A Surprise Every Day: Shaking Up May With Hipstamatic (week 5)

It’s hard to believe June starts tomorrow but the photos above are proof that our unseasonably warm spring is leading right into an early summer.  Next week will bring some rain back into the Seattle area but until then we’re enjoying these sunny last days of May.

Hipstamatic’s random processing of Sunday’s image distorts the fresh green shades of our Hemlock tree but I always like the few weeks each spring when the bright green tips of new growth shine across the ends of each branch.   Monday’s photo is the marquee on our Edmonds Theater with a list of current and coming attractions. We saw Tomorrowland on Memorial Day and plan to go back soon when Mad Max comes to town.  I remember seeing the first movie at a drive in theater when I was far too young for an R rated feature but my mom bundled all of us kids in the car for an evening out so I’ve got to continue the tradition and buy a ticket for Ryan and his first R movie. 🙂  Since we’re talking about movies did you know the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is the largest and most highly attended film festival in the country?  Each year over 155,000 tickets are sold and Trainspotting, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, Poltergeist, Braveheart, The Empire Strikes Back, The Return of the Jedi, and Donnie Darko are just a few of the films that have held their world or American premiers during the festival.  In case you missed it there’s a large banner advertising the 2015 festival on the left side of Tuesday’s photo.

Wednesday revisits the red rhododendrons I shared two weeks ago and Thursday is an early morning shot of our sprinkler in action.  Friday evening was a perfect 70 degrees on our deck and Saturday is a row of P.O. boxes in our downtown post office.  Edmonds’ first post office opened on this block in 1884 and even though the buildings have changed many times the post office has maintained its presence on the corner of 2nd and Main Street.

Each photo was taken with my iPhone 6 using Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function then posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used.  For variety I continue to add new lenses and filters so if you want to try Hipstamatic but are unsure how to start let me know and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

 

Lisa10 Comments

A Surprise Everyday: Shaking Up May With Hipstamatic (week 3)

It’s been a quiet week here filled with normal life and unpredictable spring weather – just the way I like it.  Sunday was Mother’s Day and the boys treated me to flowers, a relaxing afternoon and dinner at home.  Ryan and I stopped at Starbucks for Frappuccino’s before walking to the beach while John planted a few of our flower pots and cooked my favorite red pepper, goat cheese and sausage pasta.  Monday is a sunny shot of our red rhododendron in full bloom and Tuesday the rain returned just in time for Finn’s evening walk.  Note the ever-present stick in Ryan’s hand…

Wednesday was a first, I actually had to buy bags for cleaning up after Finn’s business.  We’ve always had a stash of leftover grocery/produce bags for this sort of thing but between our attempts to carry reusable bags and local regulations banning plastic shopping bags I finally had to break down and buy some.  Thursday is a shot of the “coming soon” sign for a new Beecher’s Cheese store in Bellevue Square and Friday is the remnants of a shiny glitter bomb in a patch of weedy grass.  Saturday’s photo is from Double DD Meats, my favorite butcher shop, and home to the most hot sauce varieties I’ve seen in one place. This is a small section of 4 aisles devoted entirely to hot sauce and marinades!

Each photo was taken with my iPhone 6 using Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function then posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used.  For variety I continue to add new lenses and filters so if you want to try Hipstamatic but are unsure how to start let me know and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

Lisa35 Comments

A Surprise Every Day: Shaking Up April With Hipstamatic (week 2)

Even though I was away from blogging last week I continued my attempt to take one random photo every day and am here for a quick Sunday night post recapping the past seven days.  Ryan enjoyed a relaxing spring break while I had a great time exploring new ways to structure my time and really thinking about what I want to accomplish between now and the end of the year.  I’ll be back online soon to catch up with all of you and see what’s happened while I’ve been gone!

Easter Sunday was a lovely spring day and we spent most of it eating candy, cooking dinner and watching movies.  Our pan of roasted asparagus is the first image of the week and I couldn’t resist this smiling shot of Finn as my photo for Monday.  Tuesday found me at the grocery store wondering which wine to pick and Wednesday is my view up through the trees in our yard waiting for Finn to sniff around and finish his “business.”  Thursday afternoon I walked past this cheery Easter tree and Friday is a trip back in time with this shot of my mom’s sewing room and some old ballet photos from our high school days.  Only one is of me but you can find plenty of my lovely sister and her friends. 🙂  Saturday morning my dad and I paid an early morning visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields and my first photo of the season is this shot on the edge of a display garden.  Stay tuned for more tulip photos throughout the month of April. 🙂

Each photo is straight from Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function and posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used.  If you want to try Hipstamatic but are unsure how to start let me know and I’ll do my best to answer your questions!

 

Lisa44 Comments

A Surprise Every Day: Shaking Up March With Hipstamatic (week 3)

Just when we thought this strange, sun filled winter would last forever spring arrived and brought some much needed rain to the Pacific Northwest.  This week was exactly how March should feel in Washington with lots of fresh green growth, wet petals on the ground and flashes of bright sunlight.

Sunday set a record for one day March rainfall and I spent most of the day inside working through my never-ending to-do list with a brief dash outside for a photo of rhododendron leaves from the back deck.  Monday’s photo documents some of the pretty cherry blossoms knocked to the ground after Sunday’s rain and Tuesday evening I stood under the scoreboard at Ryan’s middle school to read and appreciate the new banner hanging from the scoreboard.  “Where sportsmanship is an expectation. So please, let the players play, let the coaches coach and let the spectators be positive.”

A dry Wednesday brought the opportunity to photograph one of our red azaleas ready to flower and just when I thought I didn’t have an interesting subject for Thursday’s photo I drove by this old willow tree.  A quick dash through Heritage Park and I had my shot for the day.  Friday was the official first day of spring and I captured the wet change of seasons looking over Westlake Park in Seattle while Saturday found John in a quiet moment enjoying some welcome sun in what is typically Finn’s favorite spot on the stairs.

Each photo is straight from Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function and posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used.  I’ll be back next Sunday with 7 new photos and maybe even a few new favorites!

Lisa14 Comments

A Surprise Every Day: Shaking Up February With Hipstamatic (week 4)

It’s hard to believe February is over but seeing as this is March 1st it must be true!  The last week of the month flew by in a blur of work and events but the simple task of looking for one new thing to photograph and share has really helped me acknowledge that even routine days hold interesting moments if I can just slow down and pay attention.

The week started with a whirlwind visit to Snoqualmie Falls.  The Falls are one of the top tourist attractions in Washington and I knew a warm winter day would be busy but we got up early, stopped for a bag of fresh donuts and had a wonderful time hiking around the park before most of the visitors arrived.   Monday the 23rd is a shot of one of the Lunar New Year exhibits on display at Bellevue Square Mall and Tuesday the 24th is a little yard light that didn’t make it through the winter in one piece.

Every time I walk past the Rainforest Cafe I’m reminded of Disneyland and this giant butterfly spotted on the 25th put me right back in a vacation frame of mind.  After spending three afternoon/evenings sitting on bleachers for Ryan’s wrestling meets and a band concert it was painfully obvious we weren’t on vacation but I still found an interesting corner to capture for my Thursday photo.  Friday the 27th surprised me with another black and white combination and is here to illustrate one of my most time consuming activities, traffic.  I also spend lots of time walking Finn but the weekends are nice because John comes with us. 🙂

Each photo is photo is straight from Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function and posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used.  I’ll be back next Sunday with 7 new photos and maybe even a few new favorites!

 

 

Lisa35 Comments

A Surprise Every Day: Shaking up February With Hipstamatic

February is a strange little month.  The big family holidays are over, our days are short and wet, someone is usually sick and I’m running on empty when it comes to creative thoughts.  I shouldn’t be surprised as the same things happen every year but once again we hit the end of January and I realized I’m out of interesting blog material.

The only thing that changed this year was my decision to find a way through the block, one day at a time.  I spent an evening in the WordPress reader looking for inspiration and while I found the web is full of enthusiastic bloggers who document their year with photo-a-day projects I wasn’t ready to commit to 365 blog-worthy photos. I should however be able to handle the shortest month and its 28 days so then the next challenge is how to make these 28 photo opportunities into blog posts that are interesting to write and read.

Regular readers might know that Hipstamatic is my favorite photo app but I’ve been stuck in a creative rut using the same lens and filter combination (Jane & Robusta) for most photos and not investing the time to experiment with everything else the app has to offer.  This month I’ve decided to branch out and activate the “shake to randomize” setting on my iPhone so each time I shake my phone in Hipstamatic the app selects a new lens/filter combination. I can’t see my final image until after I’ve snapped the photo and I’m committing to taking and posting 1 photo from each day without any additional editing so what you see will be what comes out of the camera and as much a surprise to me as it is to you.  Instead of a new shake-it-up post every day I’ll recap each week on Sunday and if you like the finished results the lens and filter combinations will be noted for every photo.

Feb. 1st was a fun day filled with junk food and Superbowl 49.  Even though our Seahawks didn’t win the game we made the best of the afternoon and enjoyed a huge pan of nachos for dinner.  My Feb. 1st photo is of the couch in front of our television.  Even though we all got flu shots this year poor Ryan still came down with an unfortunate case of influenza and after 10 days of misery we spent Feb. 2nd at the Dr’s office.  He’ll get better with rest but it could take up to a month before he is feeling back to normal.  Feb. 3rd is a shot of our fruit bowl (looking a little sad with its old limes and lemons) and Feb. 4th is a close up of Finn in the car with me waiting for Ryan after wrestling practice.  Feb. 5th is homework at the kitchen table and Feb. 6th made me laugh out loud.  The text “We Will Be Unafraid” was an unplanned surprise from the RTV Shout film and looks right at home underneath my little Lego Wonder Woman ready to take on the world with her lasso of truth and borrowed sword. Saturday the 7th is a quick peek at the trinket shelves in our local Goodwill after I dropped off a box full of donations from our last closet cleaning binge.

I’ll be back next week with 7 new photos… wish me luck!

 

 

 

 

Lisa25 Comments