Some of the less obvious elements – that blue green rectangular item on the left side of the picture – that’s the ruler I used to measure the amount of snow we received. I’m sure you’ve figured out all of the other “stuff” that’s laying about.

And something crazy – I added some film noise to the image in post processing. Crazy to want noise, after all our efforts to prevent and reduce noise? Only if we can control it!

I’m one of those people who cannot pass up “boutique” lotions and soaps. And once I buy them, they go unused for years under the sink. Case in point, I bought this soap in 2007, at a L’Occitane store in Columbus, OH.

I guess I thought it was too pretty to use. After all these years, it still smells nice – lavender that reminds me of spring.

After several tries capturing the sizzling drops, my pan was smoking hot, the beginning of tonight’s dinner preparation.

Can you feel the warm breeze from the palms?

On an iris stalk

At -2degF this morning, I attempted a short run, but only ran up the street before I thought my face was going to fall off. Upon returning home, checked out our frozen pond (I saw some fishies swimming under the film of ice) and noted how pretty the ice crystals formed on the rocks. So my failed running expedition resulted in some pictures. I’ll take it.

We played Harry Potter Clue instead.

This time last year, I created this blog as a vehicle for my 2009 Project 365 photographic journey. I set out at the beginning of 2009 to document each day with a photo, posted to this blog. After two short months, I realized these Project 365 images were better suited for my personal blog (whose content had become rather sparse during these months) and Behind The Lens became a repository for what I considered to be more creative, focused on technique and post processing. I may not have posted every day, but came pretty close, and as a result, just about doubled the images I originally sought to capture in 2009.

As 2009 comes to a close and as I complete my Project 365 collection, I’ve decided to continue taking daily images, in essence, starting a new Volume of Project 365 (Volume 2, the Year 2010). The every day captures will continue to be posted at my personal blog. For Behind The Lens, I will continue to take pictures, using a more themed approach:

• Best Shot Monday
• Morning Captures
• SOOC Saturday
• Table Views
• Weekly Photography Theme from 2Peas

I’ve also set some technical goals I want to achieve this year:

• HDR Processing
• Use Mirror Lock Up
• Use the BULB shutter release mode
• Read through The Complete Guide to the D300 by Thom Hogan
• Continue to learn and apply new Post Processing techniques

Maybe I’ll purchase some new gear – I’ve had my eye on a Lensbaby Composer and a compact Canon S90. Unfortunately, these purchases may have to follow a lens repair, as I’m fairly certain my 70-300 VR lens has some focusing issues. I probably need to buy a bigger camera bag too, I think I may have knocked my lenses around too much in my smallish bag. Oh, well….

But 2009 has been a tremendous year. I took over 6000 pictures and posted 1275 to my flickr account. I upgraded my camera body. I learned how to use textures, layer masks, blended exposures, adjustment layers, and a host of other techniques I can’t remember. I doubt I would have learned and grown so much if I hadn’t embarked on this Project 365 – thing, and I recommend it to anyone wishing to improve their photographic skills. Really. Just get out there and take pictures!

I wish everyone a wonderful, prosperous 2010!