So, I Have a Car...

 As of today, I have owned a car for 3 weeks!  I paid half of the selling price and Daddy covered the other.  I'm paying for the insurance and gas for it, so the car title is officially in my name! :)  It's kind of exciting having my own car now.  I've never owned one before (shock!), so figuring out insurance, gas $, and keeping it clean has been new for me.  One thing I have learned is that cars aren't cheap...especially once you add the gas and insurance!!  But, they're very nice to have!  I don't have to ask to take a vehicle anymore and if I back into something, it's my car so I have to deal with it (consequently, I'm a bit of a worry-wart backing up now!).   Oh, the other thing I dislike about getting a car is getting the license plates and tags.  Good gracious, you're telling me four sticky pieces of paper with the number "12" and letters "OCT" costs $50??!!! 

My car is a 1995 Dodge Intrepid.  Yes, it's extremely old (born the year I was!) but it's in great shape.  It has around 226,000 miles on it, so hopefully it'll be good for a few more years until I can save up to get something else.  We bought the car from a couple Daddy did some work for.  They were selling it because they wanted a vehicle with better gas mileage (30-40 mph instead of 25-30 mph), and not because anything was wrong with it.  We had the car checked out and the car mechanic said everything looks good!

The only thing disappointing about the car is the lack of an operable radio system. :-(  I'm riding in a completely quiet car now, but supposedly DMV says it's better for young drivers to have no distractions (i.e. the radio), so I'm not complaining too much.  (I am putting a radio on the Christmas wish list, though! ;)

So, meet my car!

 I took pictures of it this past Saturday after my Uncle Kevin detailed it for me.  When I saw my car after he was done, I had a hard time believing that shiny thing was mine! :)

Lydia (my little sister standing next to my car in the photo on the right) was riding with me, so she had to be in a picture!

I refilled my car for the first time today.  I got a little over 300 miles from a full tank of gas.  Not too bad!

There you have my vehicle!

The most embarrassing thing I've done with my car so far, has been forgetting to turn off the lights.  And you know what happens when the lights are on for 3 hours....yep, I killed the battery.  Great.  Thankfully I was at a friend's house and they were very kind, got one of their vehicles and jumped it for me.  I haven't done it again, so I think I've learned my lesson!

Okay, off I must go!

Have a wonderful day/night...wherever this post finds you!

Kimber :)

Sun Down in the OBX

Just a quick picture to break up my usual routine. :)

Shooting for Me

There is one downside to photographing people and events more often...I find myself being less apt to take my camera out to just capture life.  I used to always go out and take pictures of sunsets, flowers, and siblings.  But now, I see a gorgeous sunset and then think "Oh, that would be a great picture" but then I get too lazy to go grab my camera, adjust the settings, and take the time to capture the display of the night.  All I can think is that it will be another picture to upload, another picture to edit, another picture to post, another few minutes spent on the computer.  I've been so blessed with many more frequent photography sessions but the routine of uploading, editing, uploading, and burning has become rather dull.  So much so that I don't want to take pictures of some things anymore because I know the minutes (hours?) of work that will have to follow.  And I just want to enjoy the moment.  I don't always want to have to do it through my lens...I just want to sit back, relax, and not worry about if the picture is too bright or dark, if the white balance is correct, and so forth. 

I'm telling you all this because I realized the other day that I needed to go out and take pictures.  I was letting my creativity and love for the beautiful things outdoors stagnate because I was tired of the routine. 

So, I pulled out my camera and went outside to capture the beauty I have missed so often.  No one asked me to take the pictures, no one expected me to take the pictures...I went out to photograph just because I wanted to.  There was so much beauty I was missing, simply because I didn't want to do all the work.

After photographing everything from my brother to some pretty weeds, I felt so much better and happier!  I was shooting because I loved it...I could let my creativity flow and try shooting on "M" (I've always used "A") or try different angles because if it didn't come out right...who cares?  No one was expecting the pictures to come out great.

Below are some of the pictures I captured from that day.  I walked on the brave side and shot in Manual mode for all these photos.  I've read so many photographers talk about it, but never had the courage to try until that day.  I had so many blown out and DARK pictures as a result but I also figured out a little more of the way ISO, shutter, and aperture work together.  Overall, I'm definitely not ready to shot in Manual for a photography session but I might start trying to work for it!

Enjoy!

I was "watching" my little brother and he made for a great subject sometimes!

 

 LOVE my roses!!

 Probably my favorite photo from the whole day! :)

Take a minute today and smell the roses!!

Kimber :)