I need to stay off my foot as much as I can, so aside from a few household chores, I’ve been a good girl. Still, I needed a photo for today, and the backyard was as good a place to shoot as any. This pear has been sitting our deck rail for a couple of weeks. I set it there to ripen and it’s looking pretty tasty. But the yellow against the redwood stain and the bokeh of the trees is rather pleasing, yes?
It started out pretty good. I’d been working on my Air Races photos a good part of the morning, but when I caught sight of the overcast skies I thought, “Great light for shooting outside and trying out my new 85mm lens!” So I headed out to the backyard, camera in hand, and stepped into a hold in the lawn (a hole dug long ago by our beloved, Daisy, which comes back to bite us on occasion). I twisted my ankle pretty badly and heard a crunch as I fell. While still on the ground I shot a couple of photos of Nina.
Yes, I realize what she’s doing, but Look At The Light! She looks spectacular!
Then I tried to walk it off and shot a couple of more.
Then I moved in on Buddy who was laying out on the deck, and for all his sweetness, couldn’t have cared less that Mom was in pain.
The only excitement I got out of him was when he heard Sweetie’s car pull into the driveway.
Then I tried icing my foot, but that wasn’t helping. In fact, the pain got worse, so off we headed to (the inappropriately named) Urgent Care. We had to go to Sparks as the x-ray tech in Fernley had called in sick. Lots and lots of waiting. Hours worth, in fact. No broken bones, just badly sprained.
They gave me an Air Cast, but it hurt more than it helped, so I took matters into my own hands.
Another item we inherited from Sweetie’s grandfather. We figure this vintage cast-iron tea kettle is close to 100 years old, and boy is it heavy! It has to weigh ten pounds if it weighs an ounce.
Well, not drunk exactly. A tad tipsy. A bit more than a glass of wine in me and I headed out to the backyard with camera in hand. Nina was a whirling dervish – “Whee! It’s Friday! Mom’s in the backyard!”
So no luck there.
But Buddy…ah my boy! Such a handsome boy!
Hey, 2/3 down, 1/3 to go. Emilio, did I get my math right?
Getting this right will mean when I’m shooting people I’ll get it right then too. All of these were shot at ISO 100 with exposure stopped down one or two stops and then fill flash at about 1/4 intensity. I used the LumiQuest 80-20 with the white reflector and no diffuser.
The apples are getting big! I should be able to start harvesting them soon. I hope my co-workers are in the mood for Granny Smiths!
I hope they like grapes too. The vine always gives us far more than we can eat ourselves.
This ant was working the nectar . . .
Out front the bees were going at it.
We’ve had some very strange weather lately. Humidity in the 40 percent range, and now, rain. Go figure. Not complaining, really. We need the precipitation and if we can’t get it in the winter, I’ll take it now.
I woke up at 3:30 in the morning to the sounds of a huge downpour, so after I got up for good I stepped out into the backyard to see if I could find any remnants of the moisture. While the grass was a bit damp, no evidence of the early morning storm was to be seen.
Still, the hibiscus was blooming . . .
and the grapes were starting to ripen.
Buddy napped one minute . . .
. . . and hoped to see a rabbit the next.
And while I was processing these photos, rain!
As some of you may be aware, I collect frogs. I put together some of them tonight. The larger dancing pair is the base of a lamp in our guest room, and honestly, I don’t remember where I got the smaller dancers. They were likely a birthday or Christmas gift many years ago.
Carissa Snedeker Photography 