Munchies...

How does the hot dog guy trust that no one will just walk by and steal his pretzels? They are just sitting there completely undefended. Anyways, I took this on 5th avenue. I think the colors are nice.

Love Bugs...

I took this photo yesterday at my niece's 3rd birthday. I think the thing that gets me about this picture is the way Joe has his arms around Emma, whom he considers to be his best friend.

Peace be with you...

This is a photo of my gandmother in her kitchen. I used to sit here when I was young and have coffee with my grandfather - it has barely changed in the past 26 years. This is where my grandmother shows how much she cares for us, by cooking up some of the most delicious dinners. She often begins preparing dinner right after lunch and the entire house is filled with wonderful smells.

This is a photo I took of my grandparent's backyard in Costa Rica. I cannot even begin to tell you all how much peace I feel when I'm in the garden. I used to play in the lime tree here and have spent many quiet hours reading a book and enjoying how lush everything is. When I am in the back patio, it literally feels like stepping back in time.

The Big Easy...

I heard from my best friend that she and her boyfriend will be spending July 4th in New Orleans. So this picture is for them: quite possibly the most delicious combination on earth - cafe' au lait and beignets. I hope you both have a wonderful time and have a cafe au lait on me!

This ain't the river styx...

This photo was taken at Manuel Antonio in Costa Rica. Access to the beach is sometimes cut off by the tides - so these little boats are here to ferry people to the protected beaches of the national park.

Online Photography classes

Okay, so I still intend on attending the St. Louis Camera Club's photography classes later this fall, but I thought for those of you who may be expecting babies and therefore have a slightly more restricted schedule (or those of me who don't want to wait 4 more months to find out what an f/stop is) that an online class would be fun. I hadn't had much luck until I stumbled upon another blog which directed me to this site:

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/cg_display.asp?g=2&seed_id=26022

This is a 12 week FREE online course for beginner photographers. I read the first week's lesson and look forward to working on their assignment next week. Aili, Janae - I think you'll both enjoy this!

Waiting Patiently...

My nephew Joe watching his bowling ball travel slowly down the gutter. Christmas, 2007.

Cartago runoff...

These are the open drainage ditches that are all over Costa Rica. I used to play in them when I was very young and still find them fascinating to this day. They're like little rivers all over town and you have to cross a makeshift bridge or take a leap in order to get over them.

This doesn't look pink...

Dan Flavin. (American, 1933-1996). Pink out of a Corner - To Jasper Johns. 1963. Fluorescent Light. I took this at the MOMA in 2007 (you'll be seeing alot of these pictures!) The interesting thing is that a Dan Flavin exhibit is currently at the Pulitzer Foundation on Grand as we speak and it's really neat!

This is the Jasper Johns painting that Flavin is referring to - his light installation is to the right of this painting in a corner. I thought that was funny.

Bright Lights...

I took this photo around 9 in the evening in Grand Central Station in May of 2007. My old camera is very slow and takes awful night pictures, so I stood next to the balustrade trying to balance my camera for at leat 20 minuutes trying to get a nice shot with impatient New Yorkers rolling their eyes at me.

Pouty Monkey

My new camera isn't arriving for another week or two, so I though I'd post some old photos that I've taken over the past couple of years that I like. This is a little monkey in Costa Rica in July of 2007. I had no idea that monkeys like to lounge poolside, but apparently they do! The resolution isn't very good because my computer automatically turns them in to cruddy image files for some reason. I'll have to figure out a way to stop that. hmmm. I'm already in over my head.

Janae this one's for you...

I've been addicted to blog reading for about a year now and have steadfastly resisted publishing one of my own because I don't think I'm doing much that's interesting enough to post about and the thought of having to be witty and entertaining on demand is draining. After begging Janae to start her own family blog (I believe that children are a renewable source of witty anecdotes) she has, in turn, asked me to begin one of my own. I agreed because she suggested that I turn this blog into a fun photo blog/project (take a picture for every day of the year and post it) and I think that that is a fun, creative thing to do!

At this time I am eagerly awaiting my new camera (I heart Amazon.com) - while not even close to Janae's digital SLR capability, (mine is an advanced point-and-shoot) hopefully I'll be able to take some fun photos over the course of the next year and learn about photography in general.

So, Janae this blog post is for you and I hope that we'll have fun mutually admiring each other's photo skillz.

This is my current "Favorite Picture". It's my desktop at work and I love to stare at it. I didn't take it (of course) - but I found it on some random google search of pictures of Europe. Crazy.