nycgraphix’s Neighborhood

Expedited shipping available!

Order now, quantities limited!!

What’s your idea of the perfect proposal?
Brought to you by Leap Year. In theaters January 8th.

In my opinion a proposal only needs one thing to make it perfect -- sincerity.

I've posted it here.  It seemed the more appropriate location.

I know this is not a big surprise for this week's Quest!  This quest runs for 2 weeks so you have time to get some photos during this busy season.

Photos can be recent or old...you are free to use any photo enhancements, color or b & w or sepia tones. Make a collage, a Christmas card, a poster or just a single photo.  Post how you took the photo and what enhancements you used.

If you haven't ever posted before just jump in and have some fun.  No worries we are all learning here and enjoy seeing everyones photos.

Get creative and show the Photo Quest Group what Christmas means to you.  Is it about the ornaments, the tree, the cookies, friends, children, parties (this is for Yan), pets, nature, church...what makes a Christmas special for you.

Since this quest runs through Christmas...I want to take time to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

 

Maureen

This was the first time for this subject, shoes on Photo Quest.  It was fun to see what you creative minded photographers posted for this quest. 

First to post was Realworld with his Cat Shoes.  I want to know how he stuffed that kitten in the shoe?  OK so that probably didn't happen but what a cute, candid photo!  Nice job Realworld as it is hard to get the cat's eyes clear on a photo...mine sometimes look orange or a strange green.

Next post was from Maju, with her purple sneakers trying to run away from the boring black shoes.  Great composition with the purple shoe in the ROT spot.  This photo really made me laugh...nice work Maju!

Then along came CountrybyDesign with a very mystical photo of her shoes in the stream of light.  WOW this is a very cool photo and I think you should use this technique again with other subjects.  I like the slightly out of focus shot here as it makes the photo have a more mystical feel.

Not to disappoint, Cap'n Stephel brings us some very Jazzy, Saxie shoes.  Very nice play on dark and light and lines.  I liked the second photo the best as it has just enough light to make me want to check it out closer. 

Finally Yancunyong brings it home with party shoes.  Japan must be a lot more fun than I ever thought.  Yan seems to be parting it up big time.  Loved seeing the shoes of his fellow party goers.  I like the last photo the best...the red lighting and the reflection of the shoe was very cool. 

 

Thanks again all for a great quest...hope to see you again next week.

 

I bought this pair of shoes ages ago to use as props for photos and I've never done anything with them.  Today, I took them outside for their first photo shoot.

Because they are black and shinny...not I didn't polish the

m...I set my exposure down from 1/2 to 2 steps depending on background of the photo.  I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, ISO 100, F stop from 3.5 to 4.5, WB set at sunny, focus on one-shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shoes and I had some fun today and I learned a lot about backgrounds and lighting.

Boy it has been ages since I've done a real post and not just a Photo Quest Post.  Last Sunday, hubby and I took a drive south to Tumacacori to see the Dancing Horses.  I had spoke with Dan Gerate during the week about writing a letter of sponsorship for our project to have the Colonial Spanish Horse named as the state horse of Arizona.  Dan told me about the Tumacacori Festival and the Dancing Horse that would be preforming.  Well I was hooked.

The festivities were to begin at 10:00 am and if we wanted a good parking place we should arrive early...like 8:00 am.   Hmm lets see it is about 1:30 drive to get their by 8:00 am.  I did the math and didn't like the results...second plan.  The horses were to preform at 2:00 pm now you are talking!  Second plan, leave around 12:00 pm ask the universe for an awesome parking place right at the front of the church..us oldsters don't need to walk that far...OK, OK well I was packing camera and equipment.

We leave our place around 12:00 and picked up coffee for Don on the way out.  As we leave, I restate my request for a close parking space...would be a shame to drive all that way and not be able to get a parking place.  The drive was uneventful...my favorite kind of ride.  We turn off the freeway and start down the road to the mission...there are cars everywhere...parked on the side of the road parked in places that sure looked illegal!  Hubby says he has an idea of were we can park...I peep up wait "I requested a parking place up front let's just pull into the parking lot in front of the church."  He take a right into the parking lot and there right in front is a parking place..in fact there were two so we had a choice! 

Weather was cool and a little breeze but we had dressed right and could manage fine.  First stop was to take a photo of the church's white dome.  This mission isn't in great shape and was never finished as the church ran out of funds.  I had some issues with this photo as the sky wasn't all that blue...storm coming in and everything in the old church is crocked!  Hard to make it straight...when I got the building straight the dome wasn't.  I settled for a straight cross. 

Next we took the path to the Festival Grounds just north of the church.  Oh boy, oh boy I spied a Harris Hawk on a girls hand!  Now that was worth a few photos right?  I took a bunch of photos.  The hawk was very photogenic but the backgrounds weren't that good.  Lighting was OK and there was a light breeze so he kept his wings out as if to fly away.  This hawk was around 3 years old and had been injured as a youngster and couldn't fly. 

I like the focused look of his eyes. 

We got to see a cute group of children dancers.  In this dance they all had canes and were acting like old people.  They were a hoot and we all got a good laugh!

 

Next we were entertained by a wonderful Mexican Band.  I got a few photos but some were misses as I didn't get all their feet in the photo...lesson learned yet again...check your composition dummy!

I ran into Don Garete and he said the horses were coming in about 15 minutes...we dash around the grounds to find some lunch.  We settled on a both run by some lovely Indian ladies and had a great fast lunch. 

I saw the horses coming down the path and ran over to take some photos.  I couldn't get close enough to them for a good shot before they took a left turn off the path.  Not to be denied a photo, I circled way left and went down to the clearing that they were using for a warm up area.  I got off a few shots before the nice park ranger told me to leave. 

 

 

After what seemed like an hour they finally called the horse to preform their dance to the music of a Mexican Band.  What a wonderful treat!  I'd never seen anything like this before.  The horses were so well trained and beautifully groomed.  The performers tack and outfits were beautiful.  It was a big WOW.  I was right along the outside of the ring and could get up close for good shoots.  I used my 28 - 105 mm lens, polarizer lens, shot mostly 400 ISO, took exposure down a 1/2 step as it was cloudy, played around with the f stop from 4 to 8 and had a ball.

 

 

 

 

 

I took hundreds of photos and it was so much fun being so close to these wonderful horses.  Finally the show was over and we walked back through the Mission grounds and I took one last photo of the Mission dome.  It was another attempt to keep the photo straight that I'm not sure really works...old buildings!

 

Oh here is one last photo that says it all...we had a great day and it was worth the drive:

 

Yup.  It's winter time again.  Time for pulling out the heavy coats and gloves.  Time for lighting fires in the fireplace.  Time for making big steaming pots of soups and stews.  And time for my favorite accompaniment to such foods -- corn bread.  I've decided to share with you, my Vox friends, my time honored recipe and technique for making basic [1] cornbread [2] from scratch.  No silly box mixes for me.  This stuff is super easy to make! 

Let's begin with the recipe just as my mother gave it to me.

That's right.  She only gives lists of ingredients.  I'm surprised she was able to come up with measurements for any of the stuff.  She hardly ever measures anything.  And that's how she taught me to cook.  Just put it together and adjust the amounts until it looks and/or tastes right.  I will kindly fill in the gaps for you here.

Begin by choosing the pan you are going to cook in.  There are those who swear you cannot get good cornbread without using an iron skillet but, like my mother, I use an 8" Pyrex pie plate.  We prepare it in the same fashion as an iron skillet and get the same results. 

Pour a couple of tablespoons vegetable oil, or olive oil for the health conscious, in the bottom of the pan.  Or do as I've done here.  Use bacon grease!  Place the pan with the oil or grease into the oven and turn it on to 400 degrees.  Let the oven and pan preheat while you mix up the batter.  This is the source of the "magic" touch those iron skillet folks swear by.

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together in your mixing bowl.  Measure out the milk and then drop the egg into it.  Beat the egg into the milk [3] with a fork.  Pour this mixture into the flour and mix just until moistened.  Don't worry about those lumps.  Over mixing flour and liquid mixtures develops the gluten in the flour and makes your baked goods tough.

Now it's time to add the cornmeal.  Mother doesn't say how much, she just knows what it's supposed to look like.  And the same was true for me until I mixed up this particular batch.  I went to all the trouble of measuring it and I used 1 1/2 cups.  This is about what it should look like after you mix it in.  You can adjust the amount to suit yourself.

Now it's time to pour this into the hot pan.  Be very careful that you don't burn yourself!  As you pour the batter in you will notice some of it climbing up the side of the pan and can even hear it sizzling.  This is what creates that lovely crunchy bottom crust those iron skillet folks love.

Yes, that's bacon grease floating on top of the batter.  Let this bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. [4]  I have a bad habit of taking mine out a couple of minutes earlier than I should because I can't wait to eat it.

Try to let it stand about 5 or 10 minutes before you cut into it.  I rarely last longer than 30 seconds.  This batch was enjoyed with a big pot of venison stew.

[1]  I did say basic.  Once you've mastered the basic technique feel free to jazz it up with chopped jalepeno, chopped onion, grated cheese, corn, or anything else your little heart desires.  I have lots of fun coming up with new options.

[2]  WARNING: This is not light, sweet, fluffy cornbread that looks and tastes like cake.  This is serious cornbread designed to stand up to the soups and stews it's served with and not go soggy.

[3]  Sure you could beat the egg separately, but this saves time.

[4] There are also those who swear you need sugar to make the crust brown.  Clearly, you don't.

I don't remember seeing this sign on the wall of my doctor's office last year.