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!  :)

My 52 Week Project: Week 2 {up}

Okay, my shot is super lame this week - mostly because I waited till the last day to do it!  :) We live just outside Detroit and I wanted to take pictures of tall buildings for this week's theme. But I felt crappy this whole week and today, when I finally felt better, it was snowing like crazy there (not so much where we live)! Here is a shot of one of the tigers that sits outside of Comerica Park - home of the Detroit Tigers. I'm looking UP at it since it is so tall!  ;)  Hoping for a better week next week!  :)

My 52 Week Project : Week 1 {breakfast}

I’ve had an interest in photography for several years now, but feel like I don’t know near as much as I want to.  I know the very basic “basics”, but I want to know more.  I want to feel confident with my camera and feel like I can go anywhere or be in any situation and know how to capture a beautiful image.  Or at least get close!  ;)  So, about a month ago I signed up for a membership to Clickin Moms.  Clickin Moms is a place for women to share their photos and love of photography.  They have all sorts of info, resources, and workshops to help women learn more about photography and really make the most of their passion.  I haven’t participated as much as I had hoped to yet, but I am going to try to get more involved.  I asked for money for my birthday this year (which is coming up in just a few short weeks!) and I decided I’d spend it on a Clickin Moms workshop (Shooting 101) and start the new year off with more knowledge about my hobby!  The workshop starts on Monday and I cannot wait!  I’m sure it will be challenging, but I am excited to learn!  Also, since we just rang in the new year, the Clickin Moms forum has had many new photography “projects” pop up in hopes of getting people using their cameras more.  One that I decided to participate in this year is a 52 week photo challenge.  Each week we get a topic and have to submit a photo based on that topic.  I am really excited to participate in this challenge as I really think it will help me to keep using my camera and get better and more creative with my shots.  Also, I LOVE that there is a topic every week because there is no way I could think of something different to shoot 52 weeks out of the year!

This week’s topic is “breakfast”.  And here is my submission!  

I knew I wanted Rylan in my shot this week, so I made sure to take some pics of her eating one morning.  This is my favorite one.  This was the first time she’d ever eaten Fruit Loops and she liked them A LOT!!  ;)  Glad that worked out for her so well!  And glad they kept her occupied while I took pictures of her - from ALL different angles!  ;)

I’ll be back next week with my next photo.  I can’t wait for tomorrow when I find out my topic!

Take care!