Day 247

Today’s photos were taken with my Samsung Omnia cell phone – please forgive the quality.

Caleb had his first physical therapy session today. He was a bit nervous on this swing until he discovered how fun it was to fall off! Then Holly had to make a deal with him to keep him on the swing.

He got progressively more giggly, bouncy, and out of control until Holly put this great vest on him. It’s Lycra and Velcro, and it’s called a Bear Hug. After the vest was on she put on the weighted belt. The change in him was amazing! He calmed right down, stopped toe-walking, and did exactly what she asked him to do. Awesomeness!!
 

Day 246

Okay, so these aren’t art-quality photos…but I have a point. There was a time when, if asked to take a couple pics of stuff to sell on Craigslist, I would snap a shot of each item and upload them directly to Craigslist. No more.

I had to laugh at myself, and I hope my husband was laughing too. He wanted a couple photos of a door he wants to sell, so we went out to the shaded carport (so we didn’t have harsh sunlight) and he held the door up. But wait – there’s going to be a hotspot on it from the sunlight coming through right there…move to my left a bit…a bit more…okay, turn it a bit…there! Okay, shoot. Wait…bad composition…shoot again. Oh – move the wagon…shoot again. Whew. Now the other side of the door…just a sec – there’s something on the door…okay, it’s clean…shoot – oops, I clipped the corner…shoot again…one more shot just to be sure. Whew again!

If that’s not enough to drive my husband crazy, before I can send them to him for Craigslist I must edit! Adjust levels, sharpen for web, crop out the distractions…okay, I’ll let him post these, but I’ll still call them “snapshots!”

I’m such a dork!

Day 245

I only took a few shots today just to test out my diffuser panel. I used it to diffuse the full sun. Andrew just stood there for me – this is a good thing. He wanted to pose like a bodybuilder or something, but I told him to just stand there while I was trying stuff out, so he did! Yay for obedience!

Day 244

It’s Western Heritage Days here in Stevensville. We haven’t checked out most of the festivities, but we did go see the parade today. Here a are a few photos from the parade.

Day 243

Want some?

Day 242

Here are a few shots Ken took of my haircut…

Day 241

Here’s a storyboard from our trip to the park today

I took the kids to the park to play and have lunch so Ken could have some quiet for his Theology final exam. We had a nice time, and the kids all behaved well. Yay!

If you’re interested in a few shots of our home and such, I posted some on Facebook (in case you haven’t seen them).

Day 240

I dearly love the subject of my photo, but I’m disappointed. I was supposed to shoot (photograph) a job hunter for the Strobist Bootcamp II assignment, and I have a friend who is actually looking for a job. She’s stunningly gorgeous. We had beautiful weather today. It should have been perfect! But it didn’t work out. I’m a bit bummed.

So, my sweetie came through for me, and graciously agreed to be my model yet again. Fact is, he is also jobless and working at whatever comes along, so he qualifies for the assignment. Here is my wonderful, willing beloved…

 
(Not my best photo. I don’t know what’s wrong with me today. Ergh.)

Day 239

Just a snapshot today. I didn’t make any great efforts at photography today. Shame upon me. Ken and I went to the local school for some exercise in the open gym after dinner, and I took a snap of my sweetie working out. Ladies, don’t you be lookin’ at my honey’s forearms! (Okay…I guess you can look.)

Tomorrow’s photo should be a carefully thought out one – I am shooting my Strobist Bootcamp II assignment in the morning.

Day 238

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers reading this. I hope you were able to relax and enjoy the day!

Our church has a picnic on Father’s Day every year, and this year we squeezed the picnic in between rain showers. I fully believe it’s because early this morning Caleb prayed, “God, please make the rain go away.”

I didn’t actually take a lot of photos today. I spent most of the time just visiting with different people, but here are a few.

Kristi got to spend some time with her very special friend, Chris. Chris and Kristi seem to be kindred spirits, and just love to be together.

Here’s one other shot I liked that I played with at Picnik.com.

Day 237

This is truly the only photo I’ve taken today. I took enough yesterday to make up for it though. I loved the way the light was peeking through the clouds and shining in such a specific area. This was taken around 6:30 this morning.

Please check out my family blog to find out how the camping trip went!

Day 236

Here’s a photo from yesterday…

Day 235

Okay, so I’m sneaking in a post before we leave.

These are shots I’ve taken over the last few days as we’ve prepared for this camping trip. The rest of the trips we take this summer shouldn’t take so much preparation because everything is gathered now, and all fixed up for camping. Ken changed the oil on the Scriburban, the gear is all back in the trailer where we normally keep it, the kitchen doodads are all re-gathered. I’m hopeful that for the rest of the summer we’ll be able to pack food and clothes and just go when we want.

Day 234

I think I mentioned the challenge at Digital Photography School yesterday. Here are my shots (retaken today at the correct ISO) for the challenge. I was really happy with a few of them, considering that I could not shoot, chimp, shoot again, adjust, shoot again, etc. (For those who are wondering, “chimping” is looking at the camera’s lcd screen.)

We will be off camping Thurs-Sat, but I will probably post photos from my phone, just because I can. “See” ya on Sunday!

Oh! One more note – I won the bi-weekly challenge at OPS! It’s exciting! Here’s the photo that won it for me…

If you’re an OPS member, make sure to enter a photo in Challenge #21 – the theme is Summer Fun!

Day 233

ARGH! I had my ISO all the way up for a shot inside my dark trailer, and I forgot to change it back before taking shots for a challenge over at Digital Photography School. All the shots I took for the challenge are so grainy I wouldn’t dare submit them. GRRRR! But I really loved this one of Nathan, so I played with it in Picnik. I used the 1960’s effect on it since it was so grainy anyway.

You may have seen this on Facebook…

Ken split kindling and tied it in bundles in preparation for our camping trip. He’s such a good guy!

Day 232

Quick post because I forgot to do it earlier…

More practice with my new beauty dish.

Day 231

Ken and I went “across town” to check out a new location…

I took a few shots of Kristi using my beauty dish to light her in the front and natural light behind.

Look at those cute little chipped teeth.

Day 230

We did it! Ken and I made a do-it-yourself beauty dish!! I’m so excited! We used this tutorial and created this:

 
(In retrospect, we would not use Gorilla glue to affix the reflector because it looks icky from here. Oh well.)

Here are a couple shots I took with it. I’ll be practicing with multiple lights and such soon, but we were shooting outside, and the bugs were AWFUL!

 

Just a note to the photographers…all these shots were taken within 10 minutes of each other (as I said, the bugs were really bad!). The black or dark background was created by changing my shutter speed. I finally did it! Yay! The background for both portraits was a cluster of trees.

I just can’t wait to really learn how to use all these fun things!

Day 229

We had an interesting little drama going on at dinner time. Cheerio, aka Danger Kitty, had already gotten a mouse, and was now eyeing the local robins (nesting in our maple tree). The robins were having something to say about this. Both robins were chirping angrily and hopping along the fence as Cheerio moved around the yard. I didn’t have a wide enough lens to get more than one player in this drama into the frame.

“Danger Kitty” surveying her kingdom.

Unhappy robin #1 telling Cheerio to shove off.

Unhappy robin #2 telling me to get out of his/her face. (They were both chattering constantly, but I still didn’t catch either of them actually “speaking.”)

For the photographers reading this, I have to tell you that the soft gray background is the road in front of our street. These were shot with my 70-300 at 300mm.

Day 228

I did some natural light practice on Miss Virginia today…

She loves to have her picture taken, and every time she’s getting more and more comfortable with it. Virginia is such a little sweetie!

Day 227

My Monkeybean (Nathan) wanted me to take a photo of him “upside-down” today…

Oh, and all the scrapes and scratches on his face are from being dragged through the yard by the dog. He was holding her collar and she took off…why didn’t he let go?

Next project…Strobist Bootcamp II.

Day 226

Just a few snaps today…I didn’t get creative with photos because it was a very busy day! We spent a few minutes outside visiting with our great neighbor, Vance. (That link will take you to a blog that explains why he’s a great neighbor.) His dog, Shady, seems to believe that she’s the queen of the universe, and she wanted Molly to know it. I snapped a couple shots of the two dogs making tentative attempts to be buds. As long as Molly understood that Shady was queen, all was good.

Day 225

Not much in the way of photography today. I took my little lady to the dentist and had her checked out…he told her she can’t use those teeth for biting (or scraping Oreos) for at least a month, but otherwise we just have to wait and see if the teeth will be okay. She did great. She’s such a little trooper!

Anyway, here’s a photo I took today because I loved the wet, wet flowers. Their color was so rich – I didn’t capture it properly. I’ll have to try again.