YES!

Earlier this week I received a text from Adam telling me that he had a fun weekend planned for us but I wasn't allowed to ask any questions and I would receive an email of rules and regulations.  This then turned into an email with a packing list.  An email from one person telling me to have fun in Traverse City and another telling me how excited he was to see us in Chicago this weekend.  Needless to say there was a lot of confusion, suspense and frustration!  But when I got to Mount Pleasant this morning with a trunk filled with my entire wardrobe, there stood Adam in his apartment with cards saying what he was afraid he wouldn't be able to say.  And in the end, he was down on one knee "producing" a ring for me.  I couldn't speak, so I just nodded.  Which he later confirmed that I did indeed say "YES".  So being that this week is "produce"...Adam and I have gone with a theme...Adam PRODUCED a ring, and I said Yes!  :)

The "D"

I added a "D"

I pulled the word PRODUCE out of the hat earlier this week and knew right away what my photo was going to be.  I asked Erica to marry me this morning, she said yes!   I had spend the entire week planning out how I was going to ask the big question and all the other surprises I had in store for this weekend.   So this week,  I added a "d".  I PRODUCED a ring.

A

 

I missed...

Got back into town late last night, so I dropped the ball.  I didn't pick a topic until this morning, but the hat produced this weeks topic-PRODUCE.  It should be a fun one-come back soon to see what we Produce.

A

Love, Passion, Happiness

When I think of happiness, there are a lot of things that come to mind.  But ultimately there is one thing that makes me happy and that is Adam.  And there is something that really makes me happy when it comes to Adam.  And that is the fact that we both share a passion and enjoyment for photography.  So while there were a lot of possibilities for photos when it came to this topic, there is one thing that really stuck out to me.  Take a picture of Adam taking a photo.  I don't think he realizes I took this photo, which makes it even more fun.  I was asked to photograph a co-workers daughters reception, and thankfully Adam was able to help me out.  So during the dancing I got a shot of Adam.  True Happiness is doing something you love with the person or people you love.  I love taking photos and I love Adam, therefore we have "True Happiness".

Soak up the Sun

Happiness is...well its hard to sum up in one photo.  The first idea I had was taking a photo of Erica, she makes me happy.  Then the idea grew, Erica holding a pie, a homemade strawberry pie-Erica and pie, that is a happy combo.  I was worried I wasn't going to have time to take the photo, so I wanted to take a back up, just in case.  And then it hit me, I heard the song on the radio.  Sheryl Crow's song "Soak up the Sun" and I just love the lyric in that song.  So I wrote it down and photographed it.  When I start to get envious, I try to think of these lyrics.

For this week...

This week the hat tells us to photograph HAPPINESS

Sassy at any Age

A big thank you to my mom for humbling herself to be my model for this weeks photo.  I wanted to do something kind of senior photoish but still kind of artsy.  I think that I accomplished this with this photo.  I do have to say I'm really wondering what in the world I was thinking when I put some of these topics in the hat.  But, Adam and I are both being troopers and pushing through my odd topics that keep seeming to be picked.
Thank you dedicated blog followers for coming back each week to see what kind of craziness comes up. :)

1982

I was struggling with this topic until I was driving down the road.  And there it was, a sign.  It was right there on the side of the road, a sign that spoke to me.  It said lot 29, and I had my idea, my AGE.  I am 29, that's my AGE.  So I grabbed my camera and went for a walk, I looked for 2's and 9's and 29's.  I found pay dirt when I found 2929 and hung my camera up like Barry Sanders, went out on the top of my game.  So enjoy world, he is my AGE.

So times I question Erica...

Erica was at my apt. yesterday and remembered we had to pick a topic, so she grabbed the hat and picked. And just like that, she drew one of her topics, it was AGE.  I have no idea what to do, my first idea was to cut down a big tree and photograph the rings.  It is still the front runner, so check back before sundown on Saturday to see if I cut down a tree and see what Erica has photographed.

A

Moving Forward

I was looking forward to this weeks topic because this is a technique that you can have a lot of fun with.  Back when I took my class at Kendall we experimented with this.  Adam and I took a pen light and made circles and wrote our names and such.  So I knew I wanted to do something different.  Ideally I would have been somewhere where there was a lot of traffic and it was a little darker to get a more dramatic look, but I decided to stick close to home...well actually stay home...and have Christopher, my brother, help me out.  So, when I thought it was dark enough (I do wish I would have waited just a little longer), Chris got into his truck, I parked my tripod and camera at the end of the driveway, and proceeded to shoot photos of Chris driving his truck back and forth.  I'm sure it was a curious sight for our neighbors, in fact one of them came out to try and figure out what we were doing.  I figured if I told him I was taking a "long exposure shot" he would have no idea what I was talking about, so I simplified it and just said I was trying to blur the truck lights as they went by.  It was fun, Chris of course complained about wasting gas, but I am appreciative he helped me out and we ended up with a pretty neat shot.  One of these days I'll go to the top of parking ramp downtown and photograph the expressway, that would be pretty cool.  Enjoy!

Park at Dark

It took patience.  I waited for a while last night to get this, but I am happy the way it turned out.  I drive the Park Library everyday and knew I wanted to use it as the backdrop of the photo.  I wandered around a bit last night trying to find the best angle, and settled on this.  It is exam week on campus, so I knew there would be lots of action around the building.  (cool fact they have Harry Potter bookshelves in this building, you push a button and they move.)

For those are playing along, I had the camera set at an F-stop of 22 and an exposure time of 6.  You have to have some real patience when you are set 6, you hit the shutter release and then wait....and wait until you hear it release.  

A topic....Nope

this week is not a topic, it is a technique.  The technique was something that Erica and I experimented with last spring, so lets see what we can come up with now 90 miles apart.  The technique or style is accomplished by allowing the shutter to stay open for a long period of time.  It requires a little skill, a little patience and a good tripod.  Stop by soon to see how we accomplish this weeks topic "long exposure"

A