Nick 365
With the start of the new year, I have decided to make an attempt at my own Project 365. This gallery will exhibit a photograph per day for the next year. The photos will be randomly inspired with varying techniques. My hopes are this will be a fun experience that will broaden my creativity and allow me to learn more to help enhance my photography skills. Hope you enjoy!
318/365 - November 18, 2012 - Grumors
With today's news of Derek Dooley's firing, I decided it was finally time to upload a photo from the Alabama game weekend that I couldn't post previously. Being the prominent booster that I am, one of the favorites to be Tennessee's next coach dropped by our tailgate for a cold beer. He was nice enough to pose for a picture before heading to the stadium.
317/365 - November 17, 2012 - Chillin' Out
Tonight while watching the embarrassment that was Tennessee football against Vanderbilt on TV, I found Nate on our bed watching some kid television during a commercial break. Being close to his bedtime, he was in his signature pose with Shelman close by and thumb in mouth.
316/365 - November 16, 2012 - Red Chevrolet
On my way back to the office from a site visit in Vonore, I passed by a corn maze on 411 that had an old Chevy pickup on display. Needing a photo, I stopped and took advantage.
315/365 - November 15, 2012 - Happy Birthday Nate
Today was Nate's 2nd birthday. Instead of posting just one shot of him, I decided to compile a quick collage of shots of him on each birthday so far.
314/365 - November 14, 2012 - Out of the Fog
Tonight after work, we had our church community group session. Since it started at 6:00, I took my time wrapping up at work, as I was meeting Lisa and the kids at the Travis' house instead of going home first. Since I had to pass Starbucks on the way, I couldn't resist to make a quick stop for a pick me up.
313/365 - November 13, 2012 - Snaggle Tooth
Brady was groomed about two weeks ago. With the onslaught of cold weather, the poor guy has been cold, hence why he is wearing his Tennessee shirt. I decided to grab this shot since he his looking his best and just celebrated his 16th birthday.
312/365 - November 12, 2012 - Cars, Cars, Cars
Nate's current obsession is cars. He loves the movies, toys, clothes, etc. Needless to say, he got lots of cars for his birthday. Tonight, I spent some time playing in the floor with Nate and his cars, and in the process, captured this shot.
311/365 - November 11, 2012 - Nate's 2nd Birthday Party
Even though Nate's birthday isn't until Thursday the 15th, we celebrated it today at Pump It Up in west Knoxville. We had a great time playing on the inflatables. This shot is of Nate prior to extinguishing the candles on his cupcake.
310/365 - November 10, 2012 - Nate's First UT Game
Today was a really fun day. We took Nate to his first UT game to watch the Vols take on new conference foe Missouri. With the availability of tickets being good due to the lack luster year, we decided to take both kids to the game instead of hiring a sitter to save some money. Nate seemed to really enjoy the game. This is a shot looking over his shoulder.
309/365 - November 9, 2012 - Strip in Motion
Tonight on my way home from work, Lisa tasked me with picking up some pizza from Mellow Mushroom on Cumberland. While I was waiting for it, I grabbed the camera to take some long exposure shots of traffic on Cumberland. I didn't have my tripod since I was shooting on a whim, but I did use a telephone pole to brace me enough to make the blur bearable.
308/365 - November 8, 2012 - Up and Yellow
As November continues on, the leaves on the trees in the area are slowly losing their battle with time. The maple in our front yard as lost the upper half of its leaves, which has completely covered the grass. However, the leaves that are left still have some yellow "pop" to them. With the sun low on the horizon, this angle from underneath the tree looking up had an incredible amount of backlight on the leaves while producing a deep blue sky color overhead.
307/365 - November 7, 2012 - Special Coffee
Tonight on the way home, I detoured through downtown trying to harness some inspiration for the day. As I crossed the Gay Street Bridge, I noticed the new JFG sign on the hill overlooking the river. The new/refurbished sign replaced a similar sign that stood in place at this spot for many years. I used some selective coloring to separate the red neon from the remainder of the sign.
306/365 - November 6, 2012 - Red or Blue
Today was election day and since my evening revolved around the television checking out the results as they came in, I decided to grab a shot of one of the many instances where a map of the country was displayed showing how the electoral votes were tallying up. At the time of this photo, it was still neck and neck. Unfortunately, the color blue ended up ruling the night.
305/365 - November 5, 2012 - Candy Corn
As I look around the house, there are so many remnants of Halloween still sitting around. This shot is of some candy corn in a mason jar on the counter in the kitchen.
304/365 - November 4, 2012 - Baptism
Today's photo from a textbook photograph standpoint is not really noteworthy. However, the act taking place in the photo is easily the most significant. Lisa was baptized this morning at our church to share her testimony that she has given her life to Christ. I'm so proud of Lisa!
303/365 - November 3, 2012 - Football Game with Anna
Today with Lisa home sick (either from the sushi or a stomach bug that has been going around), I took Anna with me to the Tennessee-Troy football game. The game was a little subpar, even though Tennessee won (close game, but should have won much bigger). However, having Anna with me made for a special day.
302/365 - November 2, 2012 - Impromptu Sushi Night
Tonight Lisa and I was granted an unexpected date night. Anna and Nate were taken off our hands by my parents at the last minute and we decided to take advantage of it by enjoying dinner at The Sushi Spot on Emory Road. Dinner was as tasty as the photo would suggest.
301/365 - November 1, 2012 - First of November
With the first of November upon us, I am still hanging on to the fall colors as much as I can. I grabbed another shot prior to heading out for the evening of the maple in the front yard. Instead of using the bright orange colors, I decided to use some selective coloring and desaturation to give it a completely different, almost winter like look.
300/365 - October 31, 2012 - Happy Halloween
It's funny that Day 300 ended up landing on Halloween. Otherwise, I probably would have tried to incorporate a milestone number shot as I did on days 100 and 200. Instead, I decided to use something from the day. This is a shot of one of the pumpkins I carved the night before that had a little too much to drink.
299/365 - October 30, 2012 - Happy Birthday Lisa!
Today was Lisa's 32nd birthday. To celebrate, I took the afternoon off and picked up some cupcakes to enjoy with dinner. This is a shot of the cupcakes before we devoured them.
298/365 - October 29, 2012 - Take My Picture Daddy
After dinner, Anna kicked her ham mode into full gear and relentlessly requested I take her photo. With only my phone camera close by, I obliged her request and took this shot of her leaning on the counter.
297/365 - October 28, 2012 - Slots
This afternoon while Lisa was performing a jewelry show for one of her old high school classmates near Cincinnati, my brother, his wife and I spent some time in Lawrenceburg, IN at one of the casinos. I took this shot while losing some money on a slot machine.
296/365 - October 27, 2012 - The Beast
Today was a blast. With Lisa's upcoming birthday, we decided to take a road trip to Cincinnati. Since we are fans of amusement parks and roller coasters, we spent our Saturday at Kings Island. There are so many great coasters at this park, but I still think my absolute favorite is The Beast.
295/365 - October 26, 2012 - Leaping Catch
Tonight I ventured out to my high school alma mater, Anderson County, take on cross-town rival Clinton. This one was a little odd for me as I grew up a Maverick with my dad coaching there for 20+ years and playing there in high school. Tonight however, my allegiance was torn, as my brother is an assistant coach for Clinton now. Ultimately, I was pulling for Clinton. Anyhow, I tried my hand at sports photography throughout the game. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to view them all and process, but I did find this mid-air shot of an Anderson County receiver scoring a touchdown.
294/365 - October 25, 2012 - Early Vote
Today during my lunch break, Lisa and the kids picked me up from the office to go early vote in an effort to avoid the long lines on Election Day. I took Anna into the booth with me and decided to capture a quick shot of the most important vote to be cast this November. Since I prefer to stay away from political debates, my vote will remain anonymous.
293/365 - October 24, 2012 - Fallen Leaves
The maple tree in the front yard has started dropping leaves in the past couple of days. I decided to grab the camera and take some shots of the leaves that have fallen on the ground from the tree.
292/365 - October 23, 2012 - Clinch River Community School Take 2
Tonight, I made another trip out to the new Clinch River Community School in Clinton to grab a couple of more shots of the exterior of the building. The school is being submitted by my company to the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) for consideration as new school of the year. The photos I have taken will be used in our application for the award.
291/365 - October 22, 2012 - Fall Playtime
On another nice fall evening, I played in the backyard with the kids while Lisa was tending to some Premier work inside. I got several good shots of each kid and wanted to show one of each, so I compiled a two shot collage.
290/365 - October 21, 2012 - Double Duty
This morning at church, we were a little under-manned on the production team. For the first service, I pulled double duty running both the primary and secondary graphics computers. I somehow managed to operate one computer mouse with each hand simultaneously. This is my view from behind the controls.
289/365 - October 20, 2012 - Third Saturday in October
To keep up with my panoramic shots I have been taking at the Tennessee games I have attended, I grabbed tonight's shot from the east upper deck on the 50-yard line. I went a little crazy with Photoshop in superimposing a photo of Lisa and I tailgating along with some graphics work containing the teams logos and date. Too bad the game was a dud from a Tennessee fan's perspective.
288/365 - October 19, 2012 - Kegs
Tonight while picking up some tailgating groceries at Ingles, I found myself in the beer cooler for some reason. In one corner was a stash of kegs, so I took the opportunity to take a quick photo, as I knew my opportunities would be limited the rest of the evening.
287/365 - October 18, 2012 - Sunset Silhouette
Tonight as I was headed out to Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions for Lisa, I drove through the Brickey Elementary parking lot to see if the lighting was right on a barn I took a photo of a couple of months back with the sun about to set. After realizing the sun was just too low for what I was looking for, I quickly devised this shot as plan B. Nothing spectacular, but the lighting from the sunset was interesting and since the foreground wasn't, I exposed it to be completely blacked out to create the silhouette.
286/365 - October 17, 2012 - Laurel Falls
As I mentioned on Day 284, I decided to cheat a little and use a photo from our hike to Laurel Falls on Monday for today's shot. This is a shot of the upper portion of Laurel Falls. The trail splits the upper and lower portions. With the kids in the stroller, I couldn't go down to the base of the lower portion since there was no trail.
285/365 - October 16, 2012 - World's Fair Sunset
After work, I met up with Lisa to take the kids off her hands so she could attend some Premier training. On our way home, we ventured down to the World's Fair Park to take an attempt at a shot I have wanted to do for a while, but for whatever reason just haven't done it. My timing for this shot was just lucky. I had setup just as the sun was going below the horizon, and the sky was fairly plain with a few clouds. To my surprise, I was fortunate enough to get about 2 minutes of pink hue on the clouds. To capture the wide range of lighting, I created a 6-exposure HDR composite.
284/365 - October 15, 2012 - Splendid Color
Today was a day of unplanned spontaneity. My day at work was cut short by 9:00 due to Lisa not feeling well, as I went home to watch the kids to allow her to rest. My goal was to try and work from home, but after 3 hours of being constantly interrupted by the kids, I gave up. In an effort to keep from having to continually corral the kids from Lisa, I decided around 2:00 to pack up the kids and the camera. After picking up my brother, who is on fall break, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon and head towards the Smokies to check out the fall foliage. We ended up taking a short hike to Laurel Falls, which is one of the only paved trails that I know of that is reasonable enough to allow use of the stroller for the kids. Our timing couldn't have been better, as the colors are just beginning to peak along the trail. I captured several great shots and will be tempted to use a couple more in the days to come if my inspiration is lacking. This was one of my favorites due to the sunburst effect I created with the sun placment between the two trees.
283/365 - October 14, 2012 - Cherokee Boulevard
On a somewhat overcast day, I drove around for about an hour with the kids in tow to try and find some inspiration. My goal was to capture some fall color. My drive ended up on Cherokee Boulevard in Sequoyah Hills.
282/365 - October 13, 2012 - Minding My Business
Another beautiful fall afternoon led to photo time with the kids in the backyard. This is another one of those shots that makes Nate look grown up.
281/365 - October 12, 2012 - Peerless
With fall's colors ramping up, I got the camera out in my front yard to capture some shots of the bright orange leaves on the maple tree. I snapped this shot from the underside of the tree, aiming through a small gap in the still green leaves to capture the orange leaves higher up on the backside of the tree.
280/365 - October 11, 2012 - Daugherty Furniture
Tonight I had to attend a school board meeting in Clinton. I had a few minutes to spare before the meeting, so I made good use of the time to snap a few shots on Main Street near Market Street. This is a sign on the front of one of the many antique shops in this part of town.
279/365 - October 10, 2012 - Wrong Way Nate
Now that the kids have a playset in the backyard, my photo opportunities with the kids have increased. I captured Nate in his favorite way to go down the slide, feet first on his belly. This photo made me a little sad, as he looks so much older than I perceive him.
278/365 - October 9, 2012 - Norris 1936
On my way out to Clinton after work to meet up with Lisa and my kids at my parents' house, I made a detour out to Norris Dam. I parked at the overlook and took a leisurely walk across the dam taking a few photos of the lake, the spillway and the access tower adjacent to the spillway. This is the shot I settled on. It is an HDR composite, hence the wicked coloring of the sky.
277/365 - October 8, 2012 - More Wine
Not sure why I continue to capture shots of wine bottles, but for some reason I think they make for interesting shots. This shot is of a few bottles in the built-in wine rack over top of the stove and microwave, which I built several years ago when I installed the microwave unit over the stove.
276/365 - October 7, 2012 - Beginning of Change
Tonight after running to Weigel's for some milk, I noticed the maple tree in our front yard was starting to change into its fall colors at the top of the tree. This tree has produced beautiful deep orange/red leaves each fall we have been in our house. I'm looking forward to capturing some more shots as it completes its transformation.
275/365 - October 6, 2012 - Puzzle Girl
Tonight after my parents brought Anna home, she proceeded to prove all the doubters wrong and work the puzzle she insisted Nana and Papa buy her at Wal-mart. They were sure she was too young for this puzzle. Not sure you can tell from the photo, but this is a 48-piece puzzle that I would have never imagined in a million years a 3 year old could work. Anna did it in less that 30 minutes unassisted by any adults.
274/365 - October 5, 2012 - River Islands
This afternoon I left work early to play in the AIA golf tournament at River Islands Golf Course in Kodak. This shot is from the tee of the picturesque 3rd hole. Unfortunately, my tee shot wasn't as picturesque, as it landed in the thick brush on the bank. At least it wasn't a wet landing...
273/365 - October 4, 2012 - $30 Million in Progress
I think this is the third time I have used the Rhea County High School project as my photo of the day. Each time I visit the site, I have made a point to create a panoramic shot from the same vantage point to show the progress between trips. The structural portion which I am responsible for is nearing completion, as the majority of the steel superstructure and the structural masonry walls are in place.
272/365 - October 3, 2012 - Fall Is Here
Tonight on our way to our church small group, we made a detour to the Fresh Market in Sequoyah Hills to pick up a few snacks to bring along. On the way out, I grabbed a shot of the pumpkin display to satisfy my daily quota.
271/365 - October 2, 2012 - Clinch River Community School
Tonight I ventured out to Clinton to take some final shots of the Clinch River Community School that my company designed. The new school is an alternative learning school located on the existing Anderson County High campus.