Goal - Day 183 - Halfway (1/2) Post

I thought I would give some thoughts for the halfway point in my "goal" to complete the 365 Photo Challenge. Its a little lengthy. I don't have a picture to represent the 1/2 way point but this is one I liked a lot. These two youngsters were having a blast in the waves. Their goal was to have fun and they sure did.



10 things I have learned:

1) There are a lot of supportive and interesting people throughout the world looking at my photography. That in itself is truly amazing. I have met and made some great friends and hope to actually meet them in person one day.

2) This project takes an amazing amount of time. Not necessarily a bad thing, but one to be aware of and you have to be ready to set your priorities.

3) People from all over the world take great pictures and lead very interesting lives. If you ever thought the world revolved around you.........this experience takes you around the world and can make you laugh and cry and realize if even for a moment there is such a big, bold, wonderful world right outside your door and across the planet.

4) People respond to you differently when you have a camera in your hand. I get asked over and over what magazine or newspaper or company do I work for. And then how some people almost run from the camera, others are quite the posers if they think they might have a minute of exposure.

5) Percentage wise if you get 1 good shot out of a hundred you are doing well and taking 4000 photos in France and the UK also doesn't really increase that percentage, but sure takes a long time to review.

6) The quality of your lens often makes the difference in good or not so good shots, although, if you know your settings on your camera, any camera can take good pictures.

7) There are a lot of settings on my camera! Still working on experimenting with them all.

8) I am a control freak, ok I already knew that but photography has definitely confirmed it. I took some RAW shots and really love editing them. I just can't get the RAW converter for
Pshop 7.

9) I wish I could give more time to looking and commenting on what eveyone else is doing, but I do what I can.

10) And there is probably a lot more, but finally I love to take pictures. Yes of everything I see. I feel like its an extension of of my ability to communicate. I have spent hours on the rocks of Maine scraping my knees to get a shot of waves breaking on the black rocks, horseback riding through Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas, dodging lightening bolts in Myrtle Beach, strolling the streets of Paris with swollen ankles and I really loved every minute of it. Its like a brand new window has opened and I see everything though a different eye, the eye of the camera.

A thank you too to Tammy, if I had not met you I would probably not have known about and joined the challenge. Thank you, thank you.

Smooth - Day 182 - Beach Flower

Even at and near the beach you can find the prettiest flowers. I especially like the smooth white petals of this one. Because of the lighting, using a higher ISO and my aperture there is some graininess at 100% but I still enjoy it alot.

From the Sea - Day 181 -One of the Buoys

Direct to you "From the Sea". You might have caught a glimpse of some of these huge buoys in previous posts. Here is a closeup of them as they were just immense and there were so many of them too! They came in many different colors and some even had numbers on them.

Tie the Knot - Day 180 - Nautical ropes

No doubt these ropes held a mighty anchor at some point. I especially liked the braided ones. They were taken in the same place as the previous shots.

Sandy - Day 179 - Myrtle Beach Sunrise

What is better than a nice sandy beach and waves to match? Seemed another good excuse to show the Myrtle Beach sunrise.

Day 178 - Rusted - Anchor Chain

I went to one of the local seafood restaurants where there were buoys, anchors, and ropes of some of those great ocean ships bringing in fresh seafood. They outlined the parking lot and were really cool to see. I didn't get to take as many as I would have liked as I was dodging lightening bolts that day. An additional note, you really can't tell from this shot the size of these chains. I didn't have a way to measure their girth. But it was the largest chain I had ever seen. I was standing in front of the pile and used the 105mm lens. Check the 2nd picture and see if that helps to imagine.

Well I know it wasn't you who held me down, Heaven knows it wasn't you who set me free,So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains And we never even know we have the key......Eagles, Already Gone

Day 173 - Go Fish - and Day 174 Wheels - And what would the beach be without a "fish" story and a good drink?

Some might say these were the higlights of the trip too. My daughter left and her friend Tammy can tell a real "fish" story with this one. And the drink of choice was this cool beer called "Fat Tire". I love the label.

Day 175 - Eating Establishment - Murrell's Inlet Marsh Walk-Before the Storm- and After

Here is a small bit of the Marsh Walk, you can tell it was low tide, it almost seemed as if the boats were sitting aground. Also is a shot of the Marsh Walk Dockside. I know this place is delightful without the threat of lightening but I snapped a few and went in to eat.

And after the storm: One more picture was of the "Dead Dog Saloon". I got this one from the walk showing the "night life". Yea and its just what its says. http://www.deaddogsaloon.com/ Take a look.

Day 177 - The Good Old Days - Murrell's Inlet, Piano Man and Captain Dave's Dockside

Tonight we had dinner at Captain Dave's Dockside Restaurant at Murrell's Inlet, about 22 miles from Myrtle Beach. They have a nice Marsh Walk where you can see the marsh the boats and plenty of "wildlife". I highly recomment Captain Dave's for the freshest and most delicious seafood and other delights. We chose a fixed price menu that gave us appetizer and drinks, entree and dessert all fro $24.00. I felt like I had just left the table after Christmas dinner. So full I could barely move. The hushpuppies were served before dinner and were wonderful with a sweet berry butter. Desserts were a choice of chocolate silk pie or nutmet/cinnamon and pecan bread pudding. Did I say I highly recommend this place? Then to seranade us during dinner was the "Piano Man" pictured here. A delightful gentleman that played wonderful piano music and sang along too. http://www.murrellsinletsc.com/ We got there just as a spectacular summer storm was taking place so I got very few pictures of the Marsh Walk. Dinner was definitely the highlight.

Day 176 - Watching and Welcoming Pirate

This Pirate was the welcoming committee at one of the local restaurants. He even attempted the pirate lingo and accent. The kids loved him. Arghhhhhh matey! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Day 172 -Selective Focus

I really enjoyed the color combination here. Sometimes the bokeh is just so cool.

Giant Crab at the beach

His name is Tommy the Giant Crab at the Giant Crab Restaurant. I didn't eat there today but I will sometime soon.