Krohn Conservatory Christmas Display

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The Krohn Conservatory Christmas Display in Cincinnati, Ohio is simply beautiful!  As I watched small children running from display to display, I felt like one of them, excited every time I took a photograph.  I almost tripped a few of them as I was running from spot to spot!  Poinsettias were everywhere!

Here’s the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge that spans the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Covington, Kentucky.  Mr. Roebling also designed the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City!

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The colorful and intoxicating display of flowers and plants was almost overwhelming!

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The cute trains chugging along, high and low, brought back memories of a Christmas long ago…

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2013 in Review

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Looking back at everything I’ve done in the past year, makes me realize how lucky I am.  My year has been filled with lots of life!

Exercise always plays a big part.  Not only hiking…

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Selfie

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“Selfie” photos are new to me.  Even if I’m traveling solo, I will ask someone to take my photo.  But usually I’m taking photos of other people, landscapes or things.  Since acquiring a corded remote shutter release, I took some “Selfies” yesterday for the holiday in front of my Christmas tree.  I purchased Lightroom 5 a few weeks ago and have been teaching myself, along with help from the internet, to utilize it.  On this photo, I used the teeth whitener function, not only on my teeth (they didn’t need much), but also on my eye whites and used the skin smoothing function.  It’s my new Facebook profile photo!

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Also…I have great news!  A local marketing company called me because they found a photo on this website and wanted to purchase it.  So I sent them an invoice and a high-resolution copy of it.  I’m gradually making progress.  Hope you make it a great day!  We’re expecting six inches of snow today!

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Legendary Lights of Clifton Mill

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Last night my husband and I drove an hour North to see the Legendary Lights of Clifton Mill in Clifton, Ohio.  I was excited to test out my new photography skills, since I’ve taken a few classes, and am now shooting only in Manual mode and RAW format.  And because I now have a remote shutter release for night-time shots.  The 50 degree temperatures and weekday night made it the perfect time to go.  We didn’t freeze and weren’t squeezed by too many people!  We arrived at 5:30pm and there were already a few photographers set up even though the lights don’t come on until 6:00pm.  As we munched on some popcorn, since we didn’t have dinner, I talked with the other photographers a bit.  An announcer came on a loud-speaker two minutes before the lights came on to notify us and once they did, I heard a collective “Ahh”.  As you can see, they’re spectacular!

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While we were waiting, one of the other photographers took our photograph for us…

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Travel Spirit Meetup Group

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I’ve just began my own Meetup group called Travel Spirit Meetup Group.  If you’d like to take a look…here’s the link!  I’m very excited to begin organizing meetups to travel together and to share our tips and travel stories!  It doesn’t matter where you live…if you join, you could still meetup with us somewhere!

Here’s a photograph from Lake Malawi, Africa…

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I’m working on another Powerpoint presentation…from my 40 day trip through six countries in Africa.  It will have to be split into two presentations because I have over 200 photographs and an hour isn’t long enough to share 40 days of adventure!

 

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I did it!

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Last night I gave an hour-long presentation on a trip I took to Egypt and Jordan back in 2009, to a Travel Meetup club I belong to!  Although I was a member of Toastmasters for a while and gave a few five-minute speeches, this was a great accomplishment for me.  I wasn’t that nervous and everyone seemed to enjoy it.  It probably helped that there were only 9 people there…but for me it was a great feeling!  My Powerpoint presentation had 120 photographs that were shot with a point and shoot, but I recently bought Lightroom 5, so I doctored them up some.  Now I can’t wait to give presentations on my other epic trips…Peru…SE Asia…and Africa!

To avoid the worst of traffic, I left my house early to drive to Covington, Kentucky, where the event was held, so I had some extra time and decided to practice my photography.  These two photographs are of the Cincinnati skyline at sunset.

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Here I am in the venue before the presentation.  I love the architectural elements of the building…the high ceilings, beautiful woodwork, and large windows.

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When you face your fears, anything is possible!

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The Day After

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I went outside again this morning to capture the rising sun and loved the way the trees cast a long shadow.  Most of the snow has melted since yesterday.

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First Snow of the Season

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The first snow of the season is always exciting…even if it’s only an inch of snow.  After the sun came up, I was outside in my house slippers to capture a bit of the magic!

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It seems odd for green or red bushes and trees to be covered with snow…

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Sunset from the Carew Tower

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Experiencing the sunset from the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio is a must-do if you ever visit or especially if you live here.  I like being a “Tourist in my City” and take advantage of things to do in my own hometown!  One of the camera club meetups that I belong to hosted an event at the top of the Carew Tower last night.  From the time construction was completed in 1930 and up until 2010, the Carew Tower was the tallest building in Cincinnati and at a cost of $33 million, a very expensive one also!  I arrived early to take some photos of Fountain Square and the Art deco inside the Carew Tower.  I’m learning a lot in my weekly camera class and would have stayed longer to practice taking some additional night shots, but it got really cold.

Using my Nikon D5100, in manual mode I set my aperture at 8 and metered for my shutter speed away from the sun.  With my camera on a tripod, I had my ISO set at 100 and white balance on Cloudy.  A couple of the attendees said the color is more vibrant if it’s set on Cloudy.  I had forgotten and left the image stabilization on which can cause photos to not be as clear if they are on a tripod.  Luckily, one of the members reminded me, so I was able to get a few more photos with it off.  I don’t have a remote trigger yet, so I used the self-timer for some of the shots.

My photos are shown backwards…from the end of the evening to the beginning.  The Ohio River is meandering down below…

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Collecting Barns

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I love barns and whenever I come across an interesting one, I take a photograph…so I guess you could say I’m collecting barns!  I’d like to share them with you!

This one was taken in Hillsboro, Ohio…

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Camp Springs Winery in Kentucky is home to this one…

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What to do in Ripley, Ohio…go to Meranda-Nixon Winery

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Wineries are so much fun and Meranda-Nixon Winery in Ripley, Ohio is no exception!  Although summer is gone…the vineyards are still beautiful.  My friends and I drove out there yesterday.  Located about 40 minutes from the east side of Cincinnati, it’s not too far of a drive.  Because it was a Friday, there were only a few other patrons there.  The owners are Seth and his wife Maura.  We joked that we wanted some “Maura wine”.  Anyway, Maura did the wine tasting for us and gave us some background about their lives.  Both she and her husband are widowers and when they met recently…they only dated for one month before getting married!

I asked her how many employees they have and she replied, “Her husband and four children!  While we were there, two of the boys came in to help wash glasses.  The 11-year-old took me for a ride on their “gator”!  I asked him how fast it would go and he said 21 mph, so I asked him to floor it!  He probably thought I was crazy when I asked him to do donuts in the front yard!

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99 Beers on the Wall at Hops House

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Last night my husband and I were treated to dinner at Hollywood Casino‘s newest restaurant, Hops House 99.  It was their Grand Opening!  As we approached the entrance I took a photo…

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With 36 HD TV‘s and 99 beers to pass around…you can definitely stay entertained here!  After being seated, we had the difficult task of choosing one of the 99 beers.  We both chose the Bourbon Ale and loved it!  It has over 8% alcohol…so we didn’t have a second.

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Unexpected Treasures at Sunrise

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Before heading out to jog the other morning, I wanted to capture some sunrise photographs.  I drove a few minutes along the country roads, found a place to pull off and began shooting the sunrise.  I had a similar experience the day before trying to shoot the sunset.  None of the photographs turned out…but I loved these looking the opposite way from the sunrise of someone’s fence and small pond.  The fence reflection is pretty cool!  And the pink sky is lovely.

Perhaps this can be a metaphor for life…if the direction you’re heading in isn’t working out…try a different way.

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Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

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Looking out of my kitchen window while preparing dinner a few days ago, I realized the sun was going to set soon, so I stopped what I was doing, grabbed my gear…Nikon D5100 and tripod…and drove a few minutes away to capture it.  Our yard is surrounded by trees, so you can’t see the sunset from our home.

I parked in someone’s driveway, with a view of the top of their home in the distance, beyond a large field of corn.  The corn and sky had a nice hue from the setting sun…

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The reason for my title “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates” is that I went out with the intention of capturing the sunset, but none of those photographs turned out well.  Instead, I returned with corn field photographs and the others shown below.  So…you just never know what you’re going to get in life!

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Autumn at Long Branch Farm

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Long Branch Farm is a Cincinnati Nature Center property, located in Goshen, Ohio with 632 acres and 5 miles of hiking.  I live very near here and trail jog five or six times a week with my dog…Jake.  Many days while I’m jogging, I’ll wish I had brought my camera because everything is so beautiful, but when you have a dog like Jake with you…that’s not an option.  So I laced up my shoes, while Jake was prancing around thinking he was going, and left without him to take photographs.  I usually jog about 4 miles and cross the creek about 3 times.  This is an area where you jog along the trail bordering the creek.

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There’s a moss covered pond that looks quite pretty in the early morning sunlight…

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