The Pnebleu Blog

Someone recently told me they didn’t get into photography because they didn’t have a good camera.  That took me aback.  Yes, a good DSLR takes great pictures, but it is more about the person behind the camera than the camera itself.  From 2002 until 2009, I was using the lower end Kodak snap and shoot cameras for all of my pictures.  I have so many great pictures from those years.  The quality of the photo (grain, resolution, focus, exposure, etc.) may not be superb, but for most of the pictures it doesn’t have to be.

This picture, for example, isn’t of the greatest quality, but it conveys a feeling, an emotion.  The photo’s job is done. Photography is the art of conveying a story, feeling, emotion, or event to others visually and empathetically.

Another thing she said was that she didn’t have the artistic skill to take good photos.  That may be, she might not be the next Ansel Adams, but you don’t have to be.  With the abundance of digital photography, most people taking pictures aren’t going to be great photographers.  But the pictures you take have meaning to you and the people you are with.  That is what’s important. Does your picture remind you of the emotion of the moment?

The picture below is probably my favorite picture I’ve taken recently.  It’s not that great a picture, but when I look at it, I’m flooded with memories of my Dad and the opportunities we have to share going forward.

So, no matter your skill or camera, get out there and take some pictures!  Because they are for you and your loved ones, it doesn’t matter how good they are!

I’ve never really been interested in printing my photos.  But recently, I’ve been looking at the price of getting large prints to mount on my walls.  They are not out of my price range.  I’m going through all of my photos to pick out the best of the best to print.  I’m going to make a few large prints (20×30 and larger) and quite a few normal sized prints to put on my refrigerator.  I have a few panoramas I want to make into long mounted prints from my roadtrip through 12 of the western states and Yellowstone.  When I get them mounted, I’ll post a few pictures of how they look in my apartment.

Today was the first day of class of my senior year at Texas A&M University.  It was a great day!  My classes are going to be difficult, but my schedule is very satisfactory (except for lunch, I have to squeeze it in to the time I drive from work to school).  I’m taking Nutrition, Post-Civil War U.S. History, Web-Enabled Applications, MIS, and ERP (Enterprise Resouce Planning).

I work for 4 hours in the mornings and have class from 12:45PM to 5:25PM in the evenings on Monday through Thursday.  Fridays are my flex-days.  I am scheduled to work only the four hours on Fridays as well, but I don’t have any classes on Friday.  I can use the afternoons to do homework or projects, or I can just stay at work and get more hours.  It is up to me.

After a few chores and homework today, I am going to change my blog’s theme, I have been wanting to for quite a while and now I have a reason.  I have a Smugmug account and I can’t add the photos link to my current pages list.  So it time for a change.  You will soon see.

I’ve posted my Washington vacation photos in the Photos section of the blog.  If you take a look, I hope you enjoy and will post comments.

http://pnebleu.com/blog/photos/

Today, I had time to take a walk around campus, so I took some pictures. Take a look at them here: http://pnebleu.com/blog/photos/campus-tour-08/

Life has been rolling along at lightning speed for the past couple of months, and I’m not the only one to notice it. I’ve had to find an new apartment to live in for the Summer, Fall, and Spring coming up, which actually didn’t take that long. I only have about 5 weeks left of school this semester. Chores that I need to do are starting to stack up as I’m getting behind. My car, for instance, will need some maintenance done on it in the next couple of months, yet I’ve been waiting because I didn’t and still don’t have the money to do it. I paid off all of my taxes early, so that I don’t have to worry about now. But, my wallet is decreased because of it. The price of gas, therefore the price of everything else, has increased quite a bit recently. It’s now about $3.15/gallon, whereas last year at about this time I paid $2.42/gallon. If the price of energy continues to rise exponentially, I am going to have some trouble along with the world economy.

The 2008 election is coming up real fast and I don’t like any of the choices. It will be interesting, however, who wins the Democratic nomination. If they were smart, Obama and Hillary would ask the other to be the Vice President when they become the nominee. I’ll probably be voting for McCain, but there are so many things about him I really dislike.

Braden and Mikayla, my younger siblings, entered photos and desserts into the county fair at home. Braden won 2nd Place for his photo and Mikayla was the Reserve Grand Champion. Braden also got 1st Place for his Banana Nut Muffins and Mikayla got 1st Place for a Pound Cake. Each of the food items made the sale, so Monday they will be auctioned for and the kids will get the proceeding money. I’m really proud of them. They are so much fun to be with. Since I moved to College Station, I haven’t been able to spend much time with them as I’d like. I really miss seeing them everyday before and after school. My family means so much to me.

I will add some pictures of “the kids” and their ribbons as soon as I can.

The other day, Mamaw, Carrie and I went whale watching in Puget Sound. There were so many little islands out there. It was so gorgeous. The sky was so clear, we could see the Cascades, Mt. Baker, and a few others. It was so wonderful! The Pacific Ocean is so beautiful. I took photos in the Puget Sound on our whale watching trip. The sunset is so gorgeous. I’ve got two really good pictures of the orcas spyhopping. It was spectacular. They are available at my Flickr account and my Facebook account.