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Day #6 – A Photo A Day 2013

Another day today where I didn’t take a pic – HIGHLY unusual for me and definitely something that I do NOT want to get into the habit of doing!

So, today’s pic will be one of my favorites from the past month… taken on the first day of mine and Chris’ honeymoon at Disneyland during the first week of December.

Tomorrowland has always been one of my favorite spots, so it was natural that we went there first on our arrival. There have been many improvements to that area in the not so distant past, but I do believe there is room for improvement.

There just aren’t enough rides or attractions there anymore in my opinion, but that opinion may be tainted since I’m not a little kid and I love thrill rides. Of course I love Star Tours – The Adventure Continues and Space Mountain (one of my absolute favorites at Disneyland!) – oh and don’t forget Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters, which I ride over and over and over again and I love it more each time.

However, there is a lack of interesting things to see there these days and every time that I pass by the Innoventions building I can’t help but wonder why they even keep it going. When that building housed America Sings it seemed like a much more interesting attraction than the current out-dated technology how housed in Innoventions.

To be fair, back in May 2012 when we visited Disneyland, they were still doing construction on the Innoventions Dream Home and on this trip I did not go in to see what it was all about. I just wasn’t interested. I know it’s a home of tomorrow, but it seems out of place in Disneyland despite what Walt did with Disney World and his futuristic housing there.

Personally, I’d like to see some sort of Tron attraction! (yes, I DID like the Tron hall on the People Mover!)

But, I digress… on to today’s picture!

Space Mountain – December 3, 2012

The first ride of our honeymoon was Space Mountain! It was a stormy day that day, but we certainly didn’t mind – we’re used to a little rain since we’re from the Great Northwest! Personally, I love some dramatic looking clouds, so the stormy weather set up the perfect shot for two of my favorite things – clouds and Space Mountain.

January 6, 2013 | Categories: A Photo A Day 2013, Disneyland, Photography | Tags: A Photo A Day, APAD, clouds, Disneyland, photography, Space Mountain | Leave A Comment »

Day #5 – A Photo A Day 2013

If there is one thing that I have learned, it is to never take anything in life for granted, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.

For personal reasons that I would rather not put in this forum, I have been doing quite a bit of serious thinking today. It has occurred to me that there are too many situations where I had opportunity to encourage others or to simply tell them how much they mean to me, yet I did not take the time (or have the courage) to express myself.

I think that all of us have a tendency to get caught up in the every day tasks of life and we take for granted that our loved ones know how we feel about them. Being aware of this is something that my Mom always tried to foster in me, and I do believe that has been something I have done all through my life, though sometimes I lapse into spells of complacency and forget to be more aware.

So, today’s pic is a message to all of my loved ones. I care about you. I will always be there for you and I appreciate you. I love you more than you could possibly know.

I Love You!

January 5, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Day #4 – A Photo A Day 2013

Today was a busy day, and I did not take the time to snap any pictures! I have 5 more days in Portland, and I’m determined to get out and take some pics SOMEWHERE!

So, instead of posting something from my visit here, I’ll post a picture from this past Sunday.

Meet CoCo, my sister and brother in law’s sweet pug! She wasn’t wanting to cooperate for this photo, so it’s amazing that she is not more blurry!

CoCo the Pug

I used the Color Mania app for iPhone to add the effects. Right now, this app is available for free! It’s easy to use – you don’t have to filter the whole picture since there is a masking option with an adjustable brush. Just trace the section of the picture that you want masked with your finger and voila!

One complaint about the app that I do have is that it doesn’t allow you to layer several filters in succession without saving, opening up your saved image, tracing your mask and layering another filter. That’s a bit tedious, especially so when you want the effect of several layers.

January 4, 2013 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Day #3 – A Photo A Day 2013

Since I moved to San Francisco I could not help but notice the plethora of art sculptures scattered near my neighborhood… I suspect that I have barely scratched the surface of just how many public works of art there are, and I am very excited to discover and document as many as I can.

One of my favorites that I pass often is Seasons of the Sea ‘Adrift by John Roloff. There is a plaque near the structure that reads, “This glass ship is an art work that refers to the natural and geological history of California. Sediment gathered from the ocean floor four miles off the coast of San Francisco was placed inside in 1993. This sediment contains diverse mineral and organic matter extracted from the landscape by the rivers that flow to the sea through the Golden Gate. The greenhouse environment of the ship interacts subtly with these materials producing ongoing natural cycles of growth, decay and rebirth.”

I visit Yerba Buena Gardens quite a bit, and I always make sure that I stop to admire the sculpture and nearby fountain.

At night, it is lit up with green light, which is a nice contrast to the purplish blue lighting of a building that is just to the SE.

Seasons of the Sea ‘Adrift at night.

Unfortunately my iPhone did not pick up the intensity of the color of the clouds that were prevalent that night. Lights from the city were reflecting off of the low clouds, and the sky looked textured with orange and black.

During the day, “Seasons” is quite impressive as well, it’s bow jutting out from the concrete, living plants contained within. (perhaps a daytime photo for another post!) It’s a piece that I find to be quite contrasting with the area it’s been placed in, and perhaps it’s all the more at home there rather than bayside where it might have blended into the landscape more instead of surprising you.

January 3, 2013 | Categories: A Photo A Day 2013, Photography, San Francisco Art | Tags: APAD, Art, iPhone Photography, photography, San Francisco, San Francisco Art, Sculpture | Leave A Comment »

Day #2 – A Photo A Day 2013

Winter has definitely arrived in the Pacific Northwest!! I have been here for just over a week visiting friends and family for the holidays, and it is very very cold!

Apparently after only living in San Francisco for three months, I have already climatized to San Francisco weather already, because I do not ever remember a winter where the cold east wind and near freezing temperatures bothered me so much. It’s like I’m chilled and I can’t get warm!

Wintery weather has made me long for a warmer place, which brings me to today’s photo:

Egyptian Sunset Edit

I took a pic of the sunset and then added four filters – a pyramid, a sphinx and an overlay of a “sunny” tint for the entire photo. These were all done in Filtermania 2. For the added stars in the upper left hand corner, I used WowFX HD and reduced the opacity by a little more than half.

WowFX HD was recently released for iPad, and I am liking it as much as the iPhone version, perhaps even more because it’s optimized for the new generation of iPad’s Retina Display. I’m enjoying it so much that it really has me in the mood to edit and post a few more tonight!

January 2, 2013 | Categories: A Photo A Day 2013, iPhone Photography Apps, Photography | Tags: APAD, hotography, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Photography Apps | Leave A Comment »

Day #1 – A Photo A Day 2013

Here it is, my first photo post of 2013!

Today marks the beginning of 365 days of photo posts in addition to all of the other subjects that might inspire me to write in the near future. (I still need to start my iPhone photo app series!)

This was the first sunrise of this new year. I shot this photo with my iPhone at my in-laws’ house in Suquamish, WA – they have a nice view of Miller Bay!

I braved slippery steps in the freezing cold to get this shot. I originally thought that I’d get a sea level shot, but there are SO many steps and they were really treacherous this morning, so I only went down about a third of the way so that I didn’t take any further risk of falling.

I used Photo FX to sharpen it a little and add just a touch of haze.

January 1, 2013 | Categories: A Photo A Day 2013, Photography | Tags: APAD, photography | Leave A Comment »

iPhone Photo App Review Series

Okay, I admit it… I am a photography app junkie. I am always looking for a new app ESPECIALLY if it’s free – I know what I like when it comes to photo manipulation, so I don’t want to shell out $1.99 – $10.00 each time I want to try a new app on a whim.

Many developers make new apps available for free for a short time at the beginning of release to entice people to try it – sometimes these are full versions off the app and sometimes they are a scaled-down version.

This seems like a great way to market your product and get people hooked into buying the full version – it’s worked for me a few times!

One of the free apps that I have been using the most lately is Filtermania 2. I first downloaded it in September, just before my wedding so it’s only been in the past month or so that I’ve really put it through it’s paces.

I’m in the process of writing a full review of the app, but for now I am going to share this pic, because I’m so happy with how it turned out – a little taste, if you will, of what I’ll be showing you in the next few days:

Disneyland’s Matterhorn Heavily Modified

Just wait until I show you what the picture started out as! Is this a view of Disneyland’s Matterhorn or are we in The Alps?! I’ll show you how this pic originally looked vs. this edit – Filtermania 2 is pretty user friendly, and I think it delivers stunning results.

First review is coming soon!

December 19, 2012 | Categories: iPhone Photography Apps, Photography | Tags: Disneyland, Filters, iPhone Apps, iPhone Photography Apps, Matterhorn Bobsleds, photography, Tomorrowland | Leave A Comment »

A Photo a Day – Day 7

Day #7 of my week long photo challenge is today! This is officially my last photo post for this challenge, but I am seriously considering starting a NEW challenge beginning January 1st that will be a YEAR LONG photo challenge!

New Year’s resolutions are not my thing, so a new challenge would not be in honor of the new year… rather January 1st happens to be the next month after I made this decision to challenge myself. Let’s see if I can keep myself disciplined to upload at least one picture a day!

I always take at least one photo a day, so it shouldn’t be that hard to upload them, right? 😀

Today’s picture is from two weeks ago, at Disneyland in the Haunted Mansion, one of my VERY FAVORITE rides at Disneyland, and ESPECIALLY so when the Holiday Overlay is going on! (that’s up through Jan. 6, 2013 for this season’s run).

Haunted Mansion Holiday Overlay

We were moving very slowly (I’m assuming they were slowing it down so a handicapped person could board a Doom Buggy) so I had time to snap this with my iPhone! I know we were JUST there, but I’m ready to go back! I just can’t get enough of Disneyland. 😀

December 18, 2012 | Categories: Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

A Picture a Day – Day 6

Today is day #6 of my Picture a Day challenge – that means just one more day to go!

Today’s pic is of a bit of the desert-y vistas you will see at the new Radiator Springs Racers ride at the California Adventure park at Disneyland Resort.

When Chris and I were there at the Disney Resort for our honeymoon, 98% of the pictures I took were with my iPhone 4S… I made a decision to leave my SLR camera at home so I didn’t get so caught up in photography and focused on enjoying our honeymoon trip.

As we would be in lines for various rides, we would both end up with our iPhones in hand, reading email, showing each other hilarious photos saw on Facebook, checking out the wait times for other rides and I would sometimes play with new photo editing apps that I’ve picked up.

A couple of months ago, I downloaded an app called Filter Mania which I have found to be a lot of fun. While I was in line for Space Mountain, I received a message that another of Dropico’s new apps called Colormania was available for free for a limited time. (It is not yet available on iTunes)

I decided to play with the Radiator Springs Racers photo that I had snapped earlier in the morning. It was a particularly cloudy morning with flat grey clouds that made for a SUPER bright background – too bright for me to get a very nice photo with my iPhone, but I snapped the pic anyway since I figured I could play with it later.

First, I added a couple of layers in Filtermania, and then I went to Colormania to play with the color levels a bit… here are the results, which are WAY better than the original!

Altered Radiator Springs Racers

There are so many photo editing apps out there that it’s hard to choose. I’ve downloaded so many free ones that didn’t work well, but once in a while you get a REAL gem that you go back to over and over. Filtermania is like that, and Colormania looks like it will be another one. An in-depth review of both apps to come!

December 17, 2012 | Categories: iPhone Photography Apps, Photography | Tags: A Picture A Day, APAD, iPhone Apps, photography | Leave A Comment »

A Photo a Day – Day 5

While Chris and I were walking to a restaurant for lunch this afternoon, we passed this lovely sculpture in an art gallery on Geary St. (haha we found hope!)

Obviously patterned after the original Love postage stamp – I like it! 🙂

December 16, 2012 | Categories: Photography | Tags: APAD, Photograph | Leave A Comment »

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