Sunset in the Antelope Valley

Tonight I skipped my weekly Gym Class to go take photos in the desert at sunset. Where I went there were no Joshua Trees so instead I found a few other trees and shot some photos. I got a few pretty good ones. Check them out. What do you think? Leave me some feedback in the comments.

Welcome to Terrapin Country!

So I am a huge, and I mean huge ACC basketball fan. My team of course is the MD terrapins. When I met Dave he was not into basketball at all. In fact he kept betting me that teams would beat MD during the tourney. He must not have understood MD’s history at that point in his life. Needless to say, he lost his bets and MD won the tourney. Dave has since become more of a b-ball fan and even a Terps fan. Last year the UMD Women’s team got there opportunity as they became national champs, and MD became one of only 4 schools that can claim both women’s and Mens B-ball championships. So after two years of not meeting terrapin’s fans expectations, UMD men’s team really seems strong this year. Defiantly could be a sleeper team come March. They just aren’t getting as many props as they should. Let’s see they’ve won 6 straight games including two wins against Duke and one against UNC. Both were ranked pretty high at the time of game time. Earlier in the year they beat St Johns and Michigan to win the 2K sports hoops classic tourney, and then they beat Illinois at home. The freshmen on this team are strong and MD is a big contender. I’d keep an eye out for this young, but impressive team. It’s nice to see them strong like they were a few years ago. This is a team that made it into March Madness 11 years running…and they are back! ! (and don’t forget the strong Women’s team to!). Whoo-hoo! GO TERPS! And go ACC! (Only the best conference in college B-ball!). It would be nice to see both teams win the ACC tournament for sure. I’d give my predictions for the final four, but it’s still a little early. I’m thinking an ACC team (but its hard to tell who. There are to many to choose from with 6 locks into march already), Ohio, Wisconsin, and maybe UCLA.

GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS GO TERPS

Sequoia Winter Wonderland

This weekend Dave and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend at Sequoia National Park. We stayed at the lodge, as we’re not into the snow camping thing! It was a little weird to be there and not be camping, as this is our third trip to sequoia but our first to not be camping. We arrived at the park around 8pm fri night, so it was already dark and we could barely see what we would be in for the next day. I decided to get up early sat morning and go take some photos since the ski shop wasn’t going to open until 9am. Wow! What a beautiful sight I was in for. I stepped outside to the cold mountain air, a clear blue sky, and amazing pristine snow conditions ( about 4 feet of fresh snow). I shot photos for about a half hour then headed inside to wake Dave up. We ate breakfast and headed out to rent our snow shoes. We hiked through the Big Trees trail and part of Topokah Falls trail. On the Topakah falls trail I was able to take some photos of the Watchtower (we hiked through there last Labor Day weekend). It was neat to be down below in the valley and see exactly where we hiked about 6 months prior to this trip. Snowshoeing was harder than hiking, especially if you had to make your own tracks. But it was a lot of fun just being out in the snow. Sunday we woke up to a snow storm! We were not expecting this as the snow wasn’t predicted until Monday. Our car was covered in 4-6 inches of snow and it continued to come down all day. I am so glad we bought a Subaru, as our car handled like a champ. We just drove past everyone else while they were putting on there chains. On Sunday we snow shoed on Congress Trail for a little bit and then headed home. Seeing Sequoia covered in snow was an amazing trip and I’m sure we’ll be back! I can’t wait until our Yosemite trip in two weeks!

Trees in the snow with the sun peeking through

A trunk of a redwood surronded by snow covered trees

Me in my snowhoes (check out how high the snow bank is)

I've started posting photos...the rest should be up later this week.

http://schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/2516829

On our way home, there was this awesome rainbow over the valley. We could see the entire thing. So we stopped the car so I could get a few photos with the wide angle lens (thank goodness I own a super wide angle!)

A wonderful sight to see...clouds and gloomy weather

Most people frown upon seeing clouds and rain in the froecast. But at this time of year that is a welcomed happy day for a skier. So it is currenlty raining in the antelope valley and it's cold. I don't think the high got up over 47 today. Meaning our mountains are getting snow. Sweeettt!!!! And we will be skiing for a few more months. The snow should be over by tomorrow morning, just in time for our weekend trip to Sequoia NP. We are staying at the lodge on the mountain (~8000ft elevation) and they are expecnting 2 feet of snow! I am off on friday but Dave has to work, so as soon as he gets home we'll be on the road. We will have lots of fresh snow to play in. Our plans are to sled ride, snowshoe on some of the trails, and take tons of photos! Speaking of photos...I learned some stuff at my photography class that I should have known about months ago. Well I'm hoping it'll come in handy this weekend and I'll get some awesome photos. We'll see. I am so looking forward to this trip, even though we won't be skiing (downhill). But I promise next weekend we will be on the slopes somewhere! I really love winter!

Weekend Recap - Ski Trip!

After mammoth mountain finally recieved a good amount of snow, Dave and I quickly determined an available weekend to drive up to mammoth. It just happened our free weekend was President's day weekend and all the condos were requiring a 3 night minimum. So on Thursday we called the Condo rental agency and they gave us a place that hadn't been rented yet. It was about 1/6 mile from the lifts and had some really good size hot tubs. So we really can't complain for last minute reservations! We left work a tad early on Friday to get to mammoth by dinner time. After checking in we ate dinner at the condo and enjoyed some hot tub time. We then turned in early to be well rested for a full day on the slopes. I got up about 6:30 to try and snap a few photos of the mountain in the early morning sun. Then I woke Dave up for breakfast and we headed to the lifts. Saturday was great...bright blue skies, no wind, and awesome powder. Saturday night we again enjoyed time at the hot tub. Sunday morning we woke up to snow showers. So all day we had fresh powder although the visibility was not to good. We still had a great day. I'm so impressed with the progress both Dave and I have made with out skiing skills. Dave has only been skiing for a few seasons but wow did he look good this weekend. He was even skiing moguls like he'd been doing it for years (he had lots of trouble with this last year). I on the other hand have become so confident on my skis that I just fly down the mountain. I finally ski like someone who learned 15 year ago. Even the moguls didn't give me much trouble. It is so nice to feel so confident and just go. I can't wait to get back on the slopes!

Yummy Oreos

While I was shooting photos last weekend, I got some cute shots of our Friends daughter during and after she finished her oreos.


On another note: Mammoth finally got some snow...so you know where the Schanker's will be. We managed to rent a condo by the ski lift (totally last minute)! so we'll be spending two days skiing. I can't wait. Next weekend we will be at Sequoia NP hiking and playing in the snow! I hope to get lots of cool photos while we are there.

Photoshoot

Today I took some photos of our friends kids. Their son James was Baptised and then we went back to their house. Here are some ones I shot today. Please post comments and let me know what you think of the shots.

Italy photos one year later

Well, It's about the one year anniversary of our trip to Italy. So I did something I've been meaning to do for a while. I created a gallery of some of my favorite Italy/Switzerland/Paris photos. So if you've never taken the time to look through everything check out the gallery.

http://schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/2441951

Tour De Cure

I just signed up to do the Tour De Cure through work to raise money for Diabetes. The bike ride is not until May, but if you wish to donate towards this wonderful cause, please visit this website. I will be riding 30 miles in the Thousand Oaks/Ventura area on May 6th.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&JServSessionIdr001=3vewqifnz1.app17a&fr_id=4405&px=3195519

Michele

Not Sure How to Take This...

So I posted this photo I took of the Golden Gate Bridge. I love the photo because I got a really unique persepctive. It's got great composition and coloring. I really feel think I did a good job with this photo. So I decided to share it uder the travel section of the LA Times. Today I got an email saying I had a comment so I went to check it out. Some guy wrote "makes me think photoshop"! I mean what does that mean...he thinks I photoshopped the photo. Whatever...that was straight out of the camera. I hardly ever use any sort of photoshop tools to enhance my photos. That was offensive to me as a photographer. But at the same time I guess I can take it as a compliment, right? Errgghhh!

My Smugmug site

So Im really trying to get the smugmug site modified. I just have no idea what I am doing! Really! I've made small progress. So check out the site sometime. www.schanker.smugmug.com
I have added a guest book page, so now you can go in and leave me comments if you would like. I also have added a link to this Blog in the navigation bar. Enjoy and keep checking back for changes. I have ideas, but I don't know how to implement them.

Weird, Crazy, but Fun LA weekend

So, this weekend was kinda weird, but fun. Dave’s sister came out to visit us for a 3 day weekend. We decided we’d stay local so we headed into the mountains on Friday for a day of skiing. We skied until about 7pm and had a great time. My new boots seems to be great. I had a lot of control and was flying down the mountain. Dave couldn’t understand how I was going so fast! I honestly have never skied that fast and totally felt in control! I want to go to MAMMOTH! Emily had some issues with her boots and had to go rent new boots. So I skied while they took care of that. We were so tired we headed home and had spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner, played a game of pool and were off to bed.

Saturday morning we got up to head to Six Flags, but we realized Emily’s ski boots were missing. Luckily they were up at Mountain High. Somehow they got left behind. We then arrived at Six Flags a little later then expected, but there were no lines due to the gloomy and cool weather. We went to the park with Arielle, but it started to rain shortley after we got there! (glad were season pass holders!) So at about 3pm we were done with the park. We then went to the movies to see the Good Shepherd, it was good but long. After the movie we had dinner at Mimi’s and stopped by our friend’s new apartment for some games (Catch Phrase). On Sunday we all woke up , had a good breakfast, and dressed warm for some tubing at Mountain High. However, when we arrived we discovered the tubing didn’t look like much fun. So instead we found some snow along the side of the road and played for a little bit and picked up the ski boots. However, we also discovered the poles were missing! How crazy! We never did find the poles, but Sport Chalet said to call it even since the boots didn’t work out for her anyway. Later in the day we headed down to Hollywood to see Mann’s theater and the walk of fame. We had dinner at a great Italian restaurant, and then went to Santa Monica for Crepes. We dropped Emily off at the airport and headed home. It was defiantaly a weird, crazy, but fun weekend.

SMUGMUG is down

I am in the process of modifying SMUGMUG, however I am not a software engineer. I could not get it all done in one night. So we will try and get the site back up as soon as possible I promise a new looks once its back up and running! We'll let you know when its back.

Photo Outing

I went out and shot some more photos locally this weekend. Check them out!

The link on smgmug is http://www.schanker.smugmug.com/gallery/2376908

I took some sunset photos in the middle of the desert. I used my tripod so I was able to use some slow shutter speeds to get some really good coloring.

I also drove to the Vasquez rocks (formed due to the tectonic plates) and shot some photos. The sky was an amazing blue that day.

Looking up at some of the rocks

More Rocks and Clouds

Wide Angle Shot of one of the Rocks

Bare Tree and Rocks

Under the Rocks and Shooting Out

Sunset over the Antelope Valley

Lot of Big Plans

I am in my trip planning mode again, now that the holidays are over with. Next month, we have two weekend trip planned into the mountains. First we will go to Yosemite. We are staying on the valley floor and hoping to have some snow! I can’t wait to see Yosemite covered in snow! Then two weeks late we are going to Sequoia. Where we will hike and play in the snow there too. I will take tons of photos and post them on smugmug. So keep a watch for them. In March we will head up to Mammoth Lakes for a weekend of skiing. Then in April it’s off to Tahoe for a 3 day weekend of more skiing. I will also be reserving a campsite at Yosemite so we can go hike to Half Dome again. Once spring hits I have so many ideas for training hikes in the sierras, so I’m sure we will be camping and hiking quite a bit. I’ve also started planning Schanker European Vacation Part 2! We will be going to Scotland, London, and Paris all before going to my friends wedding in PA. In July, we are going to go to Cooperstown, NY to see Cal Ripken get inducted to the Hall of Fame! So we have a lot of things going on.

For the short term: We are staying local. Dave’s sister will be visiting next weekend in which we plan to go play in the snow at our local mountains, including a day of skiing. This weekend I plan to go out and shoot some photos locally. Then we are having people over on Sunday to watch the football game. People can now watch the game upstairs or downstairs. I took my photos back to my photography class this week. The photographer looked at them again, and told me I defiantly have an eye for photography. He was surprised that I had not taken any classes before. So I’m thinking I need to start taking some advanced classes and maybe I can start some sort of side photography business.

Home Improvement

So far in the last week I have installed wainscott paneling in a bathroom and chair railing in our Living Room/ Dining Room. Here is a photo of our finished LR/DR. I do love playing with my new power tools!

We also had our new plasma tv installed in the loft! We can now play pool and watch HDTV all at once! Sweeetttt! We also hung up curains on the windows (long been needed!)


This weekend proved to be very cold here in Lancaster. Apparently the Low on sat. night was only 3 degrees. It's still pretty cold with a high in the upper 40s and lows in the teens. I do love it though and wish it would stay like this for a while.

Current Emotions: Happy, Excited, Hopeful

I am so psyched right now! Tonight was my 2nd photography class. The photographer asked us all to bring in pictures for him to critique. I took in an album I've started with my favorite photos. WOW, did I get good reception! I was sitting there looking at the photos other people brought in and when I really realized my photos are pretty good for an amateur. I almost felt embarrassed to show my album because I didn't want to look like a show off. I gave him my album and upon opening it up, he said "Wow". He then proceeded to show some of my photos as good examples of composition. We ran out of time and he asked me to bring my album back next week. Every one in the class really liked the photos and gave me great comments. The photographer critqued some of my photos, but overall gave me great comments. It really meant something to here that from a pro. My self esteem was boosted so much. I really think I can do something with this talent. Don't get me wrong I still have a lot to learn, but for a complete self taught amateur I feel pretty confident in what I do.

Here are a couple of the photos he really liked.

1. A potrait of a cowboy in Fort Worth, TX:

2. The Golden Gate Bridge

I Love Winter...

I do love winter…have I ever mentioned that!? I’m sure I have at lease once or twice in my life! :)
I love the cold weather, I love bundling up in bulky coats and scarfs. I love sitting by the fireplace and sipping hot chocolate. I love the crisp air and chance of snow…Yup I said chance of snow! We live in Southern Cali but at a high elevation (well, high compared to where we used to live in Florida) and it gets cold here. So this weekends forecast is …highs in the 40’s, winds of 20-25 mph, lows of about 12, and a chance for SNOW!!! Oh do I hope it snows. I know it won’t be much, but I’ll take anything I get my hands on. I grew up in Maryland where we had decent snow falls every winter. I do miss that. It seems like we get all the cold and none of the snow here. I guess that’s what we get for living in a desert climate. Although last winter we had a good 1-2 inches covering the back yard. So for all you Floridians out there reading this….I know you like your 80 degree winter days, but I live for the cold and snowy ones!

This is what I live for...

Two of my favorite things are photography and travel. Luckily these can go hand in hand.

Yesterday was my first day of my mini photography class. I signed up for this class offered through the city of Lancaster. It is taught by a local photographer, and he is pretty darn good! I think this is my first step to learning more and applying it to my photos. Last night we learned about composition and the rule of thirds. I think I already pretty much apply this to my photos. I never like normal photos and have always tried to get my subjects off center. Next week, will get more technical and hopefully I'll pick up a think or two on shutter speed and aperture. I know the basics, but I need to understand more so I can just shoot and not cheat by looking at the display. I'm excited that I'm finally learning about photography. I find I'm at the point where I can actually give other people advice now. Next week we have to bring in photos for him to Critique. So we'll see what he thinks of my work, huh! That's a little nerve racking. I'm sure most of the people in the class don't care as much as I do.

This week I have also started to explore our options for our May 2007 vacation. Can you believe its only 5 months away! Dave really wants a Guinness in Dublin and since I've been there and know my way around, I think we will start the trip there. Then we will head to Edinburgh for 5 days in Scotland, then head to London for 2.5 days. After London we will travel to Paris (to see the rest of the city) for another 2.5 days. Then it will be back to the states for my Friend's (Brenda) wedding near Pittsburgh. We will be gone for a little over 2 weeks. It should be a blast. I so can't wait! I love to travel with Dave. We have so much fun.

In the meantime we will be enjoying the skiing in the sierras, a weekend winter trip to Yosemite, and skiing at Lake Tahoe.

House Update: So we are really trying to get the house to where I would like it. Lately I have installed Wainscoting in the upstairs hallway bathroom. I also finally finished installing the quarter round downstairs. We are trying to put together ideas for the loft (where our pool table is). WE went to circuit city and ordered a 50" plasmas tv to put on the wall opposite the pool table. Now we need curtains, seating, and a black cabinet to but in the alcove area. I will also be finishing the chair railing the LR/DR and starting crown moulding. The next major project is remodeling of the kitchen. But we will have that done by Lowe's or a kitchen place. I can't wait to have new cherry cabinets in a dark stain and either Zodiaq or Corian counter tops!!! Oh boy! It's funny how stuff like that makes me happy.

Vegas Luck

Our New Years weekend trip to Vegas was eventful to say the least. I’d have to consider ourselves very lucky, but not in the form of luck you would think of with Vegas. On our way out to Vegas we had an interesting experience. We were driving along highway 15, when all of a sudden we saw someone driving very erratically through traffic. Not long after that we noticed several accidents along the road and a police car traveling up the left hand shoulder. Eventually the traffic came to a standstill and we were parked. The 15 was closed off in both directions. The crazy vehicle blew a tire and couldn’t anywhere. Several cop cars came to the scene and more arrived over time. The driver refused to get out of the car and started a 1.5 hour standoff. Finally the police shot Tear Gas (we believe) in to the vehicle, then approached and pulled him out. The driver must have caused at least 10 accidents on the road. Dave and I felt very lucky we were not one of them. All of this happened about 500 feet in from of us! Then our luck continued on Monday morning. I awoke from our long night of celebrating in Vegas to discover I did not have my wallet. I immediately figured I got pick pocketed on the street and started calling the credit card companies. After checking out of the hotel we retraced our steps and headed to the MGM. Luckily the security at the MGM had my wallet with all the cash still inside!!! Wow! I felt so lucky. At that point I really didn’t even care if I won or lost in Vegas. I already felt lucky enough for the weekend. I just hope this weekend wasn’t some sort of sign of what the year will be like for the Schanker’s!

Anyways, we had a blast in Vegas and it was good as usual to see Brenda and Mark. We played lots of games, caught up on the year, and enjoyed the new years scene.

Well, we hope that everyone had great new years and enjoyed your time. We had a blast in Vegas as always. We hope everyone has a great 2007!