I took a picture!

I took out my big-girl camera and took a few pictures yesterday. I think it may have audibly groaned when I turned it on, being a bit stiff from it's long hibernation in my camera bag. I am determined to get my creative juices flowing again and turning on the camera and snapping a few pics while the kids played in the backyard was a good start. The temperatures are back up in the 60s again, perfect for some outdoor play for kids and grown-ups alike.

And the light was beautiful.

I got a little artsy-fartsy with the processing of this one. What do you think? (Honestly. Does it look too processed?)

Here's the original to compare:

I wanted to keep the light, airy feel of the original but improve the overall color and punch it up a bit. I also wanted to de-emphasize the less than beautiful background of our backyard fence and playground.

A note for Jill (or anyone else interested in post-processing): I edited this one by overlaying it with a texture in photoshop as well as adding some brightening, adjusting the contrast and warming up the colors.

7 Quick Takes Friday: vol.18

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Advent accident. We almost had a catastrophe at breakfast yesterday morning. We light our advent wreath candles for every family meal and so Eric had them lit before the kids came down for breakfast. When Gustin came downstairs he was getting settled into his seat and while wrapping a blanket around himself he leaned forward over the table and managed to catch his hair on fire! I was in the kitchen and heard him scream and turned around to see flames on the side of Gustin's head until Eric quickly patted them out. Thankfully he was standing just a few feet away from Gustin at the time. Though shaken up and with a patch of hair singed away, Gustin was fine. Somehow the skin of his scalp was not burned. I guess I should call this take an Advent miracle!

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Silhouettes. At our last Cub Scout campout I was able to capture some wonderful silhouettes of my kids by the lake. Silhouettes is one area of photography that I haven't experimented with much so I was very happy with how these turned out! I only had a few minutes of lovely sunset light to work with and, for once, my girls decided to be willing models. Serendipity! Please humor me while I share a bunch of them.

I happen to love that these are not complete silhouettes; the kids' forms are not totally black. A bit of light still falls on their round cheeks or on the folds of their clothes.

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Zoom lens. My photography output has really slowed to a trickle these days. I pretty much share all the pictures I take here, and you know how rarely I post to this poor little blog these days. Part of the problem is a bit of frustration over my lenses. I love my prime lenses for good photo quality, but I really need the flexibility of a zoom lens. But, whenever I use my cheap zoom lens I'm always disappointed with the results.

So, I'm thinking about getting a nice zoom lens, a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8. The only problem is that it is a very expensive lens. I've been saving my money that I have been earning from selling my photos through Getty Images and I now have enough saved to buy it. But, I'm scared. It somehow seems wrong to spend so much money on a hobby. On myself.

Any thoughts? Should I go for it?

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Nope, not me. The other day Gustin was taking off his socks and he noticed a long hair on his sock.

"Oh, that must be one of mine," I said.

"No, Mommy," he replied, "this can't be your hair. It's gray and you don't have gray hair. It must be a string from my sock."

Such a smart, smart boy.

(The above photo is from 2 years ago. There may be a wee bit more gray now.)

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Consumable Christmas. I'm all about consumable Christmas gifts this year. I know we have way too much stuff around our house and I don't want to be the one to make other people's homes even more cluttered. So, the kids on my Christmas list are getting lots of art supplies: coloring books, markers, crayons, playdoh, paints and notepads. The adults are getting chocolates, salsas, beer, marinades, coffee, trail mixes and pickles. Of course all of them are special brands that most people don't get to consume on a regular basis. To top it all off, these gifts were really fun to shop for!

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The Hobbit! Eric and I have plans to see The Hobbit movie this weekend. It will be one of the two times all year that we actually go to a movie. I'm expecting to be impressed. I really enjoyed rereading the book several months ago. To further feed my hobbit appetite I also really enjoyed Prof. Corey Olsen's new book Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It's great literary analysis for those of us who don't hold advanced degrees in literature.

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Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

7 Quick Takes Friday vol. 17

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Unplanned candids. My favorite kind of photograph.

"Peekaboo!"

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Brain food. I love being a stay-at-home mom, but it can be a challenge to keep my brain from turning to mush during all the hours of laundry and cleaning and potty training. The discovery of podcasts a year or so ago completely changed my life (a great place to start is with any of the fantastic podcasts at sqpn.com). My current favorite, though, is The Tolkien Professor. You can find his feed in iTunes and he has a variety of series including recordings of classes he teaches at Washington College. Right now I'm listening to a series on the Lord of the Rings books (episodes labeled WC Tolkien Course, Sessions 22-40 in iTunes). They are totally nerdy, but also completely accessible to people like me who do not have a background in literature or literary analysis. Fascinating stuff.

Also, if you're interested in the upcoming Hobbit movies, check out Professor Olsen's series, The Riddles in the Dark. In these podcasts they discuss particular aspects of the book, The Hobbit, how they might be adapted to the big screen, and make predictions as to how these themes/characters/back stories may be portrayed in the movies. Lots of fun.

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A local gem. I am frequently surprised by some of the simple, cheap family activities that surround us but are so often unknown. We recently visited a local orchard (persimmons are in season though we didn't pick any) where my kids had a blast playing on the playground and haystack, going on a long hayride, and just getting lots of sunshine and fresh air.

The highlight of the day, though, was the huge tire swing. You could hear my kids' screams and laughs echoing through the entire orchard. Fun times and good memories.

All that fun and we also supported a local, family owned business. It can't get any better than that!

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Second time around. I picked up Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset again. I began the trilogy a number of years ago but somehow got distracted and stopped reading somewhere in the middle of the second book. I was enjoying it the first time around, but this time has been even better. I love stories that are both interesting and make me think and Sigrid Undset's medieval Norwegian novels definitely fit the bill. I was struck by this wonderful discussion between Kristin and Brother Edvin:

"... the Devil only [seems] big as long as we harbor fear within ourselves. But if a person seeks God with such earnestness and desire that he enters into His power, then the power of the Devil at once suffers such a great defeat that his instruments become small and impotent. "

Brother Edvin continues:

"There is no one, Kristin, who does not love and fear God. But it's because our hearts are divided between love for God and fear of the Devil, and love for this world and this flesh, that we are miserable in life and death. For if a man knew no yearning for God and God's being, then he would thrive in Hell..."

 So much good food for thought.

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Kids' Portraits 2012. Here are some of my favorites from this year's portrait session. I made some mistakes photographically speaking that I am forcing myself not to enumerate ad nauseum (even after 4 years of pursuing this hobby, I still have so much to learn!), but overall I'm pleased with the results.

 Clara, age 2

Augustine, age 5

Elizabeth, age 8

Jonathan, age 10

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Just ask. At our Mom's group at church we were recently discussing how difficult it can be to get to confession when you have young children. The times that confession is available can be inconvenient to young families and it's difficult to keep children quiet and entertained while their parents are receiving the sacrament. One of my fellow mom's then casually approached are associate pastor and asked if he would be willing to hear confession's during the meeting time of the Mom's group since we are already there on the church campus and our children are being cared for in the childcare ministry. Well, our priest enthusiastically supported the idea and was there to hear our confessions during our October meeting where at least two dozen moms received the sacrament of confession, some for the first time in more than a decade! He also committed himself to being available for confession during every one of our scheduled meetings for the rest of the year. It's amazing what can happen if we only ask!

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A few more candids. I just love it when I can capture them laughing!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Embracing the Wide Side

When I got my first DSLR camera (about 4 years ago, has it really been that long?!) I was amazed at all the capabilities it had that my point-and-shoot did not. Most especially I loved that I could get so close to my subject. It was heavenly to be able to fill the frame with my beautiful kids' faces, their eyes sparkling back at me in the photographs just as they do in real life.

I found shooting nature and flowers close up to be a awe-inspiring experience, as well. So many details! All the amazing colors and shapes and beauty to be found if you get down close to a simple wildflower or moss growing on a rock.

However, before long I found myself firmly in a photography rut. All of my photos began to look the same and my inspiration was waning. My photographs looked tight and cramped to me and I was feeling a bit cramped myself.

Elizabeth is jumping over the waves in this photo. 

Finally, I learned to mix things up and breathe some new life into my photographs by embracing wide angle focal lengths. For me that meant shooting on the 18mm end of my 18-105mm kit zoon lens or shooting with my 24mm prime lens.

All of these pictures were taken on our recent vacation during a brief visit to Mustang Island State Park using the wide end of my 18-105mm zoom lens.

In these photos there is room for my subjects, be they children or husbands or birds, to move and interact with their environment. It's also easy to see there different sizes of the kids relative to each other.

I particularly love capturing so much of the sky in a photo so you can see the beautiful natural gradation of the blue. Capturing the surroundings as well as the subject in a photo adds so much more interest.

It's a whole new world on the wide side.

I won't stop taking those close ups of my kids' precious faces, though. I just now know to mix them up with a few shots that capture their entire bodies and their surroundings, as well.

July Photo Challenge

 

I'm submitting this photo as part of the July photo challenge, "Enjoying Life", at iheartfaces.com.

Just the Pics

Is it bad if I write a post where I don't really write anything?

Because, at this moment, I don't have much to say. At least, I don't have much time to say what I would like to say, nor the pictures to go with it. 

So this post is just the pics from a lovely day spent with family, celebrating the birthdays of two adorable nieces.

This amazing swing in my sister-in-law's backyard cried out to me, begging me to set a cute child on it, capture it on film (well, actually, on an SD card) and then show it off to the world (hopefully my little corner of the blogosphere will do). 

And I was happy to oblige.

Happy swing. Happy Clara. Happy Colleen.

7 Quick Takes Friday vol. 16

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Captured. We went on a Cub Scout family campout a few months ago at a gorgeous state park with almost perfect weather and I took an appallingly few number of pictures. I guess we were too busy enjoying the moment.

I did manage manage to get one picture of the resident 10-year-old camera hater. Eric had to trick him to get into photo range with a request for "special help" planning the weekend's scavenger hunt. I think the resulting action shot of my husband and son and Jonathan's best bud (wearing the coon skin cap) is kind of fun.

They look so serious--as if they were planning their next away mission. 

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Toddler piety. During the sign of peace at mass last Sunday, Clara turned to Eric, stuck out her little hand and said, "Dee dee dih doo, Daddy." Translated as: "Peace be with you, Daddy."

At the end of prayers with the kids last night Clara piped up with, "Dod dess baby dawls. Dod dess daddies." Translated as: "God bless baby dolls. God bless daddies."

Can there be anything cuter?

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A new favorite blog. You must go check out Bobbi's Revolution of Love blog if you have not already. This sweet mom of four has been blogging for 9(!) years and I just love her style. She's smart, funny, honest and inspiring and she blogs about movies, organizing, parenting, books... so many of the things that I love.

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Fantastic books. I've been on a roll lately. Book after book that I've read over the last few months has been a home run. Here are a few quick thoughts on my recent faves.

Wish You Were Here by Amy Welborn: Sad, inspiring, hard, beautiful, hopeful, made me a more empathetic person.

The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge: Lovely, refreshing, thought-provoking, an explosion of imagery.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt: The way all YA fiction should be, funny, smart, respectful, touching.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen: More fantastic YA fiction, skillfully written, engaging, inspiring, made me cry (in a good way).

A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse: My first experience with P.G. Wodehouse, hilarious, fun, a great summer read.

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In awe. I'm am continually amazed at the number and beauty of the state parks within an easy drive of the Houston area. I grew up in semi-arid west Texas where the only things to see for miles around were yuccas, tumbleweeds and oil pump jacks. Though, I have to admit, we did boast some amazing sunsets.

What we did not have was this:

A living map complete with oceans and continents.

Nor this:

An alligator eying us from a mere few feet away. And, no, there were not any fences or barriers of any kind between us and the alligator.

Nor this:

A mysterious substance that is strangely available in large quantities.

It's called water.

If you're ever in the area, go check out Brazos Bend State Park just minutes southwest of Houston. It's too beautiful to be missed. 

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Garden serendipity. I actually took my camera out the other day. I've only done so about 3 times in the last six weeks. (All the pictures I've taken in that time period are in this particular post. Pathetic.) Every time I follow through with picking up my camera and pushing the shutter release button a few times I mentally lambast myself for not doing so more often. Because if I did, I'd capture more serendipitous photos like this:

And this:

While this last pic is far from perfect (not tack sharp, my 24mm lens was not ideal in this situation, the background is not exactly beautiful or interesting), it captured a neat moment.

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Where to start? I am very curious about the authors G.K. Chesterton and Flannery O'Connor. I see people quoting them, alluding to them, referencing their works all the time, but I've never read anything by either one of these authors. The problem is that I don't know where to start. Any recommendations?

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!