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!

Happy Birthday Ella!

Savannah's good friend is having her birthday party this evening, so we went over for a while when we dropped Savannah off and helped with tie dying! I took over 400 pics, but to be honest, Rey is home for the first time in five weeks and I just can't find the heart to go through every single one tonight! I thought this one captured the heart of a just-turned-12-year old girl! LOL

Making a splash...

f/ 4.5
ISO 200
1/50 sec
taken outside in a partially shaded area at about noon

Our trip to City Museum was a hit! Savannah commented several times that it wasn't mu-seum it was a FUN- seum, lol! The kids had a great time climbing and exploring. I would have a great time just going in to take pictures. Unfortunately to really take good pictures I have to be a little removed from the action. That just wasn't possible today since I was trying to keep up with a pack of kids! I also REALLLLLLY need a new lens. It was a little dark in there and I had trouble getting decent shots in certain places. At times I just gave up and switched to auto WITH flash (gasp) because I didn't want to miss the moment trying to get the shot. It wasn't a total loss, I did get a few good shots and some fun snapshots as well. I think I foresee an adult field trip in my future so I can just focus on pictures...

When in doubt...just shoot the dog.

Today was not a day for the camera. Rey is coming home tomorrow after having been gone over 5 weeks and I spent the day taking the dog to the vet, cleaning, cutting the grass, and taking Dylan to drums. HOPE was off having fun taking pictures on a fieldtrip with our homeschool group! I can't wait to see them! Savannah was with Hope and our group on this little excursion, I'm excited to hear all about it! So, I took Max to the vet b/c he's been limping and found out that he has a torn ligament (basically without going into technical stuff) and will need surgery to the tune of TOO many dollars! This dog should be in pictures b/c then at least he would earn his keep! ;o)

Make a wish...

I can hardly believe that she's 10. In some ways it has gone by so quickly. In others it seems like forever because I can barely remember life without her.

f/ 4.5
1/80 sec
ISO 1600

She rocks...

what more can I say? I only took 24 pictures today and this was the last one. I just liked it, kind of a raw looking shot, completely candid, which seems hard to catch lately.
f 4.5
1/100 sec
ISO 200

Just messing around with the sunlight this afternoon and my blooming hydrangeas.
F16
1/160 sec
ISO 200

ISO 1600
f/5
1/15 second

I understand now why baby photographers get paid so much- it is NOT an easy thing to do! I took over 200 shots of this little guy and kept only a handful. The lighting was poor so every little movement created blur (and babies move A LOT) not to mention that he was very unhappy. His mamma kept saying it was okay, she didn't mind crying pictures but I did. We're going to try again this weekend with some outdoor shots. Hopefully the natural lighting will help and we'll be able to do more!

f/ 5.6
1/200 s
ISO 800
WB- flash (I used filler flash on this shot to compensate for the window)

Can I just say that I HATE fluorescent lights!! My white balance was difficult today under the harsh lights but I managed to get a few decent shots. This was an attempt to learn to use filler flash. Not perfect but not horrible either- which is just fine for learning new things.

Birthday girl!

or almost! Her Birthday is actually Thursday. Today was Kya's bday party and hopefully her mother had a better camera day than me! The lighting was frustrating and I had the wrong lens, so I wasn't very pleased with my shots today. It's not a big deal, I find it comes in cycles, I have a great day and then a not-so-great day. But, I liked this shot of the birthday girl, she was looking at Hope and showing her the telephone that she painted.

Mancala anyone...

I don't have any great Memorial Day shots to share. We pretty much just hung out at the house today because we have a busy week ahead. Kya and I enjoyed several games of cards and Operation today but our favorite is Mancala.

BONUS shot!

I know I already posted today, but this evening as Savannah & I were driving home it was raining but the sun was out. I told her to keep an eye on the sky for rainbows and she immediately said "right there!" (I thought she was joking she said it so quick!). I pulled over and jumped out in the rain, the sun was shining on the field and I was just in the right place at the right time, it was gone 5 minutes later! I didn't even have time to mess with my settings, so all I could do was meter and shoot!
f4, 1/1000 sec, ISO 200
I wish I had another lens on, but I had my zoom, so I could only get the shot at 55mm and no wider, but I was happy to catch it!

Memorial Day

Couldn't pick just one again today!

Lilies...

I carried lilies just like these in my bouquet when Robbie and I were married. I love that I now get to enjoy them in my garden every year.

Swimming!

I have a client that offered to let me swim at their house while I was petsitting! Savannah & I had a great time in the sun and I snapped a few shots as well, naturally!

Banjo

Our little Banjo, a wire-haired Jack Russel/ Beagle mix is pretty difficult to get a good shot of. He's in constant motion so I usually just get a blur or worse- a view from behind, lol. Tonight with a little patience and some help from Robbie I finally managed to capture his cute little face.

timeframe

Not much time today, lots of petsitting this holiday weekend!

Birthday Girl!

Fun times today with friends for Leslee's 11th Birthday!

The sunlight was so harsh today! I took over 300 pics at playgroup and some came out nice, but some not so nice b/c of the lighting. I caught this pretty while sitting on a log chatting with one of my bestest friends evah. I wish I could have found a way to capture a picture of how grateful I was today to have such a friend, hopefully she knows that I wouldn't have half the sanity or serenity I have in my life without her around.

Bubbles

Framing was nearly impossible at playgroup today. I did get one or two shots that fit more with the WOTW but I didn't like them as much as I liked this one. So I figured I'd go with what I like instead of limiting myself to what I think I 'should' do. ;-)

Framing the moon...

Purrfectly framed

Lotsa frames!

Today I dropped by a small local photography show. I really liked a lot of the shots, but I was surprised to realize that I could have taken some of these shots. I decided that I want to submit a shot next year! I'm technically late posting, but our electricity was out most of the night and then when it came back on I was busy with the boys!

Step right up...

Seriously playful...

The WOTW is framing so when I spotted Jace playing with his action figures I just had to get a shot of his serious concentration, framed by his favorite toys!

Oh, and btw- that orange shirt is his pajama top! You've seen it a few times this week and I didn't want you to think I was cheating and taking all of the shots on the same day- or that he never changes his shirt, lol!

It was HOT in my house today!! I finally let Robbie talk me into turning on the AC but not until it got dark and I knew it wouldn't take as long to cool down the house. In the meantime we were doing everything we could to keep cool- including lots of popsicles. YUM!

P.S. I might have had time to take a more creative shot today if I hadn't been LOST most of the day. ;-)

Eureka!

I broke my block this morning, I'm hoping it's not temporary! Apparently I just have to stay up all night and then go petsitting at 5:30 in the morning! I literally slept from 11pm to 1am and then was up with my teenage boys until they decided to go to bed at 4:30 and I realized it was too late to sleep before heading out. EVERYTHING looked different with different lighting. I noticed how warm the colors were, the dew, the fog, the shadows... I couldn't pick just one shot, so since it's my blog (well, OURS!) and I make the rules, I decided to make up for the past week of not enjoying any of my shots by posting more than 1! It was even hard to pick these three, I had quite a few I loved. Guess I'll just have to become even more of an early bird than I already am!