Dragon Head

I haven't posted many pictures lately, but fortunately I have been taking pictures. Below is a picture from my recent post on my Chicago Blog of the 2006 Chinese Parade. This weekend I headed over to Chinatown and was pushed and squished among the MANY people. I hate being short, I wasn't able to see much. I guess that's the price to pay for not getting there earlier.

Waiting For The Train

All work no time to take pictures. Might as well take a picture of my routine commute.

Train Ride

Good-Bye Holiday Lights

This past weekend Chicago had great weather. Temperatures near 50's! For a usually cold month such as January is in Chicago I could not afford not take advantage of it. Many people had the same idea and decided to check out the Christmas tree and lights one last time for the season before they are taken down.
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A Forest In The Winter

This past weekend Charlie and I went hiking through a forest trail. My dog and I both loved it and enjoyed the scenic views. The snow really does add beauty to even a cloudy day, such as the day that this was. We even came across a lonely snowman to add to the fun.
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Araceli's 2005 Photo Review

After seeing the MSNBC 2005 picture collection, posted below, I was inspired to assemble a collection of my favorite pictures taken in 2005. There was so many pictures to go through and choose from. Some I hadn't even posted on this blog. It was fun going through all of them though, it made me happy to realize that I had made many memories and had good things around me in all of 2005. There were many important events and nice travel vacations and outings.

If you have time view my top 100 at my Flickr account - Araceli Arroyo's 2005 Favorite PhotographsTechnorati Tags: CeliPics | AraceliArroyo | Araceli Arroyo | 2005Review | photoblog

2005 Year In Review

Happy new year everyone. I have just looked at a collection of pictures posted on MSNBC and cannot begin to do them justice in detailing them or comparing them. They are definitely worth viewing, I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Take a look at
MSNBC YEAR END PICTURES

Foggy River

There are a few photos that I edit before posting. I am one of those people that believe that the true picture is how you originally take it. I will admit that I don't always follow my own rule, there are times when an edit is needed, either to improve the quality of the picture, others to actually save the picture. In this case I wasn't sure how to edit the picture below. For the most part I manually adjust the levels and that's it. However see below and see the different results when just making a simple edit can make. Note the picture was taken at sunset on a very foggy and snowy evening.

Which do you think best reflects a better foggy winter evening?

Original	My Usual Edits
Auto Color	Auto Levels
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photographs

Merry Christmas!!!

My family tradition as many other Mexican households is to celebrate the Christmas holiday on Christmas eve. The family gathers and wait until midnight to open all the gifts. The children are always excited and count the minutes until that happy hour to see what toys and other goodies will be theirs.
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Calling Home For The Holidays

© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Empty Box

There once was a box, a lonely box....
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Heading South?

Nope, looks like these feathered friends are just hanging out.
©2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Chicago Snow Pictures

Taken from my Chicago photoblog...
Today the snow came down hard. This is the first snow storm of the winter season. As usual I was driving and had my trusty camera along for the ride. As I waited for the cars to continue forward I took some pictures through out my commute. Here are a few of my favorite snow pictures.


© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photographs | Chicago

Lighthouse Place Premium Outlets - Closing Time

I'm trying to post pictures more often. That way I can get in the habit of actually taking more pictures often as well. I took this picture when participating in another hobby of mine - shopping. Now that the holidays are here I have a perfect excuse to justify a trip across the border and visit the outlet malls. This one is located in Michigan City Indiana, and as you can see we were there until closing :)
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo

Hello Stranger

On a usual walk in the evening, I carried my camera and a homeless man asked me to take his picture. He was surprised that I stopped and talked to him. He asked out of all the people that have passed by, I noticed him. He seemed genuinely happy, that saddened me a bit. Sometimes people just want to be noticed.
©2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Mexico Picture Post

I finally added some pictures to my Mexico photoblog. Below is a picture from that travel picture collection. I didn't post all the pictures from my trip this year but I did post a few of my favorites. Most are of the local surroundings like the one shown here.
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph | Mexico

Different Lighting

Every now and then I like experimenting with different lighting and settings in my camera to see how things come out. I like how this picture came out. This is me of course - wow, I look tired.
©2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Sunrise in NC

Doesn't matter where I may be a sunrise is always beautiful. This picture was taken from my hotel room, when I was in North Carolina two weeks ago.
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Holiday Fun in Lockport, IL

This Saturday it was just my nephew and I, enjoying the Jingle Festival in Lockport Square. We enjoyed the activities in Santa's workshop, posing with the reindeers and having a nice cup of hot chocolate as the Christmas carolers sang many Christmas Jingles.© 2005 Araceli Arroyo photograph

Chicago Night Skyline

On a beautiful night like tonight the skyscrapers tower over the Chicago River and provide a beautiful skyline view. The view here can be seen over the Clark Avenue Bridge heading towards Wacker Blvd.
© 2005 Araceli Arroyo | Chicago