9.27.10

i had about an hour to myself on this evening so i went out to try to grab some shots for the blog. i was hoping for some shots of sunlit fields but by the time i arrived out in the country the sun had gone down. i stopped at a picturesque little cemetery, and really enjoyed taking photos with the small amount of available light. i usually like the bright, golden hour but there was something nice about the subtlety of dusk, and the cemetery felt so peaceful and quiet.

9.5.10

on a beautiful Sunday we headed out to a place called Sutliffe Cider, a beautiful old barn where they make hard apple cider, to see a musician friend of ours perfom. it's near the Sutliffe bridge, a historical site north and east of Solon. we weren't entirely sure where we were going so we went straight to the bridge where they were having a street festival. we stayed there for a bit until we realized we were in the wrong place, but i'm glad we did because it was a fun scene - lots of motorcycles. it was such a nice day and i loved the chance to be outside and especially out in the beautiful countryside.


a section of sutliffe bridge washed out in one of the recent floods and there is an effort right now to raise funds to restore it.




many arrived by bike


some arrived by boat


chillaxin'


the cabins along the river had some interesting lawn ornamentation

now, on to Sutliffe Cider...
















the owners of the farm had horses and offered to let my daughter ride. it was her first horse ride and as you can see she was thrilled!






apparently the owners are car collectors. this extremely vintage pickup truck was displayed outside and apparently the upper level of the barn is full of vintage cars.

8.18.10

these sunrise shots are from Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. this was my second attempt to venture out in the wee hours of the morning to capture the sunrise, the day before my daughter woke up and i couldn't get her back to sleep in time and hubs was already out on his big hike. this day i was a little disappointed that it was so overcast, however at least there was a little bit of space to actually see the sun rise. it was still a lovely view.

this was also fun because my dad got up super early to accompany me. it was nice because it's kind of eerie to drive so high in the dark (Trail Ridge climbs up over the Continental Divide), but mostly it was just nice to have this time with my dad.

8.8.10

these were taken over a stretch of roadside next to the coralville reservoir. enjoy...

7.9.10

i sort of cheated with this one - these are shots taken about a block from my house when i was walking our doggie visitor. it's been difficult to find the time to get out and shoot lately. anyway, this was a lovely golden hour and i decided to crank the aperture wide open for these shots. it had been awhile since i hung around the 1.8 and 2.0 marks, but i'm not sure why because i love a shallow depth of field.