Fish eye view?

Thought it might be fun to capture what's above water from below. It was hilarious, 'cause Kara actually had to hold me under long enough to let the water settle to do it! :) I love how the tree's sprouting from my foot! Know mergers are to be avoided, but this one's fun... especially since it's lined up so perfectly. And yeah, it's a total accident.
Kinda looks like I used a fish eye lens, doesn't it? Funny!

Happy-go-lucky...

Emma just "rolled with the punches". At one point she walked into our patio table with her head, practically bounced off, and just carried on! :)
You can't see it, but she and Kara's friend Christina are balancing on a boogie board. :)
Love those curls!

On your mark...

Get set...

GO!!!!!Yay Emma!

Comfort...

A minute after yesterday's grin, she toppled over. It scared her, even tho' Jenny caught her before she fell. Is there anything quite like comforting a crying baby on your shoulder? I can feel her in my arms when I look at this...

Quick change...

Still experimenting with the best natural light indoors. Here's what we get through our storm door in the entry hall....kinda nice, I think. Love how quickly her mood changed from worried that she was sitting in a new place on a tile floor...
...to ecstatic that she spotted her mommy!
Top is my favorite....it's so Hannah!...plus, I love serious, expressive pictures of kids...

Fair is fair...

Good sport or not, she laid down the law....If I wanted to post underwater pics of her...
...I had to include some of me. Oh dear!
Do the words "younger" and "thinner" mean nothing to her? Where's the justice in that? (btw...both shots were the underwater setting w/out edit...guess the temperature change is all about how the sunlight falls). Lookin' forward to posting swim pics of cute kids soon! :)

Fish face...

Just for fun!

Thanks Kara for being a good sport! I think she should use THIS as her new Facebook profile pic! :) Kim...still think I like the underwater setting better than auto..the water looks clearer even tho' the warm skin tones can get a little weird sometime. I don't know...I'm still deciding. :)

Tree swing...

Well, her first ride in the swing wasn't a complete disaster, but close. :) These were taken on her second ride. First a pep talk from Mommy:
Still a little hesitant...but better than that first day. Like most first children, she needs time to warm up to new things. :)
Any tips on how to get good swing pics? Maybe I shouldn't stand in front because the focus distance will constantly be changing...pretty sure I need a faster shutter speed...and that the shot is too tight. I'll back up next time. At any rate, I LOVE having a tree swing now! It says "Children welcome here"!

First kiss...

We were chillin' on a blanket out front when our neighbor Amanda's dog came barreling across the street to see the baby. First they checked each other out...
Then Rocky moved in for the kiss!
So sad I missed his tongue out, but love how he cocked his head so you can see his whiskers. Missed with my focus too and got Rocky instead of Hannah but, in my defense, it happened soooo fast...I was happy to capture the experience at all. So fun!!!

Progress...

She's getting more comfortable with each swim. First a little flirting with Grammy while Mommy puts on sunscreen....
Then the toys!!! No tears this time...The wind up pelican was a big hit! Yay!
Any suggestions on how to get better color in full sun with the water camera? Maybe take the white balance off auto??

Below the surface...

First attempts with my new water camera...It's hard holding the camera steady in water, when I keep floating to the top. Think I need a weight belt! :) Still, it's going to be fun experimenting with different things!

Come fly with me!Slight color variance in these...didn't feel like editing. Do you prefer the warmer or cooler?

Mmmm....mmm good!

What a difference a couple of weeks make! She's eating cereal (rice and oatmeal) as well as squash and sweet potatoes now...and she really goes after the spoon! Kudos to Jenny for making fresh baby food!!! Love how Hannah sucks her lip to get every last drop (especially for squash!). Also love that she can use our antique high chair...the same one her Aunt Kara used as a baby!

Seven months...already??

Time for her monkey pic! This month has been an incredible time of firsts. She's changing before our eyes!
Tried something new this time that worked like a charm....Set up the scene with the monkey and a stuffed bear as Hannah's "stand-in". Took test shots with that 'till I was happy with background, lighting, exposure....THEN put Hannah in there. We had a happier baby for sure! Of course, the neighbors wonder why I was taking pictures of stuffed animals. :)

WHAT are you feeding me?

Took this a few weeks ago when Jenny fed Hannah cereal for the first time. Still haven't found the best settings for Jenny's house (little natural light) even with flash. This is kinda noisy, but that face......PRICELESS! The caption on her bib says it all...clearly she would have preferred milk! :)

Zinnia...

Was thankful I had my camera when I picked up Caroline for the silhouette shoot, 'cause her Mom is a wonderful gardener! Can't decide which perspective I like better...

Lighting assignment...

Time to post more homework. Our 4 lighting assignments were my favorite so far.

Silhouette - The sky was not what I hoped for that night....too dark and threatening to rain. It was sprinkling so we had to work fast. I want to try other silhouettes sometime! (Special thanks to my "model" and student, Caroline!)
Side lighting (to add volume/texture) - I'm becoming obsessed with shooting food..all those great colors/textures!
Back lighting (trotted out an old arboretum pic)
"Free" choice (Is it really free when he strongly "suggests" we use shadows?...not my favorite... But check out my friend Janet's creative shot and her article about its personal, emotional impact...http://janetnews.com/blog/photography-journey-becomes-a-personal-journey )

Different angle...

It's interesting how different her mood seems in this shot. All 3 frames were taken moments apart when Hannah was quite happy and content. But yesterday's blissful baby now looks reserved and thoughtful. Who would think a small change like turning her head could create such a different emotional atmosphere? (b/w my clear favorite here)

Toy or no toy...that is the question...

Babies are simply exquisite and I want to find artistic ways to capture that. I LOVE Hannah's long, dark eyelashes and thought it would be cool to make them a primary subject. So I sat on a table, placing Hannah in Jenny's lap below (happy with a toy) and shot every time she looked down. Took a LOT of pics, experimented with angles, and was in for a surprise when I saw things on the computer! Since her neck is hidden, her head on her chest looked like a head on a platter...Seriously....beautiful head, but creepy!!! :) I like this one tho'...love how you can see that bit of smile beneath the toy. Can you feel the bliss? She LOVES her lollipop teething rattle!!!
I usually prefer b/w for this kind of shot, but that pop of pink toy and her pink skin grabs me too. So, just for a second opinion (for grins), I posted these on baby photographer/author Nick Kelsh's web page where he's offering suggestions to amateur photographers. His basic gist was..."good composition, strong technically, but lose the toy". So, I retrieved a discarded shot to reconsider. My initial intent was to crop more, but that head without the crease of the arm took me back to "head on a platter"...weirds me out!
Still think I prefer the toy...maybe because I associate it with Hannah's simple joy. Would love to know what YOU think. Tomorrow I'll post the one shot, sans toy, that I definitely do like.

Fruit pizza...

Favorite summer dessert...(except possibly ice cream)...

What did you bring me?

Cool souvenir from Russia. Love it! She bought a similar cello for herself. Mom, this reminds me of the work Aunt Von used to do. Remember the miniature piano she painted for the dollhouse with Chinese designs?
Probably should have used my polarizing filter...too lazy to get it out this time. :)

Gummy smile...

This was taken about 5 weeks ago, but I never posted 'cause the original wasn't that hot. Learned some new editing tricks that I think saved it tho'. Any thoughts? Are the edits obvious? I'm especially wondering if the lighting looks natural. My goal is still to learn to take a better pic in the first place, but I'm happy when I can find an edit to salvage an otherwise "reject".

I've got your back...

Big girl, sitting up all by herself...and looking kinda surprised about it! :) Love how Jenny's encouraging her, but is still ready to catch her, just in case.
Still really hate the flash, but what am I gonna do? Would hate to miss moments like these! LOVE LOVE watching Hannah experience her "firsts"! Kim or Lisa, have either of you ever used a hot shoe flash bounced off the ceiling?

Build-A-Kitty...

When your husband's in Shreveport and your daughter in Russia, you get a little lonely and reach new heights (depths?) of weirdness! KC's shedding like crazy in this heat. so I finally brushed her and pulled off a TON of fur. Whenever this happens, I joke that there's enough fur to make a small kitty. Sooooooo..... I did!!! This is all from ONE brushing and KC's a short haired cat. Gross, huh? Before you think I've totally lost my mind, know that I didn't put a lot of time into this... 5 min. tops!...and I'm only posting 'cause my kids told me I had to. :) Doesn't it make you want to run out and buy a cat? No wonder Kim was sneezing when she was here!!!

Winding down...

Thomas started out with a bang that afternoon, but crashed and burned by the time they left. Turns out he was coming down with strep! Poor guy... He played quietly by himself a lot that day. I think he was remembering his recent vacation where they snorkeled, 'cause he kept saying "the water is so clear". Pretty darn cute! :)

Giving me his best "gangsta" face...

He's trying to learn to push off and glide the entire length of the pool on one breath. He'll get it soon...great form!
Lookin' forward to next time, Kim!

SpongeBob and Splashing...

Kim thought it would be cool to capture the SpongeBob boogie board reflection in Thomas' goggles. I agree Kim...cool idea!...just wish I could have gotten closer...had to crop too much...

Thomas wanted me to shoot his big splash too...and it WAS big! Too bad I cut out part of the rings, but it's hard to predict how high someone's going to jump! :)

I'm already looking forward to our next swim, guys!

Smiley boy...

This was my first time to try pool pics with "big" kids who swim and jump. SO much to learn! I didn't get much in the way of real action. I'm posting tho' so someday I can look back and say I've improved. Had fun and LOVED seeing how happy Jon is in the water! He's swimming VERY well!

Throw me mama!

Thought it was cool how that one patch of sun hit his face...

Action assignment...

Time to post more class homework. This time, we had to capture action in 3 different ways.

Panning: (It only took about 300 shots to get one I kinda liked...geeesh!) I was semi-hidden under a tree for shade and most of the drivers slowed down (thinking I had a radar gun). Funny!

Freezing motion at its peak with a slow shutter speed: (1/30-1/60)...Still see no point in this and I was not good at it...best attempt (thanks to Thomas)...not very "actiony", I'm afraid. (If I'd known everyone was going to turn in pics with blurry subjects, I would have chosen one with Thomas in the air. I mean, who uses SLOW shutter speed for this kind of shot?)
Free choice: (another copied idea....Saw this on Lisa's blog and thought I'd give it a whirl. In my defense, Lisa tried 'cause she saw it in a magazine....Is there any such thing as a truly original idea?) This was harder than I expected. I shot in bright sunlight so I could use a fast shutter speed. Kind of wish I'd tried a different time of day or shade....lighting looks harsh to me. (Yeah...next lecture was lighting.)
I won't be giving up my day job for a career in action photography! SO not my thing...but the challenge was fun (kinda).

Snuggly bug...

She did a little better for her second swim, tho' still hesitant. Didn't take any water pics, 'cause I was too busy holding her and jumping up and down. (Jenny's not up to jumping with her broken toe). Crying was my cue to jump and sing! :) Worked like a charm and kept her calm, but she was one tired girl afterwards...and so was I! :)