My Favorites from 5-9

Ok, I'm back and ready to show more favorites - thanks for the nice comments on the favorites from 1-4, those were fun ones.

Alright, so my 5th hunt took place in August of 2009.  I've only picked out 3 favorites for this one.

First up is 'country'.  One day after work I went driving around some farm lands, a lot of farm lands, to find something 'country'... again, I was feeling a bit more comfortable with playing in photoshop, so I decided to grain it up a bit and see how it turned out:

Next up is 'fountain', this shot was taken in downtown Minneapolis.  I knew that I wanted to capture this at night because it's lit up and I thought it would add so much to the image.  So Steve and I went downtown and set up the camera:

During the summer of '09, Steve and I had high hopes of becoming urban explorers (which, in short is basically exploring abandoned buildings)... problem is getting into said buildings.  So... for 'something silver' I thought it would be fitting to show a glimpse of playing the part of a UE (urban explorer):

In October of 2009, I entered my 6th photo scavenger hunt, in all honesty I probably should have taken this one off because I feel like this was the beginning of the decline of my effort.  However, I've kept going and I still have favorites, so onward!

Steve and I were in Denver during the month of October, so that's always a chance to have different things to see.  We went to the Denver Aquarium and I thought this little guy would fit for 'a critter'

2009 was the first year Steve and I carved pumpkins together, we also roast the seeds, so for 'fall treat', I thought the seeds would be perfect:

This last image is my favorite; the topic was 'symmetry' and I had zero idea how I was going to pull it off... so, as I was going though the pictures I had taken in the month I came across this one and it dawned on me that it would fit perfectly!

My 7th Photo hunt took place in December of 09.  It's always fun to have themes during these hunts and to take advantage of the holiday season... however, I hate the winter and the snow, and in Minnesota we have lots of both.  So going outside to take these pictures really challenges me ... and most times I fail.  However, there are a few in that collection that caught my eye.

Up first is 'a winter icon', off the bat I thought about Santa, cause duh!  Santa rules all... but then I gots to thinkin' about Snowmen... cause I see them all around - it was a great year for snowfall (if you're into that sorta thing, which I am not).

One day I was driving around my 'hood looking for 'something red' and I came across this and got pretty excited!  This ball is HUGE hanging up in the tree... and it's RED!

This photo hunt was the first one to offer up 'B&W with selective coloring' - which is a B&W photo with just a portion of it in color... something I had never done before and was extremely nervous about trying.  Everything I had done in photoshop was mostly just editing colors and adding effects... nothing using any of the scary tools.  I remember clearly the day I took this picture and began editing it.  I was at Steve's apartment and he gave me this mug for a Christmas gift (and I LOVED it!)... so that weekend I set it up for a photo shoot and then sat down at his apartment and he showed me a bit about the photoshop tools and how to select and do what I needed to do, this is what I came up with:

February 2010 brought on my 8th photo hunt and the first time I missed a few shots... again, probably should have taken a month off, but I truly do enjoy these so much.

Another 'B&W with selective coloring', this shot was taken a night that I had my cousins over for a girls sleepover/drunken party - it was a blast.  They love pez (who doesn't?!) and brought over a ton of packs... we opened them all into a bowl to had a grand ole time.. and I staged a photo shoot:

This next shot was taken in Duluth, MN - anyone who knows that city, knows this bridge.  Steve and I were up there for a friends birthday party and ever though it was cold as a witch's titty in a brass bra, I knew I wanted this bridge at night for my 'night image'

Alright, the last one I'm going to feature for you today is my 9th photo hunt which took place in April 2010.  Only have two shots from this one, I just really felt like I could have done so much better with these themes.

Up first is 'sign of spring', which in my mind means two things, melting snow and flowers.  I picked flowers because my mom has about 5 million gardens in my yard and there was a lot to pick from.

Downtown Minneapolis is a great place to capture photos, Steve and I have gone there many times for these hunts, not to mention its one of my favorite places to be.  So when I read 'a different point of view' on the list, I thought... there has to be something downtown fitting for this... that when I came across all these statues.  I'd seen them a million times before, but now they are going to work for me!

So... that's it today.  Up next, tomorrow hopefully, will be the favorites from 10-12, which will bring you 9 more photos!