Day 30: Baseball and...Wine?

[Today is the final day of my month of photo posts.  It's been fun, but also a bit of work getting something together every night.  I'll keep getting things up here more frequently than in months past, but certainly not daily.]

Another object I wanted to look at are things related to baseball.  I watch so many games, it seemed fitting to examine a baseball and glove.  While I was taking these shots, though, I noticed a cork from a bottle of wine that looked interesting...so even though it doesn't fit in thematically, that is in here too.

Day 29: Salt and Pepper

This evening I explored the details of salt and pepper, more specifically, Tellichery Black Peppercorns and Himalayan Sea Salt.  Both are as delicious as they are intriguing to look at!

Day Twenty-Eight: Gaming Dice

So one of my favorite things to do with friends is play tabletop fantasy roleplaying games, specifically Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder.  One of the key elements to this is the use of many-sided dice, departing from the standard six sided die seen so often in standard board games.  I decided a great thing to do would be to really look in depth at a die and the numbers on it.  Take a look!

Day Twenty-Seven: Photos of Jackie, Part III

Hi all again.  I ended up having more photos than could fit comfortably into two posts (though I'm probably biased) so here is the last set; these were from a second location we shot on campus.  Tomorrow expect something different!

Day Twenty-six: Photos of Jackie, Part Two

Continuation of photos from yesterday!  Look for some from a second location tomorrow.

Day Twenty-Five: Photos of Jackie, Part One

Saturday evening after volunteering at the Birch Aquarium I went with Jackie to take some photos of her!  She had been looking for some new shots, and so we went to the dirt lot near her work building.  We had a great time and I got some really great shots of her!  More to come tomorrow...

Day Twenty-four: Sea Horses

Today I spent the day doing science outreach at the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.  It was a really awesome event with great turnout, and we had a great time teaching science to all the young kids and parents who came by.  While there though, I did manage to take a 5 minute break to step away and examine the Birch Aquarium's excellent seahorse collection.  Take a look!

Day Twenty-three: Washington D.C.

In March, I went on a trip to Washington D.C. as part of an NSF review for a project I'm working on in grad school.  While there, had an opportunity to take some photographs at the National Mall.  It turned out to be a great evening!

Day Twenty-Two: Foods

Rooting around the kitchen reveals the interesting world of our food.  Let us take a peek!  Comment if you have any questions on a particular item!

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/30

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/25

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/25

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/25

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/40

Day Twenty-one: Flowers and Surface Tension

Hey everyone!

On Sunday I saw a few flowers when making a quick visit to the zoo; they had an interesting texture that I thought would be cool to photograph.  When I went down for the shot though, I saw surface tension at work - little droplets of condensation held onto the side.

Not all of these shots have water droplets, but the ones I'm most excited about do have them.  See below!

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 800, f/8.0, 1/50

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 800, f/8.0, 1/50

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 800, f/8.0, 1/50

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 400, f/8.0, 1/160

Day Twenty: Bees

Bees are interesting insects.  I think my primary interest in them is the strong reaction they elicit in people that encounter a bee.  I think this is best summarized in this The Oatmeal cartoon, which is always excellent (some adult language).  Now, I find this ridiculous because no self-respecting bee is going to go out of its way to hurt you, especially a honey bee which will die immediately afterwards.  I can't pass too much judgement though, because I know that every spider is only one moment of non-vigilance away from leaping at my face and poisoning me to death, especially ones on the opposite side of the room on the far wall.

Regardless, today I saw a bee when walking into lab, and fortunately I was looking for one and so had my camera ready to take some shots.  The bee was an excellent model, continuing it's pollen harvest (you can see it in the photos) while I obtrusively stuck my camera 2 inches from it's face.  I was fairly pleased with the results, and hope you will be too!

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 6400, f/8.0, 1/80

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 6400, f/10, 1/50

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 6400, f/10, 1/50

Sony Alpha 77, 50 mm (w/ 69mm extension tube), ISO 6400, f/10, 1/50