OLW Blog Hop - March 1

Welcome.  If you're joining us from the One Little Word Blog Hop and just visited Julie - I'm glad you're here.  Please make yourself comfortable. If you're one f my regular readers - you know I always love having you here as well.

In this month's OLW prompt, we were to create a vision board.  In true "me" fashion, I finished mine at about 10:30 last night and snapped the quick photo above with my cell phone.  I've ben intrigued by the idea of a vision board for a long time, but had shied away from it.  I used to put boards like this together when I was a kid all.the.time - I mean like every single week.  I loved the act of cutting images and words that appealed to me from magazines, arranging them on a surface, and gluing them down.  I used to simply glue one set of images right over the top of another when I got bored with the previous.

Fast forward to adulthood and while I often tear things out of magazines - I never got to the act of putting them together.  It somehow felt too childish.  So, the freedom to do this assignment was nice - I "had" to play in order to do the assignment and I'm really happy with the result. I gathered images over the entire span of the month (and dug into some of my art journal stash of images I'd been hanging onto for one reason or another) and then late last night assembled what you see above.

The process was fun and relaxing.  A great way to wind up what has been overall a good month, but one that has been extremely busy in terms of my work calendar.  However, I've managed to squeeze in a bunch of action (my word for the year). My goal this month was to "live action" - focusing my actions on improving my home.  And I did a ton of things.  Take a quick room by room tour with me (I don't have photos of everything, but I've got a pretty good list):

• Laundry Room - cleaned off the shelf and added plastic shelf liner from the Container Store to keep everything from falling through the wire.
• Guest Bath - nothing, but then again I didn't have anything planned
• Kitchen Hall
• Added a Chalkboard Wall
• Replaced Lindsay and Fluffy's food and water bowls so they coordinate
• Kitchen
• Updated my flour, sugar, and powdered sugar containers - that's an in progress shot - I still need to write up the page.  I'm thinking about saving that for a full kitchen redo
• Cleaned off and out the fridge
• Replaced the old wire shelf with a new rolling cart!!!  - I also plan to do a post on this one, but I'm debating painting the cart so that may be a bit later 
• Moved several things around in cabinets to make the kitchen feel more efficient
• Cleaned and organized a couple of cabinets - still more to do here
• Living Room
• Hung several pictures that had been lying around for a while
• Experimenting with some different furniture placement
• Patched the tooth hole in the wall from where Lindsay slammed into it while playing with a tennis ball
• Stairway
• Hung more artwork
• I cleaned all the walls downstairs and upstairs
• Master Bedroom/Bathroom
• I've got paint splotches on nearly every wall and I've chosen colors - now I just need a weekend to paint.
• Cleaned and organized the linen closet
• Replaced the existing rug with a new one and moved the existing rug to the...
• Office/Loft
• Put in the rug from the bedroom (temporarily - it's probably going somewhere else eventually)
• Painted the long wall
• Added Artful Ledges

I didn't do much in the studio or the guest room/bath (which Aaron, my nephew, is currently occupying).

It feels great to get all this progress made on little projects in the house.  March is a busy one from a travel perspective so I won't have nearly that much time to pay to the house, but I still hope to get a few things done.  But, I'm most looking forward to an "action packed" March and enjoying travel both for work and for pleasure.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you're on the hop, you're headed off to see Margareta next.  Enjoy!

Lee: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife
Cheri: cheriandrews.blogspot.com
Lisa: http://backtoallen.com/category/challenges/one-little-word/
Michelle: www.table-for-five.com
Julie: www.eggsandherbs.com
Kara: http://iwannabemewhenigrowup.blogspot.com
Margareta: http://www.paperpilekitten.com
Tricia: http://onecreativemom.wordpress.com
Karen: http://womenontractors.blogspot.com
Nikki: http://www.inkyart.com.au/
Melanie: http://mellybirddesigns.wordpress.com
Angela: http://angelanoel.com/
Kathryn: http://www.katlodesigns.com/
Jackie: http://blog.jacquelinewolven.com/
Dona: http://orangegearle.blogspot.com/
Paige: www.approachingjoy.com
Ruth: http://suburbansahm.blogspot.com
Kathleen: http://jkplusthree.blogspot.com
Missus Wookie: http://mrswookieswanderings.blogspot.com/
Naomi: www.poeticaperture.com

Pinterest Challenge - Artful Ledges

It's time for another round of the Pinterest Challenge.  As I was thinking about what I wanted to do, I knew it needed to meet three simple criteria:

1. It should fill a need I already had - no truly new projects...just finish one of the crazy ideas I've already cooked up
2. It should cost as little as possible.
3. It should involve some sort of art 

As I cruised my Pinterest Boards for inspiration, I noticed a pattern on my "For the Home" board.   Many of the art display options were something you could swap out easily - whether it involved clips or simple little ledges.  So, I decided to finish up a project I started with dad back at Christmas time - my "Artful Ledges".

When I moved out of the farm house and mom and dad moved into it, they did a LOT of work to it - including replacing the old wood deck on the front of the house with a new, plastic deck.  When dad demolished the old wood deck I asked him to keep/he decided to keep (it's been about six years - we don't really remember who started it) the spindles that held up the rails.  

Over the years, we've talked about a lot of different uses for those spindles, but nothing really seemed right.  And then it hit me - they'd make really cool picture ledges.  

So, just before I went home for Christmas this year, I asked Dad to grab some of them out of the barn, and set aside some time for a little project.  

Step inside the wayback machine and let's head back to December - shall we?  Here we have dad cutting my little ledges down to size.  The Man loves his table saw!

After he cut them to the length I had marked for him (a little bit of a funny story on that later), I decided where to put the groove.  Dad's trusty index cards served as my makeshift art pieces and the pieces of wood that may turn into a second set of shelves in the near future served as the "wall" they would lean against.  Marks were made and then dad simply used the table saw to make the groove.

Repeat that times four and we loaded the little guys in my car to head home and be finished there.

Fast forward to February 20 when the winter Pinterest Challenge was announced over at Young House Love.  I started cruising my Pins to see what I wanted to take on and noted the aforementioned theme of photo display options and decided it was high time to finish my photo ledges.

The pieces were a color I affectionately know as barn paint red.  While I liked the color, a few weeks ago, I picked up a test pot of paint at Lowes in a color that's similar to the reddish color in my home office.  I decided to test out that color on the picture ledges.  Here they are post painting (and G - if you're reading this - see how handy a crazy large number of skewers can be when you want to keep painted edges up off of paper while they dry.)  I let the paint dry for several days.  At this point, I'm out about $3.50 for the little sample pot of Valspar paint.  Everything else I had on hand or was recycling.

I finally decided I wanted these to go in the sort of travel themed area of my office - the long formerly white wall - holds my last Pinterest Challenge Map project and I may add some more trip photo display groupings shortly - but I'm getting ahead of myself.  Where were we?  Oh ya - before they can be art ledges they have to get on the wall.

So, Monday night after dinner with friends, I decided it was time to hang these suckers!  I grabbed my supplies - a level, blue painters tape, a pencil, 3M Hanging Strips, and a ruler.  All of that stuff was in my tool/supply stash already so I'm still only out a grand total of $3.50 in new money. 

And, now, it was time for the fun part - a little math.  I knew that to get these level with only my two hands was going to require using the tape trick.  (And in case you want a YHL quality tutorial on picture ledges - that's the link you want!)  So, I first put up a piece of vertical tape using my level to make sure it was as close to straight as possible.  

And then it was time for all the measuring and marking.  I wanted 9" between each ledge.  I figured that was enough for a 5 x 7 size print or even an 8 x 10 laying on its long side - with room to spare.  So after a little measuring up the wall and some light pencil marking on the tape (see all my little arrows and lines below) I figured out where I wanted the bottom most ledge to be placed.

With that information, I added a piece of tape on the horizontal along where that bottom ledge would go - again using the level to keep it as straight as possible.  I measured up the vertical strip of tape 9" from the top of that first ledge (each ledge is right about 1 1/4" tall) and marked both the top and bottom locations on the vertical tape then put in another piece of tape on the horizontal.  Okay - I think in this case - a picture may be worth well more than a thousand words.  This is what it looked like when I had all four ledge locations taped off.

And if you're saying to yourself, "Self, why does the bottom piece of tape look closer than it should?"  You'd probably like to know that I didn't feel like crawling on my hands and knees, so the bottom piece lined up with the top edge of a ledge while the others marked the location of the bottom of the ledge.

With all the measuring out of the way, it was time to get to hanging the ledges (finally!) But wait!  Did you happen to notice these little guys aren't all the same length?  No? That's okay - I almost missed it too.  Look again - now you see it don't you?!

I don't remember Dad and I purposefully choosing to make two of these one length and two of them another, but we did because two ledges are exactly 1 3/4" longer than their friends.  I decided just to stagger them.  Quick measuring and marking on the tape and a near crisis of uneven edges now looks like a perfect plan!

The basic process of those 3M strips is to put them onto your item to be hung, then press them against the wall in the desired hanging location for about 30 seconds.  Press hard.  Then unhook the velcro like tabs from one another and let just the wall side hang out for about 30 minutes.  You can get a good idea of what it looks like in progress here.  Note the while velcro-y tabs on the wall near the bottom two pieces of tape and the third ledge is just hanging there for a second holding the level while I quickly grabbed a photo.  

Even though I made sure the tape was level, I did use my small level on each ledge to ensure it was nice and straight.  I have both a large and a small level (the small one is pictured here).  The large one was great for placing the tape originally, but it might have been a little heavy to let it sit on a ledge so I was glad to have the lighter, smaller level for that purpose.

I waited the requisite 30 minutes...everything all lined up and ready to go...

 ...and then it was time to press the velcro bits back together again.  And, in just seconds, you have this.

Grab a few postcard swap postcards and other artful/photographic inspiration and arrange to your hearts content.  

And, because the ledges are a little over an inch deep, I can add small objects to them as well.  The 3M strips are rated for about 12 pounds and the ledges themselves weigh less than 2 pounds so I think this little guy is fine here for a while.

I had been talking with mom and dad on the way home from dinner and told Dad I was finally hoping to finish this project. I texted him a photo when it was done.  

(And Fluffy is fine - I worked a weird schedule on Monday and worried I might have left her in my bedroom all day long - so when I'd talked to them on the phone I wasn't sure what I might be going home to.)

I love this project for so many reasons.  First of all it met all three of my goals - coming in at only about $3.50 in new money for me the cost was definitely right and it was a project I'd obviously been thinking about doing since Christmas.  I also love that I can rearrange the art on it - adding in my own things and pieces from others as easily as picking up the pieces and moving them.  I also love that the wood came from my old house and it's found a place in my new home.  And, most of all, I love that it's something dad and I did together - even if it got finished while we were 1100 miles apart.  

It looks great in the room and adds so much character to the loft/office area.

Have you made anything you pinned recently?  Have a great way of making the old new again? I'd love to hear it.  Leave me a note in the comments.

One Less White Wall!

The month of February has been all about getting a lot of little things done around the house.  I've already blogged about my Chalkboard Wall and I've got a few other projects to get out of the way before March comes in like a frozen lamb - ushering in a huge winter storm (stay safe if you're in this thing's path).  I'm really happy with all the projects I've gotten done in February which is a good thing since I'm on the road a large part of March. (By the way, for those of you that a) know my house well - yes there is a new rug in the master bedroom and for those of you with an eagle eye b) yes - I'm keepin' it real here people - there are a whole bunch of muddy paw prints at the edge of this picture. 

Where were we?  Oh ya - there is one less white wall in my house.  YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

When I first saw my house, the color of the wall in the upstairs loft area (my office) was one of my favorite features.  It's hard to capture, particularly since I forgot to grab shots over the weekend when I was actually at home when it was daylight, but this gives you an idea.

That reddish color is on two walls, but the really long hallway wall that spans the area between the bedrooms was flat, dull, builder white.  (It's the wall where my Pinterest Challenge map project hangs.)  If I could make the paint color - or lack of color - sound any uglier, I would.  

I've actually purchased paint for that big white wall once before, but I opened it up and hated the color so I returned it to the store.  After that near disaster in color, I think I was a little gun shy.  But then, it happened...I had an epiphany, on the way out of the restroom at work.

You see, I had been debating between some sort of khaki/tan color on the long white wall wall or just using some of the rest of the gallon of creamy buttery light mellow (it's not really yellow - it's just perfect).  I used it in the studio after Gayle picked it out to contrast with my favorite tomato bisque wall.  You can see a crazy middle of the project picture of the studio here to see how the two colors play off each other.  I think the lighter wall takes on a bit of a pink tone in the photo below - but trust me - there is no pink in real life.  It's just perfection.

So, why did a trip to the restroom at work help me make a color choice?  You see, there is a reddish wall in that restroom - it's kind of similar to the reddish wall in my house.  All the other walls in the restroom? Khaki.  I couldn't have the walls in my house be the same color as the walls of the restroom. And there you have it.  Crazy decision making with Kara :-)

So, on Sunday night, I taped up the wall with my frog tape, grabbed my step stool, and set to painting.  About two hours later, the wall was that beautiful mellow color that I've come to absolutely adore.  I'm also thinking of putting either that or more tomato bisque in the tiny white wall of my staircase - more to come!  But, I'm definitely hoping to continue obliterating not only all the remaining white walls in my house, but also the crazy mustard color in my bedroom.  

If you watch my Flickr feed, you may have already seen the fun project that I finished on Monday night (which was what necessitated the walls getting painted), but you'll have to come back tomorrow to read about that.  

Have you painted anything lately?

Zoo Photography, Week 2

We've got no lions this week, but we've got more tigers and this adorable bear (say it with me..."Oh, My!"). (If you missed Zoo Photography, Week 1 - you can read it here.)

The polar bear at the Indy Zoo is a senior lady who spends most of her days lounging on the rock overlooking her built in pool.  And, no, I'm not sure why I've slipped into a writing style that sounds like I'm trying to write a singles ad for a polar bear.  Anyhoo...We walked by her enclosure three or four times over the two weeks and she was doing exactly what I described...until the very end of class - when she was sitting up and I got this shot.

It was very obviously shot through the thick blue glass at the front of her enclosure that would let you have a good view of her underwater if she were swimming.  After she posed for us a bit here, she headed over to a big rock and went through a wide variety of poses.  My friend Diana said the one I opened with was her favorite.  I agree that it's one of the best of the set.  I also had to put this one below in because I liked how she just flopped herself down on that rock in a "I'm Sexy and I Know It" pose - and now I have that song in my head to start the day.  Ugh!

But, week 2 of Zoo Photography wasn't all good (from a picture perspective only - the class ROCKED!).  We started out in Oceans which would generally be my very favorite place.  However, taking pictures in here was uber frustrating.  The thing I took away is that I experimented and tried to take photos I ordinarily would have just walked away without even trying - like attempting to get at least one decent picture of a ray swimming by.  This was the best one - and I still am not happy with it. 

A non-photographer friend was looking at the photos I took in oceans and just oo'ing and aw'ing over them. I tried to accept the compliments, but all I see are the scratches in the glass.  And this was, by far, the best shot I got.  We shot these using off-camera flash connected by a Remote Flash Cable.  If anything good came out of the frustrating time in Oceans it was getting acquainted with that camera cable.  Jackie had mentioned it the week before and all three of us in the class (one person didn't come back for week 2) went out and bought one to bring to class.  I'm really happy that I have it now as I've wanted to take a few shots with off-camera lighting, but pocket wizards and all that fancy stuff is not something I'm ready to tackle yet.  The cable is a really good starter step for me.

Jackie let me hook on her Macro gear again to try some photos in the focus tanks.  Fish move too much!  This was the only shot that I was willing to share.

The penguins were only slightly easier to shoot.  I came away with this as my favorite shot.  My exposure was pretty high and the photo is still really dark.  But, penguins are adorable in any light.

Once we were all severely frustrated, it was time to head outside into the sun.  One of the many awesome things about taking a class with an employee of the zoo is that if you're taking the class in the dead of winter when an exhibit like "The Plains" is supposed to be closed - you can still go in there.  We had the plains all to ourselves and with the exception that we didn't get an opportunity to snap the lions because their yard was too icy (the keeper in charge of that area was worried about them falling), we got a few great opportunities back there.

First up, were the cheetahs.  As we approached, she was standing up on her log - checking us out.  I think this is my favorite shot of the day overall.

Realizing we weren't going to be very exciting, she headed over and laid down in the sunshine.

We also spent some time with the wild dogs which you have to shoot through glass.  As I shot them and took quick looks at my LCD, it looked like I was getting through the glass okay.  Note to self - ALWAYS zoom in when viewing on the LCD.  I must have been at a bad angle - in every single position I stood in - because when I got them back to the computer the photos were terrible.

While I'm on the subject of photos I didn't share, we also got a lot more opportunity this week to shoot through the mesh and wire of enclosures.  None of those shots turned into something to share - the best shot I got was of an otter's buttocks.  However, the concept of how you do it became a lot more clear this week since we got more practice time.  Now, all I need the next time I head out is an animal that will actually stay in one place in some sort of stance worthy of a picture and I might have something to share.

While we were back in Plains, we got an extra surprise - four of the elephants were out!  Meet Tombi.

The light was pretty harsh on them, and about the only part of everyone but Tombi that we were seeing were their hind ends.  But, Tombi was nice enough to hang out right by the water and have his portrait made for a while.  I'm not overly excited about any of the shots, but getting to see the elephants is always a treat.  The Indy Zoo has one of the most successful breeding programs in the nation for elephants and there are, I think, nine total elephants in our herd.  You can read more about the elephant program in Indy here.

Class was almost over, but as we were walking back we swung through forests to check in on Petya (the male tiger who we photographed so much last week) and the female tiger.  Petya was playing with the blue ball in his enclosure.  I did manage to get him in motion as he pounced, although I'm not entirely happy with the image.

Before taking this class, I probably would have been ecstatic with that photo, but not being zoomed out wide enough to get his whole body was a big mistake on my part and if you're looking closely at the image, there is blur in some places I'd rather there not have been blur - faster shutter speed would have been better here to get a crisper image.

The female tiger across the way was behind DIRTY glass (which made me feel right at home given how dirty Lindsay's paws get and how incredibly hard it is to keep my floors clean during this time of year).  However, I managed to snap one good shot of her through a small clean spot.

As we were headed towards the White River Gardens area to wrap up class, we grabbed the polar bear photos I opened with which was a nice way to end the class time.

Overall, this was the best Indy Photo Coach class I've taken.  There were only four of us in the class - with only my new buddies George and Amberlee showing up for the second week.  Since there were so few of us - and we spent a good amount of time hoofing it between exhibits and just chatting - I got to know them better than I've gotten to know people in all the other classes I've taken.  

Jackie was an excellent instructor. She gave us each a lot of individual attention and her calm, quiet manner was just right for me personally.  I learned a great deal, but also enjoyed spending three dedicated hours two weeks in a row focused on nothing but shooting pictures.  I've not been taking enough pictures lately and it felt really good to have my camera in my hands.  I need to schedule more time like that for myself in the rest of the year because I always, ALWAYS feel more motivated and excited when I do.

I hope you've enjoyed this journey with me.

Did you do anything fun this weekend?  Snap any great pictures?  Share with me in the comments!

Magnetic Chalkboard Wall - Success or Failure?

If you follow me on Instagram, (Follow @kicki22 if you want to start) you may have seen these two photos on Saturday night (after my incredibly fun day at Zoo Photography).

That's right...I took on another project. My goal was to turn the short wall between my kitchen and living room into a magnetic chalkboard.

I didn't care too much about the magno part (spoiler alert...that's a very, very good thing), but I REALLY wanted a cool chalkboard wall to leave notes on and doodle on.  I thought adding the magnetic option would be cool - perhaps to add some fun photo magnets along with (hopefully) awesome chalk art - like they did in this post.

Before I took on this project, I read a TON of articles and blog posts about painting with both magnet and chalkboard paint. (Not enough apparently ...) The one I found most useful was this one by Young House Love on their recent Pinterest challenge which was a magnetic, chalkboard framed piece.

Afterall my reading, I made a pretty simple checklist of things to get/do:

Start by gathering supplies:

• Magnetic Primer, 
• Chalkboard Paint, 
• spackle and putty knife (I had a few tiny divets to even out), 
• sanding block (for the spackle)
• good quality foam rollers (I used two different ones - one for the magnetic primer and a second for the chalkboard paint - I didn't even try to clean them)
• edging brush (I used this ONLY with the chalkboard paint and then washed it out and it was fine.  I think the magnet paint would have ruined it)
• FrogTape (Love.This.Stuff)
• Newspaper or a drop cloth (I started without this, but the magnetic paint splatters worse than anything I have EVER seen - you definitely want to protect your floors)
• And, speaking of that, wear clothes you absolutely do not care about - at least for the magno part

I also covered my paint tray in aluminum foil - first time I'd ever tried that trick and it worked perfectly making clean up a breeze.  

And, of course, when it's all done, you're gonna need some chalk!

And, the rest of the steps:

1. Prep the surface by making sure it's clean and dry.  Fill any holes and smooth with the sanding block as needed.
2. Protect the area with the tape and newspaper/drop cloth.
3. Shake and STIR (and stir and stir and stir and stir) the magnetic primer.  Scrape the magnetic particles off the bottom of the can.  Stir some more.  And when you think you've stirred enough, stir even more.  
4. Apply several thin, even coats of the magnetic primer to the wall - allowing about 30 minutes of drying time in between each.  Re-stir the paint after each coat to keep the metal particles that are in it from sinking to the bottom.  
5. Let the last coat of magnetic primer dry for about 30 minutes.  
6. Shake/stir the chalkboard paint well.  
7. Apply one or more thin even coats (I did three coats) - allowing some drying time in between each.  I don't know that you have to do more than one coat of this paint as it is VERY thick - but everything I read said to do at least two so I went with what I thought would work.
8. Let everything dry for at LEAST 24 hours (this is by far the hardest part of the entire thing...just waiting, staring at the board, wondering if you've just turned your wall into a big black hole or if you've created a perpetual art installation)
9. The step that is NOT on the back of the can, but that is in every article I read, is to "cure" the chalkboard paint.  You do this by rubbing a piece of chalk along the board on its side...like this.
   
   
10. Erase and you're ready to create.

So, did it work?

I've already alluded to the fact the magno part was pretty much an epic fail.  I put on five coats of the magno paint and only have one area - right along the edge of the wall - that is actually magnetic.  A couple of other areas give a little attraction to the magnet - but definitely aren't going to hold it.  I used nearly one full can  of the paint on a small wall that measures just 2 ft by about 8 ft.  After reading more reviews on Amazon, I saw people who said that after nine or ten coats it still wasn't magnetic.  #alwaysreadthereviewsfirst

The chalkboard paint was pretty successful, although I think should have waited longer than 24 hours given how many coats of paint were on it.  There is one section in the center of the wall that isn't taking to the chalk well at the moment.  I'm going to let it cure another few days before getting too excited about it.

I will say it uses chalk faster than what I remember a normal chalkboard to do - I'm wondering if that is all the little iron flecks embedded in the wall from the magno paint.  It also definitely looks like a chalk board.  To keep it from looking too hazy and cloudy I think will be a lot of work, but all in all, I'm really happy with it and look forward to all sorts of creativity to come on my happy wall.  Here is a photo after I'd colored on and erase the whole wall and just started writing a few simple lists.

So, what did you make this weekend?

Zoo Photography, Week 1

When I left the house Saturday morning, the outside temperature was a meager 13 degrees.  I have to say though, with the captivating subjects we captured - that was the last moment I thought about the frigid temperatures.

Sometime back in November or December, I signed up for the Indy Photo Coach Zoo Photography Class.  We meet for two weeks - yesterday and again next Saturday - with the awesome Jackie Curts.  Jackie is a full-time zoo keeper with the Indianapolis Zoo.   This is the sixth or seventh Indy Photo Coach class I've taken and I think Jackie is my fourth instructor at that time - and she is definitely a favorite.

We started out indoors with a brief instructional period.  For my style of photography, a few things I really appreciated about Jackie:

• She emphasized shooting lots of shots in order to get one good one - these animals move and change and do interesting things for only seconds at a time.  You can't get a good photo without time and patience.
• She talked a lot of about getting good shots in a zoo setting with fences and mesh and glass and all sorts of other weird obstacles.  We walked away from some shooting positions because there was simply no way to get a good shot.  Some photography instructors will act as though they could get a good shot from anywhere - Jackie did none of that.  No shot in that position - we moved.
• The most important thing - focus on the animal.  Jackie's photos show off the animal, in the best way possible.  The photo may not be technically perfect (whatever that is), but the animal look amazing.

After the brief lecture, we headed into the zoo, where you are greeted by this adorable guy.  He was sunning himself on top of this rock feature.  My photos of him sunning himself weren't my favorites, although a few of them will be in my Flickr stream shortly.  I realized as we were walking away from this visit, I had my focus set incorrectly so some of the images are softer than I would have liked.  

The sun was pretty perfect for shooting - it was a bright, but still cloudy day so most of the time, the light was pretty soft - but we'd get moments where the light would shine through and highlight something about the animal.  The photos of the Red Panda below show that off a bit.

After we left the seal, it was time to head over to the tigers.  Ultimately we also closed our visit to the zoo with the tigers again so I have two different sets from this area.  This handsome guy is named Peter.  His name is actually the Russian equivalent of that, but I remembered Peter.  The shot of him like this, on the rock was enough to make me happy, but then he decided to open his eyes up a bit wider and give me a beautiful face for the camera.

And then he decided to sit up - and was kind enough to look right at the camera.

There is something about wild cats that is so endearing.  Don't get me wrong - I know these guys would rip me to shreds if that big thick wall of glass hadn't been between us.  However, his pose and that look is so much like my little Fluffy it's uncanny.  (Although, sometimes I do worry that she might rip me to shreds as well.)

Across the way from Peter was one of the female tigers.  The light was not as good in her area, but I did manage to get a couple of nice shots - check out the tiny catch light in her eye.

One of the many, many great things about this class was that Jackie knew exactly when things were to happen at the zoo - like a Walrus feeding/chat time.  So, we wrapped up with the tigers and headed over to the Walrus exhibit.  Indy has a big female walrus, Aurora, and an orphaned baby walrus, Pekak, who was rescued from the wild.  Aurora had not been doing well emotionally as she had lost her previous pond mates to disease, but she and the little guy are doing well together and she seems to be getting somewhat better.  The two of them even treated us to a moment of Synchro Platform Diving :-)

(You can read more about how unique it is to have not one, but two walruses in a zoo - and learn more about these guys on the zoo web site.)

When the trainers came out, Aurora did a little painting - gotta love Walrus art.  Jackie indicated these were gifts for donors and/or sold in the gift shop. I later explored on the zoo web site and Animal Art Encounters is a special offering from the Indy Zoo...anyone wanna go with me sometime - that definitely goes on the bucket list!

Aurora is very smart and went through a lot of training activities.  Both also got fed - Pekak is still drinking from a bottle so he came away with an awesome milk beard.

Aurora also got some love from her trainer.  This photo wasn't that good because of the scratches on the glass getting caught in the reflection - but the interaction was priceless.

As the trainers finished up, we got treated to a sweet interaction between Aurora and Pekak.  I missed the shot of them actually nose to nose, but thought this still showed their relationship.

We headed indoors to the Deserts exhibit next.  Indy Zoo has a fun meerkat exhibit along with loads of scaley horned creatures.  What I had never noticed in here before were the birds - finches and quail in several different varieties.

A few of my favorite shots...

The blue tongued skink - apparently getting a shot of the tongue out is the real challenge with this creepy guy.

The turtles are one of my favorite animals in here, but I never did get a really good shot of them all day.  This was the best thing I got, but I'm still not very happy with it.

Post-processing the super colorful finches made me realize that I will need a longer lens if I want really sharp images.  My  18-200mm is a WONDERFUL lens, but even at these short distances, it isn't powerful enough to get a truly sharp photo at that distance and zoom.

This guy was actually one of my favorites of the day.  He was having such a good time entertaining himself by digging a hole - but when he came out with that bit of dirt on his nose it was just too adorable.  Even creepy kids can be adorable sometimes.

This guy gets the creepiest award...mouth closed...

...or mouth open.  That's pretty much all he did.  Open his mouth and close his mouth.

I popped back over to the Meerkats for a few minutes and caught these two in a sweet pose.  The little one on bottom kept closing his eyes and then opening them again - while the snuggler just slept.  I imagine this is some sort of protective pose they do, but in a zoo it's just pure cuteness.

Jackie came over to grab a couple of us (there were only four of us so it wasn't too hard to keep us together) to let us know the quail were in good position.  I gotta tell you, I a) never would have though to look up above us for things sitting on rocks overhead (Jackie was great to point those things out) and b) was pretty sure I got NOTHING from these shots until I got them back home.  Certainly not the best shot of the day, but I was pretty happy with this one ultimately.  This guy was on a rock wall about five feet above me so the angle was really hard to work with and let's just say if you saw all the blemish retouching marks on this in Lightroom, you'd have an appreciation for the amount of plant life I had to take out of this to be able to give you a clear view of the quail.

This one though, was pretty much straight out of the camera.  It's not a great shot, but it's fun and playful.  

We watched the birds for a few more minutes.  This guy is apparently planning to do some nest remodeling over the weekend.

Jackie kept scoping out the next area for us (the dolphin show let out while we were in here and these were the only two indoor exhibits on such a cold day).  Once snakes got a little less full she ushered us in there.  Now, let me begin by saying "I HATE SNAKES".  I ordinarily won't even walk in this exhibit.  But, the conversation I have with lots of people about the things I will do with a camera in my hand played in my head and I decided, yes, I would take pictures of snakes.  Especially when Jackie asked if anyone wanted to try out her macro gear.  I tried really hard not to bounce up and down and shoot my hand in the air and go "Me! Me! Me!".  That being said, I was still the first to volunteer to strap on her Nikon 105mm and the Close-Up Speedlight System.  There was another flash that we put in the hot shoe, but I was too busy drooling over the equipment to know what that was.  Will have to ask about that next week.  We proceeded into the snake room which is DARK!  Jackie picked out a snake and helped me set the tripod.  Two shots later, I shot this.

That one was a little out of focus, so after remembering I had to manually focus in macro, I got this shot.  I was giddy.  Over a snake.  That's what macro photography can do for you.

We also took a shot of the rattler which is still awesome, but the color of green snake and the detail of those water droplets - amazing!  Add macro lens and attachments to wish list!

We headed back outside where a light snow had begun to fall in earnest.  I got a couple of good photos of the Alaskan brown bear (one of which was above), but he wasn't really all that excited about coming out to play.

However, the red panda - whose informational sign at the exhibit say if they aren't sleeping, they eating - were amazingly playful and active.  We shot these guys for a good twenty minutes.

We finished up our first class meeting back at the tiger exhibit.  This was my favorite shot of our little group. I'm not sure who was more captivated - us or the tiger.

The tiger was just doing some loops around the enclosure and so while we sat there at the glass wall waiting, she would walk down the little incline to us and we could snap away.  When she'd get to the glass, she'd swipe and paw at us a bit just like she was trying to play (or, perhaps, eat).  She had an affinity for George's shoe.

But, after a few shots of my human subjects, it was back to the tiger.

I am looking so forward to our class next week, when we'll be in the Oceans building (my favorite!).  I'm also hoping it's a little warmer so the plains animals (giraffes, elephants, etc.) might be out.