Hello Monday

Hello May 14.  As in, yay, we're done with Mother's Day.  I know.  I'm a bad person, but I really hate Mother's Day -- especially now that my mom and MIL are both gone.  But for me, whose goal in life was to be a mom, after struggling with 10+ years of infertility and treatments, and just this past year having my tubes tied and an ablation done so there is no more possibility of being said mom, it's a day I can well do without. (If that was an over-share, I apologize.)

Hello, yummy, tasty Mango Salad.  Made for dinner last night with items from our bountiful basket.  Seriously, a new fave. 

Hello, healing puppy.  Our Sadie-bug, (75 lb. lab/shepherd mix) has been suffering from skin allergies the past couple of weeks, and then on Thursday, had a cyst on her back that ruptured.  Therefore, hello trip to the vet to have it lanced and cleaned.  Looks much better after a weekend of meds and ointment -- but she looks funny with the big shaved spot on her back!  (Shh, don't tell her I said that!)   

Hello, beautiful rosebuds!  My rosebushes are being slow to bloom this spring, but are FULL of buds getting ready to bloom!  I just hope we get to see some of them before we leave for graduations! 

Hello, sweet great-niece!  You are growing so fast -- I wish you lived closer so I could just squish those sweet cheeks and hug that sweet little body!  (And, yes, the sand is blue.  Apparently, Crayola makes colored sand.  Who knew??)

Hello, frozen coffee.  (Frozen mocha, if we're being technical, with peppermint and and extra shot of espresso.)  Lovely little local place.  AWESOME coffee.  Although my hubbs would disagree that this actually qualifies as coffee.  But with 80* weather this week, I'm thinking frozen sounds pretty dang good. 

Hello, recumbent bike.   Hoping to get my grove on and build strength in my legs and back in preparation for our summer trip to AK this year.  Of course, this means cleaning out our downstairs to make room for the bike . . . trust me.  You don't want to see those photos.  I don't need any of you reporting me to Hoarders.  

What are you saying hello to this week?  

Hello Monday is a Lisa Leonard inspired practice.  
Hello Monday header is courtesy of Katrina Simeck. 

Until next time,

PageMaps Sketch and a Contest!

Hi!

Just a quick post today, for a contest over at Write.Click.Scrapbook.  They are featuring this PageMaps sketch:

The challenge was to create a scrapbook page based on this sketch, and post the link over on their blog.  Here is my version, of my sweet great-niece, Penny.  She had turned one the day before, and her mom and dad took this adorable photo of her smile!   She's quite happy to be a big girl!  :)  

I had so much fun creating this page.  I've been working almost non-stop on my Project Life album (more on that next week) and I find I'm really missing my "conventional" scrapbooking!!  So, this was a lot of fun for me.  Thanks for stopping by and looking!!  Until next time,

The Cutest Little Great-Niece EVER!

I might just be a wee bit prejudiced, but seriously, can you resist this face??

Or this sweet little downward facing dog?  

I know I can't!!  And I want to take just a minute to wish Miss Penny Ann the happiest of first birthdays!!  Yep, she's ONE today!!  YAY, Penny!  I know it sounds goofy, but this little one has brought so much joy into my life -- as much as her daddy did when HE was born 30 years ago!  My sister is very blessed by her family, and I'm sure will be enjoying the day with her sweet little grandbaby.  Have a wonderful day, Penny!!  We love you!  Until next time,

Lifestyle Photography Class -- Assignment #3

Oh, my goodness!  This was the difficult week, as we were home for my brother-in-law's funeral; however, I was able to spend time with my sweet great-niece, which gave me my great decisive moment, as well as visit one of Wyoming's natural wonders -- Pathfinder Dam, which, when overflowing, creates a 200 foot waterfall.  I had fun this week trying to find contrast and capture it in my photos.  I hope you enjoy them!

 

Week 3

Part One: Conceptual Contrast

The contrast of subject elements within our frame, such as big vs. small, wet vs. dry, dark vs. light, man vs. nature, old vs. young, or a million other options. Please post three images.  Your contrast can be the same in all three, or it can be different, but I want to see your creativity with the use of Point of View and make sure you use the Less is More principle by having nothing but the story in the picture. 

Free vs. restrained

Near vs. far, dark vs. light, left vs. right

Man vs. nature 

(ie., the dam is man-made, trying to hold back the force of nature)

Part Two: The Decisive Moment

The Decisive Moment is that rare moment in which the composition of a photo and the message or emotion of the scene reach an apex. Shoot something meaningful to you that you love.  But you only get three shots.  How does this limitation help you consider composition, point of view, framing, and of course, the timing of your image more than the ability to continuously fire?  Please post your ONE favorite of the three shots.

 

Trust me, this was a very decisive moment!  Miss Penny, my great-niece, is at that age where she's afraid of strangers, and is definitely a mama's girl!  Getting her to stop crying, much less smile, while I was watching her was nothing short of a miracle!  LOL!  But, she LOVED my camera, so I got lucky.  We had been playing peek-a-boo, and then went for a little walk outside, stopping by my truck to get the camera.  When we came indoors, I put her in her boppy (this little C-shaped pillow), and waited.  Playing peek-a-boo, once again, this time using the camera, I was able to finally get a little smile!   For this, waiting was worth it!  :)  Isn't she gorgeous?  

Thanks for checking out my pictures this 'week.'  :)  One more post to go!  As always, comments are welcomed -- please let me know what you think!  Namaste!

Photo Basics -- Week 2 Homework

OK!  So here we are with week two of my photography class: Photographic Principle: Shutter Speed.  I can tell you that I'm going to be doing a LOT of practice with these settings!!  Actually, I can tell you that I'll be doing that with all of the assignments, just because shooting in manual is so new.  But it's so awesome to be in control!!  In fact, I was practicing my singular theme photos this weekend on my sisters daffodils, and she said "Oh -- are you using the MACRO button?"  I got to smile :) and say, "No, manual!!"  We've been in WY this weekend for Easter, so had limited opportunities for photos.  Limited time, rather, I guess.  Anyways, here are my submissions for this week:


 FROZEN ACTION images

Actually, for this one I have two:  the one I wanted to submit, but I know it was too dark -- but I still love the concept. If you click on it and look at it closer, you can see her ears frozen.  Can't quite tell her feet are off the ground!  My dog, Sydine, jumps for her ball, and this would have been a great frozen action shot if I had gone out just a little earlier:

ISO 1000

1/1000

f /5.6

So, I know that one is too dark, but I wanted to show you that it would've been really awesome!  This is actually my submission for the first photo -- my nephew, Nicholas, is into longboarding, and this is a picture of him coming at me:

ISO 250

1/250

f /13

Post one IMPLIED MOTION image:

My submission for this one is of my uber-adorable great niece, Miss Penny.  She was 5 mo. on the 18th, and is into waving her arms when you talk to her!  So stinkin' cute!  Just love her to pieces.  If you look at her left hand, it's blurred while the rest of her is in focus:

ISO 250

1/5

f/5

Post one PANNING image:

Ok, I have to admit I am extra proud of this -- even though it was a fluke.  Second panning picture I tried, and I think it came out pretty darn good!!  I tried several closer photos after that, but blurred my nephew as well as the background in all of them.  Will have to keep practicing -- but am thrilled to share this with you all!

ISO 250

1/30

f/36

So, there you have week two!!  Many thanks to my nephew, Nicholas, and my other nephew, Chris and his beautiful wife Summer for sharing their sweet Penny with me and letting me post these pictures.  Till next week, friends and fellow photogs!  Namaste!

Absolutely Adorable!

Phew!  I made it through a busy weekend of team meetings and playgroup.  Resting a little today, then its off to create again!  I hope to have my February playgroup information (complete with photos!) posted by the end of the week  . . . so stay tuned! 

In the meantime, I just had to share a photo of my brand new great niece, Miss Penny Anne.  She is just approaching 2 months old -- was one month in the following photo.  You can see that the fan club is mutual, LOL!

Such a cute little bug.  She makes my days brighter, and makes me smile.  I think it might be time for a trip home for a Penny fix!

Until next time,
Namaste!