Photo A la {M}ode--Self-Portrait and Bokeh

I didn't think I would participate this week.  She said "be creative with including yourself in the pictures" but since I still don't have a tripod (nor do I need new toothpaste yet) how to include myself and how to be creative about it on top of that seemed impossible.  A mirror just seemed so trite and I do not like feet.  But one of this week's Sunday Scavenger Hunt themes is "reflections in glass" so while trying to get just the right shot for Sunday I did sneak a few photos of myself as well.

1/100     f/1.8    50mm    ISO 200

This is a huge fire place at the mall and yes, in July, they are running the fire.  I know the clearest thing in this photo might be my camera case--a boring but practical one--and that really does represent a photo of me at this point.  That thing is always hanging off of my shoulder (part of the agreement of getting a "big" camera was that I would carry it myself.)  I would have taken a few more but I was there alone with Sunflower so trusting her to stay in one place for one photo was all I could do.  I did take some more photos of her and the fire place--if she is in the frame then I know what she is doing--but those I will share another day.

Since I am posting my self-portrait I thought I would post for last week's bokeh theme, too.  I've never been really sure if bokeh is any out of focus/blurred  background or if it only encompasses the out of focus points of light.  I'm still not sure.  When taking pictures with "capturing bokeh" in mind, I found it is easy for me to get blurry backgrounds--one of the main reasons I wanted my 50mm 1.8--but light specifically was a little less frequent.

1/400    f/1.8    50mm    ISO 800

That is unless you stand at the carousel and only take pictures of the lights.  The building was not large enough for me to stand back and get pictures of the lights and the kids so the lights won.  Just kidding, I also took separate pictures of the kids.

The question I have is:  is it okay to like a photo solely because of the unfocused bits of light, even if the main subject is a little out of focus, too?

1/60    f/5.0    145mm    ISO 200

Sometimes I find the bokeh a little distracting, but who cares about a yellow flower anyway?  The light, oh the beautiful light!

1/1600     f/1.8     50mm    ISO 100

This last one I took today at the mall, too.  Here I do think my Sunflower outshines the lights at the mall, but that may just be the Mommy in me speaking.

1/100     f/1.8   50mm    ISO 200

So there you have it, my entry for Photo Ala {M}ode over at Finding Serendipity.