Christmas Favorites

Here are a few of my favorites from yesterday.  I am not reposting the family photos that are on the EverydayaFoto Blog.  These are in no particular order.

                                 Harper counting Jonah's presents to make sure they have the same amount.

                                               Jonah unwrapping the Lego he asked Santa for at Phipps.

                                             My brother Zach and his wife Shelly at my mom's house.

                                              My mom and Gabby watching Harper open up her gift.

                                                         Pappy reading a book to Jaden and Harper.

Jaden hanging out with me.  He wanted to take some photos with my camera, including the obligatory self-portrait.

Forgotten Cottage

I was going through some of my photos from our walk on the east property and decided it was time to edit this one.  A forgotten cottage on the south side of Lake Road.

Old Trailer

What happens when a hoarder also has access to acres of land?  This is what happens.  This is only one of the many trailers littered on this property along with all the garbage around them.

The Abandon Beach House

I was lucky enough to be permitted to take a walk on some property that has many abandon buildings, cars, and trash.  This is an abandon beach house on the shores of Lake Erie.

Family Camp (2012)

(St. Michael's by The Lake)

It took me a few days to get through my Family Camp photos and I have finally compiled my favorites.  This does not include our field trip to Fralden Terraces.  I will be posting those photos later as I process them.  If you would like to view my favorites click here.

Wedding Trip

(Dominic and Gia)

I finally went through all my photographs from our trip to Arizona for Matt and Monica's wedding.  The photos that made the cut are here.  I am getting much better with my ratio of keepers to tosses, which is about 40% keep.  Enjoy!

Arizona

On a day like today that is cold and wet it makes think how we were just in Arizona last week.  I took this right outside of our room at the resort. 

Everyday Things

I took this back in February while I was in a parking lot waiting for mom to drop off Jonah and Harper.  I loved the red and yellow of the sign against the blue sky.  I was combing through older photos to find something to tweak in Lightroom for practice and then post.

Fresh Cut

Well I could only hold off so long.  I think the grass was almost a foot tall in places.  If you know me, then you know I hate to cut the grass.  With the impending Easter egg hunt next weekend I felt it was my duty to cut the grass so none of the kids got lost in the jungle.

Shake It Up

Ron, Shawn, Jim, and I got together and brewed some beer on Saturday.  I was taking pictures of the aeration process.  This happens after the product of the boil is placed into the carboy (big glass jar).  Then we all take turns shaking this big glass jar praying we don't drop it.  Thanks to Shawn for taking a couple pictures of me so I could add them to the collage.  I can't wait until "Oberner" is ready!

Break Time

During our photo walk the other day Jonah wanted to take a break and have a snack.  He sat there and watched the water hoping to see a duck or boat.  Sadly nothing passed by during our break.

More Posts

Like most photographers I follow many other photographers to learn and be inspired.  One of my favorites is Trey Ratcliffe for many reason.  One of the things that he does and that I am starting to do is go through older photographs and redo the post production process on them.  In addition, he posts a photograph daily.  I am doing this of a photograph that I take daily already, but I wanted to start doing this for older photographs too.  This servers a few purposes for me.  First, I need to learn and get better at post production, so this will be extra practice.  Secondly, it is fun to apply new techniques that I have learned since now and the time I took the photograph.  Lastly, most of you will enjoy the subject as it may involve or relate to you.

"Kate The Great"

Mission: Find The Numbers

Numbers really are everywhere.  Jonah and I had a great time today finding them all and he even guest stars in #4.  Hey Jim, we found a #2!

Manhole Cover

Fence Post

Side of a Bench

Railroad Tracks

Handrail

Digital 5

Power Lines

Water Line

Latice

Basketball Hoop Post

The Gorilla

I was looking through my photographs the other day to find one for a post on another site when I ran across this one.  We were at the Pittsburgh Zoo back in 2010 and I took this from the gorilla overlook next to where the food vendors are located.

This particular gorilla really broke my heart.  He looked so depressed and I can only guess it is because he longs to be in the wild not captivity.

What's In a Name

I have always been into photography and lately I have been taking it more seriously.  I have had the notion of possibly doing some photography stuff on the side for a year or so now.  In reality I am still a few months from doing this on a regular basis.  I did however reserve a domain name a few days and that is the subject of this post.  For now just my blogs will be  there and soon maybe I will have a site up.

I reserved www.pavephotography.com and here is why I have chosen this name.  I have had this name in my head for several months now.  Pavé (pa-vay) has a couple different meanings.  Most women know this as a style of jewelry, which has to do with how the gemstones are set.  Most europeans and bicycle enthusiasts know this as a French word for pavement, paving stone, or cobblestone.  I am keying on the latter for a several reasons.  First, as most people know I am a cyclist and a fan of the sport.  So much so that Jonah and I watch most of the cycling events on TV and we are very excited for the spring classics that are starting now.  If you would like to see pavé in action, then watch this YouTube clip from the 2010 Tour of Flanders.  It is a little difficult to tell but they are riding over cobblestone streets.  Secondly, in order to get to our house you will most likely travel on a street covered in pavé.  Lastly, when said correctly it has a nice upscale sound similar to brands like Hermes and Cartier.

So Pavé Photography has been born at least from the internet domain perspective.  

Together Again

Today my grandmother (Mama) passed away, she was 92.  My grandfather (Poppy) passed away in January approximately 5 weeks ago.

The only thing I can compare this to is the movie The Notebook.  Watch it and you will understand.  I know this is not unique to our family, as I have heard many stories from friends and co-workers to this effect.

I have many memories of my grandma.  When I was younger my mom was in and out of the hospital for surgeries and grandma was usually there to help take care of us.  So even though grandma and grandpa Dobson never lived in the same place as we did, grandma seemed to be around a lot when I was growing up.

Grandma always brought gifts when she visited usually some form of Avon or trinket from a far away place that they just visited.  This might also explain why my mom usually has something for Jonah and Harper when they visit.  I remember everyone raving about her cabbage rolls, that nobody seemed to be able to replicate.  She knew several languages and would tell me that the sub-titles were wrong when we watched old war movies together.  These are just a few memories that I am willing to share, the rest are for me.

Recalling what I wrote when grandpa passed away, it is definitely a different set of memories and emotions.  It must be the mothering aspect that makes this seem tougher than last time.  So my grandparents are back together again watching over what they had a hand in creating.  Mama and Poppy will both be missed and remembered for many many years.

The Before is Revealed

We were talking about photography at lunch today and my photograph for day number 58 came up.  There is quite a bit of post processing so I decided to post the before and after.  Even after seeing them next to each other I like the after better.

Crying Game

Harper can turn on and off the tears like it is a game to get what she wants.  Jonah took the tablet of paper and then this....BAM!!!!

Then Jonah gave it back and ta-da, all better.

Photo Walk

Jonah and I went for a photo walk today and here are some of the photographs I took.  Jonah collected other stuff along the way, mainly rocks, acorns, and sticks.  I hope you enjoy the photographs.  There is one more photo on my "EverydayAFoto Blog" that you can also check out.

Would you dare sneak through this fence into this yard?  I wouldn't because I saw what was on the other side.  This fence is a good representation of how they keep up their property.  There was an old engine, motorcycle, and a pile of cinder blocks in the backyard.  I can only imaging that there is a pitbull or some other mean dog in the house.

We walked along the main street area of Oakmont.  I always see this building and love the old style architecture.  I cropped out the other buildings because they just don't have the same style and look out of place, or is this the building that is out of place.

Normally I wouldn't have taken this picture, and to tell the truth I even walked by the first time without taking a picture.  When we walked back passed this old pay phone, I noticed that there was a broken cell phone laying on the shelf.  That made it worth taking a photograph.

If I didn't tell you this little "cabin" was a few blocks from our house you would think it was deep in the  woods.  In reality it is behind a much larger house that sits just to the right of this cabin.  Just seems out of place in our little town.

Harper

I started this blog some time ago before "H" was born and I haven't really kept up with it. Because of my 365 Project I have thought of other topics to blog about that aren't going to make the 365 Project blog.

Since Jonah has made the blog a couple times already I figured it only fair that Harper does too.

Haiku - "Work"

This is where I work

It's a perfectly fine place

If you're a mushroom

The interesting thing and why I chose a Haiku is that the address of our building is 575.  For those that don't remember from grade school when you had to create Haiku poems we were taught to count the syllables for each line 5-7-5.