Quality Time

Family Portraits

Despite the fact that I endure endless teasing for the copious amounts of photos of Lydia that reside in our computer and on the laptop, I have struggled with the lack of family photos we have that include all three of us, as well as a distinct lack of pictures of Lydia and me together. Since we purchased our DSLR, I have been the one that has become far more comfortable with our camera, so I tend to be behind the lens instead of in front of it. As a result, Robin and I decided that this year for Christmas, we would get each other a family portrait session. A fellow graduate of Forest Lake Senior High School, Abbey Steffi, runs a business called Sunlit Photography, and I've been admiring her work for awhile, so we decided to go ahead and book an appointment. Today we met Abbey in downtown Stillwater to take some pictures. The following images were posted on Facebook before we even got home! We're so, so pleased and excited!

On My Morning Drive...

Day Four: Bedtime Reading with Daddy

This is my first (and not so great) attempt at playing with depth of field with human subjects. I didn't quite meet my photography objective, but I like the moment captured of Robin and Lydia.

Also, as a shout-out, my long-time friend Helena has her own 365 project going at her blog, which can be found here. Helena is incredibly talented, and her photos deserve an audience!

Day Three: Depth Charge

In my search for guidance in my 365 Project, I came across The Pioneer Woman, a popular blogger who started a site devoted solely to photography. She has a very helpful entry about bokeh (the blurry circles created by light sources), and by extension, depth of field. After playing, this is what I got.

Day Two: Research

The challenge for this week is Depth of Field. I paid very little attention in the high school photography class I took my senior year, so I'm doing my own research. As I come across cool blogs that have tutorials, I will include them in the blog roll on the right.

The Nifty Fifty

Today I received an awesome package!! With the help of my Grandma Gloria and Uncle Rob (who works for National Camera Exchange), The Nifty Fifty, otherwise known as the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, has made its way to my camera bag, and I am loving it. It is too late to call my grandma and thank her over the phone, but since she is possibly my most devoted blog reader, I will thank her here and call her in the morning. I read about the lens in this article at Becoming Mom, and I am in love with it so far. I need to practice with it and get used to using the manual focus, as well as adjust to the fixed lens that doesn't zoom in, but based on the little bit I got to play tonight, I feel like a whole new world of photography is opening up for me (and, in turn, for you as blog readers--get ready for even more photos of the Lyds). Here are some shots from this evening:

Desperate for a subject before Lydia got home (she hung with Jessica--thanks!!--so Robin could get some work done, and we could go shmooze with developers at an open house), I focused on inanimate objects.

The puzzle...

My basil plant...

Lydia wasn't in so much of a posing mood, but she was in the mood to eat her hammer... And hang with Aidan. Aidan was pretty much in love with the Radio Flyer car... And he loves Lydia, too. He gives her hugs, first very carefully getting her into appropriate hugging position (the photos are out of focus, but the hugging was too cute not to post)
And snuggles her on request.Lydia wrapped up her night with a bath and went down without a peep. Thanks, Grandma Gloria!!! It was too late to call and thank you, so until the morning, this post will have to do!