Saturday, March 20, 2010



I spent a few hours today curled up with the kids in my bed. I worked on the computer and read they also read and played with toys- including legos. It was a pretty nice way to spend a not so pretty afternoon.

It's Spring???


Happy Spring! It didn't feel like spring today, it was cold and rainy the whole day. Instead of pouting, I pulled out my Understanding Exposure and read it again. OH.MY.GOSH! Re-reading about exposure, aperture, shutter speed, etc. after having used my camera made all the difference. I hadn't understood what metering was and now I do! I was actually making it much harder on myself when right there in front of my face my camera was telling me what shutter speed would go best with what Aperture and what exposure I needed for what I was shooting! So, I sat in the dark house reading my book and practicing. This shot was taken as I was practicing letting my camera tell me what exposure worked best with how dark it was in the room and the settings I had chosen in manual.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Going, going...


almost gone. I was feeling frustrated and restless so I decided to go for a walk. Alone. Except alone seems to be a foriegn word to my children- at least when it comes to me. I started off this afternoon walk resentful that I wasn't getting some time to myself, ranting in my own mind about needing to get away. And then I snapped this picture. They are about to round the curve ahead of me, I'm trailing behind. Soon they won't want to walk with me. Soon I'll have lots of time to be alone. Soon- but thankfully not today.

It's a dog eat dog world



What does that mean anyway? I'm too lazy to go look. For me, it means I had an awful day. No, it was beyond awful, really. One thing after another, all centering around money (or lack there of). The people that tell you that money doesn't buy happiness? Well, they probably have money. LOL. In any case, I almost posted a shot that I took yesterday evening b/c I just didn't have the heart to shoot today. I was crazy busy running from petsit to the vet to the bank to drum practice and I was in a foul mood on top of it. BUT, I pushed through it and pulled out the camera to take some shots at one of my petsits. This is Norman, he's a regular, and the only client that actually gets a playdate during his petsits. Max, my dog, gets to come along to Norman's house and they LOVE to run and play. Since something clicked in my head lately and I understand my settings, I knew how to crank up the shutter speed and catch them in action instead of the constant blur I used to get. Yay! We call Norman the big bunny b/c he hops all over the place!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

All in a row


As I was headed to our annual spring homeschool party at the park today, I drove by the library. Outside there was a line of children from the local school just standing there. The teacher stood in front and they seemed to just be waiting for something. I thought about my own children and how they wouldn't be standing in any lines today on this glorious spring day. I did, however find my daughter and her friends all in a row of their own, playing by the lake, feeding the geese and having a grand day in the spring sun. I waffled back and forth over whether to leave this shot as is or post it in black and white. Although the b&w is stunning, I decided on the color. Saturday is officially the first day of spring and I'm compelled to take colorful shots. More than that though, I decided that the color in this shot speaks volumes about what my daughter was doing today in the sun by the lake with her friends. Happy Spring!

Undamaged...





My parenting philosophy is that everyone leaves childhood damaged in some way, my goal as a mother is minimal scarring. This is meant to be lighthearted and usually solicits a laugh (which is usually what I'm looking for, lol) but it's also true. However there is a brief moment early in life when we are all undamaged. Life hasn't left its mark on us yet and we are purely ourselves. My kids are beyond that stage and I can already see some of the scars that life has thrown at them. Whether it's something unavoidable like the loss of their grandmother, or something I take complete ownership for like a mom that sometimes yells, it changes them. I think some damage is good, it makes us stronger, more resourceful, empathetic and most importantly it gives us an opportunity to overcome. But I still love seeing and observing the time before life gives us these hurdles, when we can just be. Maybe this is why I love taking pictures of babies and toddlers- and believe me I have LOTS of pictures of these two in particular- but they are still so wholy, completely innocent that I find my camera following them around.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Damaged...


I figured out why I didn't like the shots I took for the word of the week assignment yesterday. The damaged things I was taking pictures of had no redeeming beauty to balance them. I don't want to see damage for the sake of damage... I want to see beauty in spite of, maybe even because of damage. Today I saw it but in the strangest place...

Little Leprechaun

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Good Vibe...


It was another gray and dreary day. Karen mangaged to make the most of it. I did not. I took lots of shots for our word of the week but I didn't really like any of them. I tried to take some moody gray shots, still not great. All of the shots I got seemed so... boring. This one, the dash of my car, isn't all that exciting but at least it has some color that isn't GRAY!!

It's funny because when I first snapped a pic inside my car it was just to adjust my settings and then I noticed that if I framed it just right there would be some cool symmetry- and I love symmetry. I also, oddly enough, love the dash of my car. We bought the car right after a trip to Europe and the dash of the car reminded me of the one we'd driven there. I guess I wanted a reminder- silly perhaps but it worked. I still sometimes remember that trip just by getting behind the wheel.

If ya can't beat em...


I figured since the fog, rain, & clouds weren't going anywhere, I would use them to my advantage this morning.

Monday, March 15, 2010



I'm so relieved Karen didn't use her pita pocket picture from our movie day! My picture today isn't nearly as exciting as the one yesterday- just lunch. :) That's okay. It's still all manual settings and I still had fun figuring out the aperture/shutter speed/ISO balance.

Damaged


Hope & I decided that the new word of the week was Damaged. We'll just call my shot...Sun damage. It's a self portrait in case you didn't recognize me in black & white. ;o)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Show me the night sky...



I'm coming in under the wire to get this one posted on time but I did take it on time so that should count for something! LOL

I'm so late because we had dinner with my husband's family while his nephew was in town for a very short visit. Our state capital is kind of a centralized location for all of the people who came and the restraurant where we met was right across the street from the capitol building. We arrived about 15 minutes early and it was PERFECT for getting some great shots. Since today was daylight savings time it added to the magical feel- if we'd met here at the same time the day before the sky would not have been this color.

Day 7~cold, wet, & dreary


The weather had me in the dumps today, I feel like I have a bad case of cabin fever with all these clouds and rain. I decided today that I was going to work on something I'm not so good at...scenic shots. I feel MUCH more comfortable with closeups, so today I tried to push myself to take some shots that weren't close up. They came out ok, I still had it all in manual and it was hard to mess with my settings in the drizzle. I don't feel these are ever sharp or crisp enough but I can't post edit them and sharpen b/c it always does something funny to the trees when I do that. I'm glad to be pushing myself to do things that aren't in my comfort zone though.