08: gift from the heart

Lesson 6 & 7 are coming... But Mike has been super busy and it is hard to get the perfect picture for them. But #8: something they have said, promised, done or given.

For the last two years Mike has been in Paris on Valentine's Day. I don't really mind if he has work trips on holidays... as long as he is home for the really important days like my birthday, kid's birthdays, Christmas or MY birthday. The first time I asked him to bring me home something "French" & "Valentine's Day-ish". He had a hard time figuring out something that I would love. He ended up getting me some wonderful smelling French perfume called Chloe (yes he picked it because of the name). I don't wear perfume but I really do like this one (I think I have put it on twice).

The next year he brought home something way better than perfume, jewelry, flowers or chocolate... Balsamic Vinegar! I love this guy!!! I made it last almost a year and last weekend I went to the craft store and got a flower to stick in the bottle (It looks great in my kitchen).

After spending a few days playing with the focal points and metering today was the day. Today's lesson: Baby steps to manual mode... at least I get to take baby steps. I just spent 30 min figuring out the in-camera light meter. With a little help from the new lights Mike got to help us start our garden I got a very nice picture (along with some very NOT nice ones) of my vinegar bottle.

05: love to hate

I am a little behind... SURPRISE... but don't give up on me yet!

Day five was something that drives you nuts. Oh boy, the possibilities for this! ;-)

I am working on not letting everything Mike does that make me say "WHY?" bug me. But one thing that I just can't let go is, in the van, when I am driving down the road talking to him, and it is his turn to respond or say SOMETHING, and I glance over to the passenger seat, and he is on his phone looking up something or emailing! It drives me NUTS! I didn't think taking a picture of Mike on his phone while I was driving down the road was the best idea so I took a picture of IT...

I am now learning my camera's selective focal points and exploring my metering more. I still have to find in the manual how to toggle my focal points... I always just push the picture taking button halfway down and if what I want focused isn't in a little box I try again. Hehehe! I am nervous about taking the camera off auto mode. But I'll work on it.

04: what they wear

This was a fun assignment, photograph your loved one's clothes, accessories, shoes, pjs, diapers, training pants, etc. For the camera tip of the day I got to explore my camera's metering.

What is more perfect for this task than Mia's socks? They NEVER match! For her birthday she asked Grandma Nancy for socks she could miss match and got a gift bag full of fun socks.

03: then and now

Three days in and I am still doing good! Today's assignment was to show what has changed since you first met your loved one. For the lesson she talked about cropping both with the camera and in photo editing software.

I think if Mike wasn't in San Francisco I would have use him. I am amazed at how much older marrying me has made him look! (Maybe when I pick him up tomorrow I will add an extra day 3 to the blog.) But this little guy has changed so much in the last 3 years! You would think I would remember that babies grow up fast but I guess not. Today Mia called home from school for a ride (she had thought she was getting picked up so didn't get on the bus). I told Gabriel that we needed to go pick up Mia from school because she missed the bus and his response was... "Oh no, don't tell me that".

02: how they look

Today's assignment is to capture the true essence/attitude of your loved one. Some of the idea's given are their facial expression, in pjs, in a typical outfit for them, funny face they make (the list goes on).

The little skill I get out of the lesson today is camera position. This was not hard for me to do with today's loved one because it was Mia and she is just about as tall as I am. That makes it easy to have my camera on the same plane as my subject.

Mia had a snow day today (along with A LOT of other people) and before she even got out of her pjs she went outside to try her new snowshoes (that Santa brought her for Christmas)! So here is Mia and "how she looks" all dressed up to go romping through the snow.

01: what they do

Today's assignment for the joy of LOVE was to document your loved ones "doing" something they "do". I am sure most of the pictures for this class will be of Gabriel because I am home with him all day (and he is so cute) and who really has time at the end of the day to get the camera out? Between making dinner, cleaning up dinner and getting the kids ready for bed... not me!

The lesson today was about indoor lighting, how to find it in your home and catchlights.

So here it is... Gabriel doing two things he does... making a mess with the games and playing with trains! It was nice and sunny today and we have huge windows so I had no problem finding my light.






BONUS PICTURE: Something else I love doing what it does... food... cooking.

Goodbye New Year's

Looks like I skipped right over the holidays and right over all of January (who likes January anyway, it is cold and dark). I will do a Christmas time post because I have a goose story to tell you. I just have to find a few more pictures.

Over the next month I am taking a FREE online photography class given by Willette Designs (thanks Nicole for posting the link to this great way of getting my butt back into my blog). The class is called "the joy of LOVE" and it starts today! Everyday I will get an e-mail with a task/moment to look for during the day along with a small tutorial on photography and how to improve your (or get some) skills. It's not to late to sign up, just CLICK THIS LINK!