A study in low light, no flash

A friend convinced me to attend a Level Up Beat Down band practice while on Thanksgiving break. Even though there was no heat in the little room and I sat snuggled in my big coat, scarf and gloves, it turned out to be a good experience. It seemed too intrusive to use flash and there was only one little lamp in the room, so I played around. I upped the ISO to 3200, an option I did not have on my previous camera. It makes the pictures really grainy, but I was actually able to take pictures without flash. Here's the best of the bunch.
This first one was taken with an 800 ISO. I like the blurriness, although you can tell I wasn't holding the camera steady because the microphone is blurred too.

The only semi-good picture I was able to get of Russ. He was too close to me.

I took many pictures of the single light in the room. It photographed well and was visually interesting.

I think you can tell in every picture I have of Stephen that he loves to play the bass and he is very photogenic.

I tried to get some good drumsticks moving pictures, but it didn't work so well with the limited amount of light. I did like that I got the little band drawing Mic did in this picture.

South Beach, Pt. Reyes

I had a day off for Veteran's Day and decided to get out of the house. My goal was to reach the Point Reyes Lighthouse, but I didn't know how far it was and didn't think to fill the car with gas. When the needs gas light came on, I decided to find a place to stop, not sure that I could make it to the lighthouse and then to a gas station. I found South Beach. It's a small little beach, which had about 10 people visiting it. I grabbed my deli sandwich, my journal and my IPOD. It was nice to have some beach time. The weather this year kept me from my usual beach outings. After lunch, I grabbed my camera and took a walk.



I really like how the fog and the clouds blend into one in this picture. It really was a beautiful day. I brought a jacket, but it stayed in the car. This picture is the physical reminder I have of a calm, relaxing, slow-moving, thoughtful day. I need more days like this.

I couldn't decide if I liked the picture with my shoes in focus or the one with the shoes out of focus. Although, the colors in the first one are a lot better. I really liked this idea. Now to find a beach that doesn't have a curved road leading to it.


I like how the focus is on the street reflectors. There's a lot of possibility in this picture. Will you ever get to the beach? Does the road curve away or towards it? You just don't know. That's what I like about it.

Meet ...Level Up Beat Down...

Level Up Beat Down is the hubbies new band. They played their first gig at the Phoenix in Petaluma Saturday night. They seemed to have a lot of fun and played a solid show. There were a couple of tunes I recognized and to my relief their music is more accessible than his last two bands. My pictures are only ok, I need to get used to the new camera. It seems that I also forgot how to shoot in low light. I've been busy taking photographs outside. There are also things I could do with the D70 that I have to read the manual for on the new camera. I'm so lazy.

First up...Mic...Drummer Divine...


Russ...Singer Superb, Guitarist Glorious ...


Stephen...Bassist Brilliant

I saved Stephen for last because this is my current favorite band photo. I just love the lighting on this. I'm not sure about the focus. I think it makes more sense to have what he's looking at in the photo. But, it does add a little bit of mystery to it. The picture of Andrew with the light on him and his drums is still my top favorite.

Can't forget the token group shot.

You'll be seeing more of these guys, as their booking shows like they haven't played in years.

NVS November Challenge!

Nerdy*Victorious*Scrapbookers just posted their challenge for this month! It is rather simple, but the nerdy girls used the design, colors, the small pictures and the title for inspiration. What will you use? This is the collage for the month:

Here's my take:

I started with the design first. I wanted something that had 3 little photos and a bigger one. I used the title and the wording. It's the first time I put my journaling over other words. I think it worked fine being bright red. You can't really tell, but I painted over the wordy patterned paper with a pearly white paint.

What is your take on the collage? Visit NVS for more inspiration and then pull out that patterned paper and glue dispenser! I can't wait to see what you come up with!