Half in the bag and lit up

G-tot was fascinated with watching us put the lights on the Christmas tree this year. Row after row of tiny bursts of color spiraling towards the ceiling. To a 20 month old it has to seem extra spectacular. It really is magical, but the cuteness factor of him in a brown paper bag with huge wondering eyes was my favorite part.

shooting blind

I've been playing around with some different shooting techniques lately. One of my newest favorite ways to shoot is blindly. Turn the camera on, point it in the general direction of what you want to shoot and click away. No looking through the viewfinder or LCD screen, no composing my shots, rarely even lifting the camera up past my waist.

How long will it be before his foot dwarfs that piece of chalk?

And you know what I've found? That some of these are my favorite shots. The unexpected beauty. Catching a moment with a subject unaware. Truth and purity. You should really try it sometime. Then come back here and let me know what you discovered while shooting blind.

red slide, pink feet

No real story today. It's G-tot climbing the wrong way up his slide. I just liked this shot when I saw it. The large expanse of red plastic. The wrinkled feet and tiny toes. Baby feet—even when they get too big to fit in the palm of my hand—get me every time. Who am I kidding, I love every part of this child.

at arm's length

I've gotten really good at taking pictures (that include me in the composition) with an outstretched arm. Apparently, I have just the right amount of arm length to get a decent shot. I took the three photos below on Saturday. Each shot was only taken once. After the snap of the shutter I checked out my handy work on the LCD screen and was happy with that one frame. No repeats necessary. Who needs a tripod/cable release/self-timer anyway?

soft & sweet

I shot this picture of G-man last week and while I liked the straight-out-of-the-camera shot, the slightly enhanced image above really does it for me. The lighting in the SOOC shot was a little low but the information was there. I shot it with a low aperature and a quicker shutter speed than I needed to capture my quick moving monkey. When I was looking at the shot yesterday I upped the levels a bit in Photoshop and ended up with this shot above. The curtains are true to life, so this is much better. I love the sweet look on his face and the softness of the image. I don't even mind that totally blown out highlight framing his face. It's my Best Shot Monday image this week.

it's good to be king

Yesterday JQ, G-man, & I went to brunch at Granite City with my mom, stepdad, brother, and grandma. The restaurant is at this outdoor "open-air" shopping complex. Right outside the restaurant is a giant chessboard. Now that it's Spring the chess pieces are on the board waiting to be played. It was really chilly out yesterday, but after brunch the wind had died down just enough that we could check out the chess board without freezing our butts off. Of course, I had my camera with me. G-man thought the board was very cool. Here's a shot of him as the king.

environments

This week I took two photos that I really love. One is of my son running around at the park. The other is my husband sitting by our garage. They share similar qualities that I'm digging at the moment. Large washes of color and small areas of main subjects. It's a big change from the close-ups and intimate details I always tend to shoot. For me, even these environmental shots capture the essence of the moment. What do you think?

here comes the sun...

smelling the flowers instead of touching

My feet find themselves planted on the still dewey grass. I can feel a drop of water on the chair soaking through the leg of my jeans. There is a slight breeze flowing through the air but the sun is shooing it away. I love mornings like this. I don't have to work today and it is going to be beautiful. That's how it has been for the past several days. It is so good to be alive.

Thank you for sticking around Spring. Make yourself comfortable.


When I looked out the window Sunday morning I greeted by these beauties above. The first buds on my tulips had bloomed. You have no idea how happy this made me. Right away I knew I had to photograph them. Two dancers. A mother & child. Welcoming the day.

This morning, two pink blooms said, "salutations".

mister blue sky

I'm really proud of my husband. He has finally decided to stop worrying about what everybody else thinks and has started to live the life he wants. It's awesome to have him focus on his happiness and life goals.

JQ is amazing and complex. He's a writer. He's a musician. He's passionate. He has a thirst for knowledge. It goes on and on. He is incredibly talented and—unfortunately—hasn't let that part of himself shine lately. Work, bills, and general day-to-day duties have gotten in the way. But no more. Big things are in the works for JQ. Change is in the air—it's palpable. And it feels so good.

He's gonna soar.

a little spring in your step

After what seemed like endless days of waiting, Spring has arrived in Toledo. This weekend we had perfect weather—temps in the 60s, no rain, lots of sun. Just fantastic. We were able to get out into the yard and do lots of work. JQ and I both love to work in our yard and over the past two days managed to: trim our sand cherries down hard, rake all the leftover leaves, plant grass seed, plant some tulip bulbs, transplant a few plants, put up a bird bath, and stake out new (bigger!) dimensions for our vegetable garden. The yard looks ready for spring and just looking out the window makes me smile.

However, perhaps the most exciting aspect of the weekend for us was being able to FINALLY let G-man out in the yard to play. No worrying about frozen fingers and soggy feet. Last Spring he was too little to enjoy the wonders of the outdoors. Not anymore. He loved it. Playing in the grass—rubbing it with his hands and then laying on his belly and "swimming" in it. Checking out all the great textures. We flipped over some rocks and looked at the worms. I picked one up and put it in his hands. He squeezed it a little like a typical boy. So much fun. Plus, JQ and I could multi-task a bit and do yard stuff while he explored.


This is going to be an awesome Spring/Summer.

one week

That's it. Seven days and my G-man turns one. I'm at a loss for words. His party is on Saturday. I'm nowhere near ready but I'm not too concerned. I'll pick up the rest of the stuff on Friday and do most of the preparations then. I may have gone a bit crazy with the guest list (but I couldn't exclude her, or him, or them). Oh well. We're gonna whoop it up (remember to get wine). There will obviously be lots of documentation. Photographic and video. Any guesses on how many times I'll cry?

monkey, cow, elephant

I love the ways he hugs my legs when he wants to be picked up.


He can't quite say it yet—it sounds more like a soft "puh", "puh", "puh"—but we know it means "up, up, up".


It may just be one of the sweetest sounds ever.

who says they're just for the kids?

Sometimes I wonder who has more fun with the toys in our house,
G-man or me & JQ?

I tend to not do much post-processing work to my images after I shot them. Besides, the necessary resizing for the web, I usually just pop them up there right out of iPhoto. This image, however, needed a bit of tweaking. I really liked the original—what is up with my look of pure evil?—but the background was too distracting. With the red walls and the bright colors of the rest of the table in the foreground, the flower failed to pop. So, I desaturated all of that in Photoshop using an adjustment layer and ta-dah, a much stronger image.

I dig the onslaught of ways to see—the eye, the camera, the mirror. I also like the way none of the focal points are in full view—my face is cropped by the camera, which is cropped by the flower, which is cropped by the edge of the photo.

What do you think? Do you have one to share? Do you find yourself playing (and having fun) with your kid's toys?

best shot monday

I love this picture I took of G-man on Valentine's Day. The overhead point-of-view, the unexpected cropping, the exaggerated foreshortening. I love the way his big blue eyes reflect my white shirt. The shallow depth of field. The diagonal lines. All of these things make this my Best Shot Monday this week.

sun kissed—best shot monday

I finished my wine walking through the backyard Wednesday night. I stopped at the garden and picked the ripe tomatoes off their vines. A large handful of grape tomatoes and a single beefsteak were my take for the night. Without my basket and with only one free hand I opted to put my harvest in my empty wine glass. The tiny tomatoes nestled in the bottom and the one plump guy resting on the rim like a makeshift lid. As I walked into the house and set the glass on the counter I thought to myself, "Life is good."


It's My Best Shot Monday pick this week. What's yours?

sometimes the love, it overwhelms

Last week I was holding Gideon when I suddenly found myself brought to tears. Tears over how much I LOVE this child. I was completely overwhelmed with the intense amount of love I felt. So tiny in my arms. So close to my heart. It makes me teary eyed just thinking about it. I wanted to remember that moment forever and grabbed the camera. We walked over to the window in the office and I held out my arm and snapped a few shots. This one took my breath away. Not exactly what I'd call a great shot of me, but I love seeing the baby from the back. The sweet innocence he projects. The way his arms are holding on to me.

It's my Best Shot Monday pick this week.

bleu cheez

On our back patio Saturday morning, while enjoying a cup of coffee with Josh, I snapped this picture of Gideon. When I looked back at it in the LCD window of the camera I knew it was going to be one of my favorites.

The soft neutral colors of his chair, his buddy, and his pale baby skin.
The fuzziness of his chair, his buddy, and his sweet red hair.
The way he wrangles Buddy in his arm and grasps his hands together.
And those eyes. Man, do those eyes make me melt. All the little bits of blue in the rest of the photo just make those beautiful blue eyes pop.

click for a big one

Before we were through with our cup o' joe, Josh shot this one.

I think it rocks.


They're my Best Shot Monday picks this week.

first fourth (best shot monday)

I've been somewhat randomly participating in Tracey's My Best Shot Monday group. As Tracey put it in a recent post of hers,

BSM is mostly about sharing ANY photo from the week (or from the more distant past if you so choose) that you want to share. No rules. No themes. Just sharing.

It's just about Mondays and having something fun to look forward to. That's my intention.OK then.

I like that idea, because, while I do take pictures of the flowers in our gardens and other things, I find that the majority of the images I shoot these days involve Gideon. My little family of 3. My new life. And I love them all.

So, with that, here's my best shot for this week. My boys on the fourth. I shot 339 pictures last week, so I had a lot to choose from. I really like this one. Not only is it Gideon's first Fourth of July, but it captures a really sweet moment with my guys. To me, it just oozes with love and the pride that Josh has for Gideon and being a father.