Windmills on my way home.....:: Indianapolis Photographer

On my way home from the Chicago Nephcure walk last weekend, I stopped at my parents house to drop off my little sister.  It was her 12th birthday, and as a gift, I took her to Chicago for a "girls night out".  She, by the way, had a fantastic time.  At one point she even said, "This is the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."  My.  Heart.  Melted. 

Anyway, after I dropped her off, I started heading home, but the sunset was turning out to be interesting, and the Horizon Wind Farm was right there, so I took a drive to try and get some purrrty pictures.  You cannot possible grasp the size of these things from my pictures...I mean, they are ENORMOUS.  I was driving through the little access roads to get some of these photos (hey, they weren't restricted or anything!).  Not all of them were running, so I stopped my car under one that wasn't running to get a photo.  But as I'm standing there, I hear the motor turn on, and I'm so freaked out that I high-tail it back to my Jeep and drive off.  Funny in hindsight, but there's no way I wanna be underneath on of those things when they're twirling away.  Here's a lovely You-Tube video to illustrate why, in case you haven't already seen it:

I think of that video every time I see these things.  It's like another world.  I grew up around there, and to see all of the windmills dotting the landscape makes me happy and sad at the same time.  Happy because Indiana's FINALLY EMBRACING SOMETHING GOOD.  But sad because they're spoiling the landscape I'm familiar with.  It may seem boring to most (and it was to me for a long time too), but I've grown a great appreciation for the flatness of the land up there.  And now it's nearly impossible to take a photo without a giant windmill poking out from someone's head!  :)  Oh well, guess you gotta take the good with the bad, right?  Anyway, enjoy the photos...

Something different with nature :: Indianapolis photographer

Sometimes, I just want to do photograph something different.  I always end up learning something when I go off my typical course, and I was feeling the need for a different kind of inspiration.  I took a couple of photos at a local park the other day...what I wouldn't give for a macro lens....there's something so incredible about seeing the details that a macro lens can bring out.  This is as good as I could get, but I love it..

You might have noticed that I changed the watermark a little on the photos.  I was doing a bit of experimenting this weekend with Lighroom, and found the export tools for the web to be just as good as the ones I was using in Photoshop (and much quicker too) so I switched.

A little share....

I love being outside when the weather is this nice, and especially when Loppan is in such a good mood, like she was tonight.  And even when she's not in such a "happy place", that's instantly remedied the minute we go outside, so I'm very grateful that the weather around here has finally started to cooperate :)

August in Review

Some of you don't know me personally, but I'm going to work on fixing that!  I have a personal blog that I post to quite frequently, so if you ever want a little more insight into me, please visit.

I started this little "project" recently....to create a monthly slideshow of pictures to help remind me of what was going on in my life at that time, and I thought it would be fun to share with you too!  Enjoy :)

Jill Goode O'Neil 5K Run/Walk photos :: Indianapolis Event Photographer

On August 14th, I had the honor of being able to photograph the 1st annual Jill Goode O'Neil 5K Run/Walk in Avon.  There was a wonderful turnout of people to support Jill and her family as she continues to battle cancer.

I met Jill at work...she was a phlebotamist there, and since I get lab work done quite frequently due to my kidney disease, we became friends.  It wasn't until 2 years ago that I even knew Jill had cancer.  Here I was, always complaining about my situation, and there she was, fighting this horrible disease.  she is such an amazing, warm, giving person...always concerned about others.  She's incredible!

Anyway, I had a lot of fun being able to hang out with Jill this day, as well as witnessing the support that Jill has.  Very humbling...Here are a few photos from the event...if you'd like to see more, please go to my website, and under "featured" there's a gallery of photos from this event.

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OMG OMG OMG.....The Pioneer Woman thinks my photo is SPLENDID!!!!

Holy crap....I feel sooooooooo great about this!  So, I happened to be looking through some of my flickr photos the other day, and I saw that I was getting comments on a few, so I selected one of them, and someone had written congrats to me for being a Pioneer Woman featured photos!!!!!!

Now....how do I describe The Pioneer Woman to those of you that don't know her?  Well, I'm not sure....a friend of mine (thanks Jill!) actually told me about her blog a year or so ago.  She had a lot of photography tips on there and thought that I might like it (which, of course, I do....well, LOVE it would be more appropos).

Anyway, she frequently has these contests, so I sometimes enter them, figuring I've got no chance out of the THOUSANDS of photos that are entered.  This particular them was water photos, and we had just gotten back from Sweden.  I had a few great photos from our little boat trip, so I thought, "What the heck?".  I entered it, but then kinda forgot :(  ....won't let that happen again, rest assured :), which is why I was so surprised when I read those comments....I am humbled and proud :)

Here's a link to the post....The Pioneer Woman water photos

And here's the photo