photography

This morning I got to do a family photo shoot for some friends of ours.  It was a good exercise for me: working with multiple subjects, figuring out what aperture to use so that everyone is in focus, and doing some post-processing practice.  Here are some of my favorites:

Plus, I found a pretty good spot near my backyard to do shaded pictures! 

That's what learning photography is all about...making little improvements all the time...

I finished up this 3-6-9-12 month framed collage this afternoon, displaying Paxton's first year portraits.  Rather than matching Ayla's framed collage, I ended up going with a completely different frame style and photo opening layout.  I figure...different kid, different project.  Separate and unique, but equal.  Paxton's pictures were all horizontal anyhow, so it was kind of necessary to do something different. :)

Initially my intent for doing this was to show how much each kid changed over their first year, wearing the same white onsie with a black background (and I tried to include a prop - flower for Ayla and stuffed monkey for Paxton...but that didn't go over well after 3 months!).  It's funny how in the end, these portraits actually ended up showing how much they looked the SAME all year! Though Paxton does get a little rounder in each photo! Perhaps if I had to do it over again, I'd choose to dress them differently each time...nah, probably not.  I still think it was a good idea even if it didn't turn out quite like I planned. :)

Here's Ayla's, which I did several years ago - the openings are wallet sized w/one 5x7:

And Paxton's - which has four 3 1/2 x 5" openings:

So there we go.  Two kids, two frames, two first year collages -- done, and hung. 

With all the pictures I take, it's about time I framed a few. :) 

I've had this collage frame sitting in my "to do" projects forever, and finally decided that a bathtime baby bathroom collage would be the perfect use for it.  So, I printed several bathtime baby photos of both of our kids in black and white, added some patterned paper & Imaginisce "Splash Dance" rub-ons and stickers and viola!  A cute little bathroom collage.

While I was working on this project, I flipped the Splash Dance packaging over and was surprised to see a familiar face looking back at me! 

Cool, huh? :)

A mystery package arrived at my door today -- my 100% fixed camera - no charge.

Canon received it Monday, and I'd been waiting for them to email me with an estimate for what the repairs were going to cost me (while I racked my brain trying to figure out how to pay for the repairs & a replacement 50mm lens - which also broke). 

When a box arrived today with the camera inside, I thought for sure it wasn't fixable so they just mailed it back.  Nope.  They fixed it.  And didn't charge me.  How cool is that? They just earned a customer for life. 

Now I can order my replacement lens and be back to normal shortly!  Whew.  Canon must have known I have a new neice & nephew due anyday!

So my camera and I bonded for a little while this afternoon. We missed each other.

I'm not in the market for a point-and-shoot camera this year, but if I had $10 for every time somoene asked me which one to buy...well, I could have bought a few of them by now.  

The truth is, I don't really know much about them, except that they're small, because I carry a big-ol-beast Canon 40D with me most of the time, and only use my Sony Cybershot in a pinch or for video.  Now if you're in the market for a DSLR...then we can talk.

But...for all my friends & family who will inevitably ask me this holiday season for camera purchasing advice, here's a link I saw today with a list of the 20 most popular point-and-shoot cameras:

Top 20 Popular Point and Shoot Digital Cameras

Looks like my previous advice has been pretty sound -- Canons rock. 

And while we're at it...the best places I know of to buy cameras are BestBuy.com and BHphotovideo.com.  Your local Wolf Camera store would also be a great place for information and personal service...although unfortunately, not usually as good of a price.

Happy shopping!

Why didn't I think to do this? It's fabulous:

The First Year

I got my new Canon 40D today and got to play a little bit.  Holy megapixels! And I didn't even get the newest, biggest, fastest camera on the market right now. 

This photo originally was 54 x 36 INCHES! 

That's massive.  Want to see just HOW massive?  Here's a cropped section of it at original size.

oooh, I'm gonna have fun!

Consider it mine.  Should arrive on Tuesday.

A refurbished Canon 40D.  Can't wait!

Lisa tagged me in a random photo blog game, and the picture that resulted was interesting, so I decided to do it. 

Here's how it works:  Pick the 6th folder in your pictures files on your computer and then choose the 6th photo in the folder and blog about it. 

Unfortunately there were only three photos in my 6th folder, so I went with the 6th picture in the 7th folder...because does it REALLY matter? 

Here's what I came up with:

Grave Digger....the monster truck.

Hilarious, I know.  I didn't even take the photo. Back in January, Ben took Zach and my nephews to a monster truck show, and Grave Digger is the feature event of the loud testosterone-filled program.   So I credit Ben with this fabulous documentation of their encounter with the monster...

So friends, if you're so inclined....I tag Janel, Alison, Patricia, Betsy, Elizabeth, and Renee.  Let's see what you got!

I ran across this Camera Strap Slipcover Tutorial last week, and was excited to give it a try.  Even though I am VERY challenged in any sewing-machine related crafts, I decided this looked simple enough for even me to try.

I did a "rough draft" try with some scrap fabric and my own sewing machine.  It didn't fit and looked awful.  But...I also didn't measure or iron the fabric, so what did I expect?

Then today, I snagged some scrap fabric from my sister-in-law (who has a treasure chest of fabrics to choose from) and borrowed her snazzy sewing machine and expertise while I tried to make a "final draft" version to actually use. 

Well...make that 2nd draft.  I had to tear out all the seams after I realized that I didn't put the fabrics' "right sides" together like you're supposed to.  But that was a good extra round of practice for me, because once I finally got it all sewn together right, it slipped onto my camera strap and looks pretty good. 

I did omit the last step of top-stitching around the whole thing because it didn't look like I'd have enough space left to slide the strap inside with two more seams.  But I'm happy with the end result anyhow. 

It only took me 2 hours (said with a roll of the eyes, because this should really be a 30 minute project MAX).  But I didn't cry, and I didn't throw away the end-product, so I guess that makes it a successful project in my book!