Fun in the Fall!

Christian Science Center, Boston

This year has been flying by and I do not think that it is going to slow down any time soon! Between work and travel, I have not had much time to slow down and rest. Here is some of what I have been up to. Enjoy!

Weekend in Vermont

Weekend in Baltimore

Boat in the Inner Harbor

Octopus Arm - National Aquarium

Back again....

Why hello there! Yes, it's me. The slacker. The one who says that she is going to blog regularly and then disappears for months at a time. So yeah, here I am trying to get back on the horse...again. Until the next time I fall off that is!

So, it's been a great few months since I was last here. Wanna see? Since we last met I....

Rooted for the home team.

Explored Europe...




Had a divine encounter...



Took public transport...





Partied with the Royal Family

Went boating....

Embraced my artistic side....

Took time to smell the...dandelions...?

Experienced tranquility....

and celebrated with friends from near and far!

And the summer is not over yet!!!!

The Human Form

Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto


This month's photo contest theme on Boston.com is "The Human Form." (http://www.boston.com/community/photos/raw/2011/03/march_contest_theme_the_human.html) The goal is to capture the beauty of the human body in a portrait or photograph. This past Friday, I joined friends at the 'Stars on Ice' show here in Boston. Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by figure skating. I was never allowed to ice skate, but I would watch figure skating for hours on end and choreograph routines in my head. So given all of this, when I had a chance to join my friends for a chance to see a live show, I counted myself in! I was also psyched because I had gotten a new telephoto lens for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!) and had not yet had much opportunity to break it in. Now I had my chance and I have to say, I was quite pleased with the results. I am having trouble choosing which photo I want to submit to the contest, so I am posting a few of the contenders. Opinions are welcome!

Sasha Cohen


Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto

A Steaming Pot of Soup...

I love to cook...and if it were not for the clean up afterward, I would cook a heck of a lot more than I do now. I really enjoy making soups, pot pies, mexican dishes, and lots of other good stuff. For this item on the photo scavenger hunt, I had to photograph a steaming pot of soup. Voila!!! Looks good, doesn't it?

BUT.....the end product that I was cooking this night was NOT soup! (Although if I stopped cooking at this point, I could have indeed had soup for dinner). Instead, I kept boiling it...and boiling it, until much of the liquid was gone. I was not making soup...I was making chicken pot pie instead! And boy was the end product good! Don'tcha wish you had some???

And if you are wondering why I am posing with my pot pie in front of my computer with a picture of my friends on it, it is because they cooked the same recipe on the same night, all the way down in Tennessee!

Show me a Sign

During the month of February, I kind of halfheartedly took part in a photo scavenger hunt. I did not get nearly as far as I had hoped. But even though I was not online or behind the camera as often as I liked, that's okay.

So back to the scavenger hunt. One of the items was to show a sign at a museum. It just so happened that I had plans to go to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton with a friend of mine and her daughter. The museum was beautiful and we had a great time. Funny enough, while we were at the museum, I ran into some other family friends of mine who I had not seen in well over a year! I absolutely LOVE when I have "small world" experiences like this, especially since this particular museum was no where near where my friends or I live! So not only was I able to get one of the scavenger hunt items, I also had a great time with ALL of my friends!

The Truffle Fairy Strikes Again!!!

Random acts of kindness can really make one's day. The other day I was in a bit of a grumpy mood when I got to the office, however my chagrin quickly turned to a grin when I saw that overnight, the Truffle Fairy had visited my office and left me a treat! Thank you Truffle Fairy! You know who you are! ;)

Scavenger Hunt: Traffic Light at Night

25. Traffic light after dark, red light facing you, green light facing left or right

The other night I spent some time out in Central Square while waiting to have my hair cut. It was a frigid night and it might not have been the best idea for me to be out there photographing with my gloves in my purse. But a girl has got to do what a girl has got to do. It took me about 20 minutes to get a shot that I was actually somewhat happy with. I was out there with just my little point and shoot camera, sans tripod, so it really was challenging to get a shot that came out sharp enough. However, in the end, this seems to have worked.

In regards to this scavenger hunt, I am finding that I am having trouble being creative. Many of the items are quite easy, but I do not want to take sub-par shots just in order to fill a requirement. Therefore, I think from here on out, I am going to be doing this just for myself and not to fulfill the requirements of a contest. I want to take quality photographs. I want to make art. So if I do not finish the scavenger hunt by the deadline, that's okay! Something beautiful will come out of it.

Scavenger Hunt: Tall Snow Pile

23. Snow pile taller than an adult with an adult in the photo for perspective

As I may have mentioned before, this has been an unusually snowy winter here in the Boston area. We have already received over 70 inches of snow... and it is only the beginning of February!!! Typically we receive just over 40 inches in a given year. Seeing that I live in the city, you can imagine that this means we have a LOT of really big snow piles. Really big!!! Therefore, I did not have to search all that hard to find a pile that was taller than an adult. Actually, for the past few weeks I have been really impressed with the growing snow piles at church. And today, you get to see just how tall they are.

Scavenger Hunt: Heart Shaped Candy

20. Piece of candy in the shape of a heart - any candy, including chocolate

I am stuck at home this morning waiting for the roofer to come and shovel off our roof because we have had a ton of snow this season and we heard weird noises coming from up there yesterday. He was supposed to be here an hour ago, but alas, he is not. So I am trying to use my time productively...folding and putting away laundry, taking photos for this scavenger hunt, and blogging. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning, right?

One of the items on the scavenger hunt is to take a photograph of a piece of heart shaped candy. I made a late night grocery run last night (might have been a bad idea!!!) and came home with cupcakes and heart shaped marshmallows. Now I am not too sure how literally the judges of this contest are going to be judging. This particular item said "a piece" of heart shaped candy. So I guess I am not going to be able to use those cupcakes that have multiple pieces of heart shaped candy on them. I am going to have to eat those. What a pity. However, I could photography just one marshmallow. So I did. Enjoy!!!

Oh, and for those of you who are thinking that marshmallows are not candy, here is a copy of my receipt from last night, just to prove you wrong. ;)

February Photo Scavenger Hunt

1. Analog clock, not digital, showing the time as 8:08

As many of you know, I often take part in the monthly photo contests on Boston.com. This February, the have gone above and beyond for the contest and raised the stakes. Instead of submitting 1 single photo for the contest, this month, we are being sent on a photo scavenger hunt and have to submit 28 (yes 28) photos to be eligible to win the prize! That's one photo for each day in February. Wow. I am going to try it. I can't tell you if I will actually succeed in this task, some of the photos are going to be challenging. Example: photograph multiple birds at a bird feeder. Um, if I HAD a bird feeder, this might be possible. But I don't. Besides, there are not many birds out at the moment. I think I am going to have to get creative and borrow a bird feeder and take it down to the Boston Common or something to entice the pigeons. Wish me luck with that one! :P
Another challenging one is going to be finding a Beatles LP (no, not a CD) and photograph the cover. I guess some trips to used music stores are in my future. Oh, by the way, does anyone have a Boston Terrier that I can photograph?

Here is a link to the contest if you want to see some of the other things that I am going to be on the look out for this month. Wish me luck!

Inspiration Straw

Recently one of my roomies bought a bunch of straws. I have not had straws in the house for years, and as I was in the kitchen earlier today, the colors and shapes caught my eye. I couldn't help it. I ran for the camera to capture my inspiration for the day. Enjoy!

What's that?

This month's Boston.com contest is a repeat of "What's This?" Last year, much to my surprise, I won 3rd place in the contest! I am not sure how I am going to rank this year, but I like my photo, so that is all that matters!!!

Leaf-icle

Earlier this week, we got slammed by a nor'easter that dropped about 19 inches of snow and ice here in the Boston area. It was absolutely gorgeous! I spent some time outside photographing the aftermath and got some beautiful shots, however I chose this one for my photo of the week because I just love how despite the frailty of the leaf and the potential for it to crumble, it is perfectly preserved within the ice.

They say that another icy storm is coming this week...I hope this one will prove camera worthy as well!

Here are some of my other favorites from this storm.

The Calm Before the Storm

Tonight I spent some time doing some low light photography with my friend Melody. We met up near the Boston Common (where we saw that a helicopter had to make an emergency landing!) and then walked down the picturesque Charles Street. It was hard to choose what photo I wanted to be my "photo of the week" because there were many good ones. Eventually I settled on a scenic shot of Charles Street itself during a peaceful moment. We are supposed to get a blizzard tomorrow during the day and I feel like this photo captures "the calm before the storm." We shall see.
Goodnight!!!

Sound the Trumpets!

When I was in college and in my college chorale, we once performed a piece called "Sound the Trumpets." I can still hear it in my head now, it was a catchy bit. :) So for last week's photo, I tried to recreate the song photographically. Enjoy!

Week 1: January 1, 2011!!!

I cannot think of a better way to start off the New Year than spending a BEAUTIFUL day at the beach! It was close to 60 degrees out and sunny! I hope that this is a sign of the year to come. While my friend Melody and I were walking along the shore at Singing Beach and taking photos, I decided that I wanted to resurrect my photo of the week experiment this year...AND STICK TO IT!!! So here I go! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I'm BA-ACK! 2011 is here, along with a new resolution

Well everyone, I am back. Last year, I slumped and in the span of just over a month, I let my 2010 Photo Experiment become a distant memory. But a New Year is here, and so I resolve to get back on ball. I got a new telephoto lens for Christmas too, so I am excited to get out there and start using it. Here goes!!!

So, even though I have not been posting for the past year, here are some of my favorite photos that I have taken. See, I did not totally go away! Enjoy!!!