Leila does not look too pleased that it is still raining outside today.  It looks like she is still sleeping or just waking up here.

I was ready to pass out myself when I was taking this shot of our girls sleeping on the bed.  The only camera I had available at the time without running all the way downstairs was my iPhone 3G.  As some photographers say, the best camera is the one you have with you!

This was the view out of my hotel room window tonight.  Some kids staying in the hotel, and probably their dad, stomped out this message to their mother.  The widest lens I currently have in my camer bag is the 50mm.  I hope to change that real soon, however, for now I make due.  With a wider lens, I would have liked to capture more of the surrounding area, but the 50mm lens only gave me this field of view.  To add a little pop to the photograph, I used a preset to introduce a bit of a sepia effect and then pushed up the vignette a bit more.

The snow is practically coming down sideways tonight.  Right outside of the hotel’s front door it is sticking to the walls.  The light shining straight down from the ceiling created this dynamic lighting on the textured wall.  The snow sticking to it added even more texture.  This was one of those photographs that I knew would come out great no matter how I shot it.  I am learning more and more that good light is everything in photography.

I had a four hour drive ahead of me to get up to Seven Springs Resort where my company’s retreat was being held.  I figured it was best to get my picture for today out of the way instead of putting it off until I got up to the resort and was distracted by the hospitality suite.  My fiancee was not too pleased when I started to take candid shots of her before I walked out the door.  However, she was a good sport and let me use this one for the project.

I guess my creative juices are not flowing today.  I figured there would be plenty of subjects to photograph at my Mom’s house this weekend.  Unfortunately, all I was able to find today was this ship that I used to have in my room as a kid.  I cloned out some clutter in the background using Photoshop and added a vignette in Lightroom before exporting the photograph.

Tonight I headed into Philadelphia with a few coworkers to do a cheesesteak challenge.  The plan was to two hit up two cheesesteak joints in close proximity and eat a cheesesteak from each place in order to compare them.  Luckily, I had someone willing to split a sandwich at each place with me.  The two joints we went to were Jim’s Steaks and Ishkabibble’s.

Today’s photograph is of the steak we ordered at Jim’s Steaks.  The Cheese Wiz is spread with a butter knife directly onto the bun before it is loaded with your meat and vegetables of choice.  In this sandwich, we ordered onions and mushrooms.  I have to be honest though, this steak was very dry compared to the one at Ishkabibble’s.  And even though I have not had Pat’s or Gino’s in a few years, I am almost certain that a cheesesteak at either one of their establishments would be better than the two I sampled tonight.

The photograph is a no thrills snapshot.  I did not want my sub-sharing partner to have to wait while I took tons of pictures of our rapidly cooling sandwich.  I at least tried to spice up the picture with a couple of “creative” edits in post-processing.

Leila had an appointment with the vet today.  She was not pleased when her “sister”, Mela, did not get to come along for the car ride.  Leila was even more unhappy with the three shots she received to bring her current on her vaccinations.  You can see the displeasure in her eyes.

This shot was captured with the Leica D-Lux 4 point and shoot camera.  For Christmas, I received a nice leather case with a shoulder strap for it.  I have found it a lot easier to always be carrying a camera now.  It was a breeze for me to whip out the camera for a few pictures while Leila and I were waiting inside the exam room for the doctor to see her.

When I took the photograph, I saw the distracting cat poster in the background.  I thought that by using the smallest aperture possible, I could make the poster go out of focus.  Unfortunately, it was not the case.  Instead, I relied on a white vignette to bring the viewer’s attention back to the middle of the photo where Leila, my subject, is positioned.