Another photography assignment

I've figured out the way my photography assignments are going to work out, at least for now. When we work on something, we're going to have an "A" assignment and a "B" assignment that are on the same thing. The A assignment is due first and is a technical assignment, us just showing that we can capture a picture correctly. The B assignment is a creative assignment, can we capture the subject technically correctly while being creative about it. So my A assignment was just to take some pictures of a main subject, and I shared some pictures from that assignment. Incidentally, we also chose one picture from the group of pictures to share with the class, so for the A assignment, I shared one of my lightning pictures. Although it wasn't technically perfect, it worked since it was a really advanced technique that I was attempting. So yesterday our B assignment was due. This time he wanted us to just go out and capture creative shots about what interests us and these are some of the shots I came up with:

This last one is the one I will present to the class on Monday (we ran out of time yesterday to get through everyone's). I really like vintage things so I went out to an historic park and tried to be creative with what I photographed and how it came out.  Although this assignment calls for us to photograph what we like to photograph, I didn't take any portraits of my kids for this assignment. Part of that was accidental (we're so busy right now I don't have the time to take them for photo shoots) and part was due to circumstance (they're getting tired of me taking pictures of them), but I'm glad it worked out that way. While I want to take good and even creative shots of them, I think for the ones I'm presenting to class it's better for me to be unattached emotionally from the pictures, which is hard to do when it's a picture of your child. I saw that from a couple members of the class yesterday and was doubly glad that I wasn't attached to my pictures. Especially as we are going to be discussing their shortcomings, I think I would much rather not have my kids in my photos. For now, though, I'm really pleased with how much I've learned and I'm looking forward to improving. In all the years of college I've taken, this is, hands down, my absolute favorite class.

Celebrating today

Nine years ago today started out with Jason and I waking anxiously and making our way to the hospital for my induction. I was at the end of my longest pregnancy and I refused to go one day past my due date. We spent the morning trying to relax and sleep, knowing it was the last sleep we were going to get for a long time, just waiting for the drugs to kick in so we could meet our newest family member. Finally, around 2:30 Lindsay finally decided to come out to meet us. I think I should have known then just how stubborn she was going to be, she refused to sleep at all in the hospital, just wanting to spend all her time snuggling with her mama. I think Lindsay knew she was joining a family where her mama already had her hands full with a baby and a toddler and she made sure to get the attention she needed, never letting me forget about her for a minute. I'm so grateful this little baby girl decided to join our family, it definitely wouldn't be complete without her. Happy birthday, Lindsay. I love you more then I ever thought possible.

Some improvement already

My assignment in photography this long weekend is to take 30 pictures. Normally probably not a problem, but with how busy we are in the mornings and evenings, I haven't been able to go outside to take pictures because I just don't want to be in the heat. But since it's Monday and I still hadn't taken a picture, I decided I better do some work inside until I can go out this evening when, if I'm lucky, it will be a little bit cooler. One of the things that I really want to photograph well (and currently suck at), is taking pictures of my cards and other things that I make. So I've been reading up this afternoon and then made my first attempt. I'm really pleased with the result:

  

I really hope I get better than this, and I know it still needs lots of work, but I thought it was pretty good for a first try. Just for fun, here are a couple of the other pictures I took (I didn't edit these) just because I wanted to try out some perspective and blur shots:

 

When I told Lindsay how you could use blur to make someone appear to be a ghost, she had to try it out.

 

In this it's pretty obvious to me that my living room downstairs is going to need some things in it so I can turn it into a studio whenever I need. But I thought it would be a cool perspective to get Cole playing with his toys.

 

This morning was our pancake breakfast and auction fundraiser so Cole's uniform was out and I thought I would try to be artistic with it. I didn't get what I wanted out of the shot, but again I think I need some things in my living room so that I can be better equipped to get what I want (like some sheets to drape over the coffee table on this one so that I could widen the shot). You can also tell I'm experimenting with the lighting I'm getting from outside and the windows near the table I was using was getting too much direct light, so I might have to try this again in the morning. 36 photos left (and I've taken over 30 just to get these four!).

September 3D Class

Wow, I'm on a roll today. It's been a long month since I've had the house to myself for the day, but it helped me realize how productive I can be if left to my own devices. These are the boxes we are making for my 3D class on September 23 at 7 pm at my house. The cost is $15 and includes everything needed to make these two cute projects. Please click on the RSVP link on my website to register for the class.

Fun with ribbon class

I'm going to apologize in advance for the quality of this picture, as I'm learning how to take better pictures, I'm positive I will be taking some really bad pictures before I can take really good ones. This one definitely falls in the bad picture category, but you at least get an idea of the cards we will be making.

September's technique class will be focusing on three fun ribbon techniques. We will be learning how to make a rolled ribbon flower, a faux ribbon bow that lays flat, and creating your own ruffled ribbon. This technique class will be held on Friday, September 16 at 7 pm at my home. The cost is $12 and includes everything you need to make all three cards. If you'd like to register for this class, click on the "RSVP" link on my website.

Using the camera

I knew going into it that I wouldn't be using the camera the first day of class, but it did surprise me that we hadn't used it at all until yesterday. Of course, now I understand why, we were busy learning how the camera works and thinks so that we could use that knowledge to our benefit and create beautiful pictures. We spent twenty minutes on campus during class starting to test out our new-found knowledge, and our assignment was to use the light meter to make sure we were getting the right light for each picture. It's not a difficult thing to do, but for someone who has never used a camera on a manual setting, it was very interesting to go around and play with the shutter speed and aperture, especially when it came to shady areas. I know these aren't fabulous pictures, but I'm pretty proud of my first attempts. It was difficult to find anything really interesting to take pictures of on campus near our classroom, and these haven't been edited at all, so I thought the raw shots were pretty good. Hopefully by December, I'll be taking some beautiful pictures, but this is a good start.