Poppies.

Our Sweet Beast. Kona the Dog Dude.

My 2nd Lightroom edit. I used Aged, some highlight recovery, added a little vignetting, and sharpened a bit.

My Blue-Eyed Dude. Favorites from this year...

This is our catch-and-release buddy.

The Dudes named him Gandalf. This is the 3rd time they've caught him. He's a cute little guy.

Happy 11th Birthday...

... to my handsome, intelligent, unruly haired, humorous, neatnick-y, aspiring to be an author, firstborn Dude.

Self-portrait.

Yes, I do know that in SoCal it is almost sinful NOT to have pedicured, painted toenails. So be it. This is me.

Goodbye, Baby Teeth. Hello, Adult Teeth.

My first attempt editing in Lightroom. So far, so good, methinks.

40+ years of marriage ... and my Dad and Mom still dig each other.

I love that about them!

And before the Big Meal was the Big Race...

The Turkey Trot!! And yes, the Littlest Dude was very upset not to have his own number, too.

It's not just Thanksgiving, it's my #2 Little Dude's Birthday.

And we're sooo thankful for him!

Playing with the Praying Mantis

My creation
Originally uploaded by Skeller5

Boys and bugs.

Gorgeous Ranuncula

As "Fall" as it gets here in SoCal...

Pat's Garden at Twilight

Books I Love...

The Bible


Classics

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
My Antonia - Willa Cather
Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
O Pioneers! - Willa Cather
Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
East of Eden - John Steinbeck
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde

Modern Classics (my opinion)

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
The Chosen - Chaim Potok (and everything else by Chaim Potok)
Davita's Harp - Chaim Potok
Pigs in Heaven - Barbara Kingsolver
The Good Earth - Pearl Buck
Cheaper By the Dozen - Frank Gilbreth Jr. & Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Warriors Don't Cry - Melba Pattillo Beals
Animal Farm - George Orwell
all Winnie the Pooh book - A.A. Milne
Charlotte's Web - E.B. White
Trumpet of the Swan - E.B. White
Just David - Eleanor Porter
Watership Down - Richard Adams
The Education of Little Tree - Forrest Carter
The Water is Wide - Pat Conroy
The Little French Girl - Anne Douglas Sedgwick
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls (I know, kinda early to call this a classic, but it's my list, and I think this belongs here.)

Slice of Life

At Home in Mitford + rest of series - Jan Karon
The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency + rest of series - Alexander McCall Smith
A Year in Provence - Peter Mayle (also A Dog's Life, and everything else by Peter Mayle)
Funny in Farsi - Firoozeh Dumas



Mystery/"Pulp Fiction"/Legal Thriller

The Beekeeper's Apprentice + rest of series - Laurie King
Mallory's Oracle + rest of series - Carol O'Connell
Bone by Bone - Carol O'Connell
A Time to Kill - John Grisham
The Testament - John Grisham
A Great Deliverance + rest of series - Elizabeth George (warning: dark & depressing)
The Man with a Load of Mischief + rest of series - Martha Grimes
Gaudy Night (+ everything else) by Dorothy Sayers
All Agatha Christie series (especially Tommy & Tuppence Beresford)

Christianity(books that have spoken to me along the journey...)

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters - C.S. Lewis
The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis
Hind's Feet on High Places - Hannah Hurnard
Loving God - Charles Colson
The Pursuit of God - A.W. Tozer
The Divine Conquest - A.W. Tozer
The Unity of the Bible - Daniel Fuller
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible
The Revenge of Conscience - J. Budziszewski


Helpful Photography Books

Understanding Exposure - Bryan Peterson
Nature Photography Field Guide - John Shaw
The Magic of Digital Nature Photography - Rob Sheppard
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book (for Lightroom users) - Scott Kelby
Layers (for Photoshop CS3 users) - Matt Kloskowski
The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book (again, for CS3 users) - Scott Kelby
Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition) - Dan Margulis
On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography - Neil van Niekerk

Other (translation: doesn't fit in any of the other categories)

The Giver - Lois Lowry
The Willoughbys - Lois Lowry
The Search for Delicious - Natalie Babbit

My Gear

What am I shooting with? This question comes up enough that it's probably worth making a list...

My "Big Girl" Camera - Canon 5d
My Cropped Sensor Camera - Canon Rebel xt

Lenses:

Canon 24-105mm f/4 - this is my general "walkaround" lens that I usually have on my camera. It's a wonderful lens for landscape as well as portrait work. Its only "downside" is that it doesn't have a very wide/fast aperture (f/4) and it's big/heavy.

Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro - this is the lens I use for my close-up flower images. I am completely incapable of hand-holding this lens and EXCLUSIVELY use it with a tripod. Every time I think I can go ahead and handhold it, I end up with blurry pictures. postscript: I'm getting better handholding this lens. Making sure my shutter speed is fast enough is helping.

Canon 85mm f/1.8 - I usually use this lens on my Rebel for close-up portraits. Super sharp, beautiful colors. Love this portrait lens.

Canon 35mm f/2 - good, fast lightweight wide-angle lens that I like to use indoors or at night. My favorite lens for "diner" shots.

Canon 15mm f/2.8 fish-eye - oh my. such a fun toy. quirky, super-wide angle lens that adds a fun curve to images. 180* view side to side and up and down. I have to be careful to keep my fingers and toes out of the images!

Bogen Manfrotto Tripod with Acratech ballhead.

Canon Speedlite 580ex ii - flash that I'm still too intimidated to use

Software:

Lightroom 2 & Photoshop CS3 - my list of really really helpful Lightroom Links

Lumapix Fotofusion for collages (of course, collage work can be done in CS3, but it takes longer and requires more skill than I have).

Books:

For a list of books that I've found to be indispensable in my photo education, please check my Books I Love post.

QUOTES...

that make me think, or laugh, or nod my head, or that I just like for whatever reason.

Thou wilt make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11

Fairy tales don't tell children that dragons exist, children already know that. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. G. K. Chesterton

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." Cicero

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can"t read them." Mark Twain

Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:2

Sometimes I do get to places just when God"s ready to have somebody click the shutter. Ansel Adams

No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How shall we become lovely? By loving Him who is ever lovely. Augustine

Among all the redeemed in glory there is not one who looks back and sees that on earth there was any mistake in the divine conduct towards him. God does all things well. William S. Plumer

It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt. Mark Twain

When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. Erasmus

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide. Quintilian

We all do no end of feeling, and we mistake it for thinking. Mark Twain

six hoc adfixum in obice legere potes, et liberaliter educatus et nimis propinquus ades. (translation: If you can read this bumper sticker, you are very well educated and much too close.) :-)

There may often be excuse for doing things poorly in this world, but there is never any excuse for calling a poorly done thing well done."-- W. E. B. DuBois

A man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what he thinks of himself. The larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction. - Tolstoy

It was clear that the books owned the shop rather than the other way about. Everywhere they had run wild and taken possession of their habitat, breeding and multiplying and clearly lacking any strong hand to keep them down. ~ Agatha Christie

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. ~ Albert Einstein

A dead thing goes with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it. ~ G. K. Chesterton

Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work. ~ Thomas Edison

The Photo Gallery

My website:

Susan Keller Photography

It's probably weird to mix my floral photography in with my portrait work, but it's my website, so I did it! :-) You can find my floral work in the Galleries. You can also find more floral photographs in the Client Section - just type "floral" in the password box. From the client section you can add any of the photographs to the cart for purchase. And to see the cart, just press the little shopping cart in the lower left corner (can I just say, that took me the longest time to figure out!?!)

So far I've only downloaded a few photographs. If there's a photograph (or a size configuration) that you're interested in that you don't see in there, just Email Me! or leave a comment. I can always add to the gallery to accomodate your wishes.

A Little Bit About Me and My Dudes...

I'm a Christian, Wife, Mother, Enthusiastic Photographer, Home Educator, lover of good books, drinker of coffee and Diet Coke, watcher of "reality" tv, and sporadic taker of walks, enjoying life with the Big Dude, the three little Dudes, and the dog Dude.

My Man (the Big Dude)


The Firstborn Dude, 11yo


The Middle Dude, 8yo


The Youngest Dude, 5yo


The Dog Dude, 1.5yo