Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Tide Pools

These were just some pics I took in Santa Cruz at Natural Bridges. The One on the left is actual tide pool with the crabs and everything moving. The one below is the rocks where the tide pools changed the look of the rock. I just thought the were cool.

The Highway Community Wiener Nationals 2008

For the last 5 years my church The Highway Community has held it's annual Wiener Dog Race. Yes that's right my church races daschunds. All types show up here are just a few. Our race is even listed under Wikpedia under the list of cities that hold daschund races.

They are at the gate and ready to run. The dogs run to one of their other humans usually holding a bribe or a fav toy.


The last heat and the dogs are neck in neck.The winner or the Highway Community Wiener Nationals is Sammy Davis the lightening fast wiener dog. I think it's their aerodynamic bodies.
As you can see below there were a few dogs there. Some piled on top of each other for support and easy carrying.There were many different colors, hair lengths, ages and sizes. Some were tied together.
But all seemed to be okay hanging out together. There were 52 daschunds at the race. You definitely needed to look down when you walked.

As for our family, our dog does officially carry the Daschund blood line, however she also has extreme social issues with other dogs, and she has Chihuahua and Red Nose Pit in her, so even though we know she could womp the competition, we are more afraid of her eating the competition. So alas poor Nikita, will never get to see the winner's circle of the Wiener Nationals.


Challenge 4 Guidelines

Challenge 4:Since we all seem to be so busy right now and doing a lot of visiting, the next challenge is going to be a portrait. We are probably taking photos of family and friends a lot anyway.
Rules for this challenge:1. Upload up to 10 of your fav portraits that you have taken over the summer by August 31st.

1.The same person can only appear twice. You can take new ones, or show off ones that you have already taken this season. We are all busy, but still want to play the game, so let’s have some fun.

2.One of the photos has to have more than 1 person in it.

3.One of the photos has to be a self portrait – not one that someone has taken of you… you have to take it yourself.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Challenge 3 - Statue

The statue of the surfer. Someone told me it's suppose to be Jack O'Niel, inventor of the surfing website, and a hero to all surfers. I just think it's cool it's not far from the Lighthouse and the Boardwalk. Tip for this I heard on my canon dvd. Dead Center is deadly, not every photo subject has to be in the center of the shot, make it more interesting have the main subject off center. Okay so they aren't statues, but the still as statues. This is the "family photo" my daughter asked me to take of her favorite stuffies. To me I saw stuffies. Yes they all have names, and I do a different voice for each of them.







Challenge 3 Brochure Pictures

Natural Bridges State Park in Santa Cruz, CA. We spent this past Saturday and even though it's crowded, it's still very cool. Beach, lake alcove, tide pools. Lots to explore. So this part of the challenge was to take pictures for a brochure for the city we live in. No I don't live in Santa Cruz, but seriously there is nothing remotely interesting to look at in the City of Sunnyvale. Even the one post card is pathetic. Santa Cruz County is my favorite part of my home state so I opted for this one. Plus we were in the neighborhood. Waves crashing on the rocks, and surfers in the water, nothing says Santa Cruz to me like that. If you've never been to Santa Cruz, it's beaches are a combonation of rocks, and sand depending on the tide some beaches are totally rock and at low tides they are these cool hidden beaches.
This of course is the rock that Natural Bridges got it's name for. On top is all the pellicans that hang out and fish in the kelp.

Challenge 3 photos - Landscape

This is my only landscape picture that I liked. The assignment was for rural and urban, I decided this one was more rural. I'm standing in the lake section at Natural Bridges in Santa Cruz, and thought this shot was cool. Although Santa Cruz is really not a rural area, this scene to me made it look that way.

I didn't get an Urban shot I liked, so sorry, who knows maybe one will hit me during the next week.

Tip, don't be set on having to go to a certain area to create a certain mood. You can have a rural setting in an over crowded state park beach, it's just where your perspective lies. Also don't stick to standing on the edge, part of what I like is that the picture is taken from the water looking back at the shore.