Pictures Of...

Name and Logo?

2008-07-14T23:37:00.003-04:00

I have recently booked a couple of clients and now I feel like I need to nail down a name and a logo for myself(cart, horse, completely wrong order). I have TONS of ideas for logos but most would cost me lots of dollars to get done right. For now I am trying to find something that I can love as a logo until I make some money and can get it done right.

Also I am trying to pin down a name. I think my name sounds boring so I wanted something different. I came up with a few but my favorites are Windy Hill Photography, because we live at the top of a very windy hill, Hilltop photography because my Grampy had a store while I was growing up called Hilltop Market or Blackberry Lane Photography because our very windy hill is COVERED in blackberries.

So my kind blogger friends I would love your opinions on any and all logo and name related stuff.... oh and you can comment on my photo too. :P

Without further ado.. my amateur logos!

Teh Kids

2008-07-07T21:53:00.004-04:00

At least the ones that are home. Grady is still off on his adventure, although we did receive a postcard today from one of his counselors(is that right sp?). Apparently they recently had to do a 1.6 mile portage through shin high mud.... so glad I wasn't there for that. LOL He is fitting in well and having a fabu time according to the counselor. YAY!
I took these photos Friday night while we waited for the fireworks to begin. We get there a few hours early so we get a primo parking spot. This means lots of time for me to play with the camera. :D
LOVE Amanda's action on the shot of Gavin, I did some adjusting to her process but still her action. I might get that one printed up as a canvas.
Lilia blows me away every time I take photos of her, that girl knows how to work the camera.

Thank you to everyone who offered their sympathies on my Grammy's illness. She passed on Saturday, her children all were there for her. I am sorry she had to leave but happy that she was not left here to suffer through months of unnecessary pain.

Sunset

2008-07-03T22:06:00.003-04:00

Three weeks ago my Grandmother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer as well as bone cancer. Since then she has steadily gone downhill and now we are looking at the last few moments of her life.
I have spent a few days with her this week, taking care of her, talking with her, and laughing with her. She told me the story of how she met my Grandfather, and how they became engaged. She told me how proud she was of me and my kids and made sure that I knew how much I meant to her.
Mostly we laughed.
I am very lucky to have spent these last few hours with her.

Down to the Swimmin' Hole

2008-07-02T21:03:00.004-04:00

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

My kids have every advantage that life today has to offer while at the same time they have idyllic places like this to live their childhood and make memories. This is our local swimming hole, that is if you discount the Atlantic. We spend almost every summer afternoon swimming here, jumping off the bridge and seeing who can do the coolest tricks off the dam. Perfect summer days as far as I am concerned.

I have to add a big thank you to Amanda(ndjane) for sharing her awesome action that I used to process these. :)

Fox and Chicken are Friends

2008-07-01T20:57:00.004-04:00

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Albert Einstein

Gavin LOVES animals. He has always been my child who brings home snakes, frogs, turtles and bugs. The chickens do not escape his need to hold all the creatures of the earth. I kind of think the chickens and snakes, bugs, frogs, turtles etc., don't mind, they know an animal lover when they meet one. :)
And as usual someone else has said it so much better than I.

Nature teaches beasts to know their friends.
William Shakespeare

I know everyone always comments on Lilias sweet freckles but I think Gavin has the cutest freckles of them all..... on one side of his face. LOL Yup, his freckles are only on one side, the other side is almost freckle free. How cute is that?

She's Home

2008-06-30T15:29:00.003-04:00

and Mummy's happy. She rode half way(or better) home with her cabin Mom and I was in a panic until we picked her up in Portsmouth. Then she talked non-stop until we got home 5 hours later. It was ok though I had missed her voice around the house.
They called from the road when they left camp so that we could time the pick up. When I answered the phone I was expecting the cabin Moms' voice but instead I got this little "Hi Mummy" I am not a crier but I almost lost it right there. She was only gone 5 days, I am in so much trouble when she goes off to college.

Lilia had an observation about her ride home
She says " In their van they had 4 screens for the DVD player and we watched some movie with music in the title"
Daddy "The Sound of Music?"
Lil "YEAH!! it was weird"
Daddy and Mummy in unison "The hills are allllive with the sound of muuuusic"
Lilia " Um yeah, don't do that again"
Daddy and Mummy "Do a deer and female deer, ray a drop of golden suuuunnn, mi a name I call myself, fa a long long way to ruuuuun" all sang in falsetto for Daddy
Lilia "you are sooo weird, anyway they all sang along together to the movie. They are entirely too nice"

She was almost disgusted by the niceness, poor kid is jaded already and only 10 years old. We are a sarcastic lot around here it's how we show love. I totally LOLed over the whole "entirely too nice" thing.

Old is New Again

2008-06-26T20:25:00.007-04:00

I have been playing with photoshop a ton this past couple of days. I really want to have a consistent pping style/styles this is what I have come up with. On warmer photos it really WARMS it up and on cooler photos it adds just a touch of warmth, at least that is what I see.
I have been told that they are overexposed and slightly green so now I am wondering if my monitor is totally whacked. The overexposed I can totally see but I just don't see a green cast, do you?

ETA I lied I do see a green cast on Grady, but I only noticed it once I got it uploaded to blogger. In photoshop it looks fine. Hmmmmmmmmm

Bloom

2008-06-25T15:54:00.009-04:00

I searched for signs of life all spring but had given up hope that my lovely columbine had come back this year. Then a few days ago I noticed some familiar leaves under the stairs. I thought for sure it was some kind of weed mocking me, making me think I might just have my columbine back. Then I saw THIS.

Bloom where you are planted.
~anonymous

Oh and please excuse my janky steps, they were supposed to be temporary and we just never got around to building new ones.

In other news yesterday we spent 17 hours on the road with Lilia and Gavin(well technically only 7 of those hours were with Lilia). We dropped Lilia off at gymnastics camp in western NY and then drove home. BLAH!!!!! She was SOOoooooo freaking excited I thought we were going to have to tie her to the roof of the car just to get there with our sanity in tact.
We left Grady home because he was being picked up a little later in the day to be dropped off at his camp for 3 1/2 weeks! I cannot believe he is gone for that long, I almost turned down the opportunity for him to go when I heard how long it was. But this is a REALLY exclusive camp that he gets to go to for free. Every year they get a list of local kids as back-ups in case someone who signed up couldn't go. Grady was at the top of the list and got picked for the Allagash canoe trip, two weeks canoeing the Allagash and 1 1/2 weeks back at camp. So for now I have one child at home and I don't quite know what to do with myself.

Lilia says, peace out peeps!

And yes she had this much energy the ENTIRE way to NY.

Just Playin'

2008-06-25T12:00:00.002-04:00

I followed a link given at 2Peas to change my blog around and lookee and what I did!
I got a bit carried away with my blog banner but I like it for now and I can always change it. :D

Little Chicken

2008-06-23T17:54:00.004-04:00

Then followed that beautiful season... Summer....
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Yeah what he said.
~me

Big huge thank you to NDjane for her share of this super cool action. LOVE IT!!!! I think it is just perfect for photos of kids pretending to be chickens and American classics, don't you? :D
Hey I gotta let have a little fun with the tools of the trade if I am ever going to get them to muck out the chicken coop. :P

8th Grade Recognition and other stuff

2008-06-21T21:30:00.003-04:00

Yessir, I officially have a high schooler now, not sure how it happened so fast, but happen it did.
How is it that time can both go sooooo slow and so fast all at the same time? It seems like I was just sending him off for his first day of school yesterday and then, BAM!, he's done with grade school. I dread how fast these next four years are going to be.

Of course a I have to show a few photos of the man in his duds. He did look right shahhhp! That is once he figured out how to tie his tie. :D

He and his buddy were all smiles for once( if you have a 14 year old boy you know what I mean).

I finally got a decent shot of all three of my little heathens, decent meaning everyone was looking in my general direction and had something like a smile on their face.

Had to get one in of Izzy because she is getting HUGE! Plus I love the light in this one.

Last but not least one of my new faves of Lilia.

The "Where the HECK have you been?"

2008-05-06T19:13:00.003-04:00

I don't know how some of you do it every day; kids, school, work, activities, housework, POTD etc etc etc. So, yeah, I have time management issues, not to mention lack of energy and drive. Booooooo to me!
So this is what I have been up to over the last MONTH(I cannot believe it has been almost a month since I have found the time to check in here).

Gymnastics... the season is almost over, YIPPEEEE!!!
This was Lilia's last regular season meet, she took first all around and the rest I can't remember. I promise it is not too long. :)

And this is her shot from States where she took First All Around, Bars and Beam and Third Vault and Floor. All with a badly pulled hamstring.

Then baseball season has started up. This means not only do I coach gymnastics 3 days a week minimum, I also have baseball games and practices to attend 3-4 days a week. UGH!!!
I can't complain too much because as hectic as it is I actually enjoy being busy.

This is Gavin's first ever Little League game(real baseball game ever for that matter). He got walked and then stole second and third and then came home on a hit.
Stealing third!

Made it!

Then just because working and raising three kids didn't seem to be enough I(we but mostly me :D) decided now was a great time for a PUPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is Isobel, AKA Izzy, Izzy B, Bratski and Wizzy.

Her first trip to the beach.

The Bubbles

2008-04-17T21:08:00.003-04:00

I wish I could put a sound track to my new banner...it would go something like this: "peep peep peeppeeppeep peep".
SPRING is here because the peepers are out in full force and my flowers are poking through the earth. I love this time of year. Peepers for those of you not in the know are little frogs that sing their crazy little peeppeep love song every spring. Once they start peeping you know spring is here to stay and there will likely not be any more icy morns or snowy days.

What says spring more than bubbles, well besides peepers and new born flowers? :)

The Girl

2008-04-01T21:03:00.004-04:00

I need to find some more kids to photograph. I have a couple of families set up for shoots later on in the Spring but right now it is just me and Lilia. Gavin is a no go and Grady hides in his room every time I even walk by my camera.
Soon Gavin will be playing Bball, that will give me something different to shoot. Until then I am afraid you are all mostly stuck with Lil. :D

On another note, my Grammy came to see me this weekend and bring me a birthday present. Usually I get a check for a little fun money but this year she had a package. When I opened it up I found a rather large jewelry box that held a strand of graduated pearls. My Grandfather, who passed 8 years ago, had given them to her 50 years ago. They still have the little slip of paper that is a Certificate of Guarantee. She had them restrung and had a new clasp added so that I could wear them with confidence, although I am not sure I will wear them often because of the value and I would feel awful if anything happened to them. Oh and that velvet box in that totally awesome greeney blue color... vintage. I think I am in love with the box as much as the pearls. LOL

The Sequel

2008-03-31T20:14:00.004-04:00

More shots from our photo shoot the other day. I just got to play with these today.

Sweet Pea
Peanut
Peanut Butt and Belly
Bilia(billy)
Little Chicky

She has lots of nicknames from lots of people but mostly I just call her Amazing!

The Little Girl Lost

2008-03-27T20:09:00.004-04:00

A girl without freckles is like a night without stars.
-- Author Unknown

A little girl can be sweeter (and badder) oftener than anyone else in the world. she can jitter around, and stomp, and make funny noises that frazzle your nerves yet just when you open your mouth she stands there demure with that special look in her eyes. A girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.
-- Alan Beck

I couldn't find the words so I turned to the experts known and unknown. :)
So titled because when I look at these photos I see both a little girl not much more than a toddler and a girl growing up way too fast.

The Big Bird

2008-03-26T20:35:00.003-04:00

One of the members of my family you have yet to meet.
This is Loki bird, he is a baby cockatiel.
We think he may have been abused at the pet store because cockatiels are supposed to be very social, loving birds and he is very skittish, especially of hands. He is starting to come around though, he will come up onto our hands sometimes if you have lots of patience and I think that eventually he will become the loving bird he was meant to be.
He has learned the first part of the Mexican Hat Dance(the song) and is quickly learning the second half. He wolf whistles all the time and says "A prettttty boy".
He loves Lilia's hair ties(what he is chewing on) as you can see by the look on his little face. When he squints his eyes and puffs out his cheeks it means he is VERY happy. He also gets this look when he is listening to classical music.
I never thought I would love a bird but this guy is such a funny, sweet little bird I can't help myself.

I have yet to get good photos but we also have two budgies(Cosmo and Wanda) who are the cutest ever!! They are what got us started on birds. Now Grady wants to save his money to buy a conure(more like a parrot). You have heard of crazy cat people, I think we are fast headed for crazy bird people. :D

The Life

2008-03-25T20:27:00.006-04:00

Life lately has me feeling like I am an old dog constantly walking uphill.
All the practices, meetings, meets, work and special occasions(easter and my bday) have me feeling like this:

Lately you will see me like this more often than not.
I am hopeful that tomorrow I will get just a moment of this:

In case you didn't know, this is Chloe, my 12 year old black lab. She is MY dog and I love her like mad.. how could you not? Look at that face. :)

I have recently gone back to work and it is kicking my butt, time wise. I am so used to having my whole day to get the housework done and have my computer time. Needless to say I have not gone near my blog for an entire week! ACK! I think I am finally hitting my stride again and getting my new schedule worked out. All this and all I am doing is substitute teaching at our local high school. I think it makes it worse that I never know when I go to bed if I am going to be working the next day or not. So far I have had 1 day off in the last week and a half. Which truly is a good thing because it means they like the job I am doing but at the same time I thought I would have a bit more time to ease into things. :D

The Tester

2008-03-18T21:33:00.002-04:00

Lilia wanted pictures of herself with her medals as I was trying to get my settings I asked Gavin to stand there for me. This is what I got.... I think I need to tell him his just my tester from now on. LOL This is such a Gavin look, half mad, half amused you never know with this one.
Yes even in color his eyes really are that dark, he got lucky and got the true chocolate brown eyes instead of the hazel eyes the rest of us have. Doesn't he have the cutest little ears ever? or maybe that is just Mummy vision again, I do love them though. :)

This girl loves the camera, can you tell? Most of the shots I got of her were totally hilarious but I can't post them because of the angle and the leo. Not that there is anything showing but it is still a little risque for my taste.
These are not the best photos... in the first one her silver medal is turned around backwards and in the second one you can see my vacuum cleaner in the background. I am convinced now... I NEED a backdrop/backdrop stand.

The Gymnastics Sunday Report

2008-03-16T20:40:00.006-04:00

Ahh yes, it is that time again for another edition of 'what did some kid ,I don't know, do over the weekend at her gymnastics meet'. :D
Lilia did very well taking first place all round with a humongous 37.00! That is a big score for her and we are pretty impressed around here. Heck even her brothers are jumping on the "way to go Lilia" bandwagon. I wish my DH had gotten some better photos from the meet but these are pretty representative of the best we got today. :(
Her individual event scores were 9.5 vault(2nd), 9.5 bars (1st), 9.15 floor (5th) and 8.85 beam(3rd).

I took this photo last week while we were out traipsing around the tree. I used the HDR program that someone on 2Peas had shared(sorry I can't remember who, but Thank you!). I gotta get that girl some Wellies.

The Tree

2008-03-11T20:42:00.003-04:00

It's a common phrase in our house "Mum we're going down to the tree".
Our entire property is probably 80% trees but the kids have this one massive Hemlock tree that they love to climb and play in. The area around the tree is perfect for creating fairy houses and clubhouses, you can climb to the tippy top and see for, what I would guess is, miles, having never done it myself :). It is the epitome of the perfect childhood tree, magical and wonderous if only I could capture half of that magic.

I will have to go back when I can get some shots of all the kids in it so that you all can really see the scale and the whole tree.
I played with some color tonight, trying a greener version, a bluer version and a redder, color popped version. :)

She is at ground level from this side of the tree but on the other side you can see that it is probably 5 or 6 feet up. This is because there is a ledge that abuts the tree on one side that allows the kids to walk right up and into the tree so she is standing on the ground and on tree branches all at the same time.

The Updates

2008-03-10T20:40:00.006-04:00

The first update is photos of the lighthouse. Paul(hubby) and I headed out to the point today so that I could get some photos of the lighthouse and the surrounding area to post here because I promised I would. It was a gorgeous day but a bit windy and cold. The sky was just amazing though, the color blue was so deep and just breathtaking.
The third shot is of the next point over.. our favorite place to go in the summer. Tons of tidepools, lots of rock scrambling, a little "beach" that we love to search for beach glass and cool rocks and of course some beautiful surf watching! The fourth shot down is the little red building from my photo shoot a few weeks ago. This is the other side from where Lilia was perched on the window ledge.

I knew I had to update you all on the little gymnast, well maybe not HAD to but thought you all might like to hear how she did this weekend. She took first place All Around with a 35.85(.65 points higher than the second place), her second highest all around score this season. She placed first on bars(9.3), second on vault(9.15), fifth on beam (8.5) and second on floor (8.9). She fell on beam on her dismount, which she NEVER misses, had she not fallen she would have had a 9.0 and taken first on beam as well. :( Oh well it definitely gave her something to work on at workout tonight. :) Of course I had to include a photo of her on the podium for AA and one of her cheesing it up for the judge after her totally kick ass bar routine(look at her coach back there... totally beaming).

And finally a few days ago I got another shot of the ever elusive Grady AKA Gradoli. Hiding his eyes as usual but a pretty good close up of his face nonetheless. He was peeking at me through an upside down stool. :)
See that crooked nose? It used to be so straight, just like his Dad's but he got hit in the face with a golf club this past fall and we had to say byebye to perfect straight nose and Hello to nose with character.

The Cuppy Cakes

2008-03-06T21:18:00.005-05:00

Sorry I have been MIA this week, we have had "the sickness" and I have been either dealing with that or trying not to get that. So far so good for me, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I don't end up sicky like all my kidlets.
I went all June Cleaver today and baked cupcakes for the kids for when they got home from school. The two that aren't sick were very appreciative, the one that is just wants us all to save him a couple. :) I almost didn't want anyone to eat them because they are so darn pretty.
As usual Lilia was hamming it up for the camera, Grady "ninjaed" a cupcake and disappeared into his room before I could steal a picture of him. What self respecting 13 year old boy would be seen eating a PINK cupcake afterall.

The Sicky Chicky

2008-03-03T20:59:00.003-05:00

This is what she looked like yesterday, she had a bit of a fever and had been up most of the night before throwing up. She didn't even leave the couch but two or three times all day yesterday.
This morning she got up and got herself ready for school because they started MEA's today and she didn't want to miss any of the test. HOLY COW!!!! I don't know about any of you but any chance I had to stay home from school, especially during standardized testing, I was all over it!
I really don't know where she got her goodytwoshoeness from, certainly NOT me. :D

The Army

2008-03-02T20:19:00.003-05:00

This is what came rolling into my living room tonight. An army of dragons, medieval men, phat boy carz, SUVs, helicopters, and big ball of yarn. What army would be complete without a giant mass of pastel yarn? All this on a skateboard no less...... we didn't get to the skate park this weekend, think he is trying to tell us something?

For both shots my settings were, 14mm, f/3.5, SS 1/8, ISO 400 WB set to tungsten.

The Avril Wannabe

2008-03-01T21:41:00.003-05:00

This counts right? I didn't take it today but I did edit it today. :P
And Oooooh the editing I did:
I learned skin softening.
I did an eye pop because brown eyes are H A R D to get detail in on the other hand they show catchlights wonderfully.
I used the magnetic lasso tool and gaussion blurred the background more(I am not happy with it).
I desaturated it just a tad..... because I like that kind of washed out look.
I healed and cloned some sort of food stuff around her mouth (they must have had spaghetti at lunch that day).
That's it. :D

The Windows

2008-02-28T19:47:00.004-05:00

So sorry I have been MIA the last couple of days. Thanks to more hughes net suckage and subbing at the High School, I have been unable to post as usual.
I got home from subbing today and got a few quick shots of Lilia so that I would have something to post. I will get caught up with you all tonight. I am kind of excited because I get to see a couple days posts from everyone all at one time. :)

As a Mum this photo blew me away, as a photographer I just don't know because I am WAY too close to it to be subjective in any way shape or form. Please CC me. Other than a slight eye pop and the BW conversion this shot is SOOC.
45mm, f/5.6, SS 1/20, ISO 400

The Wishing

2008-02-26T21:33:00.003-05:00

I am so sick of winter and I know March is always the longest month evah! It is such a cruel month, everyone else in the freaking country is posting about their daffodils and cherry blossoms and we are in the middle of a blizzard and mud season. Bllllaaaaahhhhh *said in my best Snoopy voice*
So I thought I would just bring a little Spring to me rather than wait until it decides it wants to meander my/our way.
Yes, yes I did stick some fake flowers in the snow and then took photos. My neighbors now think I am totally crazy and I am expecting the men with the straight jacket any moment now, but it made me happy. :)

The Other Child

2008-02-24T20:49:00.005-05:00

Seriously I do have another child... he is VERY camera shy but I managed to get a shot or two of him yesterday. I think he feels better when he has has siblings in the photo with him, he still makes sure his hair is in his eyes though, not that it is hard to do. :D

He really loves flipping his sister around, hanging her upside down and in general treating her like a rag doll.
He is leaning over the bodies of both Gavin and Lilia here, and he is perched on a little ledge that is probably only 2 feet wide. The drop wasn't that significant not to worry but yes that is the Atlantic in barely visible in the background there.

This is probably the best photo I have of Grady from the last 2 years. Look at that big smile and bright eyes. Such a rare moment for him. :D

Of course I had to include a couple of Lilia in tonights post because I know you all would be sooooo disappointed if you didn't get to see her smiling face.

Lastly, lots of you wanted to know what lighthouse we were at and would like to see pictures. Can you believe that I do not have ANY photos I have taken of the lighthouse in the last couple of years. Everything before that was lost in the great computer crash of 2006. :(
So I will have to go back and get a few shots, until then I will say that this lighthouse is on the Maine quarter. ;)

The Location

2008-02-23T21:57:00.004-05:00

We loaded everyone up in the van and headed to the lighthouse for some photos. We live about 8 miles from one of the most famous lighthouses in Maine and I knew there were some great spots for photos. Funny thing is that of all the photos my favorites don't have the lighthouse or the ocean in the background, at least not that you can really see. I like them anyway. :)
Can you believe I was there and didn't actually take any photos of the lighthouse and only one or two of the coast.... I'm so spoiled I see it so often that I don't even see the need for photos. I might have to go back and get some shots. ;)

Gavin
45mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, SS 1/2500

Lilia
45mm, f/5.6, ISO 200, SS 1/2000

The Vacation

2008-02-21T18:58:00.004-05:00

The kids have been out of school all week for February vacation and these kids take the whole vacation thing seriously.
Apparently my 13 yo figures vacation means he gets a vacation from any and all responsibilities, including showering, which I had to force him to do today, after FIVE days of no shower. ICK!

The eleven and nine year olds think that since we don't have anywhere special to go pajamas all day long are entirely appropriate and really are the only vacation attire needed. I mean it is vacation people! I looked out the kitchen window yesterday morning and what do I see? Gavin and Lilia playing in the driveway in their pjs...... I'm glad our neighbors are never home.

Mostly their days have gone something like this: get up, eat some breakfast, go outside and slide around on the ice, watch some TV, drink cocoa, eat lunch, watch more TV, play playstation, go outside again, eat some more, bug the living daylights out of each other, make Mummy yell and then laugh hysterically about it while watching that vein on her forehead explode, play on computer until the download threshold is met(don't even get me started on the SUCK that is hughes net), go to bed, dream about doing it all over again the next day. My kids are simple creatures.

The Yellow Dog

2008-02-20T17:36:00.005-05:00

I opened up the front door today so that the sun could shine in through the storm door and heat us up a bit... and quite frankly I am sick of my bat cave of a livingroom. As soon as that door was open and the sun started shining in, Simon was there curled up in a little ball enjoying a little natural heat. Creature of comfort that he is he never misses an opportunity to get some sun.
He is old and more likely than not, will not be with us much longer. He has gotten more and more feeble as the winter has wore on and I know the day that we must make a decision is drawing near. For now I love to see him curled up, with a happy little smile on his face, enjoying his life.

The light, Simon, and his 'pose' all reminded me of the painting "Master Bedroom" by Andrew Wyeth. I added a texture or two(no my walls are not that dirty :D ) and desaturated it a bit to give it even more of the feel of the painting. If you haven't seen Andrew Wyeth's work before I highly suggest doing a quick google search for his work. Amazing light and color and such emotion provoking yet simple images.

f/8, SS 1/15, ISO 200
Hmmmm I think I could have opened that aperture up a bit. :)

*********** PS ***********
Thank you to everyone who posted such sweet comments on yesterdays post! For those of you wondering it was sunset and that is the scene out my bedroom window.

The Promise

2008-02-19T19:19:00.005-05:00

I watch the buds on the trees, outside my bedroom window, swell as the days become a bit longer and the sun begins to heat the winter days just a bit. I know that each new day they grow a bit more and soon enough it will be fully spring and the leaves will begin to unfurl. I watch this process year after year and it never fails that I am amazed at both how LONG it seems to take and how quickly it happens. It seems so early for those little leaves to be growing, so cold still and lord knows we will still have tons of snow but they keep growing and keep sending me the promise of Spring.

PHEW!!!!! Was that sappy enough for ya? Do you feel sick to your stomach? LOL
A girl has to get it out every once in awhile though, if we don't I think we might just implode or something.

f/8, SS1/320, ISO 200

Oh and honey I know you are reading this.... let me just say.... I'm sorry! :P
I promise I will be back to my normal callous self tomorrow. So lets just agree to never mention this again.. k?
thpppppptttttt!

The Random

2008-02-18T18:14:00.004-05:00

We(meaing Lilia) had a meet yesterday, which I wasn't going to mention because I felt like I was bragging WAY too much by posting scores and whatnot. But Amanda mentioned the meet and was wondering how the little peanut did so I figured I would update you all. She took first all around with a 35.45, which was the highest AA (all around)score of the entire meet. Can you say PROUD Mummy?
So the only photo I have from the whole meet is one my DH took of Lil with her Vday pressie from my Mum. It is a bit out of focus but sooooo freaking sweet I couldn't not share. ;)

I had this outtake from the photo shoot the other day, of Gavin, that I really thought was cute. So McAuley(sp?)Caulkin of him. LOL

Then I have this photo of Lilia that I really like but it is a bit non traditional.

I am not sure on the settings of any of these but in anyone wants to know, ask away, I will be more than happy to go and look for ya.

The Dancing

2008-02-16T17:40:00.005-05:00

Both photos taken at 71mm, f/4.0, SS 1/320, ISO 100
This is the dance and face I see on, pretty much, a daily basis. She does this when she is being silly, when she is happy, when she is stalling, when she is being cool, she uses it to express most emotions. LOL
Love that I finally caught it on 'film'.

The Head Shots

2008-02-14T20:41:00.004-05:00

ONLY 9
f/4.5, SS 1/320, ISO 100

NOT A TWIN
f/4.4, SS 1/250, ISO 100

Lilia has decided she wants to be a model and Gavin thinks this sounds like a good idea too. So I took them outside this afternoon and took some head shots for them.
Lilia is a natural in front of the camera, she just knows how to work it. LOL
Gavin is not so natural but he is still pretty photogenic and when that kid grows into his bone structure he is going to be seriously pretty. (Mummy goggles people! and yeah I said pretty.. because honestly I can't use the word handsome for anyone I gave birth to .)
These two get confused for twins ALL THE TIME and it drives Gavin crazy because he is two years older. Poor kid got my side of the family's height and is pretty darn short right now. If he is anything like my brothers though he will grow like a maniac in high school.

more of The Same

2008-02-13T21:33:00.003-05:00

We had some crappe (say that with a french accent it sounds so much more refined) weather today so I didn't get out to take any new photos. You all get a regurgitation of yesterdays stuff.
The first photo is a new crop and play on yesterdays second photo. I did a BW conversion with a little bit of a yellow tint, a glam portrait action and added a VERY girly border. I created the border with a set of heart brushed I have.
Second photo is an outtake from yesterday. I am not crazy about her expression but I had fun playing with this. It has been glammed up then grunged out then Simply vintaged. It is one confused picture at this point. LOL
Third photo was the sun filtering through the clouds and the trees yesterday afternoon. The light was amazing!!
Thank you all for all your comments, I really look forward to reading them each day. :)

The Reluctant Model

2008-02-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

UH Oh!!! She is starting to balk at sitting for me. I might be in trouble here ladies.
See that face.... yeah .... I am pretty sure that means "get that camera out of my face NOW Mummy" .
I actually think she still likes it she just feels like she has to protest you know to make it seem more like a typical mother daughter exchange. LOL

I broke down and took her outside tonight, even though it was like 14 degrees, because I am SICK TO DEATH of inside photos with my darn kit lenses, fighting to get the settings somewhere within the usable range. BLAH!
It was just before sunset and I had her facing the sun, great soft warm light, made for much easier photo taking.
Settings are for both photos.
40-150 f/3.5-4.5
150mm
f/4.5
1/200
ISO100

The Skatepark

2008-02-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

Someone asked for a link to the actions I used so I figured I would share with everyone. They are a great action set for a really AWESOME price.
http://www.brendaacuncius.com/actions2.html

WAITING

More photos from the skatepark. I love that they let the kids create art with their old boards. They took old broken boards and created 'new' boards from them and hung them on the wall. LOVE IT! I only wish I could have had Gavin pose in front of them, but "that is so NOT cool".
I also got this a shot of Gavin waiting his turn on one of the ramps, I was in the waiting area and shot through the fence. Gavin is the youngest kid at the park most days, and tends to be a bit intimidated by the older boys and will often times wait for a few minutes until they are done with a particular ramp, rather than just jumping in and skating. I think once he gets more skeels he will be jumping right in there and making them wait for him.

Yesterday lots of people commented on the PPing, thank you but I can't take credit, I wish I could. :) They were all processed with Brendas Brown tone action. I am an action addict!!
Todays photos were processed with the same action, they both were run through noiseware as well.

The Skater

2008-02-10T18:39:00.001-05:00

Gavin is my skater boy through and through. One morning he came out of his bedroom all dressed and says to me "Is this Bam or is this Bam?", talking about his clothes LOL. Bam Margera is a pro skater that Gavin idolizes, much to my dismay as he is one of the original cast members of Jackass. I can just see Gavin waking us up one morning by putting a bullhorn to my ear or slipping some sort of wild animal in bed with us. My Mum says that by talking like that I am only making self fulfilling prophecies, I say I am only preparing myself. :D

The Old Stuff

2008-02-07T21:34:00.000-05:00

My Grandmother gave me this little figurine when I was around 4 or 5 years old. For all of my childhood it sat with all my other trinkets in a barristers bookcase. I would open up that one shelf on the bookcase and look at all my special stuff, a tea set from the depression era, a clown candydish with a bobble head, a sterling silver napkin ring with a little sparrow sitting on a branch..... lots of pretty stuff and then there was this snow white. She wasn't shiny or pretty and to my eyes then she was rather plain. Most of the other trinkets from that shelf were broken long ago or are still at my mothers house because they always seemed more hers than mine, but this little snow white has come with me every where I have lived since I left my parents home. I love her old chipped paint, I love that fact that she looks much more 1920's Hollywood glamour than she does typical cutesy Disney. She moves around my house showing up on end table displays at Halloween, to the mantle for spring scenes and where ever else I find she may be needed. She is small, and kind of creepy if you ask the boys of my house, but I like her.

I added a wood texture to this photo first then I did a vignette on a soft layer at 35ish% opacity. Then I created the heart texture and added that, again with a soft layer at 100% opacity.
I wanted to see if I could create my own watermark so I used a scrolly heart brush I already had to make my watermark. It is a bit fussy for my tastes but it fits this photo and I proved to myself that I could figure this stuff out. :D
f/4.5, 1/30, ISO 200

The Sunshine

2008-02-06T20:44:00.000-05:00

45mm, f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 200
I ran Aly's Low Res. action to make the sun really glow.

I did notice a bit of a magenta and maybe some green color cast on her face, but I am not entirely sure that is not partly because of the cold, the magenta anyway. So not the best photo of her face but I LOVE the way the sunlight hit her hair.
CC always welcome. :)

The Teen with The Hair

2008-02-06T11:43:00.001-05:00

The elusive north american teenager is one of the most coveted photos in every MWACs portfolio. I shot this one while he was distracted by his father playing Guitar Hero, he did eventually see me and go back into hiding. For now I am happy to have these two blurry-ish photos. I have heard that bribery with money or food will sometimes get them to sit still for photos, I will have to try that next time. :D

Olympus E500
40-150, 3.5-4.5
141mm
f/4.5
1/25
ISO 800
Settings are the same for both photos. I took them both in RAW(first time trying it out). I did do some exposure adjustments, ran noiseware and did a BW on them.

The Diva

2008-02-05T13:27:00.000-05:00

I ran Brenda's BW action as well as Teya's frame
Olympus E500
14-45, 3.5-5.6
43mm
f/5.6
ISO 100
1/60

She actually said "Oh no you didn't" whilst doing this pose. She cracks me up!
She becomes a different kid in front of the camera, maybe we need to do some acting. :D

My DH edited out the car in yesterdays post, if you want to see the PSed version take a look at the bottom of yesterdays post.

The Umbrella

2008-02-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

Finally a whole morning with nothing to do and a willing child. Yay for weekends!!!!
I had to go try out my score from Goodwill from earlier in the week, who can resist a polka dotted umbrella?
Lilia and I froze our tushies off in the wind and cold but it was all worth it because I got some great practice and some super cute shots.
CC Always welcome.
lens 14-45 f/3.5-5.6
45mm, f/5.6, SS 1/60, ISO 200
I thought this one looked cute with a vintage feel and of course a nice black frame because I am addicted to them. I also added the 'snow' because I wanted it to look like we had a reason to be outside with an umbrella. LOL

Please ignore the car.... it's my husbands work vehicle otherwise known as, the clunker. :)
Oversaturated the crud out this one but I liked the way it looked.

DH, the super sweet guy that he is, cloned out the car. :D
I just don't have the patience for that kind of PSing.

The Pretty

2008-01-31T21:03:00.000-05:00

My Mum has been making this really awesome jewelry lately and I have finally convinced her to open her own Etsy store. She has asked me to take pictures of her pieces and brought a bunch down today for me to start on. She didn't get here until much later in the afternoon but I did manage to get these shots of my favorite necklace before the light went away. The stone is one she found while gem hunting that she then polished herself on her polishing machine/wheel thingy. Then she hand beaded the entire setting the stone is in as well as the necklace itself.
And hey I found yet another super cool use for my giant heart rock!

Oh and I will let you all know what her Esty addy is as soon as she gets it all set up... probably sometime next week.
f/4.9 , 1/30, ISO 400 I sharpened for and resized for web.

I also had a pretty good shopping trip today, I found a really nice GAP barn jacket for my son for four dollars as well as a super cool umbrella(black with multi colored polka dots) for 3 dollars. Where am I finding these super deals you ask?? At only the most exclusive shop around.....Goodwill of course darling! But then I found something I thought for sure I would never find, at least not this year, a giant heart lollipop! I got three of them at the Tarjay dollar spot!!!!!! So I took a couple photos of my DD, who else? LOL

f/5.6, 1/20, ISO 100 I ran a color boost on the first and a vignette and Brendas BW on the second.

The Linking :D

2008-01-30T23:19:00.000-05:00

Yeah that's right, I am going to be a blog hooker just for the chance at winning 100 buckaroos at Vibe, Renee Oakenfull's totally awesome blog. You really should check her out, her actions are gorgeous, and she has lots of other fun stuff too. :)

The Desk Accessories

2008-01-29T18:54:00.000-05:00

In my head the title of this post is said in a, Hank, from King of the Hill, voice " I sell propane and propane accessories". :D
Not having models to photo during the day makes it hard to find interesting things to photograph. So here you have it, my fairy dish thing that sits on my computer desk and holds various junk that doesn't have another home on my desk. As an added bonus you get the gorgeous bokeh background of my birds cages. Creative genius I tell ya!
These were taken at a super low shutter speed, my living room is really dark because my husband insists on keeping the blinds shut all day to help keep the cold out.
Oh and I am on theme today! HOLY COW I think pigs must be flying.
Olympus E500
14-45 f/3.5-5.6

45mm, f/5.6, shutter speed 1/10, ISO 400
Did a levels adjustment, slight curves adjustment, and ran Alys Canvas action.

33mm, f/4.8, shutter speed 1/10, ISO 400
Same PPing as above

Then one more play because I loved it so much. This is the Toy Camera action that Toni shared yesterday.

The Eyes

2008-01-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

I clicked a few quick shots before we ran out the door for gymnastics this afternoon. I am trying to convince the boys to let me take their picture too, so far no luck. :(
I think I may have a little leverage now though, they want me to take them to the skate park this weekend.... bwahahahahaha..........mean Mum that I am they are going to have to pose for skate access!
Thankfully Lilia is still a pretty willing model, she actually jumps at the chance to do photos with me. She is really interested in photography in general though, she will ask me how I got that cool blurred background and critique my photos and she will spend an hour or more poring over the latest photog magazine............... it might be time to get her a camera.

I am working on getting my exposure up to snuff(so far no consistency). I had to brighten this up a bit as it was pretty underexposed but for the first photo that is all I did.
The second photo I used Brenda's vintage action, added a very light texture layer and light border as well.
Because of the crappy light available late in the afternoon and me not wanting a noisy photo(so low ISO) I had to use a REALLY low shutter speed but I got some pretty good focus anyway

Olympus E500
14-45 f/3.5-5.6
focal length 45mm
ISO 200
SS 1/25
f/5.6
CC always welcome.

The All Around

2008-01-28T07:11:00.000-05:00

So, every other weekend from now until May you all will probably be subjected to gymnastics pictures. They are what we do on weekends during the competitive season and this kid makes me so proud.
She took first place all around again this weekend even though her meet had a pretty rough start with only a 7.3 on floor, UGH! She pulled herself together to go on to get a 9.3 on vault, a 9.2 on beam and an 8.9 on bars, taking first in all but floor.
Having such a hard time on floor really made her focus harder on her other events and she did the best beam routine I have ever seen her do. It has also given her drive to get back in the gym and really work on those few components that she missed or messed up. Hopefully by the end of the season I will be reporting firsts in all events.

My DH took these pictures, although we did discuss the settings and such on the way to the meet, does that count? LOL
He took them in sports mode with the ISO bumped up to 1600 and no flash(for obvious reasons). He also set the white balance by finding out the heat of the lights in the gym, that seemed to work fairly well.
I did have to lighten them all a bit in levels and do a color correct for a greenish cast that you can still see in a couple of them.

A pose on beam

Beginning her floor routine

A couple shots from bars

The Geranium

2008-01-24T19:08:00.000-05:00

This poor little plant I brought inside this past fall, after having been out all summer, it did not take to house life well, AT ALL. For quite some time it was just a stalk with 4 or 5 leaves, it is now starting to come around again and push more leaves and I think I even see a bud stalk starting. He sits in the middle of my dining room table where there are windows facing north and east so he gets a fair amount of sun in the morning, but he still reaches for those windows. (yeah I am a crazy plant lady and talk about my plants as if they are people)
I thought this would be a fun photo to play with textures in PS, so no the pink toile is not my curtains. :P
I did a slight color boost on this to bring the greens out, used a texture at about 40% opacity and did a quick vignette with a dusty grey rose color to keep with the theme.

Olympus E500
14-45, 3.5-5.6
ISO 800
SS 1/25
f/5.6

I think all of us who live in snowy cold climate can relate to this little plant, reaching for the sun during the LONG winter months.

NO PSing except the color boost.

With the texture and vignette.

The Stuff

2008-01-23T21:05:00.001-05:00

Two very different shots today, one PSed to the nines the other SOOC.

Rocks of Love

Hubby poured himself a glass of Mountain Dew (YUCK!) and there was just a little bit left in the bottle so he poured it all in the glass. He apparently poured the exact right amount of liquid in the glass without hitting terminal volume. You can see the soda is actually over the brim of the glass but not spilling out. Being that this was Mountain Dew I thought it was appropriate to run a really severe urban acid on it.

My Cup Runneth Over....................... Almost

The Girl

2008-01-22T20:05:00.000-05:00

She even has a name, Lilia. She is such a good sport sitting for me whenever I need her to. She is always patient and works with me well, heck she doesn't even mind if it takes me 1/2 hour or more to get what I think I want. I just had to get some shots with those tights, they are so freaking cute!!!!!
I wanted to say Thank You to everyone who comments on my blog for your super kind comments day after day. You all are the best, and make POTD such a great experience.

The technical stuff:
32mm
1/80
ISO 400
f/4.4
I played with levels a bit to brighten it up, and ran Noiseware.

Same as above and I used Kristi's Creamy BW(Thank You!!!!!!! Kristi)

The Food

2008-01-21T21:36:00.000-05:00

There was this totally awesome light in my kitchen shining on my breakfast so what did I do, as a sane normal person? I took pictures before I finished cooking my food, of course. :P

Olympus E500
1/40
f/5.5
ISO 125
43mm

The gasp Me

2008-01-18T19:16:00.000-05:00

So here it is, my chubby, middle aged, housewifey face in all its 33 year old glory!
I took this photos yesterday, they are definitely not perfect, not even close, kind of like me.
I HATE being in front of the camera, it feels much to selfish and vain to me but I think my kids need to see some pictures of me that aren't from my 20's.
I took these in my bathroom(where the light was) at arms length so was rather limited as to poses and such. I REALLY need to figure out that darn timer. :0
So without further ado here they are the once a decade self portraits. PHEW!

Olympus E500
14-42mm, 3.5-5.6

ISO 800, 1/25, f/4.o Does the scarf look familiar? hehe

Up the nose, the perfect shot for flattering nostril shots! LOL The pose is awful but this photo really conveys just how I feel about being in front of that lens.

Even though this is super noisy I kind of like the feel of this one, I suppose I could always embellish the truth a bit and say I put a texture on it. :D Alas it is just crappy shooting that caused it, oh well. I particularly like how this one makes my shnooze look humongous. ha!

The Stuff

2008-01-17T19:37:00.000-05:00

I have these old canning jars on my windowsills and keep them filled with all manner of fun stuff, candy, tinsel garland, rocks, buttons, old thread spools.... you name it. I love the way they look all lined up nice and neat and in a row with lots of pretties to look at. :)
Both shots are SOOC any CC is welcome.

Olympus E500
14-45 3.5-4.5
45mm
f/5.6
1/100
ISO 200

37mm
f/5.1
1/100
ISO 200

The Middle Child

2008-01-16T21:14:00.000-05:00

This is my middle child and boy is he!
He is my toughest child, he is my sweety pie, he is my kid who feels everything with everything he is, he is my sensitive soul, and he is my child who keeps my life interesting. He is also the one who found the massive heart rock and when he did he brought it home especially for me, this kid ROCKS my socks off! :D

Unedited version, sort of, I had to run noiseware but that is all the alteration done on this one.

The edited version. I ran Brenda's BW action on this one.

CC always welcome!

The Super Talented

2008-01-16T10:07:00.000-05:00

POTD for Jan. 16th post below this one.
I love this song and the video has some really nice photography in it, especially the last shot they show, Awesome!!! Thought I would share something beautiful with all my POTDers, I hope you like it. :)
Are you able to see this video? One poster has said she couldn't view it, it is only a white box.

The Boy

2008-01-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

This is my first born, my funny boy, my thirteen year old, the kid who cracks me up more than almost anyone else on this planet.
He calls me bunnyducky ala Cheese from Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends.
He made me a Mother when I thought I couldn't do it. And even though he frustrates me to near tears sometimes I HEART this kid like crazy.

Have you ever tried to tell a 13 year old boy you want to take his picture with a heart rock? Let me tell you now, it does not go over well at all. I had to bribe him, actually I had to tell him no snacks until he let me get a few shots and I think he really enjoyed himself even though he would never admit it.

Olympus E500
14-45, 3.5-5.6
ISO 1600 (who is an idiot and always forgets to check the ISO? MEEEeeeeee!!)
SS 1/640
f/4.5
I had to run Noiseware on these because of the ISO.
These were processed with Brenda's Color boost action, which I really Lurve!

Funny boy.

OMGosh LOVE this photo, I can't even explain how it makes me feel.

The Number ONE!!

2008-01-14T13:52:00.000-05:00

Ok so this post is more proud Mummy than it is photographer. The photos are crappola due to the location of the shots and the absence of the right lens but they are some of my favorites for the time being.
My DD(9) is a competitive gymnast, level 4. She had her first meet of the season yesterday and walked away with 1 third place on beam(8.8), 1 second place on bars (9.2) and 3 first place ribbons on vault(9.5), floor (8.7) and ALL AROUND (36.1). This was all against 3 other teams, one of which is considered the best team in the state, also against 20 some odd other girls in her level and age group. She has worked her little tushy off for this and I couldn't be prouder of her, nor could she be any happier, unless of course she takes the title at Regionals. :D
I did stay on theme with the first photo and PSed out her coach because well see for yourself.
It is not the best job in the world you can definitely see what I have done but if you weren't looking hard I don't think you would really notice.
Olympus E500
45-150 3.5-4.5
All photos taken on ISO 1600 and shutter speed of 1/50-1/60.

The unedited version

Sans coach

And then just some fun shots of her on beam, bars, floor and just being a goof.

You run like girl.

You jump like a girl.

You swing like a girl

You fly four feet over a bar ten feet off the ground

Like a girl

Walkover with super straight legs

Jumping for her mount on bars

Goofball, I swear I think I have the exact picture from every meet she has ever been in.

So sorry for such a long, picture heavy post but I had to share. :)

The Hubby and The Boy

2008-01-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a total bust, rain, clouds, no light which means no photos. BLAH!
So here are some photos from a couple weeks ago of my husband and my oldest son. I asked them to throw snowballs at me while I was taking pictures and they were more than happy to oblige. I was hit many times during this process and every time these two fools would laugh like little girls. They never grow up, but that's OK I kind of like their silliness, but Shhhhhh don't tell them.

The Girl in The Hat, Again

2008-01-10T19:42:00.000-05:00

Yet another shoot with the girl, she was the only one in the house willing to come and play with me. Which really was fine because I had just bought a new scarf I wanted to try out on her anyway. And awesomeness of all awesomeness I have found her bedroom has the best light at just about 3pm, just when they are all getting home from school. Yippeee!
I have informed my oldest, the boy, that he IS next, tomorrow he will be getting his pictures taken whether he likes it or not. I am tend to think it will be more towards the "not", but hey at least I will get some good moody teen photos out of it. LOL
I am trying something new today, posting pics directly from my photobucket site, hopefully this works. All photos were taken in natural light with my Olympus E500 and 14-45 lens. CC me!
20mm , f/5.6, 1/13,ISO160

45mm, f/5.6, 1/40, ISO 400

The Middle Child

2008-01-09T20:46:00.000-05:00

I had to fight to get these pictures, you would have thought I asked the kid to eat broccoli the way he moaned and complained. I was given exactly 5 minutes and not a second more! LOL
To get a little better lighting on his face I wrapped a cookie sheet in tin foil and had The Girl use it as a reflector for me. Since I don't have a real reflector I figured this was better than nothing. :D
It was really dark and dreary out so I needed to boost my ISO way up which means I did have to run these through noiseware and did a bit of PSing as well.
Obviously I did a BW conversion on a couple, the two normal colored versions all I did was noiseware and the brighter color version I did a little color boost with hue/saturation and color balance.
Olympus E500
14-45 f3.5-5.6
all taken with the same settings
17mm
f/3.6
SS 1/100
ISO 1000
CC me baby! :)

The Toys

2008-01-08T19:52:00.000-05:00

f/4.9, ss 1/200, fl 31mm, ISO 1000
f/4, ss 1/200, fl 21mm, ISO 1000(this one is my DHs favorite of the bunch, he didn't say why. I may have to ask him :D )
f/5.3, ss 1/60, fl 41mm, ISO 1000
f/4.9, ss 1/200, fl 35mm, ISO 1000

Today I decided to try and play with DOF. I wanted to see just what my kits lenses could do and if I could achieve that awesome blurred background that I so love. My dds room has the BEST light at around 1:30, no kids home so I used the next best thing American Girl dolls and their knockoffs.
I like the light in these although I am not crazy about the direct sunlight on the dolls face. I should have moved her but this was the best place in the room for me to be able to maneuver without breaking something. Please try and disregard my dds really messy bedroom, UGH! that child is the biggest slob ever!
I also forget to reset my ISO from the photos of my dog so it was set at 1000..... way to high for these great lighting conditions but, oh well, I am still fairly happy with them.
CC welcome, no really, I promise I can take it. :D

Olympus e500
14-45 f/3.5-5.6

The Black Dog

2008-01-07T17:14:00.000-05:00

This is for 1/8/08 POTD see below for 1/7/08 POTD. :)
This is one, of my two, geriatric dogs, Chloe is an 11 1/2 year old black lab. We also call her Her Highness ,Her Highness Chloesita Queen Fat@ss, Fatty, or Sita(seeta) ummmm yeah she is a little overweight(see fat roll on her HEAD) but we tell her she is just fluffy.
She hates the camera or more precisely me behind the camera, I think the fact she can't see my face freaks her out, so she avoids eye contact at all costs. LOL
Taking a good picture of this dog is darn near impossible for me, she is so black that you lose all her expression in the images. I had to do quite a bit of PPing to get the detail back and to get rid of all the noise due to her super shiny coat.
CC welcome!
Olympus e500
40-150mm
ISO 1000
f/4
SS 1/25
Focal Length 71mm

The View

2008-01-07T08:41:00.000-05:00

I took this photo this morning, the way the light was filtering through the fog looked really nice to me. I don't think I quite captured how pretty it really was, but I think that is true of a lot of landscape/nature photos you can never quite capture just how beautiful it really was.

I did a quick levels adjustment to bring out the sun a bit more and to make the tree stand out a bit more as well. I also was teaching myself to frame, can you tell? LOL
CC always welcome, I love to know how I can make my photos better.
Olympus E500
Lens 40-150
ISO 100
f/11
Shutter Speed 1/200
Focal Length 150mm

The Girl

2008-01-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

You will probably be seeing lots of this girl because she is currently the only willing model I have. My two boys run screaming from the room whenever they see my camera, they are both older and a bit wiser and know what is coming when Mummy is behind the big black box.
I took this in front of an east facing window at about 3PM one afternoon, sunny but not bright sun streaming through the window, also LOTS of snow outside to bounce the light. I think I need a reflector for this type of stuff.
Olympus E500
14-45mm f/3.5-5.6
ISO 100
f/4.6
Focal Length 31mm
Shutter Speed around 1/20

I probably could have boosted the ISO up a bit to get a better exposed photo and the focus is not as nice as I would like, although I am starting to wonder if that has more to do with my lens and less to do with me. Probably wishful thinking there. LOL
I think the side of her face closest to the window is a bit blown looking in the BW version but doesn't look blown in the color version, I not sure what happened there, if it is a problem with the photo or the way it was converted.
As always CC welcome!
Second shot is SOOC and the third I have run Brendas BW on it.

First shot I played a bit in PS, I am such a PS dummy so it took me awhile to figure it all out. I burned the blown out part of her face at 1% on the midtones only, I also burned her lips and eyelashes to get them to stand out more, and I used the dodge tool to enhance the catchlights a bit. Is it any better now?

The Hat

2008-01-03T00:46:00.001-05:00

Extremely PPed photo:
Saturation and Hue played with to get the green of the tree more.... well ...... green
Exposure played with to get the whites more white and bright
Curves played with to get the whites even whiter
I think that's it. I haven' t yet learned to write down exactly what I am doing as I do it so that I can recreate it again..... so I have no idea what values those above actions were.

SOOC photo:
ISO 100
F/5.0
Focal Length 150mm
Still can't find that shutter speed, UGH I must be doing something wrong here.

Ahhhhhh I had a whole long post all typed out and blogger ate it!
Anywho, I really didn't like this picture sooc, but with a little(ok a LOT of PP) I kind of like it.
CC always welcome, even if I say I like a picture I can't see what I am doing horrifically wrong if you super talented girls don't point it out to me. :D I think that should say ESPECIALLY if I say I like it because obviously if I like it and it is complete trash I need to know people. LOL
Taken with:
Olympus E500
40-150mm, f/3.5-4.5
manual mode
no flash

Snow Snow Snow.... you want some??

2008-01-02T21:02:00.000-05:00

Over the past two days we have gotten somewhere between 18 and 20 inches of snow!!!!
Between storms we all went outside and the kids(hubby included) had a snowball fight, great opportunity for me to practice with my exposure and focus.
These are the best shots but still nowhere near good.
CC always welcome.
Camera: Olympus E500
Lens: 40-150mm, 3.5-4.5
First photo taken at ISO 100, f/5.0, Focal Length 88mm and I can't seem to find the shutter speed. What am I doing wrong?
I can't seem to get anymore photos to upload so I will stop here and post more later.

Love this

2007-12-20T20:31:00.000-05:00

I hope you enjoy this song as much as I do. It makes me feel so peaceful everytime I hear it, I think I have played it 20 times over the past 24 hours.

A New Year(almost) A New Blog

2007-12-20T13:11:00.002-05:00

A fresh start always feels good, so rather than recycle last years photo blog I created a brand new one.
And because I am so excited that we are going to have a white Christmas this year, my take on all the snow out there.

Pictures Of...

Name and Logo?

Teh Kids

Sunset

Down to the Swimmin' Hole

Fox and Chicken are Friends

She's Home

Old is New Again

Bloom

Just Playin'

Little Chicken

8th Grade Recognition and other stuff

The "Where the HECK have you been?"

The Bubbles

The Girl

The Sequel

The Little Girl Lost

The Big Bird

The Life

The Tester

The Gymnastics Sunday Report

The Tree

The Updates

The Cuppy Cakes

The Sicky Chicky

The Army

The Avril Wannabe

The Windows

The Wishing

The Other Child

The Location

The Vacation

The Yellow Dog

The Promise

The Random

The Dancing

The Head Shots

more of The Same

The Reluctant Model

The Skatepark

The Skater

The Old Stuff

The Sunshine

The Teen with The Hair

The Diva

The Umbrella

The Pretty

The Linking :D

The Desk Accessories

The Eyes

The All Around

The Geranium

The Stuff

The Girl

The Food

The *gasp* Me

The Stuff

The Middle Child

The Super Talented

The Boy

The Number ONE!!

The Hubby and The Boy

The Girl in The Hat, Again

The Middle Child

The Toys

The Black Dog

The View

The Girl

The Hat

Snow Snow Snow.... you want some??

Love this

A New Year(almost) A New Blog

The gasp Me