Balloon twisting

A talented young lady called Flutterbug has been at the Greenmarket for the past few weeks, and she's a master (mistress?) balloon twister.  Last week she made a spider for us that was quite realistic.  This week, she settled on a Jack O'Lantern.  Watching her work was as magical as receiving the finished product.

F Number	9.0
Lens ID	-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	39.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 78.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/400
Exposure Program	Program AE
ISO	400
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Commercial love

I have developed the habit of putting the camera in aperture priority mode when I put it in the car, and I'm glad I do because every so often I see something when I'm driving that I'd love to take a photo of.  I drive by this shop every day on my way to work, and I almost always stop at the light.  Yesterday was no exception, and I saw this fellow with an armful of heart shaped balloons and was able to flip the camera on and get the shot before the light changed.  We don't have many street vendors here.  Except for special events, I don't recall ever seeing people on the streets selling things.  So this really caught my eye.

F Number	8.0
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/50
Exposure Program	Aperture-priority AE
ISO	200
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Theme day: Circles/spheres

Every month, City Daily Photo encourages bloggers to post a photo based on a common theme. This month, it's Circles/Spheres. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

A few days ago I attended my 30th reunion of my high school - Mont Pleasant class of 1978. It was a last-minute sort of thing, but it was a lot of fun. I didn't take all that many photos, spending the time chatting and even dancing. For my classmates who knew me back then, yes, it's probably a surprising thing to imagine me dancing but life is fun when you try new things!

Our school colours were red and white, and the great people who decorated the hall remembered that, putting up red and white balloons at each table. This particular photo is intentional. The balloons were moving slightly in the air currents and I thought they'd look cool if I left the shutter open a long time - here a full second. I braced the camera on the table and hoped for the best. 'Manual' is cool, even on point and shoot cameras like my Nikon CoolPix 950.