DAY TWENTY SIX

I think our dogs get as sick of me taking their picture as my kids do! Maggie is relaxing on two blankets- mine and Josie's. She is eyeing me out of the corner of her eye and wanting me to leave her alone or wondering what I'm doing. :)




Clayton is in the process of making a castle for his Medieval History class. It will look pretty cool when done!

DAY TWENTY FIVE

Annoucing...a new addition to our family!! No, no, it's not what you're thinking. We're getting a puppy!! They are 3.5 weeks old now, so one will come home to us at the end of February. Yay.

They are the sweetest Lhatese puppies. I can't put all 40 photos up, so if you want to see the rest, they're on my facebook page.

These were taken in very low room lighting at night, with very high ISO (1,000-1,250), low s/s (1/50th, I think) and f2.

DAY TWENTY FOUR

This is what I felt like last night- I'm so sick of sitting in front of this computer, working- I just wanted to veg. But, then, my shows weren't on. Arghh. :) I had to settle for a good book, some wine and a blanket.

So, I didn't post this yesterday because that would have meant sitting in front of the computer! LOL

The lighting was, of course, yucky because it was dark and just had lamp-light to utilize.

Catch-up Day! Days 19-23

Well, I've already fallen behind and it's only January- yikes! Actually, I've shot everyday, it's the editing and posting that take the time.

DAY NINETEEN

Josie had her first haircut at the age of 39 months! She smiled, grin and giggled the whole time. She was so excited to get a haircut, just like her big sister.

Before:




During:





After:





DAY TWENTY
3 of our kids are in the homeschool band program. It's a huge program with 4 bands, 4 orchestras, 4 choirs, ensembles, marching band, etc. Tahlia is in Intermediate Orchestra, Fiddle Class and Middle Color Guard. (I just got a picture this week of her in color guard.) Heath is in Intermediate Band and Boys Choir. Clayton is in Advanced Band, Big Band (Jazz), Boys Choir and Drumline. Next Wednesday, I'll grab more pictures of them in their different groups.





DAY TWENTY ONE
I did shoot on this day, but it was a client, not around our house or our family.

DAY TWENTY TWO
Tahlia is back in ballet this semester and she is loving it! She makes a beautiful ballerina. I need to convince her to let me photograph her in her lovely leotard, tights, leg warmers and skirt.



Day 22 was also my birthday. 39 years old! (For real.) I had tons of wishes on my facebook page. Thanks, friends!




DAY TWENTY THREE

Some dear friends have invited us down to Florida for a free vacation- they will host us, feed us and find cheap things for us to do. We, at first, turned them down because with Greg off work, we didn't feel right about even paying for the gas and food for the ride down. A few weeks later, a check came in the mail for more than enough money to get us down there and back! What a blessing! We are staying with them for most of a week and then with my in-laws for a couple days. We'll go in mid February. It is nice to have something to look forward to, after a couple years of being so financially tight, with nothing "fun" or "special" to do. It will also be nice to get out of the Michigan winter and into some warmer weather.

DAY NINETEEN

After awhile I'm going to have to go to numerals instead of the words written out in my titles. Not sure if the space is long enough for DAY TWO HUNDRED THIRTY THREE and so on! LOL

This is just a place-holder. I really did take some pictures today. Josie, who is 3, had her very first haircut ever and, of course, I captured that momentous occasion. I just didn't have time to edit and upload them and I want to go to bed b/c I have an early meeting. So, I promise I will post the pictures tomorrow. (I really don't want to fail/quit at this 365, so I'm holding myself accountable.)

DAY EIGHTEEN

Well, it's late and the day has been crazy busy. I entered my very first print competition tonight, knowing virtually nothing. The good news is that I didn't totally tank. I was in the average range, so I got yellow and white ribbons. But, best of all: I learned a lot for next time.

This is a terrible quality picture of a picture, which looks much better in real life. :)

DAY SEVENTEEN

When we moved in 7 years ago, I hung some antique tea towels in my kitchen and dining room. My mom sees them and says, "I don't like them- it looks like you hung towels on your windows." Well, I kinda did. :) They're tacked up with thumb tacks and tied with raffia.

DAY SIXTEEN

Blanky and Pearls. :) Love the contrast between the naked baby with her blanket and the big girl with her earrings and dog.

Love my sunroom for shooting with natural light. It makes getting great exposure really easy.

DAY FIFTEEN

Heath, doing his math. He excels in math, but still doesn't love doing it. ;)

Shot using available light. Had to take out alot of yellow and there's still yellow casts. Now I'm looking at it, thinking how cool it would have been if I had "looked" through his glasses with the camera and gotten the paper in focus through his lens! :) Anyone else think of really good shots/ideas after the fact?!

DAY FOURTEEN

I was taking a few random shots around the house- trying to be artsy, but just not feeling it today- when Josie yells, "Mom! Take a picture of my socks!" :) She was just laying there in her tipped-over chair. She cracks us up all the time.

These are natural light and just brightened a little in photoshop. I also took some of the obnoxious yellow out of the lamp shots to make them look like more natural yellow light. :)

DAY THIRTEEN

I can't believe that I'm posting these two photos. My hat's off to you self-portrait 365-ers! First of all, I generally hate myself in pictures and this is no exception. When did I gain all that weight back??!! Is that what my jaw really looks like?! Etc, etc. Then, on top of that, self-portraits are hard!! I couldn't get even one that was in focus. The camera focused on the bookcase behind me every time. Time for me to go do some research on how to do this better.

But, for my 365 today, I wanted to show my new haircut. Got bangs after not having them for awhile- verdicts still out on whether I like them. I do, however, like the long strands of hair in front, but they aren't very noticeable in these pictures. LOL Basically, I would not post these pictures if I had taken anything else, anything at all, today b/c I pretty much hate everything about them. (Don't even get me started on exposure and color casts- yuck!)

However, it's only right that I document myself if this blog is, in fact, "A Day in the Life..." of our family. But, thank goodness I'm not doing a self-portrait everyday for my 365- I would have quit January 2!! LOL

DAY TWELVE

My princess loves to play with the castle that Grammie gave her for Christmas. It's so fun to watch my children use their imaginations and Josie is in the prime time for this- she "talks" to all her toys and makes complex scenarios. So cute!

Techinally: these photos were taken using natural light. I've been on a mission for the last year or so to always find the light in the eyes. Now, to me, eyes w/out light look "dead". So, for that reason, I don't love these images, but the way she was playing and laying on the floor it didn't work to get the light in her eyes. I'm also getting some pretty funky pink and blue color casts on her face!! :) Good thing this isn't a portrait that I would have to color correct! LOL

DAY ELEVEN

By special request for my friend Heather, who was trying to look more closely at my "beautiful" Grandma, but couldn't see her because she's not in focus in yesterday's pictures, here she is: :)




I was really getting into walking/jogging this past summer/fall and then the cold weather hit and I don't go outside anymore. So, I used Christmas money to buy a used treadmill off Craigslist. It works well and so far I'm sticking with it. I'm walking, interspersing with a bit of running. I'd sound really official and call it "Interval Training", like I'm doing it on purpose, but really, I'm just out of shape and can't run more than 1/4 of a mile at a time! LOL My wonderful hubby even put a little t.v. in there for me to watch while walking. :)

As you can see, the dog food is right there- our dog, Maggie (not the one in the picture), walks up the treadmill every time on the way to her food and stands at the front of it like she's queen of the world. I think it makes her feel tall. LOL

Technical: Nothing special about this photo compositionally or even about the subject. It was taken using natural light.

DAY TEN

This is what I like to call my "Wall of Women" in our living room. There's an antique frame and picture of my great-aunt, who died when she was 4 years old. There's a picture of my maternal grandma when she was a young woman- either a graduation portrait or engagement picture- she was gorgeous! She died when I was 1 year old, so I never knew her. The picture beneath her is my mom in her engagement picture. Then, there's a collage of a bib, the packaging and a letter written by a different great-aunt to my mom when she was born in 1945. Finally, a chalk on velvet drawing someone did of a photograph of me when I was a baby. I'd like to add drawings of my two girls to the wall eventually.

Technical: They were shot with natural window light. I was just playing with different angles and views. 35 mm lens ISO 320 SS 1/60- 1/80 f2

DAY NINE

The girls were playing today for the longest time under an umbrella on the couch. They had a "picnic" (lunch) there, they played shadow puppets and just relaxed.

Then, the kids were so excited to find out that we were going to see our future new puppy!! I had seen her earlier this week, but they got to go meet her. She is a week and a half old and so sweet. She's a Lhatese (Lhasa Apso and Maltese). She'll be ours in 6-7 weeks. (We decided to pool all of the Christmas money we got from Grandpa and Grandma to buy a puppy- that this would be way nicer than any ol' toy!)

So, the first shot is natural light and nothing done to it, except a fun crop. The rest of the shots are for pure cuteness and documenting the meeting- they are flash photography in a dark bathroom.

DAY EIGHT

Day 8 and I'm already feeling creatively stuck. I look at others' 365s and they are SO creative. I'm stuck in a rut. Ugh...this is supposed to be stretching me, but how can it, when I can't do anything new and it's only been a week?! Sigh... So, please bear with the boring, repetitive pictures. LOL Maybe it's because our home life is so boring and, therefore, why I never take pictures of it. :) If anyone has any ideas to inspire me, I'd be open to listen and learn.

I can't decide today, so I'm posting a few. I always post one or more pictures here, but try to narrow it down to one favorite for my 365 Flickr group.

Once again today, I used the 35 mm at f2 in the sunroom, which has 3 walls of windows, so it's a great place to shoot. Exposure is really easy to nail!

Tahlia has 9 Webkinz and 4 of them are horses! She had them all lined up. I missed the shot yesterday when the kids had a huge line-up of all their Webkinz.

Then, she loves to read and I LOVE books, so here she is in front of one of our bookcases. (Notice the pretty white lights reflected in the glass- that's from our Christmas tree, which hasn't found its way back into storage yet! ;) Hey, Epiphany was just 2 days ago- I'm not that behind.)

And, finally, two images of the furry variety (in addition to the Webkinz)- Willow and Maggie.

DAY SEVEN

Wow! Does this mean that I've made it a whole week?!! Good for me! LOL

Personal: I ventured outside today because it is so beautiful (although cold) in this snow storm we're having. (Y'all would get sick of 365 days of my kids & dogs, anyway. :) I need to snap a few of Greg and then get brave enough to do the self-portrait.) Once again, I couldn't decide between two photos.

Technical: I'm loving my new (used, new to me) 35mm f2 lens! I just have to get used to a prime- moving my feet instead of moving my lens. These were pretty straight-forward. I just had to bump up curves and warm up the second one.

DAY SIX

Personal note: I am feeling under the weather today, so this is where I'm campin' out. Of course, I have all the necessities- a book, a phone, the remote and my iTouch so I can check my email and Facebook. :) What you don't see are the two dogs that cleared out when I got up to take the picture- they are always by my back, on my body or by my legs anytime I'm resting or sleeping.

Technical note: The white pillow gave me grief here. It was blown, of course, when the rest of the image was properly exposed. Had to do some masking back for that. I'm also noticing that my new lens, the 35mm, really seems to pop the colors. I pulled the reds way back- they were on fire! This was taken with natural window light at ISO 250 ss 1/80 and f2.