Inspiration...

...is everywhere to find. You just have to find it.



My friend Ashley over at Photos and Ramblings introduced me to Selfie Saturdays hosted by Elena. At first I thought, ok cool, I'd love to have some good self portraits with my DSLR. So I mozied on over to selfiemagic.com to check it out. On her Week 8 of Selfie Saturdays, Elena posted about another blog and I followed the link to Courtney's blog ,Perfect Imperfections. I didn't think that I would find a blog post that kind of smacked me in the face a little; in a good way. I mean, duh. I am always behind the camera. My husband (love you!) can barely use a point and shoot. The last time he tried to take pictures of Dylan and I, after he came home from work one day, with the DSLR... well, it was a total fail...even in auto mode (though the autofocus on my 50mm never works in low light). I think like the next day, I ate my spinach and put Dylan on one hip and my Canon in the other hand and stood in front of the mirror in our downstairs bathroom.

While I think Courtney's message was more of, take photos of yourself for your children not with your children...but it made me realize how few photos I'm in...in general... but even more devastating of how few photos there are of my son and I. It brought me to tears reading her post. How awful. Here I've been given this blessing of being able to take decent photos, I should at least be able to use that to my advantage. I already regret looking back and realizing how I'm never in photos with Dylan. And those moments are gone. I can't do that over. Ever.

Here's Dylan and I around 5 months:





I look a little scary in some of these....lots of blurriness, but I didn't care because the keepers were the ones where he was actually looking, or at least being really cute (ok so the first one, I thought I looked halfway decent-I know he's not looking!!). And my ridiculous faces were in an effort to get him to smile. It went something like this: {silly face; Dylan would smile; try to look normal; hope the framing is right and he's still smiling; and snap} It's hard to juggle a baby and a big camera while trying to look normal, but I think managed alright. I mean, I got some images. But I wasn't really happy with the quality of them. Hence, why I don't do it all the time...I pay someone else to. (and she's fabulous by the way!). April Sirit of Evoke Photography has done Dylan's newborn photos, 3 month Christmas photos and more recently his 6 month Easter photos (which I will get back in a week or two!). I mean tell me this isn't the most amazing work ever. This slideshow makes me cry every time. What I love about April most, is that she makes sure that there are photos of all of us together (now that RARELY happens even more) and some with us individually with Dylan. I am so incredibly thankful that she captured those moments for us. Or else they never would have happened.

So, being inspired by all of the people I've mentioned in this post, I think every Tuesday I'm going to devote to taking a photo of me and my son. Together. If I do this once a week, I should at least have 1 keeper in each bunch, which would total about 4 photos a month...which is a lot considering I could probably add up the total "keeper" photos of Dylan and I on two hands in his first 7 months of life. I'm not sure if another blog is doing this as well, but maybe some of you might join me in the future? I'm sure I'm not the first to come up with it. If you know of anyone else doing this, please send me the link so I can link up!

My wireless remote will be here Monday...so, I'm super excited to get started. (and actually have something that forces me to do my hair and makeup!!) ;)

On an even more personal note and to reminisce; here is me last July, 8 months preggo with little D! I did "selfies" in the mirror every month with my P&S. :)


edit// Thanks to Ashley's comment, I found another "mommy and me" (or daddy or caregiver) type photo challenge. In fact, she had spoken about it at our dinner on Tuesday. Our conversation lasted TWO hours, so it was hard to remember the details of everything, but she had mentioned her friend Casey in the conversation when this came up...I knew I hadn't dreamed it up myself!! haha. Anyways, I plan on also linking up with Casey's challenge on Fridays. It's called Mama In Focus Fridays and you can enter by clicking her button below! She does weekly themes, so I hope I can keep up!

xo

Mom, make the sun come out...

Pweeaassssse.




It's still cold and rainy here today. Dylan and I braved the Barnes & Noble so I could use my Groupon (and grab some Starbucks!). Daddy took the Pilot today. Which created all sorts of problems because normally that's the mom mobile, but it needed an oil change. Problems, you ask? Well for one, all my baby stuff that's vital to me leaving the house, is in the Pilot. It stays in there, or else I could end up forgetting it while trying to pack him into the car. You wouldn't think normal things, such as going to Target or B&N, required so many "things". The most important thing, is the car seat. But thank goodness it was in our living room b/c Dylan fell asleep on the way home from swim class yesterday and I stealthily tried to bring him in the house to continue his nap (total fail!). Second most important thing is a baby carrying method. Whether that be our snap n go stroller, my Ergo Baby Carrier, or my shopping cart cover. (I highly recommend all three of these items and they are clicky for any inquiring minds).

My mother in law, god bless her, gave us a stroller. It's used from one of her kids' in her class. I HATE this stroller. Like, with a passion. It's a Peg Perego, which is a pretty reputable stroller maker in Italy...but I can't fold/unfold this thing for the life of me. And guess what? It's the ONLY form of baby carrying that I have left in the house today. UGH!!!

So I pull into the Barnes & Noble parking lot and I'm dreading having to unfold the stroller (it was already folded up when I begrudgingly shoved it in the trunk). Actually, I'm having premonitions about me not being able to fold it back up and I panic at the thought of what I would do in that case. Ask a stranger? eeeeyeahno. I'd probably just leave it...lol. Anyways, I get Dylan in the stroller, and going through a huge puddle I make it to the doors of B&N. I have to go in backwards (why can't all doors be automatic?) and struggle while someone is standing in between the set of double doors (I really frown when things like this happen-help a sister out!!). Long story short... I make it in, get my coffee, pick out books for Dylan (and some for a gift)... and then make it to the car, get D in the car seat and attempt to fold the stupid stroller. It took a lot of shaking, pulling, stepping, a few huffs and a big shove and I finally did it!! I purposefully left it in the trunk though...I don't want to see that thing again for a while.

The BEST part of the story? I go to start the car and it chokes. ::breathe:: Try again, no dice. I start to panic. Wait a few seconds, turn off the radio (like this would matter?) and give it a longer try and finally, it unwillingly starts. I was going to go to Target (my love/hate daytime trip) but I decide to skip it and consider myself lucky if I make it home in one piece. It's not like we have a POS car. It's my 2006 Jetta 1.8T, which Alan now drives since we got the new baby-mobile (Honda Pilot). It's fun to drive, but not very baby friendly. I sometimes take it to work on the weekends while Alan has the baby and I've noticed lately that it doesn't run the same. So yeah, we'll definitely have to get it checked out.

That was just a glimpse of my day and by the time we got home, a peek of sun came out so I sat Dylan by the door and took these photos. Here's an edit play on one of them. I used the Lightroom preset "Color Creative - Color CP 2".

I am kind of a focus freak, but I almost like that the focus isn't directly on his face. Gives it that mysterious cast.
xo

[iheartfaces] Photo Challenge | Slice of Life

I bet this photo looks familiar?





In the middle of starting this blog, I entered my first photo into iheartfaces.com. This weeks theme was based on lifestyle photography. I entered through my flickr site because this blog wasn't really up and running yet. With over 600 entries, it's really a long shot. There are so many talented photographers out there and the entries are a tough competition. I'm hoping that amateurs have a chance, since there are a lot of pro submissions. I'm sure this won't be the last time I enter one of their challenges...and I'm sure Dylan will be the subject of most! I think it's fun to just be able to share your photo...and if I make the top ten, well, that would be icing on the cake!! Their winning photos are truly spectacular and very inspirational, so I'm glad I'm finally getting involved in their site.
xo

Meet Cooper

Mr. I'm nice when I wanna be...




...and cute at that!

We rescued Cooper from PetSmart--or rather one of their adopt-a-thons on Saturdays that different adoption agencies are at each week--about 4 years ago. He was born August 2006 and we adopted him in January 2007. Cooper was an orphan and bottle fed as a kitten. To this day, he still suckles or nurses on fuzzy blankets..it's weird. This isn't the cat the eats out of the man made cat food dispenser thingy. He's too refined for that kind of thing! I call him the "shark" because when we're eating dinner, you'll randomly feel him rubbing against your feet and legs. Which is weird for him, because like I said, he's only nice when he wants to be. Like certain times of day. Night time, this cat sleeps on my legs. Every. Single. Night. Daytime, he wants nothing to do with me. Where's the love Cooper?? Oh, and don't you dare touch his belly. He'll claw your arm off. (I have a scar to prove it!) But amazingly enough, this cat lets me clip his nails. Regularly.


I just love his eyes. They're gorgeous!! I wish I had gotten a full head on shot, but he decided to be a brat and got up 2 frames after I got this one with his eyes open (and in focus!).

It's a little sad. He's not a bad cat by any means. He'll run and hide before he'd scratch a stranger (unless you're messing with him). My little 3 year old nephew Cayden was visiting this year at Christmas. He lives all the way out in Oklahoma with my brother and sister in law, so he'd only seen Cooper on GChat. He wanted to pet Cooper so badly...I felt terrible!! Coops just kept running from him. And when Cayden did catch him, he'd hiss...which made Cayden cry. :( I wonder how he'll be with Dylan? Hopefully used to him by then? Right now he mostly ignores Dylan, or gives a sniff and walks away.

I caught Cooper curled up on the our comfy chair tonight. I hope I'm not making him sound too bad. He just has his quirks.

A little edit fun:


Some point & shoot reminiscing from his kitten days:

He still loves that bear. His foster mom gave that to us the day we adopted him. And when I say love, I mean suckle. lol. You know how cats knead things? Well he does that and suckles...like he's nursing. I guess he has issues. Anyways, that bear has been washed a bazillion times...trust me.

He even has his own YouTube videos (well, two of them):

We'd only had him a little while when I took this one. I so badly wanted him to get the lid off, but it never happened.


This was still a couple of years ago (before we got married). This video still makes me jump!! He's still for a few seconds and then BAM, he's attacked the star chaser ball. LOVE this toy. We still have it and I've even had to buy replacement balls off of amazon (the original one finally died and then my nephew "lost" the other one).
xo

Shoot & Edit: Week 12-Green Edit

Well, that didn't take me long.


I mean I really didn't have much to go on this one. It's one of the best, if not THE best, SOOC image I've ever taken. My adjustments are so miniscule that the difference is very slight...and I even have to look back and forth a few times to find them. But it's getting late and my eyes are a little tired from wearing my contacts all day. What do you think? When editing I had to reset my changes a bunch of times because I was trying to do too much to it.
Here is the before:


And here is the after:


I did screen shots of my LR work...so here is before (both images are the SOOC image):


and here is the after (with actual comparison side by side):


I also wanted to mention that apparently LR does have some sort of preset for importing RAW images. From what I can tell, it's the Blacks to "5", Brightness to "50" and lower down on the editing bar the Sharpness is set to "25". I've tried editing this import preset, but the only thing LR allows you to do is either use their default (which are the settings I've just posted) or use the setting for the current picture you are editing to create a custom preset. More specifically, if you go under "Develop" (on the top toolbar menu for LR, not in LR itself) and then click "Set Default Settings...", this will pop up:



xo

Black & White Wednesday

sweet.






I love black and white photography. In fact, I can't wait to scan in my contact sheets and photos from photography class that I took in high school. (Yes, I have been wanting to do this forever on my other photography blog, but it seems so much more fitting here.) I went to high school on Long Island with my friend Lauren, and she just happens to live in Wake Forest, NC. And, she also just happens to have some of the cutest kids I've ever seen. She definitely makes beautiful babies!! I was at her house in January taking photos of her newest addition, Mia, and while Mia was being tended to I tried to attack getting the other kids to let me take their picture. It turned into a chase-fest on her front lawn until Lauren saved me...lol. It was fun, and I ended up getting a few shots of Brandon and Sofia outside, but Alana wanted nothing to do with me. So while back inside, Alana all of the sudden let me take some photos and they turned out to be the best of the bunch. I had made this one black and white for Lauren's CD because I just loved the backlighting her windows in her living room gave me. In fact, in this session, I found one of my all time favorite photos. Isn't she gorgeous?!?!

Wordless Wednesday

...but with words.




There are going to be a lot of firsts in the next few weeks, and todays first is my participation in Wordless Wednesday.


Another SOOC shot with my new 85mm lens. This was taken yesterday around the same time as my Shoot & Edit entry in the last post. It was probably around 6pm, so I had really great natural light. I would have taken a photo today, but it's cold and rainy outside (again!) so I didn't bother. I already had the joy of running in and out of Pullen Aquatic Center with Dylan in my arms in the pouring cold rain. Today was his last swim class. I feel like such a proud mommy because he went underwater THREE times!! Just had to brag a little about that one. Ok, I'm done. ;)

Here's the LR screen shot to show settings:

annnnnd my screen shot is terrible. Here's just the histogram:

So, slightly underexposed but I really love SOOC. I try so hard to get it right in camera as much as I can, so that editing isn't a nightmare. I mean, isn't that the goal? I also just recently took off the training wheels and only shoot in RAW (instead of RAW + JPG). Now that I have Lightroom (thanks Santa!), it's really not that big of a deal. I just found it horrid to deal with the editing software that Canon gives you when you purchase their cameras. ugh!

edit//Just thought I'd go ahead and post my edit for this one. Love it even more.

I basically adjusted my exposure and white balance. A little bit of sharpening and a touch of clarity (although the point of focus on this image is the inner tip of the middle flower, it still adds punch). I also added an ever so slight vignette to make the flowers pop a little more.