I'm not gone

I realize that I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I miss blogging. I do! I miss playing along with all the HSMSHS gang. I miss YOU!

Reasons I've been away?

1. A visit from my in-laws to prepare for and enjoy (And enjoy I did! I'm so lucky to have really wonderful in-laws!).

2. The local music festival to prepare for and participate in (tomorrow's the last day, THANK GOODNESS).

3. Old friends returned from their summer in the south (still haven't caught up properly with them, though we've called each other a few times)

4. I've started an online Photography course at Big Picture Scrapbooking. Lots to learn and absorb, and a big time commitment.

5. I'm doing a LOAD (LayOut A Day) challenge this month on Flickr (and it's not to late to join! Ask me how!)

6. I've had to shop for new spring/summer clothes for my kids. Because no matter how I beg, they won't stop growing!

7. Speaking of shopping, I have a dress fitting on Monday and have had to try to get ready for that (if only I had lost that 20 pounds!). Shoes, check. Underwear--time scheduled on Saturday. Put off that bra shopping as long as possible!

8. Oh, and a little thing called Girl Guide cookie selling

9. There was a church conference in there somewhere. We billeted people. Which was a first because we're so far from the church itself. But fun.

10. We've also had some beautiful spring weather, so I've been out enjoying it with my family.

11. My LR trial period ran out and I'm waiting for my very own copy to arrive in the mail. So exciting! After processing in LR, it's hard to be happy with just Picasa. So I haven't really wanted to post any recent photos--though I haven't stopped taking them!

EDIT: Just as I typed this, the mailman arrived! Hello LR! I love you!

Why do all of these things happen at once?

So I'm just trying to find my footing, and then I'll leap back into the fray.

Hopefully Monday! Until then, I hope everyone is well!

SPS Saturday--In monochrome!

Just playing around with my nifty fifty (I have serious love for that lens) and my girls. I had opened up the aperture and was practicing my close portraits when Princess popped up over Sweetpea's shoulder. I love the result.

Today's challenge is for a monochrome portrait, so I used the high contrast B&W preset in Lightroom and then adjusted the curves until it was just the way I liked it. In fact, I like it so much I think I'm going to have to order some prints...

Colour!

Ahhhhh. So good to see colour again after such a long winter. Now for the snow to melt...

Adore

Our Boy adores his teddy bear...and we adore him.

(Photo taken in the fall, but the adoration only grows)

Travel

Travel: To go, to move, or journey from one place to another, by foot or private or public transport.

A slightly unusual interpretation today. On Sunday we woke up to snow. Beautiful, fluffy flakes floating to the ground, coating everything in a blanket of white. A beautiful Christmas snow.

Too bad it's March.

Knowing from experience that it would all be blown off the trees by afternoon, I took pictures from the passenger seat as we travelled in to church. This is what our Sunday travel looked like (and hopefully won't too many more times this season).

 

Introducing...

...my three kidlets!

When I started this blog, I just jumped right in playing along with HSMSHS and discussing my photography highs and lows. I didn't really introduce myself or my family. But the kidlets are my main source of inspiration and often my main subjects, so I thought I'd throw out some brief introductions.

(If you read my family blog you not only already know us, you saw these photos as soon as I took them this week, so feel free to click one of the links in my sidebar if you get bored.)

Oldest daughter is 7 and is known as our Princess. She IS a Princess, preferring all things girly. She would rather wear a dress every day than anything else, she loves flowers and pink and dolls and, well, princesses. She's tiny, freckle-faced and delicate, with a streak of independance wider than she is.

Next we have Sweetpea. She's 5 (almost 6) and loves life. She's always moving, unless she's stopping for a quick cuddle, and does everything whole-heartedly. She's tall, athletic and even-tempered, with an infectious giggle and a clever sense of humour. She likes to run up to complete strangers to give them a hug or climb in their lap and ask them about themselves.

Finally we have my Boy. He's my 4 year old sidekick, my mini-man and chatterbox. He came out of the womb jabbering, had a vocabulary that included "crocodile" at 9 months, and rarely stops for air. He's fun and funny, and HIS sidekick is Blue Teddy--who started talking around the same time he did but uses his very own distinct speaking voice. I have a feeling that I'll never adjust to the silence when he starts school in the fall.

So now you know us! There's also a cat, Sasha, who tends to wander off as soon as she spots the camera, and Hubby who will do anything to avoid having his photo taken.

Oh, and me of course. But I'm growing my hair out from super-duper short to a bob and it's at that terrible in-between stage, so I'm not doing self-portraits for a while.

Have a happy weekend!

SPS

It's Saturday, and that means it's Portrait time!

I love how portraits can take on so many different tones and moods. I think the part of the fun as a photographer is getting the mood of the portrait to match the essence of the person--at least in that moment.

It's also fun to just play for artistic reasons.

This week has been full of playing as I edit the photobooth photos I mentioned in my last post. So many different personalities make up a congregation, so many different poses and moods to capture. It's hard today to choose a favourite, but I finally settled on this one. This brother and sister are so sweet, and I just love the way she's looking at her big brother. You can see the love! I also like the results of using Pioneer Woman's "Heartland" action on this photo for a timeless feel.

Coming up Roses

I forgot to blog yesterday! Yes, the sky has fallen! I cannot believe it!

I've been busy doing online classes and webinars and editing up a storm. (When I'm not melting snow to do dishes or bathe. Still no water!) Our church had Shandee and I do photos at a Valentine's dance as a fundraiser. We took over one of the classrooms, set up two different backdrops, a couple of lamps, and went crazy. Everyone really got into the spirit with fun poses and props, but when we got home--disaster! The room has that slightly yellow-tinted paint and the lights just reflected it. Everyone has this horrible, horrible yellow cast to their skin. Picasa and I could do nothing. I really thought I was going to have to make every single photo black and white or sepia just to have anything.

BUT!

The Photo Editing course opened up at jessicasprague.com and right there in Lesson One was my solution--and then it was made even simpler in Lesson Two. An answer to prayer! Now instead of gross yellow people, we have nice rosy complexions!

Incidently, "rosy" was the HSMSHS prompt for yesterday. It must be a sign!

Today's prompt is "beads". These ones are a keychain the kids made for Hubby last year for Father's Day at church. Funny thing is, they each made one, so he now has 3 different homemade keychains to tell him he's the "Best Dad Ever" (in case he should ever forget!)

Back to the edits! Thanks for playing!

Mascot

The prompt today at HSMSHS: Mascot.

For me, it can only be this guy. My son's best friend, blue teddy. Complete with worn off fur and chewed off nose. Since this photo was taken a couple of years ago, he has also lost his ribbon and a lot more fuzz. His nose has been repaired 3 times now. There's no one we love more, no one who represents my son and his childhood better; and by extension our entire family. You kind of have to know him to understand, but Blue Teddy has become our family mascot. We don't go anywhere or do anything without him. I even use this photo as my avatar on MSN and used to use him on discussion boards.

The Daily Grind

Today's prompt at HSMSHS is "daily".

I have to admit that it took me a while to think of what I'd use for daily. Alarm? Nope, I turn it off now and then. Breakfast? I like to mix it up. E-mail? Please not another screen shot.

Then, while I was thinking, I found myself in the bathroom. Ahhhhhh. Daily. Daily toothbrushing, daily grooming, daily laundry, daily, daily, daily. I now have a fun and eclectic series of photos taken in my bathroom this morning. And that's part of why I love HSMSHS. Things I would never think to photograph have now been captured in fun ways. And who knows? Maybe I'll have to scrapbook them!

Anyway, here's what I chose for daily:

Ahhhh, the shower. Sometimes I stumble in as soon as I roll out of bed. It wakes me and readies me for the day. Some days I yearn for it and never seem to get there, until at last it's bedtime and I can stand under the spray, already half asleep and letting the water work out the kinks before bed. (Of course, now that my hair is short, if I do the second than I really must at least soak my head the next morning. Bed head is a new daily occurance too.) I've never been a bath girl, but there's something almost religious about the shower. So good.


As a bonus, here are the other prompts from this week. I was going to post them last evening but should know better by now---I never get anything done in the evenings.

Magnetic

I picked this little guy up at a craft show shortly after I was married--one of my very first fridge magnets. He was just so happy and cheerful. You could say he drew me in.

And then I started having babies. And what did those babies want? That's right, my gingerbread fridge magnet! I used to put him low on the fridge door and my oldest would spend hours playing with him and the letter magnets I also had by that time. Then along came the next one, and she decided he was good enough to eat. You can see some scrapings left by baby teeth if you look closely. So I had to move him up out of reach...which didn't stop either of them. They quickly learned to push a chair over to the fridge to get their ginger magnet back. Clever kids. I'd chase them away and move him around, thinking if he as on a side they'd forget about him. But they always found him. It became a little game, seeing if they could get him away without me noticing. He regularly went missing, only to be found in a toy bin or under a table.

Now he holds school papers on our big family white board. Still happy to be a part of things. He doesn't go missing anymore, just smiles his happy smile on us.

SOS

It's Show Off Sunday at HSMSHS, so I thought I'd share a photo from a photo shoot I was involved with this week. This pretty 1 year old was very patient through multiple costume changes and two photographers. She was just adorable and had no problem showing us all her best faces. It was really a delight to shoot her. She was my first wee one and left me with quite a taste for more. Funnily enough, it's this shot, taken while we were on a break and she was crawling around me, checking out my camera and I, that's my favourite. I just love a super closeup.

Meter Maid!

I read a lot of blogs. Between my love of photography, my hobby of scrapbooking, my experiences as a mom, my quest for meal ideas, I have a lot of "stuff" in poor Google Reader.

The majority of blogs I read are photographically rich. Several of them are blogs of photogs (and I seem to add a new one every few days) but many are hobbyists who happen to take a great photo. It's on the latter, interestingly enough, that I find the best tips to improve my photography. We hobbyists are excited to learn and everything is new, so we like to share it with others.

Unfortunately, I tend to forget a great tip as soon as I move on to the next blog.

Or do I?

A couple of weeks ago at a birthday party, I was having trouble photographing one of the young guests as he sat with the patio doors at his back. For once my blog reading came to save me, and I remembered a tip shared on Elizabeth Kartchner's blog* aaaaaaaaaaaaages ago. Here's the video she linked to (by the delightful Candice Stringham):



Now I'm still figuring out all the ins and outs of my camera, but for the quick fix what you're looking for is that little star button. I have a Canon and mine's on the right side beside the button for selecting focus points.

Honestly, I was skeptical, but I gave it a whir. Here are both photos, SOOC:




By George it worked! Give praise for the magical star button! (and to my brain for somehow retaining that one).

Just in case it was a fluke, I decided to try it yesterday in the snow when a couple of my photos came out extra dark.




And yes, for those who are doubtless wondering, I did move afterwards so I'd have better light, but I wanted to try it--and it worked wonderfully!

If you'd like more of Candice's tips, you can find them at Creating Keepsakes (They're the series called behind the scenes). If you'd like a treasure trove, YouTube has all kinds of helpful videos. If your brain is like mine, you may want to watch one and IMMEDIATELY try it out so you're less likely to forget.

*Come for the scrapbooking/photos, stay for the playlist. Elizabeth's blog is usually playing in the background while I edit photos. I've found a lot of new favouite artists through her.

Old Masters

I missed yesterday's HSMSHS prompt and meant to do both it and today's together, but when I went to get today's prompt I saw Carve and had to share this photo that I took on a trip to Springfield, Mass. this past September.

Everywhere I looked was so rich with detail and history, and I'm afraid I gave my camera quite a workout just trying to capture the beauty of the square where we were eating our lunch. You just don't see amazing workmanship like this anymore, and when I think of the tools they had versus the tools we have now, the love and artistry of their craft blazes through even more. It may be just a building, but that's no reason not to give it your best. Building things that last, giving your best to a job, carving a place for yourself in your surroundings. Why isn't this done anymore?

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PS I'll still be looking around my current space for discard and carve and will try to post later if I get any good shots.

Even a fairy princess can have a bad day...

Well if that's all...

Thanks to the team at DPS (if you've never been there, and you're into photography, run!) I was lead to Chase Jarvis' amazing blog. He really seems dedicated to helping the aspiring photographer "make it"; in whatever way they define making it.

Anyway, working my way through the archives, I find that he has posted the Secret to Success in Photography. That's right, it's no longer a secret!

So I'm well on my way to number 2, it's just a matter of figuring out number 1.

How about you?

Around the house

Today's HSMSHS prompt: sphere. In a house with kids and cats and rock hounds, spheres come in every size and material imaginable. This little crystal ball (onyx actually) sits on my scrapdesk to help inspire me.

And how could I not use that font? (CK 8 Ball for anyone who's wondering)

Update on yesterday's kijiji find: The speedlight works just fine with my camera, but the lenses are the old blade mounts. I'll be looking around the internets to see if there's any sort of adaptation to make them work, and otherwise I guess I'll buy some film and play around old skool.

I've got to get some food before I run the Princess to piano. It's one of those crazy days where I have the car and lose my mind.

Keep clicking!

I heart this morning!

Not only is it Little Christmas, which means I can finally take down all my decorations and clean house without guilt, but look what I found when I did my weekly peek at kijiji:

Canon T 70 35mm camera with multiple program AE / dual metering system
two Vivitar telephoto zoom lenses (28-90 and 70-210)
one Canon Speedlite 277T flash unit

But how sweet is it? Can I use that Speedlite? Are those lenses any good?

While using my powers of google-fu to find the answer, I discovered this amazing resource: Photography on the Net; a forum for Canon users to discuss...well, everything Canon by the looks of things. You can bet I'll be playing around there! Anyone else already a member?

And I found my answer: yes, I can use the Speedlite. It's not as good as the ones out now (direct flash, no pointing it at the ceiling) but I can use it until my pennies are saved for a better one. AND the lenses will work too. They have mixed reviews, but since the seller is only asking $35 (yes babies!) even if they're absolute crap I'll be getting my money's worth!

It's a good day! A day of hearts and flowers...which, incidently, is the HSMSHS prompt!




So what do you heart today?

New Toys

Santa Mom came through with a couple of new toys for my bag. I am now the proud owner of a Remote Controller AND a gorillapod. I'm hoping both will help me get even better night and nature photos, as well as getting MYSELF into the photo more often. One of my greatest regrets in life is that there are NO photos of myself with my babies. I think that's tragic and it must stop now--and now I have the tools to make it happen.

Thanks Santa Mom!

What great gadgets did you get from your special santa?

Star

The HSMSHS prompt for today. While the last couple of days have left me thinking hard to come up with my examples, today's has the opposite problem: too many too choose from.

The star above is from my star shelf, which hangs directly below my inspiration board in my scrap space.

I just love stars. They inspire me. They make me happy.

In fact, I love stars so much, here are a couple of bonus Christmas stars that I look forward to seeing every year:

Have a happy Friday. Keep your eye on the stars!