175: The Peanut Gallery

For those who don't know what the Peanut Gallery is, it was what the audience the Howdy Doody Show was called. Since most of the audience were little kids, they were the peanuts, and thus, the Peanut Gallery. Peanut Gallery also is another name for the nosebleeds, which are the seats that are the farthest and highest away from what ever you are watching. The nosebleeds are due to the high altitude :-)

174: Football, Baby!

None of that silly American football! This is real football! Actually, this is just a picture of a soccer ball on a pitch. Nothing special!

173: Balcony Planting

So I weeded and dug up some slower boxes that we haven't used in a few years. I managed to unearth some little insects that weren't happy I had just dug up their homes. We have no idea what they are, but they just kind of buzzed around while I was planting. They didn't bite, thank goodness, but we wanted to try and get rid of some of them. So, my brilliant boyfriend brought out the shopvac and we vacuumed them up. It took a little bit of practice to not vacuum the plants and vacuum the bugs, but we did get rid of most of them.

I know, we're terrible people for vacuuming bugs! If it's any conselation, when we humans are all gone, the bugs will still be here laughing their little heads of at how they survived and we didn't.

172: Torrey Pines

Torrey Pines State Park in San Diego. I know I should clone out the wire barrier, but I'm to lazy. I discovered the soft light blending mode and I had lots of fun with that!

Torrey Pines are reknowned for there ability to survive under harsh conditions, and this Park and one island off the coast of California are the only places left where these pines grow.

I apologize for not posting this yesterday like I am suppose to.

I will soon resume taking pictures everyday since I'll have the time this summer.

Go Ghana!!!

171: World Cup Fever!!!

Since these are the last games in each group of the World Cup, they play the games simultane- ously. We're lucky enough to have two televisions, and a way to watch both games at the same time. We put the sound on for the one we're most interested in (in this case Sweden/England) but we can watch the other one at the same time.

That is called World Cup Fever, my friend!

I'm sorry Ecuador lost, and Trinidad and Tobago are down 1-0 at the half, but anything can happen. Go Trinidad and Tobago!!

170: Bokeh

This was taken at Torrey Pines State (National?) Park. The out of focus background is (I think) known as the bokeh, and in this particular picture, I think the out of focus flowers mimicing the curl of the main plat add a nice touch. To bad this was taken before the Bokeh challenge at DPC was announced.

That being said, the hard core people who are researching it would probably give this a Does Not Meet Challenge because I don't have little circles in the out of focus background. Well, I sort of do. Oh well

Back to Torrey Pines. Even though I'd grown up in San Diego, I can't remember ever going to the Park. It has some nice walks. They call them hikes, but the one we went on was more of a walk :-) Since it was beginning of summer, lots of flowers were blooming, so I ahd fun shooting them. Thanks to Emily for being so patient while I kept wandering off the path and stopping to get some of the shots. I didn't really wander off the path (I know that's bad), but I did step over the barrier to get that 'perfect' shot.

169: Children

Whoops! I'm so caught up in World Cup fever I forgot to post something yesterday. In return, you get two pictures. These were children on the streets in Baja California. Their mothers were asking for change, and also getting their kids to beg as well. My dad's wife always has some change and a few singles for the children, so I would snap a few shots of the children.

RANT ON

I got berated by some random guy while in Baja. I was taking some candids of the children, and was reviewing the pictures, and a guy came up to me. He said something along the lines of - you're gonna give those kids your taking pictures of some money, RIGHT? I was doing candids, and the kids, once you gave them money, would tend to pose for you which for that particular shot wasn't what I wanted. What bugged me the most about it was his tone. It was incredibly condescending. I understand that a lot of people new to the area/photographing unerpriveleged kids might not know about the unspoken etiquette of giving someone a bit of money in return for taking the picture, but geez, DO IT IN A NICE WAY. I really wanted to slap the guy, but I figured it wasn't in my best interest to do so. And anyways, if he'd bother to open his eyes, he would have seen that someone in my group WAS giving the kids money as he was berating me.
And FWIW I do know that giving a little bit of money to kids/homeless people/street muscians, etc. in exchange for taking their picture is common practice. Sheesh, I felt bad for taking a picture of some buskers once when all I had on me has a big bill. I still look for them so I can drop them so change next time I see them. I just found his tone so presumptuous and superior, it really irked me. Maybe next time I'll take his picture and give him some change.

RANT OFF

It's amazing how much those of us in first world countries take everything we have for granted.