365/365

I have reached the last day of my second 365 blog project. That is unbelievable! My first year was anything and everything. My second year was directed more toward improving my skills. With this in mind I set daily themes (Monochrome Monday, Texture Tuesday, etc.) that I used for about half the year. I got tired of following those themes after a while and started using The Daily Shoot as my inspiration, and sometimes I still shot anything and everything. Either way, I was trying to make better use of light, think out my shots more carefully, and be more consistent with my quality. I think I accomplished those goals.

Here was my very first 365 post in October, 2008...

...and the first post of my second year...
.

I want to note that although a couple of my posts didn't get uploaded  on time because of technical issues, I never forgot to post in 2010.  That was a personal goal for me- keeping my  focus on my photography. I knew that if I forgot once or twice I might just lose all momentum.

 What did I learn from this project in 2010?

*Even taking a snapshot or two each day will help me improve
*I get more out of other people's work if I take the time to analyze the photo and determine why I do or don't like it
*I need to do the same with my own photos
*I love hearing what other people think of my photos-it's more important to me than I realized

So, onto 2011...

My vision for the 2011 version of this project is more family-oriented. I intend to include more daily anecdotes, family activities, thoughts on parenting, and even some book reviews. My plan is to turn the 2011 project into a book in 2012.

 

The Daily Shoot assignment today is "Looking back at the year, what was your favorite memory? Illustrate it with a photograph." There's no beautiful way to illustrate my favorite memory in a photo, so I'll just share a photo from August - my favorite memory was our week spent with our oldest daughter, our son-in-law, and our grandchildren. It was a wonderful week!
 

And my final photo for 2010 is food...because it's a food kinda day. (I have the munchies today!)
 

 I thank all of you for following my blog and leaving your thoughts and encouragement. It is a blessing to me, and I am grateful for each of you that takes the time to be a part of my 365 project. If you have a blog that I am not already following, please leave me your blog address - I'd love to check it out!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm looking forward to another photo adventure!

364/365

The Daily Shoot assignment was to make use of the Rule of Thirds. This lovely rose was a Christmas gift to me from Fancy, and it's just opened up so beautifully!
 

I also took this one, but not specifically for the Daily Shoot - just because I wanted to capture how perfect this rose is.
 

363/365

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was to use soft light for a photo. I didn't have any trouble with soft light today - the natural light was very soft because of the very low clouds and the falling snow. This was shot right beside my big, north-facing picture window with just the natural light. The only editing I did was a slight levels adjustment and sharpening.
 
When I thought about shooting this (as Caleb was assembling his puzzle) I thought, "I want a shot with his cute, little boy hand putting a piece in the puzzle." Now that I look at this photo I realize that his "cute, little boy hand" isn't the chubby, babyish hand I was thinking it was. His hand looks way too grown up! All the babyness is leaving my baby! 

362/365

I barely had time to take a breath today, let alone plan out and execute a stunning photo. We had some friends over to dinner - friends who moved out of town last summer - I spent my "free" time with them instead of working on my photography. I'm sure you understand. While they were here I snapped a few shots, but I never did catch one with their son. I got the beautiful pregnant mama, the handsome daddy, and daddy's little girl...but the 5-year-old boy was so busy with my house full of boys that we barely saw him!
 
This a terrible shot with all the motion blur and the darkness...but I loved her expression as she looked over her shoulder at me.

 
This little lady spent a good part of the evening glued to her daddy. I think she just barely remembered our kids, and she sure didn't remember the chaos! It was great to see all of them again, and to spend an evening chatting and laughing.

Now I must get back to work - I'm still not done for the day! 

361/365

This wonderful tote bag was a Christmas gift from my mother. I know this flashy, flamboyant bag isn't everyone's idea of high fashion, but I love it! Our family has a word for things that flash and sparkle like this - Felicious! (If you know my precious friend Felice, you'll understand.)
 

360/365

Only 5 days left? Really? How did that happen? Man, this year has gone so fast! I've been thinking about what I'm going to do with this project in 2011, and I think it's going to be more family-oriented. I plan to continue to post a photo a day - I'm not sure I know how to NOT do that now - but I think it will be more of a chronicle of our family's life. I also plan to add some "features" including book reviews (specifically for the Waterbrook Multnomah Blogging for Books program), and maybe a few parenting essays. We'll see how that works out. I want to thank all the readers who have been following me through this photo journey this year - you are a real encouragement to me.

Today's Daily Shoot assignment is to illustrate what fuels our creativity. One of my first thoughts was "coffee!!!" but after that thought I decided to try to illustrate how my photographer friends, specifically Sandra Marek, challenge and encourage me to be a better photographer. The photo shown here was taken by Sandra and given to me for my birthday. She is an amazing photographer who is constantly striving to improve her skills. Fortunately for us, she shares what she learns with us!
 

 

359/365

It was quite a day in Scrivnerburg! we started with presents at 6:30am, and then moved on to more presents at Nanas at noon. I have a lot of pictures and video but I am too wiped out to deal with them. Here's one shot of a PORTION of the bounty at Nana's house. we had 18 people there enjoying gifts, food, and festivities. It was loud, but fabulous!

I'll share more tomorrow - either here or on my family blog. Merry Christmas!

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Today's picture is not a photo - it's my favorite video of the day. We (our family, Felice and the girls, and my friend Mary and her son Michael) went waaaaaay down the road to go sledding. It was Felice's first time ever to go sledding! This video was her second run down the hill. I'm sorry about the bouncing video - I was laughing to hard to hold it steady.

Have a very merry Christmas everyone!

357/365

I got out my mirror for today's photo - and I cleaned it! The Daily Shoot assignment was "Make a photograph of something metal or metallic today with an emphasis on how light interacts with the surface." I used the mirror to get more "light interaction" because using a less reflective surface was just giving me a soft look. I wanted it to look more metallic, and the mirror really helped. I thought the scratches in the green bell helped too. 
 

On a personal note, I got to Skype with my beloved brother this evening. Definitely the highlight of my day!! I love love love love love Skype!

356/365

The Daily Shoot assignment today is a circular or round object. This is my new ornament (I try to get one new one every year), and it brings to mind Luke 2:14 - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
 

I wanted to get a "glowy" shot of our Christmas tree and presents. We have an abundance of presents! It looks beautiful!
 

I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. Be safe, and take time to enjoy the season.

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It's been a busy day, but I did have time to take some hoarfrost pictures this morning. This is my response to the Daily Shoot assignment - "It's the solstice. Make a photo that captures the day for you wherever you are."
 

Now I must get to work!

354/365

Wow - Sandra Marek makes this look easy! I wanted a properly exposed portrait of Kristi with Christmas light bokeh in the background. "Properly exposed" was a lot harder than I expected! I ended up pointing my off-camera flash up and behind me to bounce off the ceiling and wall - here are the settings I used with my 50mm lens: ss 1/80; iso 100; f/2.8. I'm actually quite happy with the results now that all the messing is done. 

If I had had more than one string of lights that worked I would have gotten a few more in the background - especially on the right side of the frame - but there ya have it. I need the LightKeeper! 

353/365

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was "warmth." Here is my favorite concept of "warmth."

In case it hasn't come across in my blog, I adore my husband. He's the best person I know, and I am so lucky to have him! 

352/365

I was just sure I was going to have time to do the Daily Shoot assignment today - shooting wide open - but it didn't happen. I found out late this morning that the Ugly Sweater Christmas party we were going to this evening wasn't really planned out. The administrator in me just couldn't have that, so I spent most of the day making arrangements and plans for this evening's shindig. I never took a single photo with my camera. I did take one photo and a few videos with my cell phone though - and the photo is definitely one of my new favorites...
 

Does my honey know how to dress up, or what? He says he heard this was going to be a red tie affair. We voted for the ugliest sweater and the winner got to take home Ken's tie. The winning sweater (another photo opportunity missed) was one that had King Henry VIII and his wives on it. Definitely a winner for an ugly sweater contest!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope all my blog friends are happy and healthy this Christmas season!

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I’m posting my blog and it’s not almost bed time! Whoohoo! I am making gifts for the kids’ teachers this year – brownie mix in an oven mitt – and I needed to test the brownie mix. ‘Can’t give away terrible brownie mix! So I combined my teacher gift efforts with The Daily Shoot assignment – “squares.”

You can find the recipe I used here. I used half of the recipe in a 9x9 – it really needed an 8x8, and I’m going to cut the salt back in the recipe (I also used chocolate chips instead of pecans) but they really came out good!

Here is the first one I’ve finished. I had to get this one ready today because the teacher will be out next week. She’s having knee surgery – maybe her husband will make these brownies to help her recover?

350/365

I did not get a chance to take even one photo today. Mom, Nana (my MIL), Nana’s sister, Caleb and I went to town to do some Christmas shopping today. The day flew by in a haze of bargain hunting and traffic. It was a good day except for the part where Caleb’s hand got closed in the car door – that almost did us in. He recovered and we continued on our journey, but I never did even think about taking pictures. When I finally got home to stay I had to tuck kids into bed and get straight to work…all of this means that you get a photo I took 2 days ago. I love that my kids are interested in creative efforts. On this particular afternoon Caleb (here) and Austin were sharing my Rebel XT while Kristi was taking video of everything. I love it!

I’m off to bed to get some rest before yet another busy holiday season Friday!

349/365

I had trouble with the Daily Shoot today – I didn’t any spectacular shots of “yellow.” Could be ‘cause I didn’t try hard enough. Oops. I did make a couple efforts, but I don’t have a macro lens for the Christmas light one, and I didn’t get good focus in the way-too-dark room with the girl in the yellow shirt.  

Thanks for dropping by! If you have a blog (that I don’t already follow) please leave me the address so I can check it out!

348/365

Ergh. I didn’t have the time to work at this like I wanted to. I wanted to get a nice, warm shot of my cute Christmas candleholders…this will have to do. I think I need more candles in the room, outside the frame.

347/365

I got to spend some time with a fun little lady today! A is 6 months old, and she’s just as cute as can be. She was a bit stubborn about smiling for the camera – she consistently smiled immediately after the shutter closed, or as soon as I pulled the camera away – but she sure was a little trooper. She sure can hold herself up on her arms, too! She stayed on her belly propped up on her arms for longer than I did!

These were shot with natural light that was constantly changing. The clouds kept coming and going, and at one point we had almost direct sunlight coming through the window. By the end of our hour the sun had gone behind the mountains so we were almost out of light – that’s why the wall looks different in every photo.

346/365

I got a new Christmas decoration today. I’ve been eyeing these at our grocery story for a couple months, and they were on sale today. Yay! I think they’re so cute. I didn’t get quite the shot I wanted, but my helpers were getting restless. (Kristi and Caleb were holding the tablecloth up as a backdrop for me.) I can’t wait to see them at night! I might try another shot then – a long exposure – to see how it works. But just in case that doesn’t happen, here’s a photo for today…

We have movie night at church – we’ll be watching The Nativity Story. If you haven’t seen that one you should take the time this holiday season to watch it.

345/365

I liked the view of the living room from the dining room…as long as I stand in just the right place the living room looks festive and happy! (Of course, if I were to move a fraction of an inch to the left there would probably be stray socks, napkins, and torn up dog toys visible.)

344/365

The assignment from the Daily Shoot was to illustrate something that makes you feel anxious. I had to think about this one, because, really, I don't think I feel anxious very often. But there is one thing that is the cause of the anxiety I feel these days...
 

For those who are interested, this was shot with window light only. I purposely used a purple pen to add a bit of color to the scene - thanks for the pen, Julie!

Now I'm off to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant with my sweetie. Then I think we'll do something crazy like a trip to the grocery store!

343/365

TDS - "Blue jeans and denim are pervasive. Incorporate a pair of jeans or the material into a photograph today."

Here are my oldest-at-home and my youngest...I just wanted to take a simple photo with them in their jeans. Sheesh!

(Sorry - no time today for getting all wordy. I have tons of work still to do!)

342/365

The Daily Shoot assignment was to take a photo of a simple shape, allowing the light to "make it sing." I didn't use a "simple" shape - I used this snowflake because I just made it today. 

Since I'm just getting to posting my blog at 11pm, I'm not going to get all wordy. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh! If you want to make a snowflake like this you can find the instructions at http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake.

341/365

The Daily Shoot assignment for today is “Illustrate the word equality today with a photograph that shows your favorite interpretation.” Here is my interpretation…

Can you guess what I’m going to do now?

340/365

We decorated the tree this evening. I liked this moment - Andrew, Nathan and Caleb were considering where to put the candy canes. This is the first year I've really heard them discussing how to decorate the tree...it was great! They still ended up with bunches of ornaments clustered in spots on the tree, but overall they did a great job!
 

 

339/365

I have a few minutes before I have to leave for the concert, so I’ll share my “ready for the concert” photo…

Fortunately, I’m only signing the finale for this year’s concert. I woke up this morning with absolutely no voice. I can only whisper. I guess I won’t be singing too loud tonight!

338/365

I took a BUNCH of photos today! I ended up shooting a very small, very informal wedding this evening, then rushing home to take some shots of Fancy and her friend all dressed up for a formal dance. I didn't get permission to share the wedding photos, but if I get that I'll share some soon. I can, however, share my favorite shot of Fancy...
 

Here is my Daily Shoot photo - "Find a composition...with a strong line...that cuts from one corner of the frame to the other."

So...still sick...exhausted...all done for today. 

337/365

Well...I managed to attempt more than 1 challenge today! Here's the Daily Shoot assignment - something I've created or crafted...
 

This one was the oil and water challenge for the Project 365 group. I didn't do very well, but I gave it a try. I'll work on it more another day.
 

This one was just for fun. I was playing with Christmas tree bokeh. This one is also overlaid on the first shot (I then erased over the stocking and reduced it to 15% opacity.)
 

336/365

The Daily Shoot assignment today is "Make a photo today that features a hand in a creative way." Here's my effort...but it was a definite effort today. Now I'm going to take my sickly body off to bed.
 

335/365

TDS - "Use vignetting in a photograph today. Either add it in post (easier) or do it in camera via lens or lighting (harder)."

My intention here was to use the vignette to draw attention to Caleb's matching. I don't care for heavy vignettes, but they can be useful for drawing the viewer's focus.