Stupid Google +

  Well I was dumb enough to sign up to that thing a few night ago, and then when I realized that my phone was syncing photos with my blogs I thought I could delete them from my phone to make room and it wouldn't effect my blog but it did. So now A LOT of the photos I have posted on my blog are gone and I cannot remember which ones they were. It is really aggravating, I shouldn't have messed with that crap. Just another crappy thing to add to my already crappy day.

Howell Wetlands Yesterday

  I was able to get up early in the morning and get my run in, so later in the day my mom accompanied me and Dorian to Howell Wetlands for some shooting. Still not a lot of wow photos but it was fun, and it felt nice to snap some pictures, I also got to shoot some of Dorian though the exposure was blown out a bit due to where the sun was and I had to stay in a certain spot to keep him from falling into the water. Here are a few of my pictures from yesterday.

 I'll have to look up what kind of flower this is.

 Still wondering how these boots got there, they were standing upside down in what I am guessing the mud. I am hoping there isn't a body attached to them. With the snapping turtles out there, I don't know who would be crazy enough to walk out in that crap, these boots were about 15 feet away from the bridge and 30 feet from land.

Here are some black and white photos, I will kind of complain that all the green makes the Wetlands a little boring. Now I am going to be waiting for when Fall and Winter gets here.

 

A short Excursion to Hovey Lake

  Yesterday late afternoon I headed to Hovey Lake, my brother Jared was supposed to go with me but he bailed. I had a goal locked in my mind, getting some good shots of the clouds over the water, though the clouds weren't really cooperating but I got a few decent shots for my first time there. Then I drove around and found an old abandoned school house, and another abandoned building but there was a truck parked behind it and all the overgrowth (there was a lot) so I didn't stay long.
  I hope to go again and have some more time, and better weather. Here are a few shots I got.

The cool thing about the school building is that it was built in 1913, one hundred years ago. I didn't notice that until looking through my pictures.

New Stuff, and some Goofing off

  I've finally received my second Canon T2i body, and my new camera bag and so I pretty much have what I need for a while. I am looking into getting insurance for my camera gear, since my gear value is now around or over a good chunk of change I need some sort of insurance just in case. Especially if I start shooting running races, and horse races where it could possibly rain. I have a quote, so all I need now is to get a list of my gear and the price for each new and I should be ready to go.
  Over the last couple nights I have been goofing off and playing with my new prime lens, along with just playing with my camera. I've been using my cats, dog and son as subjects and it's been fun, I'd like to get out and do some nature and landscape shots but it is always hard to get my mom or Cameron to babysit. Anyways, here's some of my goofing off photos.

And then a few of my son, I haven't watermarked these as they are just me playing around and capturing memories of my little boy.

I love using my son, he is so beautiful and so photogenic. And I especially love capturing these memories of him, so I can look back on this little guy years down the road. Pretty soon I am going to go outside and have fun with my 50mm prime lens, hopefully this weekend.

Took Another Step....or Two

   Yesterday I went ahead and purchased  Canon AF 50mm f/1.8 lens, not a new one but it will be a nice addition to my gear. Then today I went ahead and took a bigger step, I purchased another Canon T2i body to add to my gear. I won it at $385.00 so not a bad price but Cameron most likely won't be too pleased if he finds out (if). I love all my lenses, especially the 18-270mm lens but the focus on it is almost too slow for action shots. With two camera bodies, one with the 18-270mm lens and one with either the 18-55mm lens or the 50mm lens, I can be shooting someone/something from a distance and then when they get within a 50mm range I can switch to the other camera with the smaller but faster lens in mere seconds.
   I am not sure when the camera body will be shipped, though hopefully sometime next week, but I should get the lens Monday. I need to clean my camera bag and sell it to upgrade to maybe a slightly larger one or one in better shape.

Some Urban Exploration

  Yesterday I decided I needed some quality time with my camera, so I asked my mom if she could come to the shop and watch Dorian while I went out and took some photos. I honestly didn't really know where I was going to go or had any idea what I was going to shoot, but then I remember an abandoned home that was falling apart out on the west side of Evansville so I headed there first. When I got there, it was a jungle just to get to the house after climbing over a barbed wire fence. Then to my dismay I realized I would not be going into this house as it was so dilapidated and falling apart, I would have been endangering myself which is a risk I just cannot take when my little boy depends on me. Maybe in 10 years or so I will be more willing to risk my life, but not right now. I didn't get to go inside, but I got some pretty good shots on the outside that I was able to play around with in Lightroom and Corel Paintshop so it wasn't a total loss. Here are a couple of photos from that house.

  I have to admit that I am now a bit disappointed that I didn't try to get in there, I think I might go back and check out this door... maybe take someone with me to keep watch in case there is a no trespassing sign somewhere on that property (though I didn't see one).

  The other house I went to had caught on fire, and was in really bad shape but I did go in there and take some photos. Again I am a little upset that I didn't get up the nerve to go upstairs and more around the house BUT the fire had happened mainly upstairs and part of the upstairs floor was falling through. Here are a couple of photos from that house.

You can see the ceiling falling in

Overall, it really wasn't a bad day as these were my first abandoned houses and I was alone and nervous. Hopefully I'll get braver or talk someone into coming with me, to at least keep watch, maybe take some walkie talkies and have the other person sit in the Tahoe watching for people and keeping track of my whereabouts. 

While On Walks

   The weather has been really nice for the past couple of weeks, so I've been able to take Dorian for walks. Now I don't normally take my CanonT2i with me during walks, but I will take my point and shoot along for those just in cases. I've got some good photos today, and Tuesday as well. 

These first few are from the Evansville river front when I went walking today.

These are from the Recreational trail up between USI and Burdette Park, a very nice trail away from traffic.