Summer Days

Last summer we spent our family vacation on the shores of Lake Michigan.  I wanted to get portraits of the girls at the beach so I made sure to bring dresses for both of them.  I remember this day very well.  We drove into Pentwater and had dinner out on the deck of a restaurant in town.  It was nice eating outside and listening to the entertainment.  There was a local girl singing and playing a guitar.  She sounded great.  She had a stack of her cds that she was selling, so I bought one as we were leaving.  We later found out, she was on the show America’s Got Talent.  To hear her music check out her website, Debra Romer.

After dinner the sun was beginning to set so we went to the beach to get some pictures.  The girls had so much fun playing in the sand and being little models.  They thought it was so cool to play in the water with their dresses on.  We got lucky because on the shore was a blue boat that matched their blue dresses.  The sunlight was perfect.  The setting was perfect.  The girls were perfect.  I was able to capture a lot of great memories.  My daughters will only be young once and I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

If you are thinking of getting portraits taken this year and you love the beach, you might want to have those portraits taken on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Contact me to set up a session.

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Week 9

March 27th, 2011

Reflections

1/125 s f/11 ISO 200

Ariana and I went to a park in Commerce this evening for our weekly photo shoot.  We weren’t there too long because it was so cold today. I know it’s Michigan, but was kind of hoping for a warm spring. We didn’t bring our gloves and our hands were freezing.  This park is a nice place to go and there are always people there walking. I actually did family portraits there last fall and they turned out great.  You just have to watch out for the geese droppings.  Ewwwwww.

I like this park because of the trees.  They are in the swamp and are dead.  It’s like being in a tree grave yard.  A couple years ago when I first took pictures here, there were a lot more trees standing.  I didn’t see any trees that captured my eye like I did a couple of years ago.  I did however capture this nice picture of the bridge.  The bridge is a another highlight of the park and it leads you to the trees.

Spring Day

1/60 s f/4.5 ISO 200

I like this picture better than the following picture because of the lens flare.  Most of the time you do everything in your power not to get lens flare but in this instance I think it adds a creative artistic element to the picture.

Spring 2

1/320 s f/4.5 ISO 200

Before & After

Us Girls

I was going through my pictures the other day and realized I never finished editing my vacation pictures!  I am really bad at that.  I am very critical of my own work and it takes me awhile to like my own pictures.  I always look for how I could have made them better. When I first got back from my trip I only liked a few.  I edited the ones I really liked and passed over the others.  Now nine months later when I looked back at my vacation shots I realized there were many great pictures I passed over.

I always loved this shot that Trevor (my husband) took.  I didn't like all the extra distractions in the background though.  I knew it would take some time to edit this one and that is why I held off touching it up. I would have loved to have had this shot taken with no people on the beach.  But let's be real, when would a beach during the summer not have any other people there.  Especially at sunset.

Week 8

Old Detroit
1/30s f/2.8 ISO 8000

Ariana went to the Detroit Historical Museum over winter break with a friend.  She has been wanting to go again and show us what was in the basement.  She loved the museum and would not tell us what was in the basement.  She wanted it to be a surprise.  We finally had a free weekend and took the kids to the museum.  I had picked up two free passes at the library and Trevor got a library card and picked up two free passes as well.

Before we went to the museum we first stopped and had lunch at Lafayette Coney.  We love that place.  It is a hole in the wall but they really do have the BEST coneys.  If you have never ate there, you are really missing out.  The next time you are in Detroit stop in and get a coney.  Check out their facebook page at Lafayette.

After lunch we went to the museum.  When we got there we discovered there was no charge to get in.  I'm not sure why. We didn't even need to use our free passes.  The kids had a blast.  They really like museums and seeing artifacts from the past.  We were walking around looking at everything and then the girls and I lost Trevor.  Or he lost us.  Either way we couldn't find him.  When we finally caught up with him, said he was in the basement and wanted to show us it.  Ariana was a little deflated.  SHE wanted to show us the basement.  Trevor felt bad that he went in the basement without us but he thought we were down there. He told Ariana that the rest of us hadn't see the basement and could lead us down to it.

When we got down there, we were all in awe.  It was a walk through time from mid 19th century to early 20th century Detroit.  My favorite was the 1840s.  The picture "Old Detroit" is my picture for the week because this is what Ariana had been waiting to show me for a couple months.  I can see why she thought the basement was very cool and wanted to show us it.  If you get a chance, check out the Detroit Historical Museum.

Wolf Moon Blogged

March 19th, 2011

Wolf Moon Over the Lake

I started following Michigan in Pictures  back in July of 2009.  It is a really cool blog where the author showcases pictures from Michigan and writes a blog post to go with them.  I have been wanting one of my pictures to be featured.  After a long wait my Wolf Moon Over the Lake was featured on March 19th.  Read the blog post Sap Moon, Worm Moon, Super Moon and see my pictured featured on blog.

Week 7

Luck
7.5s f/16.0 ISO 100

It was cold and dreary today and I had no idea what to take pictures of.  I looked out the window and saw no light and only grey skies.  I was hoping to get a beautiful sunset tonight but looking out the window I didn't know if that was going to happen.  I decided to press my luck and wait.  There have been days where it was so miserable all day and then the clouds break and there was the most beautiful sunset ever.  I was press my luck and see if I would get that sunset.

While I was waiting for that sunset, Ariana went to her friend's house to play and I did our taxes and paid some bills.  After a few hours I pulled myself away from the computer and checked outside again.  Still no light.  I decided to keep waiting.  I did some laundry and edited some pictures.  Still no light.  I started to get a little worried.  I began to realize that there was not going to be a sunset.  What were we going to take pictures of?????  I had no ideas.  It looked so crappy out that I didn't even think portraits would look good.  There was no light at all to work with.  It was week 7 and I was plum out of ideas.  Only week 7 and no ideas I thought.  How would I ever make it to week 52?  What was I going to do?

I started walking around my house looking for anything remotely interesting to photograph.  My house is pretty boring and I couldn't find anything.  I looked out in the backyard and all I saw was melting snow and mud.  Yuck.  The end of winter and beginning of spring is never pretty.  I am so sick of winter and just want spring to get here already.  Then I remembered St. Patrick's Day was this week.  I started to think of how I could incorporate the holiday into the photo challenge.  I thought about the dried four clover I had in my jewelry box.  I really didn't want to take a picture of a dried up clover so I kept thinking.

I started to think about the photography lessons I had been I teaching Ariana.  I taught her about aperture the last few weeks and thought maybe I could teach about shutter speeds this week.  Then an idea came to me.  I could teach her about light painting.  I could teach her how you can leave the shutter open and paint light with a flash light!  This was how I was going to incorporate St. Paddy's Day into the challenge.  I was really excited to tell Ariana my idea.

When she got home from her friend's house I told her about the my idea.  She love the idea and was excited.  She knew what I was talking about because we did this over the 4th of July with sparklers.  In July she drew pictures of stars with the sparkers while I was taking pictures of the fireworks.  This time though, she will get to take the pictures too.  We had to wait for it to get dark first.  This is when she reminded me that we should have done this the day before.  We would have to wait longer for it to get dark outside since we had to change the clocks ahead this morning.  She was right but it was worth the wait.

We waited until it was dark and then went and got the camera and the tripod.  You must use a tripod if you are going to hold open the shutter.  We also used the D60 because I don't have a remote for the D700 yet.  One more thing to add to my list of camera equipment I need.

Ariana was the first one to take the pictures while I drew with the light.  I decided to paint four leaf clovers with the flash light.  It was so much fun.   We then switched and I took the pictures and Ariana drew with the light.  We kept going back and forth.  Then we started to get creative and write our names with the light.  We were outside quite awhile.  It was cold out there but we didn't care because we were having too much fun.  Ariana said this was her most favorite photo challenge yet.  I told her we would have to do this more often.  She agreed that we should.  We then decided to call it quits and go inside.  We were both pretty cold.  Ariana said she didn't mind that she was cold because at least there wasn't any mosquitoes.  Again she was right.

I picked "Luck" as the picture for the week because I made my own luck.  It was a grey dreary day and I was so uninspired.  It was the luck of the Irish that pulled me out of my photography idea slump.  I also thought it was fitting since it is St. Patrick's Day this week and I am part Irish.  Ariana also drew such a beautiful four leaf clover.  To get the green effect I edited the picture in CS4 and changed the color to green.

Rock Star

17.0s f.16.0 ISO 100

This picture was the runner up for this week.  If it wasn't St. Paddy's Day I would have picked this one.  To get this picture I told Ariana to strike a pose.  Then I used the light to trace her body.  I like how the light not only traces her body but also highlights her body and face just a touch.  In CS4 I changed the color of the light.  I like the effect of the different color of lights.  I think it makes the picture more interesting.   Ariana really loved this picture.  We will be doing more of these in the future.

Michelle

17.0s f/16.0 ISO 100

I took this picture and painted my name with the light.  I then changed the color in CS4.

Forever
12.0s f/16.0 ISO 100

We were all done and I was about to take the camera off the tripod when Ariana said, "Wait I want to do one more."  So I took one more picture.  This is what she made for me.  I will treasure it forever.

Week 6

March 6th, 2011

Young Photographer

24mm 1/160s f/22 ISO 200

Our plans for today were to take portraits of each other at my favorite boardwalk.  I don't have many pictures of myself because I am always the one behind the camera.  The portrait plan didn't work out.  We had to be done taking pictures at 3pm because we were going to my brother-in-law's house for dinner.  It was noon and we were getting ready to leave, and the sun came out.  Usually this is a good thing. A nice sunny day in winter to melt the snow and drabness away.  But when you have to take pictures between 12-3 the sun is not your friend.  The best time to take pictures is in the morning or the evening.    And you never want to take portraits when the sunlight is so harsh.  You will get bad shadows, everybody will be squinting, and your shots just won't look good.  

I wasn't sure what to do.  I wanted to do portraits but that wasn't going to happen.  I needed an overcast day or I needed to shoot in the evening.  The evening was out because of the dinner plans so I had to come up with something.  Then I thought of something I read in one of my photography books.  It said something about using the light to your advantage.  So I thought maybe we could go to a park and take pictures of shadows.  Maybe a fence and it's shadow in the snow.  It wasn't going to be great but at least it would be something.  

Ariana was up for the idea so we headed off to Kensington.  When we got to the park I drove around a bit looking for something to catch my eye.  The fence I was thinking of had a car parked next to it. That idea out.  I started looking for another fence.  I found another fence but it was one o'clock and the shadows weren't long enough and didn't look interesting.  I drove some more.  Then I saw a trail that led back into the woods.  Perfect I thought.  I turned the car around and showed Ariana the spot.  She liked it also.  

I chose this picture as my picture for the week.  I wanted a portrait and I really liked having her in this shot.  I thought she looked adorable wearing her sunglasses and holding the camera.  Today might not have gone as planned.  That's okay though.  Being a photographer you have to be creative.  You might have great ideas of what you want to photograph but if you don't look around you might miss the shot you were suppose to take.  I love Joe McNally's bit of advice from his book, The Moment It Clicks, "I can't tell you how many pictures I've missed, ignored, trampled, or otherwise lost just 'cause I've been so hell bent on getting the shot I THINK I want," (p. 4).  

Another lesson learned today.  Always, always, ALWAYS have an UV filter on your lens.  Ariana accidently scratched the filter while putting or taking off the lens cap.  No big deal.  I did that too a few years ago when I first got the camera.  You can replace a UV filter for $20.  Replacing a lens is another story.  That will cost a couple hundred or depending on the lens, over a thousand dollars.  Good thing I use UV filters on all my glass.  

Here is the picture without Ariana in it:

A Walk in the Woods
24mm 1/160s f/22 ISO 200

And another one from today that I really liked:

Miss Hollywood the Photographer

70mm 1/3200s f/2.8 ISO 200

All my pictures are edited using Photoshop CS4.

Week 5 Update

March 5th, 2011

I printed the two pictures from Week 5 and I changed my mind.  "Standing" is the picture for the week and "Growing Up" is the runner up.

Standing

Week 5

Growing Up
70mm 1/250 s f/2.8 ISO 200 with a flash

This week Ariana and I decided to take pictures of Julia.  I have been wanting to get winter pictures of her but haven't been able too.  She never wants to be my model.  I made her a deal this weekend though.  If she would be our model I would do the dishes for her today.  She liked that deal and decided to take the modeling gig.

I put together her outfit.  I had her wear the pettiskirt I bought back in the fall.  I pared it with my grey sweater and one of my colorful scarves.  (I can't believe she can wear my clothes!  She is growing up way too fast.)  She also wore the cool boots she got for Christmas and some grey shimmery tights that Santa brought.  Then off we went to my favorite boardwalk.

I love this boardwalk because of the texture in the wood and how it really breaks up the bright winter white.  The path also creates nice depth to pictures.  I also like how the trees in the background give definition to the horizon.

I had a hard time picking this weeks' picture.  "Growing Up" beat out "Standing" by a very slight margin.  I chose "Growing Up" because it showcased J's carefree style and truly captured her essence.  I liked how her hair was tucked behind her ear and blowing across the scarf.  Her smile was perfect and it looked as though she was just about to laugh.  When I look at this picture I can actually hear her giggle.

"Standing" was my next choice because I liked the overall feel to the picture.  A girl, dressed up, standing in the middle of a snowy boardwalk looking off to the side with a silly look on her face - like she is waiting for something.  Well, she really was waiting for something - me.  I was taking test shots and told her to just stand there while I adjusted my settings and took test shots.  This shot was captured by accident and I LOVE it.  While she was waiting for me to get ready and tell her what to do, she was just standing there making goofy faces and looking all over the place.   What makes me love this picture is her pose and the silly look on her face.  I also love the outfit.  The grey sweater and colorful scarf look great with the blue pettiskirt.  I like how the scarf and skirt stand out in the winter scene.  I love the boots as well.  I think it all goes together so perfectly.  I also like how the boardwalk trails off into the background and looks to go on forever.

It was very tough picking a favorite.  I keep going back and forth.  I'm sure I will keep changing my mind.  As of right now, "Growing Up" is the one.  But I don't know, ask me tomorrow and I might tell you it's "Standing".  Which one do you like?

Standing

34.0mm 1/250 s f/2.8 ISO 200 with a flash

Week 4

Happy Birthday

50mm 1/60 f/1.8 ISO 200

February 20th, 2011

Today would have been my grandma's birthday so this week's picture is dedicated to my grandma,  Audrey.  It's hard to believe that it has been one year since her last birthday.  In February of 2010 we found out the chemo treatments she was going through were not working and that the cancer had spread.  A couple weeks later it was her birthday and we had a big gathering at a restaurant and then everyone came back to my parents' house for cake and ice cream.  It was a bittersweet party.  Happy to be together but sad knowing what was to come.  Four days later my grandma took a turn for the worse and didn't get out of bed again.  She then died the following week.  She will always be in my thoughts and I will treasure the memories of the times I had with her.  She loved roses so this picture is for her.  I love you grandma and happy birthday. 

Just Smiling

50mm 1/160 f/1.8 ISO200

Blowing Kisses

50mm 1/250 f/1.8 ISO 200

I tried out my 50mm lens on the D700.  I love how the lens has autofocus on the D700.  Photographing kids using manual focus is tough.  The D60 did not have autofocus in the body of the camera and as a result the 50mm was then manual focus.  I haven't really been able to use my 50mm lens this last year because of the manual focus issue.  I tried using it when photographing people and my pictures were never sharp.  I am excited to finally put it to use and see it's capabilities.  These three pictures were taken using the 50mm lens.

Week 3

Happy Hearts

70.0 mm 1/15s f/2.8 ISO 200 

For this week's photo challenge, I wanted to teach Ariana a little about aperture and what it does.  The wider the aperture the more light that is let in and the faster the shutter speed. This creates the silky smooth bokeh (pronounced as boke or boke-uh).  Boken is a Japanese word and refers to the blur of an image, "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light," (photojpn.org/words/len.html).  The smaller the aperture the slower the shutter speed.  Using a small aperture is perfect for landscape shots when you want the whole image in focus.

For this shot I set up a mirror and borrowed some of Julia's candy hearts.  Then we secured the camera to the tripod and I showed Ariana how to take pictures in aperture priority mode.  She used several different apertures when she taking her shots.  She got to see that when she used a large aperture like a f/5 only one or two hearts were in focus.  When she decreased the aperture to f/8, four to five were in focus.  At f/16, even more were in focus.  And at f/22 all the hearts were in focus.

This was the easiest way to teach her because she got to see the pictures at the different settings.  Depending on the settings that are chooses your picture will look different.  When you are composing a shot you need to think about what you are trying to achieve.  For this heart picture I thought it looked more interesting having only a couple of the candies in focus.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Michigan Upper Peninsula Panorama

Michigan Upper Peninsula Panorama

This picture was taken in October of 2008 while I was on Monte Nagler's photography workshop.  We had passed this field on our way to a waterfall and Monte wanted to stop on the way back and take pictures here.  When we stopped the sun wasn't out  and my pictures didn't look very interesting.  Instead they looked very dull and boring.  I wasn't happy with them.  After I had walked back to the van and put my camera away, the sun came out.  I debated about getting my camera out and then told myself this is why I am here, to take pictures.  I got my camera back out and set up the tripod.  I could tell the sun was only going to be out for a little bit so I had to hurry.  I framed my shot and took a series of pictures for a panorama.

After the trip when I got home and was editing my pictures I didn't like this panorama.  I didn't like any of the pictures I took of this field.  I felt the composition was off.  I thought I should have stood more to the right and had the gate in the center of the picture. 

This weekend I was going through my pictures looking for a waterfall picture for the office I work at and came across this picture again. I had forgotten about it and when I looked at it again I liked it.  I now liked how the gate was off to the right and that the focus of the picture was on the bales of hay and the sunlit trees.  Most of the time I am too critical of my work.  I am always finding faults and wishing I had composed it differently.  I'm glad I found this picture again and that I was able to see the positives in it. 

Week 2

February 6, 2011

Click here to enlarge

Snowy Day

I got my Nikon D700 on Tuesday and I have been dying to use it all week.  Between work and dance rehearsals for my daughters, today was my first real chance at using it.  This afternoon my daughters were in a  tea party ballet show and it started snowing like crazy outside.  It wasn’t even suppose to snow today.

While I was sitting in the banquet hall, I was looking out the window and admiring the view wishing I had my camera with me.  We were not allowed to take pictures so I didn’t bring it.  Plus I was all dressed up and really couldn’t go trampling in the snow taking pictures in heels and a skirt. So I sat back and enjoyed the ballet  show.  My girls danced beautifully and the show was a hit.  When it was all over we headed back home.  It was still snowing but not as much and I was bummed because I really wanted to take pictures during the heavy snowfall.

When we got home I changed into my winter gear and grabbed my camera bag and tripod.  When I looked outside I saw it started snowing like crazy again.  YEAH!!!!  I really wanted to photograph the scene I saw at the banquet hall so I headed back over there.  The roads were completely snow covered and about 3″ of snow had already fallen.  I had to drive really slow and the drive seemed to take forever. On the way I almost spun out.  That was scary.  I eventually made it back to the banquet hall and I got the shot I wanted.  Here is my first landscape picture with my Nikon D700.

Nikon D700

24.0 mm

1/13 s at f/18

ISO 200

3 photos merged to make the pano

edited in CS4

Picking one picture for the week was really tough.  The panorama "Snowy Day" is my official Week 2 photograph.  I am posting other pictures from this week well.  I figure some weeks I will have several pictures and other times I might only have one.  

For Week 2 of our Phototastic Year, Ariana and I went to Dodge Park this afternoon.  When I asked her if she wanted to go she said no at first.  She wanted to just stay at home, watch television, and have a tea party with her webkinz.  I asked her if she was sure and told her she would probably be disappointed if she didn't go.  I also told her that we wouldn't be gone that long and that I had a really cool place in mind that we should go to.  She then decided to go so we gathered up all the camera gear and put on our winter garb.  

When we got to the park I noticed the entry wasn't plowed.  I didn't want to try and drive the car through the snow so I went to the other opening on the north side of the park to see if that entrance was plowed.  It wasn't plowed either.  I then drove back to west entrance and parked across the street.  We were going to have to walk in.   Ariana was a trooper and trudged threw snow to the park.  It wasn't a far walk but walking in the snow made it a little tough.

When we got into the park we saw a van that was there and it was stuck in the snow.  Good thing I didn't try and drive in.  I did not want to deal with getting suck.  After I looked around and found a good spot for us to take pictures, I set up the tripod and taught Ariana a little about aperture and shutter speed.   I put the D60 in the tripod first and had her take some pictures.  After she was done I put the D700 on the tripod and I took my pictures.  Ariana continued to take pictures without the tripod.  We got some really good shots.  After awhile Ariana started to get cold and was ready to leave.  I made sure to snap a few shots of her before we left.  

I think Week 2 was great.  I got to spend some quality time with Ariana.  Julia was sick this weekend so maybe next weekend she can join us.  

Winter Trees

24.0 mm 1/20 s at f/18.0 ISO 200

Forest

56.0 mm 1/13s at f/22.0 ISO 200

Look Up

26.0 mm 1/40s at f/22 +1 ISO 200

Young Photographer

62.0 mm 1/640s at f/2.8 ISO 200

All Smiles

62.0 mm 1/640 s at f/2.8 ISO 200

Landscape Portfolio

Portrait Portfolio

Week 1

Happy

January 30, 2011

Ariana and I started our Phototastic Year today.  It snowed a few inches last night and Ariana said it was the perfect time for me to take pictures of her.  I had bought a pettiskirt back in the fall and she had not had the chance to wear it for pictures yet.  So she put it on and we bundled up and headed to my favorite boardwalk.  She had a blast twirling around in the snow and posing for me.  She is such a natural.  I love photographing her.

After taking some portraits of her, we headed back home to change and get the rest of the camera gear.  Then we were off to my parents house to visit with my brothers who were in town for my mom's birthday. While we were over there, Ariana and I headed outside to take some more pictures.  I let her use my Nikon D60 and she took some really nice shots of some trees.  We weren't outside very long because it was so cool out and our hands were freezing.

When we got home I showed her how to upload the pictures to the laptop.  I also showed her how to do editing in iPhoto.  I'll show her how to edit in Photoshop later, I didn't want to overwhelm her.  It was really cool to wake up the next day and see her on the laptop working on her pictures.  We had a great first week in our photo challenge.

Wednesday's forecast is calling for 8-12inches of snow.  Hmmmm . . . sounds like a perfect day for week 2!  And I should have my new camera by then!!!!

Finally

I have been looking to upgrade my camera body for about a year now.  Last year my wonderful husband bought me a 50mm f/1.8 lens for my birthday.  I currently have a Nikon D60 and the 50mm glass will not autofocus on the D60.  No big deal I thought.  I can just manually focus right?  Wrong.  I can manually focus if I am focusing on a non-moving subject, like a flower.  But when I am trying to take pictures of my kids, it doesn't work so well.  They are constantly moving and I am constantly getting blurry shots.  That is when I knew I needed to upgrade my camera body.

I started doing some research and discovered the Nikon D700.  The D700 was a new full frame camera that had just came out and it was not as expensive as the other Nikon full frame cameras.  Now I had a decision to make.  Do I switch to a full frame or stay with DX series.  If I upgraded to the D700 the two lens that came with D60 would not work on this new camera body.  The 50mm lens would work on both the D700 and the D90, and it would autofocus on both.  If I stayed with the DX series and upgraded to the D90 then all my lens would work.  This was a tough decision.  Saving for the D90 would be easy.  Saving for the D700 would take a longer time since I would also need to buy a lens.  I drove myself crazy thinking about it.  After much thought and research, I decided to go with the D700.  After I made that decision, I could not buy anything else for the D60.  I couldn't get any of the filters I wanted because they would not fit on the new lens I was going to buy for the D700.  It was really really hard to just sit and save money and not invest in new camera supplies.

When me my birthday rolled around last week, I was very anxious.  I received money as gifts for both Christmas and my birthday to go towards my camera fund.  I decided to check the price of the camera again.  When I looked I saw that if I ordered the camera and a lens then there was a $300 savings.  I counted my money and saw I had enough for the 16-35mm lens but was $279 short for the 24-70mm lens.  Oh what to do!  I didn't know which lens I wanted more.  I wanted them both!

After much thought, and driving my husband insane, I decided I wanted the 24-70mm glass first.  So I was going to have to continue to save and wait for the next deal to come around.  That is when my mom came to my rescue.  She offered to loan me the money so I could get the camera.  I am a very frugal person and I also hate owing people money.  I also have anxiety spending money.  After a couple days I decided to take my mom up on her offer.  I placed the order yesterday for the Nikon D700 with the 24-70 f/2.8 glass and a Tiffin UV 77mm filter.

Now I have to wait until February 1st to take delivery of my new camera.  The next four days are going to feel like an eternity!!!! But I finally did it!  I ordered the camera!  When I was talking to my dad he told me to get over it.  You can't take the money with you and you really want it and you have been saving for it forever.  Just hit button and place the order.

Mom and Daughter Photo Challenge

Phototastic Year 2011
I want to do a photo challenge this year and have been thinking about to do.  I would love to do a 365 Photo Challenge but know that it would be really hard since I work and don't get home until late.  I saw some other photographers are doing a 52 Photo Challenge and decided that was the challenge for me.

Ariana was feeling like she wasn't spending enough time with me so I told her about this challenge and asked her if she would want to do it with me.  She said YES!  We got to talking and were trying to think of a name for our challenge but could not come up with one that we liked.  At dinner we were telling Julia and Trevor about our idea and Trevor came up with the perfect name: Phototastic Year.  We loved it and chose that for our title.

We are going to take one picture a week and post it in our blog and write a little about our experiences.  Some of our pictures are going to be taken indoors and some outdoors.  We will see where our creative minds take us.  I am hoping to get some great shots this year, maybe even some that I would never have thought of.  At the end of the 52 weeks we will be able to look back at our pictures and hopefully see how much we have grown as photographers.  I'm really excited!!  I'll get to spend some quality time with Ariana, and Julia when she joins us.  Julia only wants to be involved some weeks, she might change her mind and take pictures every week.  We will just have to wait and see.

 Mom and Daughter Photo Challenge 2011

Phototastic Year

1 picture 52 weeks

picture taking

mommy daughter time

photography excursions

day trips

creative minds

silly adventures

crazy stories