I promise that I'm not going to make this blog all about photography, but I saw this and just had to take part in it. IHeartFaces is doing some constructive feedback today, and I'm always up for some help!!
I just took this yesterday. I love Abbi's eyes, but since they are so dark, I often have a hard time capturing the light and sparkle that are in them. But I was able to here - and I think that is why I love this photograph so much! But what I don't like? I always try to focus on the eyes, but since I was inside and having to use a low aperture, I feel like the rest of her face is out of focus. I feel like I got the eyes, but I'm wanting the whole face in focus.
Photo info - f2.2, 1/50, ISO 1600, 50mm. Used photoshop CS4 - but very minimally (just to adjust levels a bit.)
If you are one of the people that regularly read here, please feel free to skip past this post. I'm just looking for some constructive criticism to make myself better!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Constructive Feedback
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Speaking of Photography...
I'm blog surfing - again - and came across a contest to win a new lens. And since photography is turning into quite an expensive hobby, it would be awesome to win! (I'm not holding my breath, though - I never seem to win these things.) Check it out here if you are interested!
When I Grow Up...
I always had a problem with this question when I was young - "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I went through a phase - when I was addicted to the Babysitter's Club - that I wanted to write. I soon found out that I really wasn't that creative, and I struggled to find the answer to that question. I always knew I wanted to be a mom. Deep down inside of me, since I was just a kid, that's all I wanted. But that's not the answer people were looking for when they asked that question. They wanted to hear "a fireman" or "a doctor". I graduated high school, still not knowing. I went away to college, still not knowing. I took general ed classes part time, hoping that the answer would hit me. Many years later, still no degree to my name, mainly because I couldn't commit to one degree, I finally gave up and joined the professional working world.
Back during one of those semesters, I decided to take a few "fun" classes. Voice lessons and photography. I can carry a tune decently, but I'm no Kelly Clarkson. Plus, for the final, we had to sing at a recital and it scared me to death. I'm definitely not one for singing in public like that. The photography class was fun, but extremely frustrating. It was back before digital cameras were all the rage, and you'd take a roll of film, only to go into the darkroom, develop them, and find out they were all bad. Plus, I had so many creative people in that class - I felt like my picture of the trees and the bridge just didn't measure up. I'm kind of like that - if I don't get something really quickly, I tend to give up. I really need to change that about myself.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago. I was going through a pretty hard time. Since I met him, Josh had been encouraging me to find a hobby - something that would make me happy and excited. I never knew what that could be. I danced in high school, but I felt like I was too old for that now. I'm not a very musical person, as I described in the paragraph above. I like to scrapbook, and I really enjoy it, but I was looking for something that would burn deep inside of me. I can't remember exactly what it was that led me back to photography, but all of a sudden, I was hooked again. I discovered flickr, and would spend hours on there every day, being ispired. I bought a new camera, and started a photo-a-day project. Soon, flickr led me to a food blog - a world I didn't even know existed, and before I knew it, most of my pictures were of food. I decided to start a food blog, and I haven't looked back since. That re-discovery of photography really helped me through that hard time and was one of the main forces in pulling me out of it.
Fast forward to about 5 months ago. Little Abbi came into our lives. And suddenly, my photography focus had changed. I still enjoyed taking pictures of food, but these new photos had so much more purpose and reason behind them. There the new obsession started. I have to say, I look at more photography blogs now than I do food blogs. And I get excited looking at them. I want to be like them. I want to learn and to practice and to create these beautiful memories.
And I have to admit - even though I'm a bit embarrassed to admit, since I still have so much to learn - but I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. Finally. At the age of 31. And for once, I'm not going to get frustrated and give up since I'm not perfect, and I have so much to learn. But I want to photograph people. Babies, toddlers, families - (but I don't know if I'll ever be brave enough to want to do weddings, I'm not sure that's my thing) - I want to help families to save their memories.
I've taken one little Saturday class, and I've spent lots of time online studying and learning. Thank goodness for google, otherwise I would know nothing about photoshop!! But I know practice is going to be the only way to really learn.
A neighbor and friend of mine let me take pictures of her newborn a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot more difficult than I imagined it would be. We couldn't keep her asleep. In fact, we couldn't even get her to stay asleep long enough to get her diaper off to do some cute nudie pictures. But I was actually quite happy with the way some of them turned out. I have put them together into a little video below - please let me know what you think!
The main reason I write all of this here is that I need some help. I need practice. I need volunteers. So if you are in Utah County, or if you are going to be in Utah County, I'm offering up free pictures to anyone who will donate their time to let me practice on them. I'm not promising anything great, but I can't get any better without practice! And if anyone knows of any cool spots here to take pictures, I'd love to know!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Anyone Know Anything about TVs?
Our tv just died. Doesn't make me happy. But Josh's birthday is a week away, and he's been wanting a new tv for some time now. Anyone know anything about tvs so I know what kinds to look at??
Monday, July 6, 2009
4th of July
I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! It has always been one of my favorite holidays. There is something about laying out, watching fireworks and listening to patriotic music. (Although we had no music this year.) I'm so proud to be an American. And I'm so grateful for all of those who have gone before us, who fought to bring freedom here. And I'm so grateful for those men and women who still fight today for our freedoms and for the freedoms for others around the world.
This year, we celebrated by attending the Pleasant Grove fireworks show. We usually go watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from afar, but I didn't want to fight traffic this year with a baby, so we decided to head up to Pleasant Grove. Little did I know that their fireworks show was just as great, in my opinion!!
We got up there around 8pm, and there was plenty of room, so we set up our blanket near one of the entrances. We did this so that we would have an easy get-away, but we weren't thinking of what a horrible spot it would be. Once it was time for the fireworks, all of the latecomers coming in just stood in front of us, basically blocking our view. We ended up having to get up and watch from the car. But it was fun to lay on the blanket - just Josh, Abbi, Max and I - for that hour and a half before and just spend some time together. Max was scared to death, as usual. He hates fireworks, so he hid in between the car seat and my purse the whole time. Abbi fell asleep right before the fireworks, so she didn't even get to experience her first big fireworks show. It probably had to do with the fact that we were at my sister's house the night before until way too late. But I'm sure she'll love them next year!
I'm sad that it is over, but the good thing in Utah is that we still have more fireworks for the 24th of July celebrations. Maybe Abbi will stay up long enough to see those!
