If I don't set the timer on my air conditioner before I leave in the morning, I'm in for a bit of torture when I get home. I also have to shut the bathroom and bedroom doors. But it's the end of September. And we've had a very, very mild summer. In fact, just last week I was donning wool socks and layers because near the beach where I work it has been in the 60s and 70s.
Yesterday it was 90-something. I almost passed out at church. An amazing number of buildings in southern California are not air conditioned. It rarely gets unpleasantly hot. In fact, when I first moved in to the apartment I'm currently in I put furniture in front of the A/C because I so rarely used it.
So after chilly temps last week, I was understandably lazy about temperature control here at the Casa de Make Me. I walked in to a 91° living room. Turned on the A/C and walked right back out. Entertained myself for 2 hours at Starbucks.
But here it is nearly midnight and it's 83° in my living room. Hardly a temp to cozy up and get a good night's rest in. We've lost power in the neighborhood and the A/C is not operating at capacity. So I thought I'd type a blog post while waiting for sleep to overtake me. Unfortunately, all I can think of is just how hot it is. And you've already noticed, the topic doesn't make for an exciting blog post.
So instead I will post photos of my latest attempts in improving my photography skills.
My favorite subjects are the sky, clouds and the horizon. Probably terribly cliche, but no matter. I like what I like. This is the view from a friend's house. The back yard is canyon that stretches out to the ocean. I like how the orange sun splays out its color across the horizon. I was trying to catch the green flash, which I may have seen once (hard to tell, margaritas were involved).
I've mostly been leaving my camera setting on Auto, but I've still yet to try all the scene modes. This one is actually using sunset mode. It makes the color richer and accents the gradation, I think.
Here's the Ocean Beach Pier. It's one of my favorite beaches here in San Diego largely because of the pier. On this day OB was hosting a surf contest, which is really fun to watch. As you can see, the surf was pretty good. Experienced surfers can shoot the pier, but I've never seen it done.
This was taken on the auto setting, I believe. I remember experimenting with the settings and trying several things to get the best clear shot. It's difficult to remember what everything means and I'm always fiddling around trying to figure if I need to adjust the ISO or whatever. So what I end up doing is changing a lot of things and taking a bunch of photos and hoping for the best. Still, I have to say that I am improving. I'm definitely better at framing up my shots and I'm developing my own style.
I like photographing ordinary things at odd angles and sometimes putting the item of primary interest almost out of the frame. It makes me notice other things in the photo. I have the first photo in this series and I was busy trying to capture the surfers, but with my point-and-shoot, the close-ups just weren't very good. Then I noticed the people on the pier looking down on the contest and how close the waves were sometimes getting. I was lucky to catch the ocean spray, I think.
I plan on playing with this photo using some photo software (once I get some!) and maybe making some cards for my Etsy shop. We'll see. Until then, I will continue to practice and improve. One site I've found helpful is Greenpix. There are loads of great tips in an easy-to-understand format.
. It's clearly written and gives a good plan for those of us who are a little clueless when it comes to self-promotion. 