Project 52 – Week 3 {Kisses}

These two. They bring so much love into my life.

Project 52 – Week 2 {Shadows}

36 weeks pregnant.

I have been wanting to attempt taking (and editing) an image like this for a while. Happy for the little kick of motivation to make it happen.

Project 52 – Week 1 {Resolution}

Hello 2015!

Yes, I’m still here. Still wishing I blogged more. Still needing to finish up my venting about allergies. And filling you in on some of the other, more fun, things going. But sometimes needing to get “caught up” keeps me from writing anything. So we’re jumping around a little today.

I’m part of a very helpful and supportive photography Facebook group and one of the other photographers in the group decided to start a Project 52. This is essentially a photography challenge encouraging everyone to take a photo each week meeting that week’s theme. I’m not gonna lie, I think a lot of her themes are going to be difficult for me to turn into an image. But I realized recently there were far too many months last year where I did not pick up my real camera and take any pictures of our life. So what’s a challenge without a little bit of…challenge, right?

The first week’s theme was “Resolution.”

I had a hard time with this one because I don’t usually make New Year resolutions. But since I need to push myself to participate, after much reflection, I came to the realization that, for several years now, the New Year has brought me increased creative energy. And the word “Create” encompasses so much of what I love and want to do this year. So I’ll make it my resolution to create in 2015 and will fill in the blanks of exactly what that means on any given day as it comes to me.

This image isn’t necessarily how I hope to interpret most of the week’s themes. But I’ve also been sick in bed the past several days and it’s the best I could do. Representations of at least some of the things I know or hope will be part of what I’m creating this year: nourishing food, the baby growing in my belly, photography and photoshop, happy memories, and a lovely, organized home.

Let’s hope I can keep up with this. :)

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge – Orange

I’ve been following the I Heart Faces blog for a while now and always tell myself that one day I’ll start entering their photo challenges. I mean, cute little faces are my favorite thing to photograph, after all. But we all know how “one day” goes. It turns into never if you’re not careful. Well, this month they sweetened the deal and also have a giveaway from a site called Folio. And, it just so happens that I had previously decided to use Folio “one day” if  (when?) I ever launch a photography blog. So, nothing like 5 extra giveaway entries to finally make me do it!

This month’s theme is Orange. And what do I love more than my sweetest little pumpkin.

To check out the other “Orange” entries, click on the button below:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I’ve never really been into Valentine’s Day. It’s the one day per year I purposefully avoid wearing pink. This is particularly funny if you know how I often I normally wear it. But if it takes a holiday for you to tell me you love me or bring me flowers, I’m going to be a little annoyed. And given the premium you’re paying on those flowers, I’d really rather you skip it all together. (What? I’m an accountant. Logic tends to prevail over romantic gestures. Ask Pete about our first date…)

This year, however, my heart is so full of love I might go ahead and break my own rule. We’re not very far into the year but I’ve been working hard at those New Year’s resolutions and can feel the positive results already. I hope your hearts are just as full.

Source: perfectsentiment.blogspot.com via Jackie on Pinterest

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

30 Before 30: Items 4, 5, and 16

In case you were worried I forgot about my 30 Before 30 list, I figured I should come back and cross some things off. Here we go!

4. Set up photo-shoots with at least 3 friends or family members.

My friends are super helpful and I’ve done more than 3 photo-shoots with them. This item on my list gets an “Exceeding Expectations.” Yes!

Let’s do a highlight from each one even though picking favorites is always hard. Luckily, I can cheat  on some of these since other favorites are already on the Photo Sessions page and, since this is my blog, I can do whatever I’d like.

This one wasn’t so much a “photo-shoot” as “thanks for asking me to be your bridesmaid and letting me carry my camera around all day”. But I had to post. Isn’t she stunning?

And now all the cute babies and babies to be. My friends, in my obviously-not-biased-at-all opinion, have the cutest babies ever.

This last one wasn’t exactly a photo-shoot either. Just what happens when you let me baby-sit. =)

So there you go. Number 4 crossed off the list! But that doesn’t mean I won’t do more! Practice is always appreciated. I can see with each one where I’m getting better and where I still need to improve so thanks again everyone!

5. Set up a photo-shoot with someone who doesn’t fit into item 4.

Definitely making progress in this area as well! The one that lets me cross it off the list was a shoot I did for my friend’s mom’s church. In addition to their worship services, they have Sunday morning child, teen, and adult ministry classes and so were interested in candids to document everything for their archives and bulletins. I was a little nervous going into this since it was so much different from the other work I’ve done. But, the interesting thing was, it felt like the good kind of nervous. I was excited for the challenge and hopeful my client would be happy with the results. I learned a lot from this shoot from you-better-know-how-to-meter-with-spotlights to what it means to be the one walking around with the camera while everyone gives you funny looks.

The good news? I was totally comfortable in the role, even if tired after a long morning. (Side note: I’m now even more impressed with wedding photographers who shoot all day long!) The best news? My client was very happy! Whew.

Given the nature of the work and how many people were photographed that day, I didn’t ask for permission to post their images so won’t do so here. But I will say, my favorite images were not surprisingly from the children’s classes. Cute kids dressed in Sunday best? Love.

16. Organize boxes of photos.

Nothing much to report here other than a) I forgot this was on the list but b) Pete and I did it a few weekends ago anyway in a flurry of trying to organize things. Freed up two whole boxes by clearing out doubles that we don’t need to keep. And we got to laugh a bit at ourselves and our friends along the way. I am so happy I graduated college before digital cameras were so popular. I actually got my first digital camera for my college graduation. Here’s to being old!

New Page – Photo Sessions!

I added a new page today about photo sessions. Check it out if you’re interested. And forward along to others if you think they would be. :)

Fall Colors

I’ve been getting a little frustrated with my (lack of) photography skills lately. The problem is, I’m generally taking pictures indoors and so, even though I think I understand what I want the camera to do, there’s just not enough natural light to make it all happen. Adding to my frustration is that my supposed point and shoot has so many different functions that not even that is cooperating unless I have it to the exact right setting. Sigh. One day I will get this all under control. I hope. In the meantime, it was a much needed change of pace last weekend when Pete and I made some time to check out the Midwest fall colors at their best. I don’t know if I’m just getting more sentimental/romantic/insert adjective here as I get older but I really do think they were prettier than usual this year.

A few of my favorites from the Danada Forest Preserve…

And the Danada Equestrian Center…

Photography 101

I’ve wanted to take a photography class for as long as I can remember. I bought my first film SLR in college and upgraded to a digital SLR last spring. A lot of people seem to think (or maybe in my own head this is how I think it should be) that since I have a “big camera” I must be taking really good pictures with it. The problem is, when you’re only shooting in the automatic mode you’re really not taking advantage of what the camera is able to do. And you’re forced to take the results it gives you since you don’t know how to change the settings. So, I finally decided that I didn’t care how long or unpredictable my hours at work might be, I was going to take a class. I know a lot of people like to claim the self-taught photographer title but I was pretty good at school so a class, and some structure, and a real person to ask questions of seemed like the best way for me to go.

I signed up for a summer course at a nearby community college and was really excited about it. Until I actually went. Turns out, I am sometimes not the most patient person and maybe this is something where I need a little more individualized attention. I only made it to three (or was it only two…) of eight classes before giving up but I rather effectively used one of them to read my camera’s manual. I’ve been spending some time since then actually testing all of the functions out and I seem to be getting better control of the actual camera itself. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean I know or understand what I want the camera to do (seriously, how are you supposed to know which f-stops go with which shutter speeds?!?) so it’s been a lot of trial and error and more error. I’m hoping I’m close to some kind of ah-ha moment so that things will start moving in a better direction after that.

In the meantime, this picture makes me happy. It’s not straight out of the camera, I applied a vintage effect to dull the colors. But I like it. 

London and Ireland Album

It’s been almost a year since our vacation to London and Ireland and I finally finished our photo album! (You can see the online preview of the book here.) I’m not entirely sure what took me so long but I’m guessing it had something to do with the overwhelming number of pictures I take in hopes that some of them will actually be OK. While I’m good with details, I’m not necessarily sure the editing process comes naturally to me. But I kept the book to under 40 pages so I thought that was an accomplishment!

I’ve made my previous digital albums using MyPublisher, which I would definitely recommend to anyone looking to put their own book together. I compiled this one in Shutterfly though because I had some leftover gift card credits I needed to use. With the credits and current promotions I only ended up having to pay $10 for everything. Definitely can’t beat that! Hopefully the quality will be just as good as my others. 

After purchasing my album I somehow found my way to Shutterfly’s online gallery where I learned that there’s apparently a whole world of online digital scrapbooking. I thought that was all based on what the sites (i.e. Shutterfly) were offering but some of the albums and comments made it seem like there must be tons of other templates and websites out there. Who knew?!?!