Project 52 {week 4}

K is in that adorable stage where they "read" books - ie look at pictures and recite the words they remember. At bedtime she is allowed to have the light on for 10 minutes after we say goodnight. This is what we discovered when we checked in on her. For the record, that is an original hardcover Nancy Drew's Secret of the Old Clock (originally mine, and now on display on her bookshelf).  I guess its time to start on chapter books! I hope her love of reading lasts a lifetime.

just one more chapter mom! taken Jan 24, 2013

f 2.8 / ss 1/60 / iso 3200
no flash - bedside lamp was on.
edited in LR4  - curves layer, noise reduction, b&w preset, with addition of some split toning for a hopeful "chocolate" feel. Did I achieve that? tell me your B&W conversion tips and tricks!

Project 52 {week 3}

The beginning of the year is hard - lots of time indoors with like 4 hours of light. I am trying to take advantage of our big picture window when I can. Mostly the cats snooze in front of it.
Here is my lovely Arwenn, the friendliest cat in the neighbourhood. She has been known to wander into other people's houses.

Hello there my furry pretty. taken Jan 13, 2013

f 2.8 / ss 200 / iso 500
natural light
edited in LR4: warmed up, increase clarity, contrast, curves level and sharpened

Project 52 {Week 2}

I swear I have been taking photos, just not so good at uploading and editing them :)

Going to do a little catch up here. without further ado - week 2!

This was one of K's christmas gifts, and she was so proud of putting it together. 48 pieces!

Keira the puzzle solver. taken Jan 06. 2013

taken with a speedlight
f 3.2 ss 1/160 iso 200
edited in LR4 - some white balance adjustment, curves layer, clarity and sharpened.

2013: Project 52 {week 1}

::tap tap::

is this thing on? In case any of you are still out there, please feel free to blow off the cobwebs and pull up a chair.
I have been gone for going on 2 years now, but in true "New Years resolution" style, I feel the urge to rejuvenate my love of the craft and continue to push myself by blogging my efforts. My primary goal is to last longer than most other fair weather resolutioners will last at the gym :)

It may not always be on time, and it may not always be pretty. But it will always be honest. As a sub goal in an effort to embrace who I am, flaws and all - I plan to put myself in front of the camera more, so be on the look out for lots of selfies!

If you are starting a 365 or 52 week project for 2013, link it below! I would love to follow you as well.

So without further ado, please let me debut my 2013 project 52 {week 1}

January 1, 2013 / Vancouver, Canada / Seymour Mountain, looking south towards Mt Rainier

settings: 28mm | ISO 320 | ss1/800 | f/4
edited using lightroom: slight curves adjustment, increase vibrancy & clarity

And in the spirit of embracing myself, here is one of me and my sunshine (taken by the man, edited by yours truly)

January 1, 2013 / Vancouver, Canada / Seymour Mountain / Me and My Sunshine

settings: 31mm | ISO 320 | ss1/320 | f/5
edited using lightroom: curves adjustment, increase exposure, darks, clarity, sharpening, slightly warmed by adding yellow to wb

What New Year's Resolutions are you pursuing? And do you have a plan for tracking them?

Fingers and Toes

At the Paper Mama this week, she is looking for fingerprints. From the same set as the previous post, check out babe's first foray into the wonderful world of dessert, one fingerprint at a time:

for more fingerprints, visit:

Rather serendipitously, Perceptive Perspective has the theme of "toes". What's more delectable than toes covered in chocolate?:

And if that were not proof enough, check out this out-take, post shoot. Momma was hungry after all that fast shuttering!:

For more kissable toes, visit:

Shutter Love Tuesdays: Cake

Hmm, as K would say, delicious!

I just did a cake smash with my friend and her almost one year old, E. This theme couldn't come at a more perfect time!
E is such a doll, she even already understands the concept of sharing!

For more scrumptious shots, check out:

TMMPAC: Dance

Awesome! I have been waiting for a good reason to share this sweet photo of darling K and her favourite person ever, Grandma. And my prayers were answered, thanks to TMMPAC's theme this week of "Dance".
These two are so good, they are dancing in the seat :)

ISO: 200, SS: 1/320, Ap: F/2.5
edited slightly to increase contrast and brighten.

For more dancing in the streets, head on over to:

Shoot n Tell: Bounce

Do you need some bounce in your day?
We recently had some fun with Grandma's exercise ball. Despite the hellish memories of bouncing a colicky baby on that ball for hours and hours on end, perfect timing for Shoot n Tell's theme of "bounce":

ISO: 400, SS: 1/250, Ap: f/4
edited to bull out some blue and magenta. curves adjustment to brighten.

For more bouncy photos, check out:

Raw(e): Snacktime

What a fun challenge over at Raw(e) and I was excited when I saw it because I just took this picture a few weekends ago. Perfect!

Nothing says county fair like mini donuts. Well worth the price of admission to get my hands on these suckers:

SOOC
SS: 1/500 (did I think the donuts were going to jump on their own accord?), Ap: f/3.5, ISO: 200, 50mm

For more drool worthy photography, head over to:

IHF: Vroom Vroom

Its been awhile since I have participated in I Heart Faces. Y'all have seen this before, but I adore it, so I am trotting it out again :)

K and her "security blanket". She doesn't leave home without it. Seriously. And obviously footed pjs and rainboots are this season's jeggings with knee highs:

check out more "transport" themed photos at:

TMMAPC: Favourite Shot

TMMAPC this week is looking for our favourite shots of all time. I have a bajillion of K, most notably the one I use in my header for her blog here . Since I have AW'ed that one several times, I will go with something different. I decided on a shot of my other "baby" - my husband! Something about this captures his personality to me. He approaches everything in life with wide-eyed enthusiasm:

For more faves, follow the linky:

Shoot N Tell: Looking Up

Over at the Franklin's, Shoot N Tell for this week is Looking Up.

SS: 1/400, Ap: f/5, ISO: 200
Edited slightly in GIMP: standard curves and unsharp mask.

This photo cracks me up because I can see exactly what her "whatever, mom" face is going to look like in 15 years :)

So what else is "looking up" here:

Simplicity Challenge: Snapshot

I think this sums up our life nicely. Your toddler does crazy things and you can't believe what you are seeing:

(FYI - K's cousin S was crying moments before and K thought to cheer her up by making her best Gene Simmonds impression, and then a split second later, gave her a huge slobbery open mouth kiss)

SS: 1/200, Aperture f/2.5, ISO 1600 (what the....?!?!?)


ladies, don't try this at home. Why I had it set at ISO 1600 OUTSIDE at SUNSET is beyond me. Probably why the original had a ton of WB issues and (sshhh!) one of the reasons I converted it to B&W.

see more slices of real life here:

In a Yellow House: On the Water

I love this week's theme over at In a Yellow House. I am a Pisces, and feel most natural on the water. Not to get all hippie dippie, but it speaks to me and keeps me sane. Remember the book Memoirs of a Geisha? In that book the protagonist talks about how each person has an element that represents them. Her sister was wood - she was obstinant, hated changed and extremely tenacious. The protagonist was water - easily maleable, fell through the cracks and went with the flow. Its what saved her from her sister's fate. I always think of myself as been represented by the element of water. Those characteristics cover me as well.

Ok, enough with the metaphysical crap. Let's get to the fun stuff!

Here is one of my favourite sunset photos, taken on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu:

this was taken in my P&S days, so no settings to share.

Welcome back from your European Tour, IAYH :)

For more great interpretations, visit:

Simplicity: Love

A little different interpretation, but his big hands gently herlping her hold this tiny little cup, just says their cup is overflowing with love to me :)

See more goo-ey love-y goodness here:

TMMPAC: Pets

Hmm, furry love for you!

SS: 1/640, Ap: f/3.2, ISO: 400, 50mm.
Curves adjustment and slight sharpen in GIMP

sadly, not mine. He was part of a small petting zoo set up at a local community event last month. 8 week old pittie baby. Squee!

See more squee worthy moments over at Two Moms Made a Photo Challenge::

More Blog Love

You guys are ever so patient with me! Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I have some fun things to share though!

The Wishful Lamb honoured me with the top 3 spot in her Shadow Play challenge from a few weeks ago. Thankyou!  here was my entry, and I get to now display this lovely badge:

The Paper Mama's weekly photo challenge last week was "Flower" and I was honoured by guest judge Mandy from Its a Beautiful Life with top spot! Woohoo!
(you know what this means viewers? another vote off in a few weeks. Sorry in advance for my spamming for votes when it comes :) )

And then today, Faith at Simplicity wanted to showcase one of my photo shares from earlier in the week on her I Heart Fridays series:

thank you everyone! It means so much for you to enjoy what I share with you. My heart is gooe-y today.
Next up I need to catch up on some last minute photo challenges this week. Stay tuned!

12 Weeks to Better Photos: Week 9

Al 12 lessons can be viewed here . This tutorial was originally offered through the 2 Peas in a Bucket scrapbooking/photography website. Show them some love here.

Week 9 is Portraits
Well isn't that easy peasy? Technically speaking, my eleventy billion photos of K count as portraits :)

Challenge: Take a Portait
1. Take a portrait of an individual.
2. Take a group portrait if you have the opportunity.
3. Take a portrait in front of a backdrop or colorful wall or a fun outdoor setting.
4. Take a portrait with black & white film or convert your photo to b&w. (In fact, we'd love to see both versions - color and black & white, if you care to share.)

I hit #1 and #3 on a weekly basis. here are some of my faves from the week I completed this challenge:

I love the texture and colour of the bench here. plus it gave me a nice chance to have her look straight up for awesome sky catchlights. even with her crinkled face her eyes are super sharp and blue.

both are SS: 1/250, F/2.5, ISO 200
both were edited in GIMP - most likely just a curves adjustment (pull up the middle, pull down the left) and an unsharp mask.
The 2nd is me trying to work a bit with backlighting.
Normally I would probably try to pull out some of the pink in her face, but it was a hot day and she had been working hard, so I left it. it tells the story of how she felt at the time :)

And for #4, here is the 2nd converted to B&W. I really struggle with conversions. I always think mine look gray and lifeless unless I completely blow out their skin. Which looks unnatural.

This one I don't hate too much (except for that white shadow on the edge her face, but I am nowhere ready to try and tackle that)

next up: Landscapes

Hanging Out for Love That Shot

Thursday's is Love That Shot's Link Up day. They ask that you share your photo plus tips on how you took it, edited it, whatever!

Here is one of my faves from the past week. This is K's newest trick - hanging on the swing, She loves to twist it around and kick her heels up. She loves that she doesn't need anyone to push her. I love that part too because I can just sit back and shoot.
SOOC:

SS: 1/400, Ap: F/2.5, ISO 400, 50mm

This is nearing sunset, with the sun probably dipped behind trees/clouds at this point. I am loving that the sun is setting so much earlier right now. It is usually in that golden hour in the hour before K's bedtime. perfect!
What I like about this was  the composition - she is in a strong rule of thirds position, there is little to no distraction around or behind her. I feel like bench acts as a nice leading line too, even though its part of the bokeh.
It looks a bit cool to me though.

Here is my edit:

I just brightened and increased contrast overall using curves. Then I went into the blue channel and pulled some of the blue out. I wish her pants wouldn't go so neon, but I again, I am so not good at the masking/layers game to know how to brighten the whole photo without this happening. This happens whenever I have pink in a photo. And with a baby girl, that is pretty much everyday. meh.

What shot do you love from this week? Come share them here:

Punk Rock Mama Challenge: Perspective

A brand new weekly challenge. How fun! Thanks to the contest queen, Ashley for pointing this one in my direction.
Punk Rock Mama is kicking off her photo challenge with the theme "perspective". Love this, because basically all I have going for me is my unique perspective and basic composition skills. I feel like of all the technicalities of photography, composition comes the most easily. WB, colour, sharpness, light and clarity, well I struggle with those a lot.

Cars are a fun one, because its all about using angles and perspective to your advantage to accentuate the lines of the car

here are some from a recent "show and shine":

SS: 1/160, F/5.6, ISO N/A (must have been below 200)

SS: 1/800, F5.6, ISO: 200

I also really love it for finding unique details, like these:

SS: 1/200, F/5.6, ISO: 200
converted to B&W and edited slightly in GIMP

SS: 1/4000, F/2.2, ISO: 200


I actually went back to one of the first photos I took when I ventured off the auto settings and into A/V mode. I still love it (though I will admit I re-edited it today!)
This is what I would like to enter in PRM's photo challenge:

SS: 1/20, Ap F/5.3, ISO 400
cropped, edited curves slightly and ran an USM in GIMP

for more unique perspectives, check it: