Turnabout Is Fair Play

I wanted to practice more with my flash yesterday, but didn't have any willing participants. I thought about trying a self-portrait. I have seen other photographers do this, but since I don't have a tripod or remote (I do have a remote that works with my old camera, but I don't currently have my old camera in my possession) I couldn't figure out how it could reasonably be done without setting the camera timer 300 times (I am certain that is how many exposures it would take to get 1 good one--and even then I am not sure). So I tinkered around and took a few random pictures and then my daughter picked up my camera. She took some pictures (also of random things--I guess it is hereditary.) And then, like the Grinch, an idea began to form. I got everything set up and made sure I had makeup on (see, I do learn from past mistakes) and then asked if she wanted to take some pictures of me. She did! I think she thought it was fun. We took 300 photos (actually, I didn't count, but it was A LOT) and got 1 I will post at the end.

Me by Me


Me by my 11 year-old (And a little help from Photoshop because I am on the declining side of 30, I have the skills, and it is my blog and I can do what I want!)


My 11 year-old by Me (Warning: I am not responsible for neck injuries that might be caused by viewing this image. View with care!)

Thaw No More

Just in case anyone was worried that, because of the January Thaw I wrote about previously, we might be facing a drought or just not be getting our fair share of the winter precipitation--I have some photos to prove otherwise.

This is the same tree I photographed the other day--just now covered in snow.



Last night 10 inches of snow fell and it is still snowing. I think I will stay home today! Thanks for shoveling, Honey!

January Thaw

We have been experiencing a January thaw this week. It is pretty typical for a Utah January. It seems to happen in January or February most years. It isn't really that warm. According to my weather channel desktop temperature readings, yesterday was barely in the 40's and today is just 38 degrees. However, it has been raining and melting the snow in our yard. I can see splotches of dead grass, yet we still have 4 foot drifts in spots (that grass ain't seeing daylight until at least May.) Since it is SO warm :), I thought I would venture outside for a few January thaw pictures. I spared you pictures of the dead grass (though I have been known to photograph less exciting things.) The berries on my tree caught my eye the other day so they became the focus of my pictures.







I am sure you are sick of these berries by now. But I liked this one with the clouds in the background.

Practice, Practice, Practice

I have been practicing some more with my flash off the camera and finally have some to post. I'd love any thoughts about the lighting in these. How does it look to you? Is it flattering? Is it too flat or too dramatic? I want to get better. I'd love your suggestions.

Long Weekend

We didn't have tremendously exciting plans for the weekend--at least they wouldn't seem tremendously exciting to anyone else. It started off great with a trip to the Draper Temple Open House. It is so beautiful. I am always inspired by the architecture, design, and color use of each one. I am always inspired by the spirit and peace of each one. This time, I was inspired by my childrens' awe and excitement to be a part of this.





A few of the temple.



The rest of the weekend was spent in close proximity to these:



Although that may sound utterly boring to you, it is actually fantastically exciting to us. We sorted through, tossed away, cleaned up and boxed everything that was previously taking up space in the basement. This work and these boxes signal the beginning of finishing our basement. Our basement now looks like this:


I'll keep you updated on the progress!!

Thumb

I have been practicing using my flash off the camera again. I haven't had time to edit many, though. This post will only have 1 picture and it is of my little boy, AGAIN. I wasn't really successful at getting my scooting boy to stay sitting in any of my pictures. Does anyone have any suggestions to help with this? Being the mom AND the photographer isn't helping. This was my favorite because I think he is cute when he is sucking his thumb--it's those mommy goggles again!

Crazy for the Lens Cap

Today as I broke out the camera to take some pictures, I thought my baby would be a good candidate--he's cute and he hasn't had any pictures in a few days :)! I got a couple of cute ones:




But mostly I got a lot of this:



Notice the pattern? From the moment I take my lens cap off the camera, he is looking for it. He is obsessed with it! And since he's mobile (and believe me--HE IS MOBILE), he scooted around the floor until he got it. When he got it, he began eating it, and drooling on it, and eating it some more just like it was a cookie. It must taste good. How comforting it is to know that Nikon is looking out for the little ones in our lives and making their lens caps taste so good.

Out My Front Door

My husband saw a beautiful sunset on his way home and called me so that I could get a picture. I was a little late (meaning I think I just got the tail end of the beautiful sky) so didn't have time to get anywhere past my front door. What a beautiful sky!

2009: The Year of the Wii (so far)

This year, despite my best efforts to explain to my children that Santa will not bring a Wii System for Christmas--Santa brought a Wii system to our house for Christmas. The girls and my husband have really enjoyed it. I have actually snuck a few turns, too. After all, golfing, trampoline, race car driving, and boxing are actually kind of fun on a Wii. A couple of my brothers also bought Wii's for Christmas. My sister (always at the forefront of all the latest fads--after all, she was the one who finally convinced me that I shouldn't wear tapered-leg jeans anymore unless I wanted to appear WAAAY older than I was) and her family have had a Wii for a year now. When we visited them over Christmas break, they had a NEW Wii toy that provided HOURS of entertainment. Seriously, it was played, and played, and played some more--until the WEEEEEE hours of the morning (this is hearsay--I was not an active participant in this.) I had heard rumors of this toy from my children--namely my oldest daughter who has actually played it once. She even went so far as to suggest that perhaps we could get this game IF Santa did indeed bring a Wii to us for Christmas. My response was a quick, “No.” It is, after all, rated “T!” The game to which I refer, the game that caused all this excitement and unnecessary sleep deprevation, is Guitar Hero.

Actually, it wasn’t just any Guitar Hero. It was the Guitar Hero World Tour FULL BAND version. This meant that we had 2 guitars, 1 drummer, and the best part—someone on vocals! It was played by the children. It was played by the adults—even my dad took some turns on the guitar and drums. In case you are new to Guitar Hero, please know that this is a serious game. Just check out the serious expressions on all who played.








However, for SOME, it was a chance to live out their “Rock Star” dreams.








Anyone else think that the above image screams "The Price is Right" modeling career? I'm calling an agent tomorrow :)!!
My brother singing vocals to R.E.M’s “The One I Love.”

My sister's reaction to my brother's vocals.

It really is a fun game and I may someday have to eat my words—despite the “T” rating.

P.S. Please note that as I was taking some of these pictures I was literally weeping with laughter. More than once I actually wiped tears from my face as I snapped away. This is my excuse for any blurry images (that and I didn't have my REAL flash with me.) I did play a couple of times, but I think that my best role was taking pictures for posterity. After all, every great band has their paparazzi following, right? And in everyone’s defense, we had JUST come back from sledding when most of these pictures were taken. So please ignore the crazy hair, wet clothing, and ruddy (translated as un-makeuped) complexions.