Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Stay Tuned about Sweetsauer Photo Hunt #1 !!

It sounds as though we will have a good turn out for the Sweetsauer Photo Hunt #1!!  Thanks to everyone who plans to participate.  The more the merrier!
I am very excited about the Photo Hunt and will be posting the checklist for everyone to see tomorrow, April 1st.

Any Interest in a Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Yours Truly???

Calling all Papparazzi!
 If you have a camera and like to take photos, then I am talking to YOU!
 I mentioned a couple of times in the past month or so that I was a participant in a Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by NicoleB, a blogger in Hungary. (Did you vote for me yet??!! Voting is open until March 31st)  It was a lot of fun to have a focus for photography since I recently started my Daily Photo Blog.  Since then I came across a ton of ideas for Photo Scavenger Hunts or Daily Photos.  This got me thinking that I should HOST my own Scavenger Hunt!  I would probably post a list of 25-30 things on April 1st and give you a month to get all of your photos, then everyone can post their entries on their blog or in an online gallery on May 1st.  The we would have a vote of some kind open for about one week.  At this point in time I don't have a fabulous prize to give away or anything, you would be participating more for the love of photography or just as a personal challenge.

Is this something that any of you would be interested in?  I would open it up to whoever wants to participate.....

Time to check out the Photo Scavenger Hunt entries!

The Photo Scavenger Hunt that I posted about a month ago is now over and its time to look at all the contestants from around the World and VOTE!!!!!!!
Nicole has all of the links on her blog and also the poll for voting.  Make sure to visit her site and if you like my photos, vote for ME!!!!
See all of the photos in my entry on my Daily Photo Blog

PS I appreciate you all looking at my photos and even leaving a comment and voting for me in the contest.  I have been slacking on this blog because I have been spending more quality time with my camera!!

Flickr Groups

I mentioned a few days ago that Flickr has become my new obsession.  One of the reasons I like it so much is that you can join different "groups" for common interest.  Once you join a group, you can add your photos into a "pool" for the group.  There are also message boards for each group (challenges, photography tricks and hot spots, etc).  You can find some amazing photography! 
Here are the groups that I joined in the past week or so:

• Abyssinian & Somali Cats (245 members)
• All Cats--No People (8,271 members)
• Barns (2,628 members)
• Como Park Zoo & Conservatory, St. Paul, MN (125 members)
• Full Moon (1,243 members)
•  Graffiti Archaeology (6,786 members)
• Manx Cats (120 members)
• Minnesota Marvels (Architecture and Bridges) (403 members)
• Minnesota Marvels (Roadside Attractions) (517 members)
• Minnesota Marvels (waterfalls, lakes and streams) (428 members)
• Minnesota State Fair (238 members)
• Multiple Cats (1,035 members)
• Pink Floyd (695 members)
• Prince (199 members)
• Project 365 (9,139 members)
• Russian Blue (204 members)
• Self-Portraits!!! (20,499 members)
• Sunrises and Sunsets (9,636 members)
• The Beauty of St. Paul, MN (339 members)
• Tucson, Arizona (614 members)
• White Bear Lake and Township (2 members)
• Your books (8,231 members)

At Flickr you can also add contacts and whenever they upload new photos, you can opt to receive an e-mail with the photos or their photos will show up on your Flickr Home page (along with any new photos added to any of your groups).
I am sure there are a million other cool things you can do at Flickr, but I am still in the exploring stage :)

Move Over, Facebook

My new love is Flickr.

Although I still think Facebook is one of the greatest inventions on the web, I am kind of bored with it. (Remember, I was trying to convince you all to sign up 3-07) Plus I can't ever access it from work.  Anyway, like I said, my new love is Flickr.  I have had an account there for a few years and have used it to browse for particular photos (remember my post about cool things you can do with Flickr?) but never really started exploring its full capabilities until recently.  I think the Groups feature is pretty awesome and I love that you can upload photos to a pool.  Great way to share common stuff!

I have been really into the photography thing since I started my Daily Photo Blog a few weeks ago (come check it out now if you haven't already!)  Even though I like to think I have always kept my eye open for a good photo opportunity, I am scouting out different possibilities for photos at times and in places where I might not otherwise have looked.  Its a lot of fun! I am even exploring the manual settings on my camera and trying to learn real photography settings.  My Canon G9 is not a SLR but it is still an awesome camera with many of the same features as a SLR. 

So that's my story for the evening.  If you want to add me as a contact on Flickr, I am sweetsauer.  I would love to add you too!

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Last night I posted on my Daily Photo Blog that I have decided to enter a Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Nicole (who lives in Hungary) that runs until March 15.  Most of the 25 items on the Scavenger Hunt List are local-themed and since it was such a nice morning, I decided to start taking a few photos to mark off my list :)  Rather than duplicating what I already posted on the Photo Blog, you can Check them out here. 

For those of you who love to take photos, you should also consider entering the Challenge.

PS While I was driving down one of the roads that lead to White Bear Lake, I drove past this house that was on stilts!!  Apparently the house was actually MOVED ACROSS THE FROZEN LAKE!!!  Check out the video footage

Photo Blog Unveiled....

Here is the link to my new Daily Photo Blog!  Today is Day 1 :)
Check it out if you'd like and make sure to subscribe if you'd like to keep up with my daily photos.
Thanks for looking ;)

Daily Photo Websites & Project 365

After a little deliberation, I've decided to go ahead and jump on the Daily Photo bandwagon.  I take a ton of pictures anyway so hopefully this will be a project I can commit to.  I will officially launch the project and the blog on February 11th, in honor of my bday.  Seems like a logical date to start documenting my daily photos :)
Here is a sneak peak:
I would love to link to everyone else who has a Daily Photo/Project 365 blog, so please leave a link to yours in the comments!

Fun sites that work with Flickr Images

Wanted to share a couple of fun sites that allow you to work with Flickr Images.  These sites are all a lot of fun!

1. FlickrStorm- This website is a search engine for Flickr that comes up with a thumbnail mosaic of popular images for your search term.   Click on any image and it takes you directly to that photo on Flickr.  Here is one I did using the word "barn".

2. Multicolr Search Lab- This is another Flickr search engine, but it searches for images based on custom color combos.  Just pick the colors you want (up to 10) and it matches photos to your colors.  Here are some examples I did

 

  

3. Stumble Upon Earth Album- This site works between Google Maps and Flickr- Just click anywhere on the map and you will see the most popular images highlighting that place.  Here is one I did on Egypt

4. Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker- This site pulls photos that are saved as your favorites on Flickr and then you can make various-sized mosaics, and they even give links to the photo credits! (Yes, I have a variety of favorites saved on Flickr, as evidenced by this eclectic mosaic!)

1. J-Juice, 2. Space?, 3. West Hawaii Sunset-Dec 2007, 4. Magma Blast and Electric Lightning Bolt Within a Lava Plume ~ Island of Hawaii, 5. Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii, 6. Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii, 7. Hawaii Sea Turtle, 8. White Hibiscus of Hawaii, 9. sunset at lake Vänern, 10. minneapolis skyline, 11. pink flower petals, 12. pink flower 1, 13. Watchful Bear, 14. Mom with comfy Twins, 15. IMG_1071-01, 16. PolarBear.jpg

Another of the old barn

PS I used the Totally Rad action "Technicolor Dream World" to brighten up this photo.

More Pretty Fall Colors......

I always keep my camera in my purse for random Kodak-Moments, so these are all random photos I took of Fall colors...usually involving me pulling over on the road somewhere!
 

These next few are in Mahtomedi, near White Bear Lake (Stupid powerlines ruin the peaceful effect. Gotta figure out how to get rid of those in PS)

 

This is Keller Lake on a sunny morning


And do you remember this photo I took of a barn last winter?
Here is a quick photo of it in Fall (I will attempt a better photo when I can- this was taken just after dawn on my way to work)

I Dream of Hawaii......

I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, all the photos I have seen from there are incredibly beautiful.  You know.....beaches, palm trees, exotic animals and plants.

1. wave, 2. Another Green World, 3. Going to the Volcano, 4. Hawaii Vacation 081, 5. Kualoa Ranch, Oahu, Hawaii, 6. Lei, 7. Hawaii 06, 8. Rainbow over SugarCane, 9. Feast at Lele, 10. Mana Road, 11. Petals & Pollen in Paradise, 12. Kona Coffee Cherries, 13. Baby Luau, 14. Above the clouds: Maui sunrise, 15. Island Traditions, 16. pineapple, 17. Manila Palm, 18. Tikis, 19. sugar cane, 20. USS Arizona, 21. tiki tiki, 22. Blue Hawaii, 23. Diamondhead, 24. Bird of Paradise, 25. Colorful Surf Boards on Waikiki Beach Hawaii, 26. A New Year, A New Camera..., 27. Seconds, 28. Big Makena Beach, Maui Hawaii, 29. Ginger flower lei, 30. Volcano meets Ocean, 31. I Know of You, Camera Boy, 32. Oahu USS Arizona Memorial 12 (2), 33. No Photographer Was Run Over During The Capture of This Sunrise Over Mauna Kea, 34. fragrant, 35. Haleiwa Beach Park, Oahu 1/17/06, 36. Rhythm of the Ocean

One of my blogging buds, Samara, just got back from Maui and posted a few of my new favorite photos on her blog.  Check it out and you will SEE exactly why I am ready to hop on a plane  to Hawaii!!!!!!!!!!!

Still Motion Blog....too cool!!!

I wanted to share the coolest blog I have seen in a long time!

Still Motion Blog

These video montages are so amazingly emotional.  Wow!!!!

I'll be back later with more ;)

The Magic of Photoshop Actions!

I broke down today and purchased a set of actions for Photoshop that I have had my eye on for at least 6 months.  I have played around for the past half hour and I am totally excited to share with you how awesome it is!

Here is a pretty picture that was taken on the 4th of July, straight from the camera, pre-Photoshop.

 

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And now a couple of them with actions applied.

1. Magic. Look how much more defined the water is and the boat stands out more

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2. Technicolor Action.  Super romantic!

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3. SuperFunHappy Action. Very soft and pale

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4. And here is one of the b/w actions.

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Aren't they gorgeous? I cannot wait to incorporate these into more of my photos!!

Custom brushes

I recently learned how to make my own custom brushes from an image in Photoshop :) For those of you who do not know PS very well, a brush is basically a  tool that allows you to "stamp" your brush anywhere onto the canvas/photo, changing the color, size and opacity.  Here are a couple of super quick examples:

I can't wait to play around some more!  If you have an image that you think would make a great custom brush, e-mail it to me and I will see what I can do!

I am hoping to find time this week to make a new banner...I think this one has the record for remaining up on my blog for the longest amount of time! lol