2010 photography blog quest

2011-05-02T21:11:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I have posted my work and I apologize. Life has been busy with the family, however I am going to get back on track. I have been attending college at the Academy of Art, and have many photos to share with you now each week. I have also been shooting a lot of families, weddings, and babies! I can't wait to share my journey with you again!

Day 45 part two...

2010-04-22T18:36:00.001-07:00

I recently shot my first wedding, it was awesome! Beautiful couple!

Day 45..part 1

2010-04-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

I apologize to all of my followers, I have been so busy with photography shoots that it has not left me with much time to shoot for my blog. With that being said I attached some recent client pictures to try to catch up. Again, apologies, I will try to stay on top of it!

Day 44..

2010-04-08T19:21:00.001-07:00

Teen photo shoot around 4pm.. Gorgeous model, shot around f5.6 speed1/60

Day 43...

2010-04-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

I realize I have been slacking on my blog, things have been busy around our house. I had the pleasure of photographing a friend from high school and her family this weekend. Beautiful family, and awesome kids. There photos didn't' take much editing. Most shots were taken at a 5.6 speed between 60-120 depending on the shading and the light. In an hour shoot, I managed to capture, 450 shots.. These were some of my favorite. I had an amazing assistant, (my husband) who is great with kids, and things flowed very well! Thanks McIntyre family1

Day 42

2010-04-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day.. We went bargin shopping and found some great photography props to use for our future newborn, and baby shoots.. We have some coming in the near future.. So we gave a couple of them a whirl tonight and I think they turned out great! As always, I used my 50-200mm lens, had to set my ISO high, around 800, used my umbrella lights and shoot in manual mode. My model was once again excellent. I love shooting babies.. I can't wait for all the ideas I have to take off.

Day 41...

2010-03-30T21:30:00.001-07:00

Today we shot some fun pictures with my 3 month old. I am going to work on some more shots of her tomorrow, as she needs her 3 month pictures taken and sent out to family. She makes such a great model. I am hoping her baby high heels that I ordered come in the next couple of day so we can take some more fun pictures. This was taken in natural light around 4pm with my 50-200mm lens.

Day 40...

2010-03-28T21:03:00.001-07:00

Sorry guys, we have family in town and the last two days have been very busy. Today I ran around trying to find things to shoot inbetween family and finishing a lot of homework. Pictures are kind of lame-o.. I promise you much better shots this week :)

Day 39..

2010-03-26T19:05:00.000-07:00

Was a windy day today, and baby Cameron doesn't like the wind. So I tried to shoot some shots around the house. Worked a bit on my depth of field. These were taken in the garage, shutter was around 60, apeture was set around f5.6. White balance set at shade. ISO was around 400.

Day 38...

2010-03-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry all no post tonight.. Spent the day shopping with my daughter for her belated birthday present... then boot camp, no bed exhausted.. will make up for it tomorrow.

Day 37 part two...

2010-03-24T20:10:00.001-07:00

I couldn't pass up a little macro today, when I found this flower growing in my backyard.. the rain is awesome!

Day 37..part one portraits

2010-03-24T17:10:00.001-07:00

Some more portrait photography... I took all of these with my 50-200 mm outside in shade around 400-430pm. I set my white balance at shade, ISO 200, and speed around 60 always with a F 5.6. Skin was softened to cover up inperfections on the teenage girl and boy in Imagnomics a plug in for photoshop. The shot of my husband had no editing aside from my logo.

Day 36..

2010-03-23T21:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not posting for the last two days. Things have been busy around the Donaldson household. So my wonderful husband bought me and excellent book I have been reading , Lighting Photo Workshop, and I have been trying to remember all of the basics of great photography to capture a great shot. One of the things I haven't been paying much attention to has been my white balance setting, and my ISO, which this book reminded me of that. I took just a couple of basic portrait pictures with my white balance setting on shade +1, this was taken around a 5.6 with a speed of 50. For just some basic portraits I think the overall lighting technique worked well. I also used photoshop to crop these photos and a program/plug in called imagnomics to take away any frown lines, wrinkles, or imperfections. Although this is family so there already pretty perfect to me. The imagnomics program makes the skin appear very soft and smooth. I also placed my subjects facing the sun, and I was with my back towards the sun. This was taken around 630 pm Arizona time.

Day 35....

2010-03-20T14:54:00.000-07:00

I am going to post pictures again today, as my day goes on.. Today I am working on some natural lighting, and used my daugher as the subject. I set up in our garage, which provided me with ample shading to give what I think is beautiful natural light. My shutter was set at 1/50 with an F5.6. Let me know what you think of these shots..

I also took some shots of Gerber daisies from Trader Joes.. they are my favorite, so bright and brilliant.. Check these out, I may blow some of them up for some art for my daughters room.. I love them!

Day 34 part 2...

2010-03-19T21:05:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple other pictures from today.. I love Arizona
More editing tomorrow.. I am spent.

Day 34...part one..

2010-03-19T16:54:00.001-07:00

So I am going to upload these pictures as I edit them today.. My lap top is running so slow because of the size of the files I am trying to edit.. So we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens today, wow never appreciated the beauty of our Arizona desert as much as I do now. Makes you know there must be a God, to create such amazing things. The sun seems to be my enemy these days. I have been trying to rely on my light meter to tell me where I should have my aperture and speed set, and I have to tell you it's failing me miserably. I think I need to go back to shooting how I am comfortable. With that said.. I took some macro pictures and some regular photos.. All were taken with my long lens (55-200mm) , aperture setting and shutter varied depending on location of the sun and the closeness to the object. I was so proud of my bee on my flower shot, I have been dying to get a shot like that.. Can't believe I accomplished it really.

Again you can click on photo to enlarge.. I apologize I am having to decrease the resolution of my photos to get them on this site, they are really large.

Day 33..

2010-03-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

A family visit to the zoo today.. opened up many photo opportunities.. I once again shot during "devils hour" and lighting was against me the entire venture.. I usually shoot in manual focus, and manual mode for all of my photos, but today, I shot in auto focus, manual mode.. My aperture stayed around a 5.6 and my speed varied depending on what my light meter read. Lots of fun shots today, and my family and I enjoyed the beautiful Arizona weather! I will work on posting more later, my computer is running really slow tonight and it took me about 3 and a half hours to edit these images.

Day 32... NEED YOUR OPINION!!

2010-03-15T21:23:00.001-07:00

OK.. need some help from my peeps.. Tomorrow is my final class project, and I am to present my favorite photo I have taken. It can be new or old.. I took these flower photographs with my lens extension today, and they came out pretty cool. I am to take that picture and blow it up into a 8x12 and present it to the class. Here are the ones I am trying to decide on which one to use. I have never presented any pictures of Cameron to the class, I have always tried to not be that mom.. But a couple of these I think are really good, and would look good in an 8x12. Please need opinions...

Day 31..

2010-03-14T23:09:00.001-07:00

Terrible shots tonight I know.. I have been stuck inside all day reading for my psychology class, I had to take a quiz, read two chapters and write a 1000 word essay, which lead to the headache. I wasn't going to not post anything at all so I just shot this. Unfortunately today there wasn't enough time in the day to enjoy shooting pictures.. Tomorrow is a new day, and I am sure many more photo opportunities will present themselves.. Sorry for the bogus shots.. :(

Day 30...

2010-03-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

I am hoping to make up for my lack of posts in the last couple of days. Here are a couple more that I shot on the 12th of March at our 15 year old birthday party. We had some family over for dinner, and I took some pictures of Bailey and Quinn, Hannah's cousins. All of these were shot with external flash long lens.. F5.6 with my shutter set around 200 ISO at 100.

Day 29 part two

2010-03-13T20:49:00.001-08:00

Day 29..part one

2010-03-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

So sorry haven't posted in the last several days. We have had some birthdays and things come up.. However today we went sailing, which presented many photo opportunities. The only problem we ran into was lighting .. We sailed today at Tempe Town lake from around 12 until 330 pm. So I basically shot these during the "devils hour." It was a beautiful day, and a lot of fun! I shot all of these with my long lens, and my aperture was set at f 5.6.. I moved my shutter based on what my light meter indicated that I needed to be at.. Here are some photos from the day.

Sorry about not posting more today wasn't able to shoot yesterday

2010-03-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

Day 28, three week mark...

2010-03-09T20:59:00.000-08:00

So tonight was my week seven of photography class with Mark Wallace. I have one more week to go then were done.. Our assignment due tonight was pattern photography. So in ended up using one of the paintball pictures from two days ago, and the blue and brown rose textured pattern that I posted today. I really wanted to use the colored push pins but I could not get a shot that didn't cast a shadow. I had to shoot these with my lens extensions, incorporating my umbrella lights and flash. When shooting in macro, you have to be on top of your object, and by on top of I mean those pins were shot at a focal length of 55mm.. with that said the lens continued to cast shadows on the object not allowing me to get a clear shot without shadowing.. The yellow beaded shot is just a cropped version of my pollen from yesterdays shot, I almost presented that one tonight, and the red shot is a cropped zoomed in shot of the bougainvillea from yesterday as well. Next week, the last weeks assignment I am to take an photograph of anything I have learned over the past 8 weeks and blow it up to an 8x12, not an 8x1o but 8x12 and present it to the class.. Good thing were going sailing this weekend, at Tempe town lake.... I am hoping it will present mucho photo opportunities. Happy shooting!!

Day 27....

2010-03-08T21:20:00.001-08:00

HOLY MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY!! Can I just say I found a new love and that's shooting macro shots. My incredable husband suprised me with some lens extensions, which are amazing, it's like buying a macro lens, without having to pay the high price for a macro lens. So I am by all means not a macro expert.. but here are my first attempts.. I can't wait to find some insects and more flowers to shoot. The coolest thing ever and to those of you who are interested in attempting macro, just buy these lens extensions, they work just as well. I shot these outside with my external flash. Comments please..

day 26 what about these?

2010-03-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

paint balls?

Day 26....

2010-03-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

I apologize, but after yesterday's amazing photo shoot, I had to get back to the basics and work on my project due for Tuesday. I am looking for suggestions as I am not really impressed with some of the things I came up with, so please if any of you out there who might be following this (dad) have any suggestions it would be awesome. My assignment again is pattern photography, pretty self explanatory.. Pattern photography has to be repitious and fit the entire photo frame. Here are a couple I shot today, again, not sure if I like these that much. I can also shoot broken patterns.. So an example I would use to describe this would be a pattern with one item that's different. My photography instructor showed us a picture he had taken from a balcony at a graduation. All the tops of peoples blacks graduation hats were showing, with exception to one person, who was looking back at him, or the camera. It was pretty neat. I love my new Manfrotto tripod, I used it to shoot all of these shot, again, used my external flash, and umbrella lighting.. Here is what I came up with.. If you google pattern photography it gives some good examples. If you see one shot you really like please say so.. I could really use some advice on this one. Thoughts???????????????

Day 25

2010-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to get to take pictures of my sister and her awesome boxer Sciota today. I took this of course using my external flash and bounced it off a white reflector, using my tripod. Hope you enjoy today's shots. On one of the shots I attached the color and black and white shot.. Not sure which ones you all like the best.. Comments?? opinions??

Day 24 part three..

2010-03-05T21:25:00.000-08:00

I had to post these pics tonight, I am really having fun with exploring Arizona, and finding all of these cool farm animals.. Probably kind of dumb, but they are everywhere off of hidden dirt roads here in Chandler.. I am also growing quite fond of my light meter... Most of these outdoor shots I am taking around what photographers call devils hour, so the lighting is hard to work with. However my light meter has been a trusty friend to help me get the correct exposure.. These shots were taken around 1:30 pm today.. This was just a cool cow, he kept watching my every move, wasn't so sure about me or my camera.. but he kept posing nicely for me..

Day 24 part two

2010-03-05T21:04:00.001-08:00

more photos

Day 24 part one..

2010-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

I am going to have to break today up into a couple of parts, many photo opps, and I had my camera. First I am going to post our beautiful 14 and a half year old daughter. She went to her dance tonight, MORP, and was so excited to let me take pictures of her before hand. She loves pretending she's a model, although she is beautiful enough to be one. I was so excited to test out my lighting, and new manfrotto tripod with an actual dressed up model tonight, it was a lot of fun. I used my umbrella lighting, at a 45 degree angle, and bounced more lighting off my gold reflector with my external flash to get the full effect. My aperture and shutter varied depending on the angle. Anyway, let me know what you think.. I think I did pretty well...

Day 23..

2010-03-04T21:27:00.001-08:00

O.k. so today I went to visit my grandmother with Cameron, took my camera, and didn't pick it up once while I was there. Totally dumb, as the day presented itself with a lot of photo opps, and I should have shot some film. Tonight, I started trying to venture on my next assignment for my photography class next Tuesday night, and I have to shoot something that is pattern photography. Pattern photography is basically a pattern of some object, or repetition of an object,and it has to take up the entire frame of the shot. The shot I took of the different colored leaves two days ago for the blog, is a good example of this or the tree bark up close. I attached some ideas of what pattern photography looks like. I don't want to use any of these shots and need some help with any ideas..Pattern photography doesn't have to be food, it could be nature or textures. Input is totally welcome.. I shot these in a bowl, on the floor, with my external flash, long lens, and dual umbrella lighting..

day 22 part 2

2010-03-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

O.k. sooo I lied, I made my

husband model for me with my backgrounds and reflector. I love this new toy. Mine converts into a white, gold, silver, or black reflector dependant on the look you are going for. The colored photo we used the gold reflector, which gave that brighter tone to his skin against the white. The two black and whites, I used my white reflector which gives more of a diffused reflection. Almost like a soft box lighting set up. Anyway, for my first try I think this was pretty good. I have to tell you my camera was so heavy tonight and I didn't use my tripod, as I have a new manfrotto, 190 xb pro tripod on it's way.. but with my big external flash, long lens, and the big bottom power grip, I am needing some extra support. I am really taking an interest in lighting and portrait photography.. Practice makes perfect. I need some different models though, any volunteers?

Day 22

2010-03-03T19:34:00.001-08:00

Some more outside pictures I took today. I went back on one of the same trails I was on yesterday, but went beyond the pavement. This was farther back on a dirt road, and I saw the saddest little pony just laying there next to the photo of the other horse. I had to take his picture, his eyes were amazing. Maybe if I get a little ballsy I'll go back and try to get closer to him to show you how pretty his eyes were but they looked so sad. Anyway, I took these all with my long lens and put my lens shade on, and here is what I came up with. I got my reflector today, but feel like I really need some work with it.. I'll try and post some pics tomorrow using it.

Day 20 and 21 part two

2010-03-02T21:16:00.001-08:00

Part two comments please.. I need feedback, good or bad.. As my photography instructor has taught us, " feedback is a blessing, go to "church" often.

Day 20 and 21 part one

2010-03-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry for running behind on my posts, I am truly dedicated to posts each day so when I miss a day, I feel terrible about it. So today to make up for missing last night Cameron and I set out on photography quest and these are all the photos we came up with. We basically drove around, would see something we like, pull the car over and get out and shoot. We pulled in to some muddy fields and dirt roads to get some of these photos and it made it such a fun experience. We were hoping to tell a story and capture a moment with a lot of the pictures. These photos were shot between 2:15 pm and 4pm today. I used my long lens for every shot and my aperture ranged from F4-5.6 depending on the setting, and shutter speeds varied. A couple photos I would like to go back and re shoot, adjusting my lighting, with my light meter.. Were going to try doing this same assignment tomorrow but pick a different grid to search for photo opportunities in. My husband bought me a reflector which I am excited to use tomorrow, when I shoot portraits.. Should be fun. Enjoy and happy shooting!! Note we had to break this up into a couple parts so dont miss out on all of todays fun photos. Remember click on the photo and it enlarges it. COMMENTS PLEASE!

Day 18 and 19...

2010-02-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

So sorry about not posting yesterday.. No excuse, just that it was a crazy weekend. I have two photos to post from today.. nothing to exciting, with the rain could not go outside with the baby to shoot. Crossing my fingers that "the sun will come out tomorrow!" These were shot again with my external flash, F1.8 shutter 200. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Day 17

2010-02-26T20:27:00.001-08:00

Sorry followers, unfortunately you are only going to get one shot today. My 2 month old had her 2 month check up and got 4 shots today. She is really having a night, so with that said, I didn't want to miss a day, here is one shot of some marbles. I shot these with an external flash, F2 around 200. More to come tomorrow we are going to the Arboretum, in Mesa, to get some fantastic flower photography, and wildlife. I am suppose to shoot pictures with awesome color for my next photography class Tuesday. Can't wait! Crossing my fingers it doesn't rain and my little one feels a lot better :(

Day 16..

2010-02-25T21:23:00.001-08:00

Well, I didn't get to venture out today I had a lot of catch up house work to do. Here are a couple of portraits I captured of our little one. All were taken with my external flash, aperture was 1.8 and shutter around 60. Kelly Ryden is one of my favorite baby photographers, her photos are amazing, so in the future I will have to try some of her baby poses. The second I tried to pose my little one she woke up and was kicking all over the place. I played around with the one black and white in photo shop and changed the color of her eyes to blue. It's a really neat element. For those of you who are interested in photography, photoshop and light room are a must. Anyway, tomorrow should present new photo opportunities. If you get a chance check out Kelly's website, her photos are pretty cool. http://kellyryden.com/

Day 15 part 2

2010-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

OK.. maybe I should have waited so I could add some of these great photos I took tonight. I love photography, and those of you who really know me, I take my camera everywhere and don't put it down. Here are a couple more shots I took, for these to really capture great lighting I used my external flash. I love them. I am so excited about portrait photography this month, but these again tie into February and the theme love. I attached two adorable pictures of my husband sleeping with our new daughter Cameron, I love this shot its intimate, and the lighting is great. I also attached two pictures of our dog Mouse. These shots were taking at an F2 and shutter was around 200 again with external flash.

Day 15...

2010-02-24T15:45:00.001-08:00

So I am posting my portraits of the day early. We spent the afternoon at my sisters dental office not necessarily fun I know. But she is an excellent hygienist so it makes the visit painless. The lighting in her office was yellow so I had to mess around a bit with the white balance. But she is so pretty it was easy to get some beautiful shots of her.

This shot was taken at an F2 and a shutter of 200.

Who knows what the rest of the day might present, if any opportunities come I'll add them to day 15.. If not tomorrow is another day.

Day 14 the 2 week mark

2010-02-23T20:53:00.001-08:00

So I am getting an early start to my theme in March, which is going to be portrait photography.Portrait photography is something I have been wanting to become extremely Strong in, but know I need some work. I took the first shot of the love of my life, my husband around 530pm with my backdrop outside, with the sun behind him. My aperture was set at an F2 with a shutter speed of around 1200. Again, lighting is key, especially in portrait photography... I am still trying to figure it all out. The second one I shot of my son Jake, this one I took inside with my umbrella light up close at a 45 from his left cheek. My aperture setting was an F1.8 with a shutter of 200, this was taken at night in my house with my backdrop. The last one was of our daughter Hannah this was taken outside no back drop, F1.80 shutter 1250. This is just the beginning of my portraits, I intend to master this. Anyway, this still ties in with this months theme love, obviously my family radiates nothing but love.

Day 13

2010-02-22T21:49:00.000-08:00

Well today's shot was suppose to be an assignment for my photography class tomorrow night, and I was suppose to shoot at the "golden hour" which is 10 minutes after sunset or sunrise. Usually in Arizona this time is amazing, the sky is usually a radiant purple orange pink color. Today it was a little difficult, as the weather in Arizona has been rainy and the sky was substantially dark. I have had this vision of shooting these satellite dishes with the horizon in the back, but didn't realize the security restrictions around these structures. I worked with what I had and here are some of the shots. I defiantly want to try this again in the future, when the weather is a little better. I shot this with my long lens, aperture was set at a 5.6 with a shutter speeds ranging from 400 to 225, it changed as the sun went down. Next time I will have to find some open land, with nothing but the mountains in the horizon. Anyway here is what I came up with.

Day 12

2010-02-21T18:21:00.000-08:00

Today was a lot of fun. I set up my backdrop and played around with my lighting. I had to put some things over my windows to block the natural light from coming in, right now what is considered to be my "studio" aka our front room. I used my umbrella lights and white back drop. Again this is my first attempt to use my new equipment and first time trying to create the studio type environment. I set my umbrella lights at each side of my subject, at a 45 degree angle to try to resist casting any shadows on my subjects face. I think I did an Ok job, but this is defiantly something I am going to have to work at in order to create more professional looking photos. My aperture setting was at 1.8 and I used my fixed focus lens. I set my shutter speed around 320. Defiantly need more practice, and hoping to add some soft box lights to my photography wish list. I attached more of a fun shot, my husband bought me a "green screen" for Xmas, I shot a photo of him, cut him out in photo shop and pasted him into a digital background of the Eiffel tower. Really was just for fun, but totally neat. This again first attempt for any of this. I am hoping there is no rain tomorrow, as I have to shot at the "Golden hour" for my photography class Tuesday night. Wish me luck!! Happy shooting :) !

Day 11

2010-02-20T19:42:00.001-08:00

This was such a challenging project. I shot this in manual mode with my fixed lens. Set my shutter speed at 1000, and my aperture at 1.8. I had my husband drop the strawberry into a bowl of milk and started snapping the photo the second he released. All and all I think the end result was pretty neat. I really love the color contrast of the white milk and the red strawberries. A lady in my photography class did this as her photo of the week, and I have been dying to try it ever since. I had to set my camera up on my tripod and had both of my umbrella lights with my 135 w bulbs in them to get the right lighting. Lighting was challenging in this one, and we had to move things around a lot to get rid of the shadows the umbrella was casting. Again, all and all I think this shot was pretty neat.

Day 10 part 2 happy Friday!!

2010-02-19T22:03:00.001-08:00

Part two..

DAY 10 part 1 Happy Friday

2010-02-19T21:54:00.000-08:00

Today was a fun filled day. We spent some time at the park, in which I shot some pictures of strangers and some good scenery. The weather was awesome which again with the sun made my pictures look great. I am still struggling some with lighting, but think I am starting to get a handle on it. We also had dinner with our best friends and there kids tonight at Barrow's pizza in which I was able to take some more pictures. I shot these with my fixed focus lens. I really had the lighting working against me here, as it really put off a yellow hue. I tried to adjust it somewhat in lightroom and photoshot. The pictures at the park were taken with my long lens. Shot so many pictures again had to have a part one and two

Day 9..

2010-02-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

So today I attempted to pan. Something I am learning about in my photography class. Although it sounds easy it defiantly isn't and the yellow car is the best photo I walked away with. I need to practice focusing more on the subject and I think it would look much cooler with a way more contrasted dynamic background. Its is definatley a task that requires quick camera driving and being able to grab a good focus on the moving subject quickly. An example would be the Tempe light rail when its in movement. I will defiantly be working on this as it is not one of my strong points. I love that spring is coming and everything is starting to bloom. Allows me to get some great pictures of even the smallest flowers. I used my long lens for the panning shot at a shutter speed of 1/10. I was having a hard time with adjusting to get a higher shutter speed and maintain light and a good aperture. The flower photos were taken with my fixed lens.

Day 8

2010-02-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Today was ducktastic.. Cameron and I managed to attract some ducks and were able to get some neat shots. Although these shots were taking around 1pm we were still able to capture some good lighting in the shade.. I used my long lens to take these photos.

Day 6 and 7...

2010-02-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

So sorry to have not posted yesterday, our 7 week old has a cold and that requires a lot of time without the camera. I went ahead and took a couple pictures today of some photos I have to present to my photography class tonight. We are working on shutter speed. I took a picture of some of the water falls around my house, and slowed the shutter way down which created the blur effect in the photos. For whatever reason I was having a hard time adjusting my shutter and finding a good aperture. Something I defiantly need to work on. I also had to take some photos at a fast shutter speed which I did in order to capture the drip from our sink. Not the best photos today but more of an exercise. Tomorrow is another day :)

Day 5 Happy Valentines day..

2010-02-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

Sorry all, pictures aren't going to be as amazing tonight. We had some family and friends over today and cooked and spent the day together. I took some photos of some roses with my fixed focus lens. I was having trouble with lighting as my lights were giving off a yellow hue. I ended up shooting these in our bathroom on the counter top, the lighting was a little better in there. I shot these at an F 1.8 shutter speed was at 80. I tried some different angles to add some dimension. I am really learning how to work around my objects or models to give the pictures a different effect. Anyway, happy Valentines day, and more to come tomorrow.

Day 4 part 2..

2010-02-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

We got so many great shots today I couldn't fit them all on one page of my blog. The Chinese Cultural center also an awesome garden. I would highly suggest a visit there for those of you who have never been. And of course I had to add a couple pictures Cameron Lynn today. She was happy and enjoying the atmosphere as well.

day 4

2010-02-13T18:55:00.000-08:00

Today was an amazing photo shoot adventure, we went to the Chinese Cultrual Center to the Chinese New Year celebration (Year of the Tiger). I've definately found a new place with some great photo opportunities for the future! I was able to capture most of my shots with my new 50mm f1.8, however I did use my 55-200mm f4.5-5.6 for a few shots. The natural light made for some great photos, however I've learned how the angle of the sun can fight what I'm looking for in my shot, and started learning to use those angles more to my advantage.

Day 3 late post sorry..

2010-02-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

I am loving my new fixed lens and am having a hard time putting it away. It really is teaching me a lot with regards to focus and lighting. All of these shots were taking at a F1.8. The shots of Mouse and Rocky our hyper dogs I had to take at a much higher shutter speed then the other two photos. I am learning that lighting really is key in capturing the perfect shot. Artistically I feel like I am starting to look at everything throughout the day as if I was looking through a lens. Some more great shots tomorrow as we are going to the Chinese cultural center. Should be another adventure.

Day 2...

2010-02-11T17:38:00.000-08:00

I woke up today soooo excited to start my photo venture, and Cameron and I went on an hour long walk.. Only to find nothing.. Everything looked like everything I have already shot.. With that said my inspiration started to fade. Then my amazing husband came home from work and gave me an early Valentines day present which was my new Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens. I haven't put it down since.. Unfortunately it's dark now, so I have been trying to capture something related to love. This was sitting on my kitchen table and it worked for tonight. Tomorrow we are definatley going to a different place to shoot and tomorrow, I want to shoot people.. I love this lens cant set my camera down. So for tonight this will have to do.. Hope I didn't disappoint.. Comments please.. you can also increase the size of the image by clicking on it..

Day 1

2010-02-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

Since we are starting off late in the month, and it's Febuary, we are going to celebrate the month with the theme of "Love." So for the remainder of the month, I will be shooting pictures of anything that represents love to me... The first shot I have attached is of our new daughter Cameron Lynn who was born in December. I think babys truly represent the meaning of love, as they enter into this world only knowing just that. She is really smiling now, so I am able to adjust my shutter speed to catch a quick smile as I did in this photo.

Welcome Photo followers...

2010-02-10T20:03:00.001-08:00

This is my first blog on my 12 month blog quest. I was inspired to start my blog by a classmate in my photography class who has been doing something similar. Photography has been my passion, and I am working on making it into my second career, as my first is my family, I am a stay at home mom. I hope by being committed to this blog on a daily basis, it will allow me to grow artistically and technically. Each month will consist of a different theme.. I look forward to the adventure..