Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!
I had the pleasure of seeing the Chihuly exhibit at the VMFA yesterday on my birthday ;-) I took the pictures with my new Christmas Present! It was a great day!
Grounds and Gardens of the Biltmore House in Asheville, North Carolina


These are the “illegal” pictures I took on the inside. No photography was allowed, and I mean none. I saw people getting chased down for taking pictures with their phones! But that didn’t stop me from trying ;-) I didn’t want to leave without having SOME sort of photographic evidence of being there. I learned later they sold books of the house and bought one, but am still proud I was able to snap a few discernible pics without getting caught!
This is the dining room and that would be part of my dad’s face in the bottom corner ;-)
Shot of the lawn and the Christmas Tree going up from one of the hallways 
Anyone can take a picture and I do mean anyone! You point and click and voila! You have taken a photograph! Your subject matter, framing, focus, light source, color contrast and balance are not important, what is important is that you’ve captured that moment. That moment that is special to you.
Sometimes it’s important to scout out a location for the perfect viewpoint, the one no one else will get. Sometimes it’s important to use a tripod so that the photograph comes out crystal clear with no blurring. Sometimes it’s important to wait patiently for the perfect moment to snap that picture.
And then there are the other times when you can forget all that and just hope for old-fashioned good luck. Would you believe that some of the below were taken from a moving vehicle…while I was the driver? Or that I just held up the camera, without looking through the viewfinder or the viewscreen, and just clicked the shutter? Believe it!
I’m particularly prone to taking pictures of state-crossing or informational signs.
I also highly enjoy taking pictures of the road ahead of me.
And occasionally taking a picture of the road behind me. This was taken on a fundraising walk across the Manchester bridge. While walking straight ahead, I held up my camera above my head, turned it around and snapped.
While on tours, I usually pay more attention to getting pictures than I do the tour guides’ schpeel. 90% of the pictures I took in Charleston & Savannah were taken on a bus or buggy tour. But that will be a separate post ;-)
Trolley bus tour around the San Diego Zoo.
This was a bus tour along the Amalfi Coast into Positano, but luckily the tour guide let the view speak for itself.


Self-guided driving tour around town to see all of the “Tacky Lights.”
Self-guided driving tour around Gettysburg National Park.
Sometimes I get to be a passenger and can take more time and care into shooting out of the car window.
This was my most recent “drive-by shooting” and was the inspiration for this post. I literally rolled down my window, stuck my hand out, and clicked (while watching the road of course!). 
Photography isn’t just about perfectly framing your subject matter, or “finding the light,” or getting a crisp, focused, high megapixel photo. It’s about memorializing a point in time that will never occur again exactly in the same way. And sometimes that means literally pointing, shooting and hoping for the best!
So, rather than talking about walking around the zoo and naming all of the obvious animals, I’m going to be silly and give each one a caption. Well, almost all of them. Some aren’t silly enough for a caption, but I can’t not post them ;-)
I am NOT a flamingo! But, I kinda wanna be…
Those stupid Flamingoes and all their peacocking get on my nerves.
Nothing funny…he was my favorite out of the whole zoo.

I really wish I could post video. He grabbed a piece of cardboard and scooped that noodle thing closer so he could grab it. They are so intelligent, it’s hard to see them in cages.
Did someone say fresh-baked cookies!?!
Hey don’t cut me out of the picture!
Hard to tell where one ends and another begins…
Yes, mmhmm, this is my good side.
Maybe if I stand really still that other one will go away…wait that’s weird, when I turn my head, it does too…
Oh, well, hi, hello, how are you?
Pssst! Hey, hey, you got any sardines? 