I am still at the point in my photography skills where I feel like each photograph I take is a crap shoot – maybe it will turn out and maybe it won’t.  Thanks to the digital technology, I can take hundreds of photos and not be wasteful when I only end up using only a handful for the blog or Flickr.   Perhaps 2010 will be my year of finally reading my camera’s manual!

Even if it was a bit of a crap shoot, I lucked out with several photographs this year.  Using Flickr’s “Interestingness” algorithm and clicks, comments and favorites from so many of you, I have had at least one photo make Flickr’s Explore (500 top featured photographs) each month since June 2007.  I am so grateful! 

Here are a handful of my photos that made EXPLORE in 2009 – you can click on them for more info:

2009 was a productive year, photography-wise.  I definitely take most of my photos when traveling, and with the trips we fit in, I had the opportunity to snap some fun photos.  2009 was also the year of my (yet again) failed attempt at a photo-a-day experiment with the Year in Photographs (YIP) that I started in September.  Perhaps I should have called it Weeks in Photographs, because that is how long it lasted!  I am not being too hard on myself, however… it is supposed to be for fun.

If you are interested, you can see all of my photos that have made Explore over the months (since 06/07) as well as some of my personal favorites in this photoset.

Kris and I are re-arranging and re-decorating some rooms in the house.  Over Christmas break, he and his brother painted about 90% of the house – it was hard work!  I helped when I could, but he had the whole time off work and I didn’t.  The fresh paint is like a clean canvas.  We bought several frames and were planning to frame some of our favorite photos for wall art.  Now to decide what should go in the frames.  We are still working out the arrangement and the overall themes for the photos, but it sure would be fun to have you all help us decorate by telling me your opinions … so, stay tuned! 

Two months ago today (the 28th), my family got a new addition.  Luckily when I was in California, I had the chance to spend some time with her – Baby V is amazing.

Mimi and I talked about doing a small photo shoot to capture some of V’s early days, so Kris and I brought along some of our photo equipment (umbrella, remote flashes) and set it all up.  Fortunately, we had a very sweet and generally cooperative little model:

With over 200 photos, it just might be my favorite photo shoot ever

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We arrived in Monterey after one of the most lovely scenic drives – up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles.  Kris and I took frequent stops and did quite a bit of photography along the way…

[one of the many...]

The end of the trip was quieter and more reserved – it was all about Baby V, helping my sister and her husband, and generally enjoying our time together.  They just so happen to live in a spectacularly beautiful location… so Kris and I were quite happy!

One day, we went to nearby Pacific Grove for some sightseeing – a yarn shop, lunch, and then a walk by the water.  It was perfect!

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The trip was wonderful and came at a special time.  Baby V is such a blessing.  She is quite the topic of conversation!

Thanks for all of your comments on my trip photographs!  It is a joy to take them, as well as to share them.  Plus, writing the vacation blog posts takes a little pressure off from the return to the norm around here… the knitting is happening at an alarming rate, but inches of stockinette don’t quite seem as blog-worthy as sharing photos of beautiful scenery and new family members!  Alas, the trip photos are done (but you can see all the ones I have uploaded here on Flickr) for now… but I have other exciting news to share, so stay tuned!

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I figured I would let the photos do the talking

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Can you feel the magic of this amazing place?  Being in Joshua Tree National Park was a little slice of heaven.  Peaceful with amazing sights are every turn in the road.  Kris and I were just in awe of this foreign landscape.  Neither one of us had spent that much time in a desert environment; and Joshua Tree is even a different class of desert.  Between the trees and the rock formations, we were clicking hundreds of photos.  As you can see, the day was *perfect* with stunning blue skies as a backdrop for the white, red, brown, and occasional greens of the desert.

The Park is the intersection of two deserts – the Mojave in the north, where the Joshua Trees are, and the Colorado/Sonoran desert in the southeast of the Park.  The two deserts are distinctively different, and when you cross over into the next one, the landscape really changes.  We spent the day in the Park enjoying every minute of the hikes.  We saw so much beauty.  We traveled from North to South through the Park and ended the day in the otherworldly landscape of the Colorado Desert, distinguished by the unique chullo cactus and the rugged mountains.

… and perhaps the best treat of all…

Was ending the day with an absolutely stunning moon rise.  Kris and I pulled our car off the road, walked into the nearby field, set up the tripod, and just enjoyed every minute of the moon rising above the mountains.  The bats were coming out, but there was not a single sound.  It was a stunning silence.  One of the most peaceful moments I have ever experienced.

– All Joshua Tree photos here –

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Do a birthday girl a favor, and tell me about the last place where you felt absolute peace -

I would love to hear.

We found a lovely hotel right next to Balboa Park in San Diego.  With a touch of jet lag, Kris and I woke up before dawn and got out into the Park for a nice long walk with the sunrise.  Our arrival in the city coincided with the big Race for the Cure event, and we watched hundreds of people wearing pink preparing for the big race.

We also were able to see the lovely trees in the park and the museum-lined streets of El Prado in the early morning light…

We planned to spend the day at the world-renowned San Diego Zoo.  Once they opened, we headed that way.  It was a very auspicious beginning to the day:  a woman was standing near the entrance gate and gave us a free ticket inside.  She said “Remember how nice the people of San Diego are!”  and so I do

…Once inside…the cameras were clicking all day!

[More animals here... and more to come in the coming days]

Photographing animals is an absolute joy, but also a challenge;  for each photo you get, you miss about a dozen more funny faces.  It was such a beautiful clear day in San Diego, so the factors were right for great photos.  The San Diego Zoo was truly a beautiful spot!

We calculated our walking distances, and it was over 13 miles… no wonder we were so dead tired when we walked out of the zoo.  It was late afternoon, and we were in a bit of a haze, but as we walked back to our hotel through the beauty of Balboa Park, we stopped a few times to rest our feet.  That was when I recognized a familiar group… it started with the sighting of an adorable dachshund… then a very cute baby boy… and then a beautiful familiar face from blogland.  It was one of those funny moments when I was thinking, “Is this real?”

The serendipitous meeting between Disentangled Jenifer and Lolly in the Park!  Millions of people live in San Diego, but what are the chances that 2 knitters who met online years ago  would be in the same area of the Park at the same exact time?  The probability just blew my mind.

…perhaps it blew my mind too much to even take a photo with the camera that hung around my neck…

Either way, I was so happy to meet Jenifer, her husband, her adorable son, and her sweet pup!  I am still shaking my head at the serendipity of that

… We spent two days in San Diego and didn’t even scratch the surface, unfortunately.  It is a lovely city and I truly hope to have the chance to go there again. We totally lucked out when we found one of the pinnacle restaurants of our whole trip on our very first night in the city:

Here I am enjoying the delicious veggie delights of Spread restaurant.  Local produce, prepared in the most delicious and savory way (the chef came out and discussed with us beforehand)  It was sort of a tapas-style, where you order several plates and share.  So memorable.  Now I want to try to figure out what we ate so I can re-create!

Next stop on the SoCal Roadtrip: Mojave and Sonoran desert – Joshua Tree – Palm Springs

This is the first year when my two participatory “-alongs” have overlapped.  I tried to keep this separate before, with Project Spectrum ending in September before Socktoberfest began on October 1st, but I decided to try something new this year.  For those of you who are participating in both, it looks like PS is providing some inspiration for Socktoberfest colors and themes, which I love to see!

Project Spectrum’s last theme is about the west – big blue skies, vast expanses of blue water, the shift towards autumn weather in the northern hemisphere – and one of my favorite ways to exercise my PS creativity continues to be through my camera lens…

The leaves are changing and the oranges, reds, and yellows look particularly striking with such a brilliant blue backdrop, don’t they?

As in the first theme this year, I was trying to capture my WEST:  where I am in space and time at the moment and snapping photos looking westward.  It is an interesting way to orient yourself and to just notice the small subtleties and beauties around us.  Try it!

Stopped at the traffic light – heading west – and in awe of the sky overhead.

Passenger seat photography – heading west in the car and snapping in TV mode.

(For comparison, check out how this looks in AV mode – the magic of the camera!)

Only a few more weeks in this round of Project Spectrum – this year has flown right by!  It isn’t too late to play around with the last theme, so feel free to join us!

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So, it seems that all I have to do to get a few hundred comments is put up a contest post   You know, you can comment without a contest too!  Thanks for all the Socktoberfest updates – it seems like we have quite an exciting month ahead, and I look forward to keeping up with you all through your blogs, the Ravelry group, and the Flickr photo page.  Show off those socks!

…and the winner of the lovely blue/green ShiBui sock yarn is…

Hannah of 8Ball Knits!