙂

September 9th/Week 36

by FrauKlein, posted in Family and Friends, Food, Miscellaneous, Paige, Sports, Year One

This past weekend was glorious and busy.  Gloriously busy, you could say.  We attended an adoption shower for some friends on Friday, a 50th wedding anniversary party for my step-Grandparents Saturday, worked around the house Sunday, and went to our last season baseball game on Monday.  I didn’t take photos of all of those things, but I did manage to shoot the two parties and get some shots that I was pretty happy with! 

Adoption Shower:

Because our friends are all kind of awesome, the shower was thrown at the stadium of the Dayton Dragons, our local minor league baseball team.  It was pretty awesome. 🙂  And our friends looked SO happy.  Hopefully someday…

50th Wedding Anniversary Party:

And you guessed it – Crabcake was in the house, and as cute as always.  My older niece, Taylor, is growing up to be such a beautiful young lady!  But the awesome thing is that she is not only so prettty – she’s also smart.  And athletic.  And a KIND person, and an amazing big sister.  I’m so proud of both my nieces!

The happy couple!

If my sister-in-law and niece weren’t so freaking sweet and easy to love, I’d resent them for their sheer gorgeousness…

Doug (Mom’s husband), and his dad seemed to covet the Crabcake…

And seriously.  How lovely is my mom?  I hope I got those genes…

Doug’s mom was having a Janet Jackson moment while opening the gifts.

I got a more traditional family shot, but frankly –  I think this is a much better representation of the Mossbarger clan.

And the aftermath of any good party… empty cans and plates.

And finally, I’d like to present my Crabcake in action, with a handsome little dude at the party:

September 2nd/Week 35

by FrauKlein, posted in Family and Friends, Nature/Landscapes, Year One

This past weekend I had the opportunity to practice shoot a friend’s family.  Her three kids were very energetic, and seemed to have a great time running around and playing in Wegerzyn Gardens.  It was a great chance to get some experience under my belt, and here are some of my favorite shots from the day!  We started shooting around 845am and finished around 11 or so.  I clearly have lots of work and learning ahead, but I am pretty happy with a first effort, and I think the G. family is, too!

August 19th/Week 33

by FrauKlein, posted in Family and Friends, Miscellaneous, Nature/Landscapes, Sports, Year One

This past weekend was great.  We hung with friends Friday night, met up with lot of people Saturday, also got to go disc golfing and then visit my Crabcake girl Saturday, and had a baseball game to attend Sunday.  Here’s a mishmash of shots.  Not all are technically great, but I’m learning to enjoy the shots I’m taking instead of stressing if they don’t turn out perfectly.  I think sometimes the capturing the eye contact or emotion of the moment is more important than the composition…

Anyway, here’s a weekend snapshot!

Disc golfing with our friends and their adorable son:

Visiting with my brother and his gorgeous family (starring the Crabcake, of course):

And this, my friends, is what a homerun looks like: