Day 11/Jan 11: Cloudy skies

As I was driving I saw a really nice skyline and snapped a shot with my cel phone camera. Go figure: it's given me 2 great shots so far. The only editing on this photo is the watermark. :0) The sun was straining to make an appearance, but the German clouds said, "I don't think so!" LOL OH for it to be sunny all the time!

Day 10/Jan 10: A wall and a bunch of logs

In our shared backyard area there is a wall that separates a stand alone home and our shared yard/parking lot. They are really nice German neighbors (even though we can't communicate) and every year they always get tons of logs. Then, later on, those logs are dispersed (I don't know where) and then they get more. I really wish I knew the story behind what happens to the logs, where they get more, and why they have so many logs (that they couldn't possibly use it all). Just one of those curious German things. 

Day 9/Jan 9: Meet Duke!

This is pretty self-explanatory. This is our dog, Duke. I adopted him from the Escambia County animal shelter many years ago and he is the best dog a person could want. He looks like a Jack Russell, but all we know for sure is that his mom was Shar pei, yes... Shar pei. He had the cutest wrinkles when he was a puppy and everything. LOL Love this dog. He just turned 7 years old back in November.

Day 8/Jan 8: Tree

So, today we actually had a little bit of sunshine in the afternoon during my son's nap time. I took our dog out for his usual potty time, grabbed the camera, and snapped away at the different things around our shared yard. I had so many different things to shoot and I got some great shots of a lot of things. HOWEVER... this tree spoke to me. Funny thing... I only took this one picture of it (not my usual 10 of one shot). I love taking pictures of trees, by the way, so it will be a recurring theme in this blog. LOL I love this picture... especially the way the sunlight hit the middle left branches. It was just right. :0)

Day 7/Jan 7: Matryoshka Dolls in Bokeh

Well, my 1st attempt at the bokeh effect. My hubby bought me 2 beautiful Russian Matryoshka dolls for Christmas. Matryoshka dolls, also known as nesting dolls, are a set of wooden dolls that decrease in size and are placed one inside another. Check out Wikipedia if you'd like more information.

One of the dolls (not photographed) my hubby gave me is the traditional doll and the other one depicts my favorite fairytale of all time: Cinderella. I still can't believe he remembered that it has been my favorite fairytale since 3rd grade! :0)

So, I decided to take pictures of my favorite doll and had a lot of fun playing with the Christmas tree lighting (yes, it's still up!) and, in the process, learned how to use the Aperture Priority Mode on my camera. I am starting to feel a bit more like a photographer, versus just a complete and total newbie. LOL

Day 6: Christmas Deco

Well, since my left wrist hurts like crazy and is in a brace, I'm keeping this brief. I took some pics of the garland that frames the doorway leading into the living room, since tomorrow, it must come down. Three Kings day is now almost over, and we must get back to the real world. One cool thing I noticed, if you look at the TV (bottom picture) you'll notice the cartoon is in an archway, so I technically got a shot of a "frame within a frame." Two thumbs up for me! LOL
Poor Sebastian, he looks like he's in jail. I like the fact that I got the tree in the background in the right-hand corner (top picture). I've really enjoyed the Christmas decoration and am very sad to see it go. The ambience in the living room and in the house has been very soothing. Maybe I'll wait until Sunday to take it all down. LOL

Day 5: Crazy Hail & Wind Storm

We had a CRAZY hail and lightning storm today so I took a few shots to see what I would capture. I really like the tree across the street so I snapped a few shots of it. I also snapped a few shots of the house next to it because I love how the driveway curves up and I tilted the camera to create the angles. (Although, I might have tried to tilt it a little less, in retrospect). The hail was scattered everywhere! LOL

Day 4: German Basement

One thing about living here in Germany, is the architecture. The houses, buildings... everything is so different and unique. My hubby kept complaining about a weird smell, so we decided to check the basement to make sure the windows were closed. So I grabbed my camera and took some shots.
I also edited on picnik (loving this site, by the way) and backtracked on some of my previous posts to add a watermark on my other posts.
I couldn't pick just one pic, so bear with me on the 4 pics. I tried to do a collage, but I must pay for the premium package and I want to explore a little longer before I commit to picnik. LOL :0)

Day 3: ABC's with Sebastian

So, my son brings me the ABC board puzzle we have and out of nowhere, points to the letter "E" and says: "E". My jaw literally dropped to the floor. LOL Now, I think it may have been a fluke, but he has (on several occasions) pointed at it and said it again. So, I pulled out the letters and we had some fun with the puzzle and learning our ABC's. The only problem is he likes to chew on them, so he cries whenever I put them away when he puts it in his mouth. If only I could get him to stop putting EVERYTHING in his mouth! Any suggestions? LOL

Day 2: How did I do this?

So, I was taking random shots everywhere around the house and I decided to snap a few of the flowers my hubby got for New Year's Eve. So, I'm posting 2 pics. I really like the colors of this flower. My husband said the florist said they come in from Ecuador. Pretty neat. Then, playing around with the different focuses, I somehow got the other shot of the flowers. How did I do this? How did I do this? How did I do this?! I have no clue. LOL Oh well, at least it's a fun shot. 
I would categorize it as bokeh or a different perspective? What do you think?