Backyard progress

Here are some shots I just took of the backyard. In the first one, I asked Tiger to bow for the camera. He decided to yawn at the same time :-)

Retaining wall being built on the side. Unfortunately, we had to take down the herb garden Mom and I built a couple of years ago. They're also building a massive drainage area along the house, so we won't have to worry about water going towards the house anymore.

The orange dot in the yet-to-be-paved area marks the center of the firepit, which they'll be building next.

You can see the corner of the planter. The semi-circle across will be my garden area.

Getting in trouble...

I got majorly confronted this evening when taking a few photographs. On my way back from class, I walked by this facility that seemed to be a dry-cleaning center for hospitals. I thought it was neat to be able to capture what happens "in the night shift". I did nothing illegal - I was shooting from the sidewalk (public property) through an open door. Then the guy in green noticed me and yelled over at me to "Miss, come here", to which I promptly said I was not going anywhere near him and turned around and started walking away. He called his supervisor and the two of them kept calling me to return and explain myself. I just walked away. Anyway, I think after 9/11 everyone is paranoid and supposed to report "suspicious activity". I do look suspicious indeed. Here's the shot...wasn't even worth the story ;-)

Construction updates

The Malone crew are making tremendous progress! The phase of destruction has been replaced by a phase of construction, which is more encouraging to watch. They have excavated and leveled the backyard and have made substantial progress on the wall. It's starting to come together!

Colin, corrected

I played around with the white balance of the previous portraits of Colin. Here's an adjusted version:

Outdoor projects

We're in the middle of a big mess. Hopefully, it won't last for too long and it'll look pretty when it's all over. Here are some in-progress photos:

My handsome husband

As a portrait assignment, I had to take 100 shots of a subject in the same position and setting. Colin kindly obliged to model for me. I wanted a really soft setting, so I chose a room I recently painted in a off-pink color, I picked a light pink shirt for Colin to wear and I gathered all the lights from around the house to brighten the room as much as possible.

For some reason, I really struggled with my digital camera: I seemed to always be out of focus. I got so frustrated, that I shot a roll of film (using the same lenses, same setting) and was convinced I did much better with the film. Of course, I'll have to wait until I develop it to see the results. Anyway, here are some of the digital shots.