You like my awesome pun I made in the blog title? I woke up yesterday to find that there was no cereal or other breakfast-appropriate food in my apartment. Rather than despair over this fact, I decided that when life hands you nothing for breakfast, you should make biscuits.

(Pentax K20D. Smc Pentax-a 50mm/2)

I have a dizzying array of photos and blogs that I am working  on for Shoot With Personality.  Tales of mystery and intrigue and magnicent adventures in the world of photography. Not really. I did attend Cooper-Young Fest recently and did some street-style photography, did a photo shoot for a musician I know, and I also acquired a "new to me" Polaroid-style instant camera, so blogs about those things (and more) are in the works.

J'aime les détails is  apparently French for "I love details." Which I do. I don't actually know French, btw, aside from "répéter s'il vous plaît" and "moi aussi"  - I remember that from the six weeks of French I took in 11th grade before dropping public school and becoming homeschooled. I only know this "I love details" phrase in because I am a member of a Flickr group by the same name. I love posting photos to this group because it made me realize how many photos I take are of details rather than of something in its entirety. I usually go in close to show just the particular part of whatever I am photographing. I could give you lots of examples of this (look at this week's Bokeh Wednesday, for instance) However, I will show you with a couple of photos I took yesterday whilst on my break from work.

I was at Borders looking for a certain book (which they didn't have in stock.  Boo.) On my way back to my car, I noticed something odd about a drain grate in the parking lot. There appeared to be something sort of hay-like wrapped around part of the grate. I grabbed my Pentax K20d with 50mm/2 lens and took a couple of shots.

This shot is alright. I liked it because I purposefully included the raised relief of  "Memphis"  at the bottom.

But, I like this version of the photo better. I got in closer with my camera for a tighter shot. I think it puts more attention on the bit of this grate that I thought was interesting - the grass or hay that was wrapped around the center. That's what caught my eye in the first place and what I thought should be the more obvious subject of the shot.

So, for any of you would-be photographers out there, I highly suggest shifting your perspective from "the big picture" to the more fine details of whatever you're shooting. It's my favorite thing to do, and all you Shoot With Personality, Jrs. out there might like it as well!

It's Wednesday. How bout some bokeh?

(these two were taken Monday, but I was trying to be a minimalist in Monday's post)

Bokeh-a-licious

Bonus:
Part Bokeh Wednesday shot, part food porn shot. All delicious. Blueberry pancakes I brunched on at home this morning.

I have a best friend named Meredith. She is a free-spirited gal. She climbs trees. She usually has a blonde streak in her hair, that can be shaded blue from time to time if the mood strikes. She laughs a lot. She doesn't sleep much. These are things to know about Meredith.

Meredith doesn't live in Memphis anymore, but she graced us with her presence this past weekend. I met her on a playground in Nutbush. She climbed things and made a make-shift see-saw with her friend Jake from the Northwest. I was glad I was on hand to photograph Meredith being Meredith, and now I am sharing that with you.

Today is a rainy day. It is also a Monday, which means it is my day off. I am spending this rainy Monday with a great friend, avoiding doing my laundry, watching the aforementioned rain through the big windows at Otherlands, and being contemplative about youth ministry.

This is probably my favorite cake I have ever made, cuteness-wise. I have meant to post it on SWP for a few weeks. I thought it would be appropriate to do so today, because it is Labor Day and apparently that means Americans can eat a lot.

It tasted delicious, too. I got the recipie from kittie a few years ago. She is the bomb and my cake-making idol.

Don't think this is going to be a trend, but I actually have a "Shot of the day" for a second day in a row!*

I am super obsessed with dew droplets on plants right now. This was taken outside my job, on my way in for the morning. It also looks good Viewed On Black. Look at that bokeh! Look at that shallow depth of field! Look at all the photographic terms you are learning by reading my blog!

*I took this before 8 a.m. this morning. It might be jumping the gun a bit to call a "shot of the day" this early on, but it is a risk I am willing to take.

I wish I could be one of those photographers/bloggers who could keep up a "Shot of the day" routine on my blog (a la the Shot of the Day pool over at Flickr.) Or that I could commit to a 365 project. However, I feel I don't have the wherewithal to do something like that right now. Aka: It would probably just result in EPIC FAILURE if committed to doing a "photo of the day" project on my blog.*

I have been taking a lot of photos the past few days with my digital camera -which is entirely unlike me. I am an "analog photography for LYFE" sort of girl. But I have been enamored with the lens I bought for my Pentax digital camera this week, because it gives me such yummy shallow depth of field. Having taken so many photos with the instant gratification of digital photography this week, it gives me the false sense that I COULD commit to making a "best photo of the day" blog post every day.

So. Let's pretend for a minute that I DID have an ongoing "shot of the day" series on Shoot With Personality. If I did, the photo you see below you would be my offering for today.

Morning Afterhought

I feel bad for using technical terms about photography on my blog sometimes, because it might not be lingo that is well-known to those who see my blog who AREN'T photo enthusiasts. I talked about depth of field earlier in this post. I will use the above photo to explain depth of field. Depth of field (or Dof) is how much or how little is in focus in a photo. For instance, see how only a very small segment of the coffee mug's handle is in proper focus, and the rest of the photo is sort of blurred? That is because the Dof is very shallow - very small - in this photo. The in-focus portion of the photo is quite slim. I won't go into what I did to achieve shallow depth of field for this photo - another lesson for another day. But I thought this might be a good "teaching moment" for Shoot With Personality readers (or a good "this is what the heck I am talking about when I used that photographic term" moment.)

I quite like the idea of taking a photo each day (or many) and choosing which one I like best - it can help a photographer keep her skills sharpened. If I ever DO decide that is something I can do, you Shoot With Personality blog readers will be the FIRST to know about it.

*Perhaps if I become independently wealthy one day, I will have so much free time on my hands that I could  do a project of that sort?

There is a Flickr group called Bokeh Wednesday. I am not a member of this group, and from the looks of it, I COULDN'T be (as they are currently not accepting new members.) However, it IS Wednesday. And I DO have some shots that show off bokeh because I just got a lens with a large maximum aperture (a 50mm/2, for those of you who care about such details) for my digital camera (I have a Pentax K20d). And you know what that means? I am turning this into a bokeh Wendesday blog post. Hurray! It's my way of sticking it to the man for not letting me join the official flickr group (just joking. I understand the overabundance of people who are excitedly posting photos with lovely bokeh on Wednesdays. I will happily join your merry band if membership is ever opened up again!)

Eaten Away

Ginkgo

(More) Ginkgo

Your typical "out of focus lights in the background" bokeh shot

Just a picture of Adam Hite's arm and kung poa shrimp? Yes. But I liked the bokeh.

Happy Bokeh Wednesday, people!