Ambiance

Today we went to get Dylan's haircut and his hairdresser had moved to the new renovated schoolhouse/salon/restaurant/boutique in town. This place was a photographers dream, I had a good time taking some shots although some of them would have been better if I could have gotten better angles and I was a little self-conscious getting down on the floor or getting in people's way to get a shot. We will certainly go back, it was fun and I liked the renovated/antique/modern mix!

so you get more than one shot. LOL
first shot wasn't as crisp as I wanted b/c I forgot about my ISO for a moment...
f/1.8
1/2 sec
ISO 200
Next shot I had realized that it needed to be changed:
f/1.8
1/160
ISO 800
they had antique chandeliers all over the place and they were all different...I thought chandelier might be a scavenger word, but it wasn't. DRATS!
f/1.8
1/160 sec
ISO 800

Adirondack chair

ISO 200
f/ 5.6
1/1250 sec

Busy afternoon and evening ahead so I wanted ot get this up now! My dad built these chairs for my kids. They are a little small now but I can't bear to part with them so they live in my flower bed. :)

Hot!

f/22
ISO 200
1/125 sec

Ornate or unusual mirror(s)

Wish this was my bathroom!
f/2.2
1/60 sec
ISO 200

Butterfly...

ISO 400
f/5.6
1/20 sec

Back to the farm!

My client has left town again for the arrival of their first grandchild, and that means more pool time for me! I took this shot this morning and I'm happy to say that my camera is going to stay home the remainder of the day. Today is just one of those days that I'm happy to get my shot early and take a little break from lugging the camera around. It's going to be HOT and that pool is calling my name!
f/4
1/250 sec
ISO 200

Clock in Station

well, MY interpretation of it! LOL...had to get a new tire today, so I took this shot while waiting in the station! When I told the guys there what I was doing, they agreed with me that it was a service station! ;o)
f/2.8
1/500 sec
ISO 200

Body art...

When I noticed what Kya had written on her hand I knew immediately that it would have to be included in my shot of the day. This is the absolute truth about my daughter and the thing I admire most about her.

ETA:
ISO 200
f/5.6
1/13 sec

Life is just a bowl of cherries... (aka: fruit)

ISO 1600
f/5.6
1/15 sec

Happy Summer Solstice!

I was up this morning when it was officially the first day of summer, but when I headed out to petsit, the sun had come up too much (at 6:15...jeez!) and so it was too bright for most of my shots. The rest of my day was busy with movies, errands, and babysitting, so I just didn't have time for a better shot. I'll have to add the settings tomorrow, I'm not feeling so hot tonight and need to go to bed.

Do you have the time...

I figured since I got two scavenger hunt words yesterday I could slide in a picture today that wasn't from the list. ;-) I actually noticed this shot a little over a week ago when I didn't have my camera with me. I was back in this neighborhood today so I was finally able to capture it.

f/11
ISO 100
1/250 sec

Barn STALL?

The scavenger hunt list says stall, and I could have taken a barn stall shot, but barn stalls are really ugly to be honest, so you'll have to settle for the outside! ;o)
f/8
1/320 sec
ISO 200

BONUS: Weathervane...

Because who knows when I'll get another shot of a weathervane. ;-)

f/11
1/80 sec
ISO 200

Pool fun...

f/11
ISO 200
1/200 sec

Outdoor dining

Ok, there's no food in the shot, but it IS outdoor dining and today all I needed was the wine, the pool, and the company of good friends. What am I going to do when my clients come home and I no longer have a pool?!!??

Ornate gravestone...

I waited until 'the magic hour' to go out and take these shots. I still had difficulty with exposure. *grrr* In the shot with blue sky the gravestone- which is the focal point of the shot- is underexposed. In the shot with white sky the gravestone is properly exposed and the sky in this direction actually was white so I suppose the sky is as well, it just doesn't look the way I wish it did. The sky from the top pic with the foreground from the bottom would be nice. *roll eyes*

Top:
f/5
ISO 400
1/640 sec

Bottom:
f/5
ISO 400
1/250 sec

Butterfly

Glad I caught a scavenger word early today, the rest of the day was busy and I enjoyed not having taking my camera with me and having a little afternoon break from it.

and the shot

I LOVE this picture. I spent a bit of time taking shots of these three kiddos at our Summer Solstice party. At first I had the little one in front in focus the whole time and his sisters blurred, but just as I decided to focus on P, the little girl in the middle, she turned to look at me. It's one of those shots that just happens when everything is right.
f/5
1/25 sec
ISO 200

Smores and more...

So I had the shot (ok, there were a couple) of smores from our scavenger list, I got some great ones at the Summer Solstice party yesterday, but then ran across a gem of a shot that I love as well! What's a girl to do? It's not like I get smores shots very often! I think we may just have to change this blog name to the 700+ project! LOL.
Smores:
f/5.6
1/60 sec
ISO 200
The next picture gets it's own post...

Bubble...

Today was another HOT day to be outside but we braved it for our homeschool group's annual summer solstice party. We had s'mores, a sprinkler, water relays and BUBBLES! It was hot but also lots of fun, as always.

f/5.6
ISO 200
1/125 sec

Adirondack chair

I think I'm getting used to staying at my client's house! AND bonus (as you saw from Hope's post...ahem) my client has a large number of the items on our scavenger hunt list! I took this shot a few times throughout the day, but at sunset with a storm rolling in the lighting was the best!
f/1.8
1/13 sec
ISO 200

Ox bow

Today we got to see the AMAZING farm where Karen is staying. There just happened to be an ox bow on the wall and Karen just happened to point it out to me. ;-) She's probably going to KILL me for using it but it really was my favorite shot of the day. *sheepish grin*

Taken inside with natural light at about noon:

ISO 400
f/ 5.6
1/30 sec

Needlepoint

Staying at my client's house, I've found a few of the words for the scavenger hunt, but having a hard time making myself get the shot! Luckily my client made it pretty easy, the decorations in this place are amazing! My mom used to do needlepoint all the time, I even tried my hand at it, I guess you could say it was something we did together occasionally. Last night I got to do something with my own daughter, but it wasn't needlepoint. We spent the evening swimming, playing, having dinner alone by the pool, reading a goddess book, and snuggling up watching tv. It was such a nice night, I wish I could have caught it in a shot, but it's in my head and I don't think there would have been a way to capture our whole evening, so I thought it fitting to post a scavenger hunt shot that was related to my own mother!

Holstein??

I admit it, I've lived right in the middle of farm country for most of my life and I don't know one cow from another but these COULD be Holsteins, lol. At any rate I drive past this field all the time and think about stopping. I am usually rushing to get somewhere or ready to be home but today I decided to stop. I wish I'd had time to really play with some different angles and settings but I'm pretty happy with this one. I think one of the reasons I have trouble getting inspired is because I over think things and if I don't have lots of time I don't even want to try. To get this shot I had to stop on the way home when I knew I needed to start supper but also knew this was one of my scavenger hunt shots so I stopped. I realize now that I need to try to be more spontaneous and grab those moments- I think the scavenger hunt is really going to help with that.

This shot was taken at 6:30 PM with a polarizing filter and the sun at my left.
f/22
ISO 100
1/40 sec

Rain, rain, go away!

I have a gorgeous pool at my disposal and wake up to rain?!?! From here on out, I will have to delay my shots by a day. We took the computers back home (where I'm at this moment) b/c it was just too stressful to have them at my client's house. So, I will take my shot and then post it the next day when I go by the house to check my email, etc. I think I may end up ahead or behind, but I'm too tired to figure it out. Either way it will be less stressful and I won't feel pressured to have a shot by 10am or whenever I head back to the house each day! Looks like after today it will be all sun and fun!
f/1.8
1/60 sec
ISO 200

Time for a vacation!???

As soon as it starts feeling like one, I'll let you know. I'm staying at a clients house for the next week and it's paradise...so why am I all stressed out?!?!? I couldn't get "the shot", then I couldn't figure out Dylan's computer (which is the one we brought over) and I'm just frustrated. BUT, I'm persistent and I needed to get something posted, so here it is....now I'm off to jump in the pool! WOOT!

It is HOT!! Too hot to do much but stay in where its nice and cool. We managed to venture over to Karen's for a bit this afternoon and I did attempt some pics for our scavenger hunt on the way home but I didn't like the way those turned out so...

When we got home we decided to play a game- in my bed, lol. You can tell by the look on Kya's face how she felt about me stopping to take pictures of our fun. ;-)

Both shots had the same settings:
f/4.5
ISO 1600
1/40 sec

Surprise!!

Today we celebrated my father-in-law's 70th birthday! Here he is with my sister-in-law who was the mastermind behind the surprise party held at the river. It was HOT but a fun day! Here's to many more happy birthdays. :)

It is HOT!

I've been messing around trying to get my bokeh into neat shapes, but it's just too hot to mess with it anymore today! I did manage to get a few hearts in the background (can you see them?!?!?)

I didn't take many pictures today. I thought I was going to get to do some family portraits for a friend but that fell through at the last minute when one of the family members wasn't available. Then we had some friends over for dinner and had a really great time- so much fun that I barely thought about my camera! I did manage to get a few shots of their A-DORABLE kids. Charlee Rae playing with Kya's make-up and Carter entertaining us with a concert. (Beyonce's 'Put a Ring On It' seemed to be his favorite, lol!)

Baby kitties!

Some days I love my job. Some days are harder. I found out yesterday that one of my favorite dogs had been hit by a car a couple months ago and died. My client called to ask if I could come petsit their other dog and...their 1 week old kittens! It was hard to go and not have my favorite sweet doggie there wagging her tail, but the kitties softened the blow! Ahhhh...I had to drag Savannah away, but certainly had fun taking pictures of her loving up the kitties.

Kya and I spent the day with Karen and Savannah so we also tie-dyed and went to our first Meetings at the Moon class. And, like Karen, I was also too busy enjoying the day to take many pictures. Normally even when we spend the day together I try to find something different but not today. Today you get another alter. :-)

What a fun (and busy) day we had today! We spent most of the day tie dying and then we went to our first mother/daughter meetings of the moon class this evening. So many opportunities for photos, but I was enjoying DOING the activities more than shooting them today. Sometimes you have to live life instead of capturing it. In any case, my shot is of a mini alter that we made together in our class. Each mother and daughter made one and it was such a fun activity seeing the girls and their mothers decorating them. I felt almost guilty pulling out the camera, but I knew I needed to get the shot I wanted b/c I'm ready for bed and have no interest in taking any shots tonight!

Sun Baby

ah...my favorite little model. He always seems to smile at the camera, I can't help but shoot him! He had such a fun time at the pool, it was hard not to take pictures. I had a hard time choosing!
f/8
1/600 sec
ISO 200 (that's as low as mine gets!)
WB sun

Scavenger Hunt

Karen found a very cool photo scavenger hunt and we are going to be replacing WotW with this very soon. It's been getting more difficult to think of things for WotW that can be taken in a variety of ways and this seemed like a fun way to shake things up a bit. Some of the items on the existing list just aren't possible for where we live so we're going to customize it a bit before posting but hopefully we'll get it up by Monday and can replace our sad little 'framing' that has been the WotW for three weeks now, LOL!

I had about an hour in the library today while Kya was enjoying the summer reading club. A whole hour to myself surrounded by books was HEAVENLY! I found the photography section and leafed through them, trying to decide what to bring home. I couldn't resist snapping a picture right there in the library. Some of these books I've already checked out and read but that was a while ago when I was very new to my camera and didn't understand a lot of the technical jargon. I'm hopeful that there will be a few gems in these books that will help me push myself a little further.

Clowning around...

Today there was a clown at the summer library program. I'm not going to lie and say that Savannah & I enjoyed it, she's a little old for this and it just wasn't very fun for us, BUT...it gave me some time with the camera in florescent lights with a different subject! In fact, I'm posting 2 b/c one I framed him while they were singing "head, shoulders, knees, & toes" and the other was afterward when I actually APPROACHED him and asked if I could take his picture! Yay for me, this was a big step, I usually don't feel comfortable asking people if I can take their pictures.
f/1.8
1/100 sec
ISO 400
WB-florescent

f/1.8
1/50 sec
ISO 400
WB-florescent

A day in the life...

One of the great things about the way we've chosen for our kids to learn is that they find inspiration in everyday things. Last night Jace wanted to cook. Tonight he and Kya went through our kids cookbook to see what else they wanted to try. I loved seeing them with their papers spread out around them, intently studying the recipes. They were evaluating each one, discussing the ingredients, trying to decide what sounded good. Awesome.

Ok, I admit that today was not the day for taking pictures. We were having such a nice time just BEING together, the camera rarely got turned on. I did try to take some pics of pouring rain on the windshield, but in the end I decided on shot that isn't perfect and nothing really special, but will remind me of the great evening we spent at the dinner table, eating and playing cards together.

At your service...

Jace made dinner tonight and requested I take pictures. I like to encourage helpfulness in all forms so he made the blog. (Well, that and the fact that I was completely uninspired today, lol. Which reminds me- we need a new WotW!)

Tired.

I'm tired! Ok, I'm cheezy too. I took a picture of my spare tire that had to be put on the car when I got a flat tire as I was arriving at Hope's house today. It was the big event of the day, instead of movie day, so I decided to just go with it...

Too sweet to choose just one...

Woot, I can FINALLY post my pics from yesterday. Blogger has been down and I couldn't get these up but I DID take them yesterday. :-)

I took these in front of the glass door in my living room at about 5 in the evening. The overhead lights were also on.

B&W:
f/ 4.5
1/80 sec
ISO 800

Color:
f/ 5
1/30 sec
ISO 800

do-over

after posting my pic yesterday I had more time to edit some of them and look at the shots I took closer and I have one I like better! Blogger has been down, so I couldn't add it until now, but I wanted it here b/c I like it even more than the first shot I posted!

Today I got a little (and I stress LITTLE b/c Mike wasn't very cooperative, we'll have to work on that!) practice for Summer and Mike's upcoming wedding! I guess you could call this an engagement shot! I learned a few things and got some new ideas taking shots of them at the bride's grandma's farm, where the wedding will be held in September!