Pine Cones and Giraffes

I love nature.  Nature photography has long been one of my undeclared hobbies.  One of my only regrets about switching from the real Christmas trees to the artificial ones is that I no longer get to smell the pine tree scent in the house.  One of the many things about the real trees I don't miss is all of the pine sap on the Christmas presents - ugh!  I remember one year the sap got all over the presents and hundreds of baby spiders infesting the tree got stuck in the sap.  Of course you can buy the pine scent in a can these days...but there's nothing like the real thing.  Once again in this picture - more black and white.  I think it brings out the texture in a unique way.

This next photo is a black and white of a wooden giraffe statuette that I have on my desk.  I have received more positive comments about this item than anything else in my office:

Plant on pedestal and problems by-passing the Kodak easyshare software

I like this black and white photo I took last night.  I was bored sitting around in the apartment and started looking around for something to photograph.  Several things I like about this photograph is the way the black and white aspect highlights the shadows as well as the light.  The elegant and simple column progressing to the complex light and shadow combinations of the potted plant make it interesting from this perspective.  The white background and dark molding at the bottom accentuate this aspect of the photograph.  Another perspective is below:

This one I like because you can actually see the design on the vase and a little bit more of the detail at the top  of the column. 

I'm still getting to know my camera.  The more I play around with it the more impressed I am with the quality of this inexpensive camera.  It was a real bear to bypass the Kodak Easyshare software and load the pictures directly to my hard drive from the camera.  For those of you with one of the point-and-shoot Koday Easyshare cameras, here are two methods of doing this on Windows XP:

1) From the camera touchscreen, select the settings icon.
2) Scroll down 'computer connection' and select 'other application'
3) Connect the camera to the computer.
4) The connect camera wizard starts and enables you to select where to save your photos.


The second method:


1) From the camera touchscreen, select the settings icon.
2) Scroll down 'computer connection' and select 'other application'
3) Connect the camera to the computer.
4) Open the Device Manager of the computer.
    a. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
    b. Click the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button.
5) Click the plus (+) in front of Imaging Devices or Universal Serial Bus Controllers.
6) Check if the camera name or model number is listed. If listed, double-click on it and then click the Driver tab and then Update Driver.
7) Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced), and click Next.
8) Select Don't search. I will choose the driver to install, and click Next.
9) Select Digital Still Camera, and click on Next.
10) Click on Finish.
11) Double-click on My Computer.
12) Open the drive letter the pertains to the camera.
13) Open the DCIM folder.
14) Copy the picture files to another location of your choice.