Allison Jacobs

my new website

2010-03-01T16:20:00.004-06:00

It isn't totally finished and at this point remains a work in progress but you can still come check out my newest photographs at www.allisonjacobsphotography.com plus find out all the information about hiring me for your custom family photos.

a newborn, sisters, and cousins

2010-02-21T15:15:00.000-06:00

Whew. Well, I had my chance to practice on a brand new seven day old baby on Friday. So sweet and little. I got a couple of shots I really like plus a few fun ones of her sisters and cousins.

check out this cutie

2010-02-20T18:43:00.000-06:00

I met this cutie and his mom at the park for some practice and I can't believe some of the photos I snapped of him. Such a boy and all over the place which was fine since I am totally used to chasing after G for pics.

hamburger joints make for some good photos

2010-02-17T19:50:00.001-06:00

Scott & I took G to eat at Kincaid's for dinner last weekend after hearing how great their burgers are for oh about the last five years or so. I love the message on the napkin holder ("our cows are vegetarian so you don't have to be") and loved that Scott didn't mind me getting up to go take a photo of the gumball machine with those bright lime green gumballs. Super fun. And the food was pretty good too.

a visit with Kara resulted in a photoshoot

2010-02-15T18:55:00.000-06:00

Kara was in town from Denver and after a nice brunch in Dallas (and a mimosa) she agreed to pose for me to get some practice. It was tons of fun especially because she was so agreeable to trying out some cool backgrounds. Like the red wall of the liquor store on Knox Henderson. Holla. That was just for you Kara. And maybe for Chuck too.

yum yum

2010-02-12T14:02:00.001-06:00

Just a little guy eating snow for the first time.

and then a little guy trying out a snow angel (yes those are hero pajamas you see...it was early this morning).

snow day in Texas

2010-02-12T06:53:00.000-06:00

I was amazed at how much snow we got yesterday. It was the most I have ever seen at one time here in Texas and G really had a great time playing in it.

wine, good friends, and good food

2010-02-07T20:34:00.001-06:00

April's glass of red wine

the wall of wine...super cool atmosphere and great way to decorate the wine bar...floor to ceiling wine bottles

beet, grapefruit, arugula, and pistachio salad

P365 February

2010-02-07T19:56:00.000-06:00

I finished the first week of February and thought it was interesting that on the two days we had sunshine I took photos with the blue sky taking up tons of the space in the photo. I think that is a sign of how desperate I am for the spring and the sun and the warmer weather to be here. Soon. Really soon.

bedtime, books, stuffed animals

2010-02-05T13:26:00.000-06:00

At bedtime last night I realized I hadn't taken any photos yet for P365. EEEeekkk! G isn't usually a willing subject (probably because he is almost always the subject) but for some reason he really played up to the camera. Too bad the only light was from the table lamp & the closet light because quite a few came out blurred. He wanted to me take pictures of all his stuffed animal "friends" too. I thought these would be fun shots to try in a board so here you go...four of my favorites!

fall in Austin, Texas

2010-02-04T18:36:00.001-06:00

This is the view from the deck of my friend's house in Austin from my visit in November. I just finally got around to editing the photo today. She has such an awesome view. Perfect for sitting on the deck and drinking wine and catching up on everything we miss in each others lives while we are living in different cities.

Same photo just in black and white.

books & water towers

2010-02-03T19:30:00.000-06:00

What do books and water towers have in common? Well, nothing that I can think of off the top of my head except that I snapped these shots for P365 this week.

I actually took this photo out of my car window while sitting at a red light yesterday in downtown Keller. I just rolled down the window, stuck my camera out, and didn't worry about whether the person in the car next to me thought I was a crazy person.

your favorite things contest

2010-01-31T19:16:00.001-06:00

What is your favorite thing?

Rachael Ray Magazine is hosting a photo contest about "your favorite thing" where the winner receives a Nikon D3000 camera. You can post as many photos as you want and then people vote for their favorites. I snapped this shot of the new blender I bought today along with my groceries. Not necessarily the best photo I have ever taken but it does have 2 things I really like...small kitchen appliances and food! Maybe I will keep looking for a few other favorite things.

P365 Month of January

2010-01-31T11:03:00.001-06:00

I ended taking a lazy shot of the guys on the couch this am just to be able to get all of January d.o.n.e. I can't believe I only missed taking photos one day this month. It was a pretty good month of practice although I haven't experienced that life changing part of P365 that some people have talked about. Hmmm. Maybe that happens in February. I guess I'll be able to find out since I have decided to keep going. Be sure to check back on me!

my favorite store

2010-01-31T09:08:00.001-06:00

Can my favorite store be a grocery store? Well, I hope so because I decided yesterday that Central Market is my favorite store. Where else can you get a pretty much already made dinner for 6 adults & 4 children including appetizers for under $100? Love it. And as my photo of the day I snapped this through the windshield as I was pulling up. I was surprised it didn't have more grain but I did run the wipers first (seriously, I did). Then I ran an urabn edit in post processing that I really like with this photo. Now I am off to find some of that leftover mac & cheese. yum yum.

day 29 P365

2010-01-30T23:35:00.003-06:00

This is one of the best photos from yesterday and probably the one I will use when I scrap this week for P365. Thought I would post it and say that I am really (really) hoping for some warmer weather next week. It would be super nice to be able to get some photos outside where I can lower my ISO and get some sharper images. Ugh. I did get in some practice on TV mode instead of AV mode yesterday. I have been pretty lazy about keeping the camera set on AV mode with the 50 mm lens so that I can really blur the background while we have been inside this month so I thought it was time for a little challenge. It doesn't look like G was moving around fast in this shot but he was all over the place so at least half the photos came out blurred. So, I will keep practicing. And hoping for better weather. And maybe some more interesting shots so I don't end up with a year of photos of G playing with trains.

baby G

2010-01-30T22:30:00.002-06:00

Here is my favorite photo of baby G. I took what seemed like a billion and thought that even though the lighting was bad (I mean really bad, like no windows, only florescent lights, bad) that maybe I would end of with a couple that I really liked. She is such a cutie and had a huge grin so hopefully I will make it back with a few more edited pics later on. I can't seem to stop messing with the white balance and sharpening. I think I will go search out a good defog action to download because I had the ISO up so high to compensate for the bad lights they all look a little grainy to me.

Can you see the grain? I guess I can pretend it was on purpose but I think I will just have to wait until next time to try again. Hopefully, in a few weeks I will get that chance with some natural light.

Oh, and did I already say she was in her jammies? Well, she was in her jammies. Nothing like a great outfit to say snapshot over a professional shot. Her grandma said we can try her in one of those adorable tutu like skirts next time. I can't wait!

conversation with a three year old

2010-01-28T23:17:00.000-06:00

him: make sure you are driving safe because it is raining.

me: I am driving safe. thank you for the reminder.

him: no, you are driving too fast.

me: I am driving 30 mph which is within the speed limits. I promise I will always drive safe with you in the car.

him: well, actually, mommy, that is not true. I remember when the police officer pulled you over because you weren't driving safe.

End of conversation.

Side note from me. I did get pulled over for going 38 mph in a 30 mph zone with him in the car with me (about 3 months ago). I did not get a ticket but a warning instead. I think it helped that G wanted to tell the police officer how nice he was during our traffic stop.

P365 week 4

2010-01-28T23:11:00.000-06:00

Whew. Week 4 finished. I almost can't believe it. The good thing about January almost being over is that I only have 11 more months to go or 337 more days this year to take photos to have completed P365 successfully. I'm not sure that you are supposed to view it that way so for now I will just be thankful to have made it through another week! Okay, actually, the good thing is that I can really visually see how wonderfully full my life is by looking at these layouts. It may not seem like much but some days it is the little things that make the big impact. Like the note & the gum. What girl wouldn't love that?

belly pics

2010-01-27T17:05:00.004-06:00

I loved getting the chance to take pictures for my friend today to help her document that belly as it gets bigger! It looked like it might rain and it was actually colder than it looks so we shot the pics fast but I love how they turned out. Now, I am seriously thinking I need to calibrate my monitor (to make sure that when I am editing all these photos they will actually look good printed too) and get going on some more Photoshop tutorials. It is amazing how the more I learn the more I realize I still need to learn!

workshops and this clothing line...

2010-01-27T02:46:00.001-06:00

I keep coming across these amazing workshops which seem to be popping up all over the place to help learn about photography, the business side, and some even have post processing help too. Oh, how I want to go to one. Most are really pricey and in far far away locations. Not that I am really ready for one right now anyway but the thought of what I can learn just makes me drool when I see the information on them. Like this one. Or this one. Or this one. There is just so much I want to learn about this and just not enough hours in the day.

I also stumbled over this blog with the cutest clothes EVER for kids. Matilda Jane clothing line. Even the name is adorable. And it could go without me saying that the photography on the blog is totally up my alley too. But I will say it. I'm inspired to find some super greatly dressed kid and take their photo. Seriously, go now and check out the blog. I really really wanted to add some images but don't want to step on any copyright toes so just go over there to see for yourself!

aaaaahhhhhh!

2010-01-25T20:22:00.003-06:00

In my continuing effort to get those super sharp photos...I was trying to get G to look right at me...and smile...or something. Well, I got something... Then just because these photos were funny I scrapped them too. Here is my layout (linked for credits).

I was published!

2010-01-25T17:23:00.001-06:00

This was the first digital scrapbook layout that I ever submitted (and actually I haven't submitted any others since but should add that to my ever growing to-do list). It was published this month in Australian Scrapbooking Memories (Vol 11 No 11). I am so excited to see it in print!

check out my interview at Scrap Matters

2010-01-25T16:08:00.001-06:00

I was interviewed for the Sunday Spotlight at Scrap Matters where I am on the creative team. Just thought I would share here since it was my first time with anything like this!

And while I am here how about a photo of S that I took yesterday (because why post without a photo?). Still working on getting that sharp focus with my 50mm so I took shot after shot of S using every single aperture to see which one was the sharpest. This was my fave...

Also came across this great (and short and to the point) blog post about focus which I found helpful.

P365 week 3

2010-01-24T09:36:00.001-06:00

Well, I missed a day this week. And I really have no excuse since it was actually a day I ended up staying home with Gavin since everyone at daycare was sick. But I'm not going to be too hard on myself since I now have taken photos 20 out of the 21 days. The interesting thing is that some days I have 200 photos to choose from and other days only a few. I guess that is kind of like life. Some days are full of activities and movement then others are laid back slow days.

just two from today

2010-01-22T21:03:00.003-06:00

Went out with G for a quick bike ride up and down the street only to get frustrated with my camera batteries. Seems like the last 2 weeks they have been dying faster and faster. Hmmm. Something I will have to look into this weekend. At the zoo on Monday I was so glad to have my extra with me when the battery died after an hour. Today my battery (freshly charged) died after about 10 minutes. So, I was glad to see I got a few cute shots anyway!

the shoes

2010-01-21T15:58:00.001-06:00

Gavin's feet. Do I even need to say more? I just love his little boy feet with his crazy cool red converse. When I look at this photograph I just have flashes toward the future when he is no longer quite so little. Sigh.

first photo contest submission

2010-01-21T15:14:00.001-06:00

One of my resolutions (that I just came up with today) is to start submitting to more photo contests. I submitted these three photos today at Clikin Moms for their home page challenge. Every submission gets entered in a drawing to win a 12x12 Canvas Gallery Wrap from Color Inc. so I figured, hey, why not?

They had to be sized 200x200 so even though these 3 photos are already here on my blog I just wanted to show the actual submission. You know, just in case I win. Can you hear me laughing?

some from the zoo

2010-01-21T15:09:00.002-06:00

Since I am home today with G I had a few minutes to edit a couple of photos from the Fort Worth Zoo on Monday. It was so nice to take shots outside in the sun...made getting the exposure correct so much easier than indoors! I will add more to this post as I edit them.

downtown Fort Worth

2010-01-17T13:32:00.003-06:00

I will be back with some more but just couldn't wait to add this one in from our quick visit to downtown this morning. We had so much fun!

P365 Week 2 done!

2010-01-16T07:37:00.001-06:00

Well, I have now finished the 2nd full week of P365. It has been interesting for sure. I read that it can get hard to figure out what to take a picture of and I haven't had as much trouble with deciding what to shoot but it has been hard to make the pictures seem interesting and not to just snap a quick shot of G everyday when we get home from school. I am glad to be giving it a go and feel like I have already learned about composition, post processing, and posting to the web so for now I will keep at it.

what a cutie, a train, and some grass

2010-01-15T19:36:00.006-06:00

and then I found some more actions...

2010-01-14T14:07:00.006-06:00

So, practice, lighting, composition are all crazy important in getting interesting shots (and it is hard to get those all correct in one quick snap) but I am also learning more about post processing. This can make a big difference too. Here is another photo from the park Saturday with some actions from MCP Actions. Loving the Touch of Light Action (and it is free!) because then I could lighten the shot on G's face so you can actually see the cuteness! I also did the basic editing like levels, color balance, and curves.

trying out some new actions

2010-01-14T13:30:00.004-06:00

I downloaded some free actions from My Four Hens and tried them out today. I took this photo on Saturday at the park and ended up with some lens flare which made a rainbow across the photo. When I used the black and whitesh action I really liked the photo and the lens flare wasn't as bad. Sooooo, after that boring talk here is the photo.

And just so you can see the rainbow better here is the photo edited using My Four Hens Back to School Blues Action.

Isn't it nice to see the sun?

2010-01-10T13:02:00.007-06:00

We headed to Barnes and Noble this morning (so I could look for one of Scott Kelby's books which I am certain will make me the best photographer ever) and I was so thankful to see the sun. Since we got there a few minutes before they opened imagine Scott and G's surprise when I asked them to pose for me to get some practice (and P365 day 10 shot).

I got this one that has the wall and the bench in focus but not Scott or Gavin. Boo.

I got this one of Gavin in focus but there is some strange rainbow light wave going over his head. Hmmm. Will have to figure that one out later.

One of Scott that I think turned out pretty good. Just a few shadows...

Then finally this one of just G and the green train.

"Thomas wants his picture taken!"

2010-01-09T12:54:00.002-06:00

This is what G told me while he was playing with his trains today. He seems to really like being able to look at the shot after it is taken and tell me whether it turned out well. Or not. Then he wants them printed right away. It is too funny and hey I need the practice so I comply like the good mom that I am.

working on those fine motor skills

2010-01-08T20:20:00.002-06:00

G has always liked to color but he is getting more and more interested in writing his name and coloring using certain patterns. I am still working on taking photos indoors with no (or not much or not very good) lighting. I am also working on learning more about calibrating my monitor so I know I have the white balance and colors edited correctly but for today that will have to wait (most programs are at least $100). Here is to hoping the colors look okay on your computer screen too!

Will you be my Valentine?

2010-01-07T21:45:00.006-06:00

G was so cute today when I taught him how to make a heart with his hands. It just worked out perfectly that when Scott dressed him this morning he put on the Valentine's Day shirt. I was practicing with the white balance settings so I didn't know if any of them would come out and was excited to see this one!

I also got this shot...which I think is just adorable. Of course, he is mine!

Project 365

2010-01-07T15:43:00.003-06:00

As of today, I am on track for Project 365. I have taken at least one shot every day since January 1st and more than one on most days. Here is the two page layout for week 1. Some of the photos are the same (like the one of Scott from this morning) but I still thought it would be nice to post the entire layout.

This was not the official head shot for Scott...

2010-01-07T13:43:00.002-06:00

This morning I took some head shots of Scott for work & kept snapping when he started acting silly after I thought I had at least one good image. Out of the silly ones this may be my favorite.

catchlights & lighting...how hard can it be? Really?

2010-01-05T19:13:00.004-06:00

The answer to that question is pretty hard but I think I am getting better. After checking out about 10 books on photography from the library last week (thick, big, heavy books) and going through tutorials I have found on the internet (lots & lots of them) I think I am figuring out some of the secrets. Although I am also finding out that it is really (and I mean really) hard to concentrate on more than one skill at a time. Here is one shot I got of G that I thought some some promise on getting those catchlights in his eyes. Finally.

so much fun

2009-12-30T19:35:00.006-06:00

I felt so lucky to get to photograph these two precious sisters for the family Christmas card this year. It was such good practice both shooting and editing. I learned I could really use some more practice. So, enjoy these four out of the almost 200 images I shot originally!

finally...a real smile...captured

2009-12-28T12:40:00.006-06:00

Mr. G was just hanging out making silly faces for me so I could practice with my new lens and imagine my surprise when this photo of him just simply smiling turned out better than all the rest.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T14:32:00.003-06:00

I took this today with my new 50mm lens (thanks Mom) before packing up all the Christmas decorations. I like how I show up in the reflection of the ornament. Not something I planned but was happily surprised to see when processing. I hope all your Christmas wishes came true.