DOG NAPPER, and other shots through the windshield . . .

It was starting to shower, big drops splattered on the Outback’s windshield. My camera sat in my lap, almost daring me to try and capture something while I waited for my husband to come out of RiteAid. OK, let’s see what you’ve got, I snickered to my old S5. Cars and people were impossible to avoid, but I think I captured a crime in progress. One woman went in with her little pup tucked and protected under her arm. Not long after, a person of interest merged with sort of a look-a-like. But with my poor eyesight, I didn’t want to report something that wasn’t really happening. At least the pups looked well-fed and cared for.

Finally, my hubby appeared through the rain and it’s more like some bizarre painting, but I thought it was a pretty good fake out. I slipped my old friend some new batteries and prepared for another day.

Windshield shots

A word about progress . . . NOT!

Just 2.3 miles from home there is yet another development underway. A collection of six hundred homes, condos, apartments, a school, a fire station and some type of commercial projects, have yet to find out just what. Once graceful farmland, where we could buy fresh produce including heirloom tomatoes, is now being carved up. The hills, which were once alive with crops and farm workers is now a barren landscape. On a trail hike a few days ago I captured all the massive equipment needed to destroy this area. It sat on a ridge some distance away, resting from the work of the week. The project will add to the already burdened roadways and to the tax coffers of our city.

When we returned to that trail today, looking for some more shots, the line of earth movers and the rest were gone. Did someone see my shot on Facebook and decide to hide the usual suspects? One lonely piece, far from where the others had been, remained further down the ridge line. It reminded me of a spacecraft sent to a distant galaxy to explore the peaks and valleys of another world’s landscape. It was silent on this Sunday, but something caught my eye. Was it sending a signal . . . or was that just the sun bouncing off the windshield of the cab? I call this shot – “The Digger”

Golden Girl . . . and coming and going.

While out on a trail yesterday my husband asked me why I take the shots as people are walking away from me, or in the case of this next image, jogging away. You never know, a rear shot might be more interesting.

The only time I take shots as they approach is shooting from the hip, using my camera’s high-resolution vari-angle LCD. Yes, it’s an old camera, but good enough for me.

Then there’s the opportunity of catching someone coming and going . . .

There had been a group of people ‘counting birds’ who made the lagoon their home this time of year.
Some wore huge binoculars around their necks and one man had the big gun . . . photo shoot, not lunch.

A wood pile, free for the taking away, caught my eye. Such brilliant color – for now.
And a little more color on the trail.

Then there was a man walking his cell phone – dog was extra.

She’s bedraggled . . . but happy

She’s nearly four years old and lives in a condo below us. In the blink of an eye she can transform into a bedraggled Cinderella with sauce on her face.

She rarely sits still and likes to make-up stories about snails and such.

The sun was casting long shadows in the parking lot and getting anything decent seemed impossible. I spent just a few moments as she doesn’t seem to like the camera. Some backgrounds and here is she is.

“The Cousins” A masterpiece from a cell pic

While my daughter is back East, she is enjoying her cousins and the matriarch on the Sicilian side of the family. She snapped a cell pic that really spoke to me. Old World Family making the traditional Cappelletti for the upcoming holidays. Her aunt in the shot is now 96 and happy to have the women at her home for this annual event.

I need more Pixels . . . Please

Back in the cyberworld of pixels, my daily dose of ‘friends’ pics on Facebook finds me whispering, more pixels, please. Cell phone cameras are handy, however I know how impossible it is to see anything on a cellphone during daylight. Some of the shots are clearly not cell camera created and just wanted to tweak here and there.

Am I a pest on Pixer?

If you are on Facebook and get the “Pixer” reminders that friends have photos to share with you, then you understand what I am doing. No one has been offended, sued me or blocked me, yet. Always have positive comments and it gives me the opportunity to make someone smile and to use some Macphun retouching software. I am addicted.

I just purchased Tonality and here is one example of a homeless man, which I posted before but Tonality takes your color pics and gives you so many options to go with B&W.

This preset with adjustments is called, Coffee Stain
A few more using Intensify . . .

So, if you are one of my 2,386 Facebook friends, you just may be in for a do-over.

A little grungy . . . sort of

My screen saver runs through many of my pics and certain ones pop out and stay . . . change me.
Four years ago I was involved in a four day event featuring a Veterans Traveling Wall. Here’s the one that caught my eye as it slipped in for a few seconds and was gone.

Another cellular moment

One of my neighbors, a lovely young woman sent me a couple of cell pics to play with. Granted, one was ok, the other not so much. I asked her a few questions, where would she like to go, what are some of her favorite things. She said she wanted to hike above the clouds, walk on a black sand beach and travel Europe. She loves architecture and the Eiffel Tower is a favorite. One problem, she was in a dress and her significant other in a suit, well no hiking.
So, off to Paris to see the Eiffel tower and a side trip to Disneyland Paris.

Ooh! La, La!

The other pic she sent was one of her with that old rascal Pluto hanging off her shoulder in a restaurant.

Disneyland Paris

New Disney cast member.

Alway magic at Paris

Getting to the top of the tower . . .

Although not a cell, pic I couldn’t help attempting a redo on a very old pic of one of my Facebook friends when he and his wife were just little tykes. They loved it.

Changing Faces . . . or Places

Some photos cry out for help, others are content in their own space. No matter, I make the decisions. For better or sometimes worse. In the case of these two suspects, I thought I might change my mind by cleaning them up – but they still look guilty.

Let’s Face it . . .

This is a beautiful young woman who was pleased with her ‘glamor shot’, the original was a tiny pic used to identify her in her profile on a local blog. Used 4 different programs, but worth it.

Peaceful place to wait for a friend.

A day at the lagoon turns woodsy.

Trail resting.

When I was six weeks old I was taken in by a family of six. At the time, my foster mother was fifty-five years old, had two sons and two adopted daughters. The siblings were all much older than I was. Later in life I found I was never legally adopted. So many secrets about who fathered me, an unwed mother and hush hush all my life. To this day, it’s still a mystery.

The only photo I have of this woman is just a paper copy of her when she was very young, and recently married. She could not have been more loving and kind if I had been her own. When my brother’s wife left him, he came home with two babies just four years younger than I was. Once again, ‘Nana’ as she was called took on more responsibility.

Paper copy

A little color