Kalli McCandless and Cory Corker and I went to Knapp’s Castle this past Thursday. They corresponded through MySpace to arrange what color the clothes and makeup would be. They did a great job!

I learned a lot from this shoot and will be better prepared next time. Thanks Kalli and Cory for dressing up and letting me take pictures of you. I hope you like them.

Yesterday I went on a road trip to take some photos. I went by some flower fields with yellow and orange flowers. I stopped to take a few pictures at two locations. The color was amazing.

Then I stopped at the Windmill Nursery in Buellton. They have a Koi Pond, and the owner Bob Blokdyk gave me some food to feed the fish. I was so happy feeding them that I didn’t take many pictures.  It was so cute how they would make sucking noises when they were trying to get to the food. I laughed a lot and that felt good. Thanks Bob.

Next stop Classic Organic Farm and Market in Gaviota.  I’ve stopped here many times and I love to take pictures there. “The Farmer”, Helmut Klauer and “The Farmers Wife”, H. Kathryn Lamat have done a fabulous job on the decorations, and on the produce displayed, oh and by the way fantastic organic produce. You can pick your own berries too. There was a man working around the berries and I asked Helmut what the man was doing. It looks like he was using a leaf blower. Helmut told me that he is vacuuming the bugs off of the plants..smart idea instead of using pesticides.

A short distance up the road is Nojoqui Falls. It’s about a 15 minute walk to the Falls. There isn’t much water right now, but the leaves are turning color and falling. It’s so quiet there that you can hear a leaf drop. Very calm and peaceful place. I’ve been to Nojoqui many times over the past 32 years, and it always relaxes me.

I went with Paula and her two daughters to Santa Barbara yesterday. We went to Henry’s Beach, The Sojourner for lunch, walked around downtown and took some pictures, the harbor, and break water. It was a fun filled day and the weather was beautiful. These pictures were taken around the middle of the day, but were shot in RAW. The first time shooting in RAW for me. It takes time editing all the pictures when shooting in RAW, but I think there is a difference. The quality seems better to me, and you have more to work with.

In the Lompoc Photographers Guild (LPG) we have a theme every month. We take pictures based on that theme and bring them to the monthly meeting, and share them with the group. This month it was Purple. I was having a hard time coming up with this theme, so I called Kalli and asked if I could take photo’s on her. She said “purple is my favorite color”. That was great news. So she got ready and off we went to under the bridge by the old Drive In theater. There were many walls with graffiti on them..it was so cool. It was windy, but we managed to get a few photos.  Kalli did her makeup and hair, and choose what clothes to wear…I just took the pictures. Thanks again Kalli for helping me out. You are a very creative woman, and I enjoy taking pictures of you.

On my way to Oceano I was able to stop and take a few pictures of things I’ve wanted to take pictures of. This barn has always caught my eye. It was a foggy morning but I stopped to take pictures anyway. Then in Guadalupe,  I’ve wanted to stop and take pictures of the graffiti on the trains. On the way back home I stopped at the Arroyo Grande Cemetery and took a few pictures of headstones. I really like the ones that have lichen growing on them. So I got to take pictures of some of the things I find interesting on my road trips.

Tony, Cathy, Stephanie, and I went to Santa Ynez to watch the Venus, Mars, and Saturn align and see the Persied meteor showers.  The fog rolled in even though we were inland, so the pictures I got were of the horses  and a view of the mountains before sunset. We still had a great time and I learned a lot about nighttime photography. Thanks Cathy.

Yesterday my husband and I went to Los Alamos California, to participate in the World Wide Photo Walk. This is the 3rd year and was started by Scott Kelby. We had 50 participants. First we met for breakfast at the 1880 Union Hotel. for an excellent breakfast. Then we separated into 3 groups, and set out to take pictures.

Our group went next door to The Victorian Mansion. What a great bed and breakfast place!  There are 6 different themed rooms which are, the 50′s, Pirate, Egypt, Roman, Gypsy, and French suite. If you have never been there or to Los Alamos I highly recommend that you go and stay the night. Next stop was the Antiques Depot. Its a huge building with every antique you can think of.

Then we met again at the Union Hotel for group pictures. We had a fantastic time and are going to participate next year. Thank you to Frank Swanson for organizing and being the leader for our walk. We met some really nice photographer’s from The Santa Maria Camera Club, and The Santa Ynes Valley Camera Club, and there were a few of us from The Lompoc Photographer’s Guild.

I met Kalli at the Renaissance Faire in March of 2010. I just went up to her and asked to take her photo. Then about a month ago I was eating lunch with a friend and Kalli came in to pick up some food to go. I saw this woman with different colors in her hair, and approached her again, and asked if I could take her photos. I didn’t put the two together until I went to pick her up for this photo shoot. We both realized that we had met months ago at the Faire. She is very artistic with hair, make up, and clothes. When she came to the door I just kept looking at her and saying “you look so awesome”.

It was a very easy photo shoot because Kalli already knew how to pose. I gave her little instruction. I’ve been so fortunate with the people that model for me. They are all “naturals”. I hope I captured not only her beauty but the confident woman she is. Thanks Kalli for your time and for allowing me to take your pictures. I had a great time.

On my way back home from visiting Emily, I met Jere and Elliot in Santa Maria for lunch. We had a great lunch and it was nice spending some time with them both.  First we went to Jamba Juice and then across the street to Panera Bread. Yummy goodness.

I felt like taking photo’s of Lauren and Ben yesterday and I gave Lauren a call. She agreed to take photos with me later that day. First we went  to the drainage ditch with graffiti. I’ve been wanting to take photos there, but never did until yesterday. I liked it there, and I like graffiti…it is an art. We have so many murals that I don’t understand why we don’t have ones that are made by spraying paint too.

After that adventure we went to North 2nd Street where an abandoned railroad car is with graffiti all over it. Took some photos there and then off to the cemetery. It was so peaceful there and we all ended up sitting on the grass above the graves resting and talking. After a few shots and a good downtime we went to Panda Express to treat them to lunch for being my models.

I had a great time and always like hanging out with Lauren and Ben. Thanks to both of you.