My 52 Week Project : Week 9 {leading lines}

So, I’m late with week’s submission.  Surprise, surprise.  I didn’t have the best week and I’m just not feeling up to this right now, so I’ll keep it short and sweet.  

Here is my submission for leading lines.

Hope you all have a great rest of this week.  I have an idea for week 10’s theme and really hope I can deliver!  ;)

My 52 Week Project : Week 8 {self-portrait}

Okay, so this week is self-portrait week.  Ugh!  I hated this “assignment”.  This is the first time I’ve ever done a self-portrait and it ain’t easy.  Just sayin’!  

For one thing, it’s really difficult to get the camera to focus when taking a self-portrait - at least it is for me!  For some reason, I could get it to focus on other things, but not my face.  I tried over and over again and finally just used manual focus.  Which brought on a whole new set of problems.  I went back and forth, back and forth.  Tweaking the focus, checking the display...on and on and on until I got the focus in the right spot.  

I actually started out in a different location with the perfect idea all thought up in my head, but the lighting was NOT working out for me, so I moved to the bathroom of all places!  I knew I wanted to do a black and white photo this week, so I wasn’t too concerned with the crappy white balance that I would get (I’m pretty sure our bathroom has one incandescent lightbulb and one fluorescent one in the same fixture!).  It actually worked out pretty well shooting in the bathroom because I could look in the mirror to see how I looked before I shot. I know that sounds conceited or whatever, but it’s harder than you’d think to make yourself look in a picture the same way you think you look in real life.  Does that make any sense?  Anyway, I set my tripod on the bathroom sink/counter, directly in front of the mirror, and used a remote shutter release.  I probably could have just hand-held my camera, but since I have this handy dandy remote, I thought I should probably use it!  I’m sure they make different remotes and self timers and whatnot to make this whole process easier - especially the focusing part - but I don’t see myself investing in any of those anytime soon!  I’m not super thrilled with the technical side of this picture, it was more of a let’s-just-get-a-shot-that-makes-me-look-halfway-decent-and-get-outta-here kinda thing!

Oh, and I can’t believe I’m posting this so early in the week!  I’m so proud of myself!  :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!  Here’s to warmer weather!  :)

My 52 Week Project : Week 7 {red hot}

Week 7’s theme was “red hot”.  We could shoot anything that was red, hot, or both red and hot!  :)  Of course, once I found out what the theme was, all I could see was red!  I saw every little red detail on every toy and book that my daughter owns.  It was crazy!  I wanted to shoot something that meant something, though, not just something red.  This weekend we went to my in-laws’ house to stay over night.  I knew we were going ahead of time, so I kind of put off my “assignment” until then.  I like to shoot outside of my home because I get a little bored shooting the same stuff all the time, so when I have an opportunity to shoot somewhere else, I take it.  I had a couple ideas of what I wanted to shoot for “red/hot” this weekend.  I knew I was going to see a movie at the theater, so I thought it might be fun to shoot the lit up movie theater sign...but I didn’t.  Maybe another time, though, because I think it would be fun.  Another thought I had for “red/hot” was to shoot traffic on the highway.  Standing on an overpass at night, I could blur the motion of the cars’ taillights heading away from me which would result in some cool red lines.  Again, didn’t do that, either, but really want to some time.  It ended up snowing and there was no way I was going out in the cold!  Haha!  Maybe I’ll try it in the summertime.  :)  

One more thing I thought of was the Raggedy Ann doll my mother-in-law owns.  She’s had it for several years and keeps it in a box in a closet.  She likes it a lot, but doesn’t want it to get ruined by sitting out (which I totally understand!).  I knew she had it, I knew the doll is special to her, and I knew it has RED hair!  Perfect!  I gave it a little bit of a vintage feel both in setting up my shot and in post processing.  I staged her on the guest room bed which has a beautiful quilt and soft colored pillows on it...and the room just so happens to have a window with amazing light coming through it!  Then, in post processing I gave the photo just a little bit of a vintage look.  I didn’t want to go overboard because I don’t like my photos to be too processed.  Just a little “improvement” to give the photo the look I was going for.

I know I’m super late on week 7, but I’m hoping to be super EARLY on week 8.  Look for it in the next day or so.

My 52 Week Project : Week 6 {culture}

This week’s theme was culture.  We could do anything that represented our personal culture/background, our country’s culture, etc.  I chose a baseball since it’s such a big part of American culture.  I used to HATE baseball until I met my husband.  He has loved baseball since, like, forever and over the years has gotten me just shy of obsessed with it!!  :)  I can't wait for the season to start (GO Tigers!!), but spring training hasn't even started yet, so I have a while to wait!

I got this ball at a Tigers game a few years ago.  The players were practicing on the field before the game started and one of them threw it up to me in the stands!  (My husband may or may not have caught it for me - but I'm the one that asked the player for it!)

And, guess what?  I'm a day earlier than I usually am in submitting my photo!  Go me!

My 52 Week Project : Week 5 {best friends}

Ugh!  What a hard week for me!  I won’t go into any detail, but I’ll just say this - I’m glad it’s almost over!!  

Anyway, this week’s theme was “best friends” - and, really, who’s closer than PB&J?  Or, in this case, PJ&fruit spread!  ;)

Here it is...

See ya next week!  :)

My 52 Week Project : Week 4 {bokeh}

Week 4!

How is it week 4 already?!  Oh my!  Well, here we go!  

I just got home from a little vacation with my daughter, so please forgive my tardiness!  We had a wonderful time visiting her grandparents (my mom and step-dad) in Marco Island, FL.  It was sunny, warm, and it sure was PRETTY!  My submission this week is an image of my daughter on a boat tour at the Naples Zoo - which we went to on my birthday!  The tour, which was about 15 minutes long, visited several little islands in a man-made lake.  Each island had monkeys living on it and the driver of the boat gave us a little history about each species.  It was fun to see them and how they interact with each other.  Rylan didn’t really catch on to the fact that we were looking at monkeys, but she sure liked the water!  She so takes after me in that respect!  I love water (I just don’t like being in a swimsuit!)!

Anyway, this week’s theme is “bokeh”.  In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image.  So, the “focus” of this week’s image is not really the subject, but rather, the blurred background of the image.

Sorry if this post feels a little “choppy”!  I have a lot going on right now - like trying to keep my 16-month-old from falling down the stairs and trying to get our vacation laundry washed and put away!

I’ll be back later this week with “this week’s” theme and submission!

My 52 Week Project : Week 3 {food}

Ok.  Let me first start off with telling you how much harder this 52 week project is than I thought it would be!  Oh my goodness!  I know we are given themes, but to actually take the time out of my day to get in a place where I feel creative enough to make something look halfway decent is HARD!!  And it’s only week 3!!!  Wow!  This is going to be tough!  And I’ve already thought plenty of times about quitting!  Haha!  Oh well, I’m going to stick with it for as long as I can because I really think it will benefit me in the end.  I think it will help me to be more creative on the spot instead of having everything “staged” ahead of time.  Like this week’s shot.  I had some ideas in my head about what I wanted to shoot for “food”, but as the week went on, I still hadn’t taken an photos.  Yesterday my hubby suggested we go check out the dog show.  Rylan loves dogs (so do we!) and we thought it would be fun for her to see a LOT of “ruff-ruffs” all in one place.  She really enjoyed it and even got to pet some dogs - which she loved!  Afterward, we went out to lunch at Potbelly Sandwich Shop.  I had never heard of Potbelly until we moved over to this side of the state.  It is so YUMMY and I’m so glad my hubby suggested it because I was able to get my project shot while we were there.  We walked in the door and I already had my camera in my bag (good habit to start getting in to!) and I thought “Oooh, I have the perfect idea for this week’s theme!”  I’m not THRILLED with it, but I feel like it is a definite improvement from last week!  ;)  

BTW...I am really enjoying my photography class.  This week was hard, to say the least, but things are starting to come together and that makes me feel good!  It is crazy how much I thought I knew and how much I really didn’t know!  I am so glad I signed up for this class and will never, ever, even for one second regret it!

And with that...here’s this week’s shot!  A yummy smoked ham and swiss sandwich from Potbelly!  :)