From the Cutting Room Floor - Wordless Wednesday

What follows are pictures that never made it up for Project Yellow, Project Green, or any other post for that matter. So I scraped them up, stuck a border on them, and here they are.

***Click on any image below for a larger view***

Wordless Wednesday website

Scenes from the Ballpark

Just over a week ago, some friends called and said they had extra Dodgers tickets and wondered if we wanted to go with them. I told Julianne to relay a definite, "YES" and added that should that question ever arise again, the answer is always "YES." As it turns out, the seats were great. The best I've ever had. Field level just past the 1st base dugout. Knowing I was going to be so close, my camera just had to come along. Well, since it was Lily's first game, it was coming anyhow. Julianne documented this well on her blog. Here's a bit more of what we saw.

Note on the last picture: In my recent post on baseball movies, I talked about Kirk Gibson's bottom-of-the-ninth homerun to win game 1 of the 1988 world series and showed video footage of the event. When we got to our seats, the Arizona Diamondbacks were finishing up batting practice. Well guess who was standing about 20 feet in front of us? Yup. Little did I know that Kirk Gibson is the bench coach for the D'backs. I'm still kicking myself for not asking him to sign Lily's baseball.

My Favorites

Lacey over at Lacey Lichi Photography posed a challenge:

"I'm going to ask you to post your favorite picture. Either one you've taken or one that just affects you."

I had a tough time deciding. I did not know whether to approach this from a photographer's standpoint or an observer. Although I would love to approach this as a photographer at some point, I opted for images that affect me. And I couldn't pick just one.

First I chose a picture from 1981. It was my sister's 18th birthday which made me 14 years old here. We had a dinner celebration at home and my dad came over. My parents were recently divorced but my dad still participated in family events for a while. I don't remember who shot this picture. My dad and I were asked to move together for a picture. Apparently we were just kind of sitting there and we were encouraged to smile. So my dad grabbed me and hammed it up. What we thought would be a goofy picture came out wonderfully. At this time my father was in the beginning of his physical downfall. Julianne had the image enlarged and framed for me and it is now on display in our hallway. I had a 3x5 copy of this picture in my pocket the day Julianne and I were married. I absolutely treasure this picture.

Two weekends ago, Julianne and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. This picture is hanging in our living room and it signifies the happiest day of my life. We had the most wonderful wedding day. And I have been blessed with the most wonderful of brides.

This is our first family picture. It was taken probably 10-15 minutes after we got Lily in the lobby of the civil affairs building in Jiangxi, China. Almost three years of waiting summed up in this moment. She has grown and changed so much in the 9 months since this picture was taken. I can't believe it's only been 9 months. We can't imagine life without her. God has truly blessed us with Lily. (I posted video of this moment on my previous post.)

I encourage you to participate in this photo challenge. I'd be interested to see what you would post as your favorites. I'll check Laci's blog often but you could also leave me a comment here telling me you posted your favorites.

Gift Wrapped in Green - Project Green #7

I saved the best for last. Most of you know we adopted Lily in July of last year in China. Here are the very first pictures we took of Lily the day we met her. Taken literally minutes after she was placed in Julianne's arms for the first time. I'm also including video of the moment we got her. Some of you have seen this before, but it's well worth seeing again in my humble opinion!

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Green Eyed Pumpkin

Experiencing a bit of a heat wave here in our valley, we headed off to Malibu this afternoon to cool off and spend time with the parents of my friend living abroad. We had a wonderful time together talking, eating, and touring their beautiful home. Their pretty kitty, Pumpkin, was kind enough to pose for me, revealing a beautiful pair of light green eyes. Thanks Pumpkin!

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Oooops Revisited - Project Green #5 B

Quite a few of you were asking what the original photo looked like from my Oooops Project Green #5 entry. So I have the original, the enhanced, and the same setting a few years prior.

Here's my Oooops once again.

Above: Image out of the camera. No edits

Minor color changes to enhance the image.

Here is the same location under different lighting. Taken about 2 years ago.
This one is currently framed and on our living room wall.

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

PLT #5 - Dodger Stadium

I wasn't even thinking PLT anymore...until I saw this view in the distance. I couldn't resist.




Check out the rest of the Project Looking Through links at Mark's blog, Regular Life.

All my PLT entries:

1. Oranges
2. Moon by Daylight
3. Upside Down Elmo
4. From China

Oooops - Project Green #5

I was processing some of my pictures and accidentally moved the lines on the color graph a wee bit too much. Normally I'm not a fan of over processed, unnatural looking images. After I gasped at my mistake, I thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool looking." What do you think?

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Project Green - Larry the non-veggie Veggie

This one was tough. Last night I was taking pictures of my snap peas before dinner. My wife thinks I'm weird but she understands me. I shot about 10 or 15 images of my vegetables. But none of them really grabbed me. Then, I thought of my daughter and her "Veggies". She's getting way-into Veggie Tales lately. In case you're not familiar, Veggie Tales are biblically based, computer animated stories. The two main stars are Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, neither of which are vegetables, which I find rather funny. Fortunately Lily was kind enough to lend me Larry for a few minutes for me to shoot shoot shoot! Enjoy.

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Batter Up

OhCaptain over at The Life and Thoughts of a Midwest Geek took the bait. He asked his readers which of a given list of topics we'd like him to address. Of the given topics, I of course picked #2 - "Posts about why certain baseball movies are good and others are bad". He gave his list. What follows is mine. I'll skip why some are bad. There are too many of those and too many reasons. I'll stick to what I like.

(I couldn't post a pictureless post! I shot this with my new lens a few days ago.)

1. Field of Dreams- This is in my top 3 movies of all time; of any genre. I wrote a whole post about this a while back. Click here to read more. In a nutshell, this scene is why I love the movie:

2. For Love of the Game- This has something for everyone. Romance for the ladies and Vin Scully for the guys. Bet you never heard "romance" and "Vin Scully" mentioned in the same sentence before!
3. 61*- Billy Crystal did a fantastic job directing this movie. It's the story of the 1961 baseball season in which Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle chase the single season homerun record.
4. The Rookie-As a husband, father, and baseball fan, the scene when Dennis Quaid calls home to tell first his wife, then his son that he made it to the big leagues melts my heart.
5. The Untouchables- Does DeNiro's use of a baseball bat qualify it as a baseball movie??? (Yes, this one is a joke.)

Then of course there are the baseball documentaries but I didn't think they would fit in the movie category. In this genre I highly recommend:

1. Baseball by Ken Burns
2. When It Was A Game
3. Dodger Blue: The Championship Years
4. MLB Memorable Moments - 30 of baseball's greatest moments. The best of the best (imho) is Kirk Gibson's bottom of the 9th home run to win the first game of the 1988 World Series for the Dodgers. It set the tone for the Dodgers to win the championship that year. I still get chills hearing Vin Scully announce it.

PLT #4 from China

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Yipppeeee! This is my 100th post!
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Since I"m still rummaging through pics from China, I thought this might work for PLT. I hope it qualifies as "looking through." It might be a stretch but I like the image. We were in China last July. It was HOT and HUMID. Very. When we heard we had the chance to go to a museum, we jumped at the opportunity thinking it would be indoors and air conditioned. Ummm, no. Who heard of an open air museum??? No A C. No breeze. But nice images!

Check out the rest of the Project Looking Through links at Mark's blog, Regular Life.

All my PLT entries:

1. Oranges
2. Moon by Daylight
3. Upside Down Elmo

Take a Close Look - Wordless Wednesday

Have you ever really looked at a dandelion before? Like this?

Wordless Wednesday website

Finding Green in Red China - Project Green #3

More images collected in China last summer. Since I'm going through the archives, I'm throwing a bunch up today. Hope it's not overwhelming. If I run out of green this week, I'll kick myself for putting up so much at once!

This footbridge above and the lily pad below are hanging on our living room wall.

The above image was taken at the same park as the footbridge above.

The above image was taken on a walk through a very old farming village community during a heavy rainstorm. We imagine Lily was born in such a village.

Walking back to our bus I saw this on the side of the road.

While walking through The Summer Palace, I looked up and took the picture above. (Anna, you should appreciate this one!)

A mural painted on the interior wall of an elementary school in Beijing.

A beautiful butterfly on a walk through a park.

A visit to the jade factory. It was too expensive to buy so I took his picture instead.

A walk through a park in Guangzho.

Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Project Green - Field of Greens

Another shot from my Saturday stroll through the neighborhood.


Please go to Anna's blog to see her Project Green photos and the links to all the other participants.

All my Project Green posts:
1. Palm Leaf
2. Field of Greens
3. Finding Green in Red China
4. Larry the non veggie Veggie
5. Oooops
5b. Oooops revisited
6. Green Eyed Pumpkin
7. Gift Wrapped in Green

Upside Down Elmo - PLT #3

Here is my third Project Looking Through post. If only Lily were an Oscar fan instead of Elmo, I could have posted this for Project Green also! Oh well.


Check out the rest of the Project Looking Through links at Mark's blog, Regular Life.