February 7 - 38/365

28-135mm lens @ 28mm, f/4.0, 1/60, ISO 400 with bounce flash

After a busy day of continuing to dig out our cars and shovel the driveway, we ended our day by watching the big Superbowl game in HD with a nice fire to warm us up. Nothing like the comforts of home! And congrats to the new Superbowl champs, the New Orleans Saints!

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February 6 - 37/365

28-135mm lens @ 95mm, f/8, 1/160, ISO 300

I am happy to report that the snow has definitely stopped. For those of you reading this post that don't live in the DC metro area, we were bombarded with one of the biggest snowstorms we have had in years. I remember watching a similar snowstorm of this size in 1996. I think we hit close to 3 feet of snow that time. I specifically remember this event because I was a junior in high school at the time, which meant that I would not have the privlege that the seniors did of not making up the ton of snow days that ensued from the storm. I might miss out again this time since the storm hit over the weekend! But we made it through the storm and have successfully dug ourselves out of ~30 inches of snow, allowing us to walk around our neighborhood and take some great pictures of the storm results!

On a side note, I chose this particular picture for today becuase one of the Project 365 groups I am following on Flickr has incorporated themes for each month, partly as a challenge and partly as a source of inspiration. So I thought I would try to incorporate some shapes into my photos this month, and this one seemed to fit that bill!

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February 5 - 36/365

28-135mm lens @ 41mm, f/4.0, 1/60, ISO 400 w/bounce flash

There was a massive approaching snowstorm last night, and sadly another February birthday party was scheduled for our friend, Sean. Since we have an SUV with 4-wheel drive, we went ahead and ventured out to the party for a few hours to have some fun before getting snowed in the rest of the weekend! Ironically, the party was supposed to be a Hawaiian-themed party. I couldn't muster up the courage to wear my warm-weather "Hawaiian" clothes, but both my husband and the birthday boy came dressed in their island-finest! Despite the snow, we all had a great time. Happy Birthday, Sean!

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February 4 - 35/365

28-135mm lens @ 38mm, f/4.0, 1/30, ISO 300

I'm one day behind on my posts... not bad, but need to make sure I don't fall behind! Last night we went to my in-laws house for a belated celebration of my husband's birthday. There was dinner, and of course, cake! I just can't believe that my mother-in-law (a) fit all those candles on that poor little cake and (b) that it didn't set off the smoke detector!

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February 3 - 34/365

28-135mm lens @ 135mm, f/9.9, 1/400, ISO 200

As you may have guessed, we got more snow last night. Everything outside looked so beautiful this morning - all the trees looked "fluffier" and the ground was covered in white again. My mission this morning was to work on some macro techniques. My images didn't quite turn out as I had hoped, but I was able to shoot on full manual mode again, and I think I learned a bit more about the macro capabilities of my lenses in the process [always good to learn something new!]. Unfortunately, it also added more items to my ever-growing wish list of lenses/accessories! We are supposed to get a LOT more snow again this weekend, so there might be some more opportunities for me to practice some snow-related macro shots again soon.

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February 2 - 33/365

28-135mm lens @ 44mm, f/4.0, 1/200, ISO 800 with bounce flash

Ahhh... the dream of spring. Of course it is snowing outside as I write this, and the Groundhog, Punxsatawney Phil , announced today that spring will be delayed for another six weeks. Bummer. Until then, I will be trying to stay warm and reading about all the fun things that will come with the warmer weather!

On a side note, I did something I usually don't do with this picture - I shot my camera on full manual mode. As I've been taking pictures this past month, I've been paying more and more attention to the settings the camera is choosing for certain shots, and I knew what settings I "needed" the camera to have for this picture to turn out the way I envisioned. Hopefully I can do this more often!

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February 1 - 32/365

28-135mm lens @ 53mm, f/5.0, 1/60, ISO 640

Wouldn't say I was particularly inspired by doing the dishes tonight... just thought about trying to capture the rising bubbles and this was what I ended up with. A little post-processing done to the image, but not too much.

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