bedtime, books, stuffed animals

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...

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!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.