August 2008 Top Ten

I've taken an awful lot of pictures in the past 31 days!! I love it!

There are so many fun pictures- some that I think I did a pretty good job with the technical stuff, and some that are more the "emotionally perfect" kind (see my post from August 22nd...).

I've decided to put together a "Top 10" list of August 2008 pictures...

Why? Because it makes me totally happy. That's a good enough reason, if you ask me!

So here are my "August 2008 Top Ten" photos, in absolutely no particular order because I could never choose. Picking just ten was hard enough!















This one hasn't been officially been posted before now...

Say Cheese, Peyton!

This little guy, Peyton, looks just like his daddy!



He was just over 9 weeks old when I took these pictures...



Here's the closest I can get to a smile from this little one (so far!):



I'm definitely going to be watching for this awesome little kiddo's smile to start showing up more often!! I'm sure it won't be long and he'll be smiling all the time... Can't wait for those pictures!!

Berta

Here is a picture I took of Berta when I went to Hawaii to visit her last September (most of you know "Berta" is what I call my sister, Heather--- don't ask why, it's a long and not-all-that-logical story!)...



*****************Missing you, Berta!

Little Miss Supermodel...

Luckily, Natalie doesn't seem to mind me and my camera (for now!)...





She does this really cute thing-- when I try to get her attention she'll look at me and kind of half-lean forward, tilting her head down just a little bit but keeping her eyes toward me. It's too cute!



And this next one just amazes me... she looks like a little supermodel!!

She Loves Auntie's Camera...

She loves it NOT!!

Remember the Jayden that used to love Auntie Kristen and her camera? If you don't remember, check out the posting from August 2nd (way down on the bottom of the screen)... such GORGEOUS pictures of this adorable girl that I absolutely love to follow around with my camera!!

Unfortunately for me, that adorable girl has decided to go on "Auntie Kristen Camera Hiatus"... seriously. We spent four days at a cabin and I thought I'd be in photo heaven--- Jayden had other ideas!! Anytime I was around with the camera, she wouldn't even remotely look my way, no matter how slick I tried to be in trying to get her to look at me. The few times she did actually look close to my direction, she made the saddest face at me.

Here it is...



Isn't that BEAUTIFUL!

So, even though she's temporarily decided that she doesn't want me to take any pictures of her (at least I HOPE it's temporary!), luckily I can still manage to get a good one or two of her anyway, because she's just so darn cute!!

Perfection

Do you see what I see when I look at these pictures?





For me, trying to learn to take great pictures means that when I look at a photo I've taken, I evaluate a lot of things: Did I nail the focus? Is the exposure good? Did I use the right white balance setting? Should I have used a faster shutter speed? Is my composition okay? etc... (might be Greek to you, but don't worry about it).

But one of the things I've been reading about is the difference between a "technically perfect" photo, and an "emotionally perfect" photo.

To me, a technically perfect photo gets all the details right. Everything that should be in focus is in focus, the colors are good, there are no trees growing out of people's heads, etc... An emotionally perfect photo, however, is one that reflects some sort of memory, or emotion-- one that overrides whether or not everything is technically correct.

So basically, a photo can be technically good, but not have any real emotion tied to it (like a really posed picture-- like forcing someone to smile at the camera when they don't want to. Sure, you might get all the settings right, but it doesn't exactly bring to mind a great emotion or memory). And to flip the coin, a photo can be emotionally perfect, but something is a little blurry that shouldn't be, or there's a big ugly sign in the background, etc.

In the best scenario, you take a picture that is both technically and emotionally perfect-- that's like having your cake and eating it, too! If I manage to take even just a couple pictures like that, I'll be completely happy.

So honestly, for me-- these two pictures of my brother-in-law Corey with his kids are pretty great. I'm mostly happy with the technical things about the pictures, but they're also special to me because they show how much a daddy loves his kids. In particular, a dad who works really hard and got to spend three uninterrupted days with his children.

That's what I see when I look at these pictures. (Hope that's what you see now, too).

Color or Not?

When I am working on editing a picture, I am usually trying to do what I can to make the colors as vibrant as possible... I am DEFINITELY a huge fan of eye-popping color (and I'm still learning how to bring that out in my pictures).

Here is a picture I took of Natalie this weekend, in color:



But then I usually check out what that same picture would look like in black-and-white... Here's my black-and-white of that same picture:



Both are totally cute, of course! (Thanks to Natalie). So.... color or not?? I mentioned this before, but there are definitely people who are huge fans of black-and-white photos... BUT, I think I still prefer the colorful ones the most.

What do you think?

Cute Shoes and Answer to Challenge #1

I'm back from a 4-day get-away with Andy's family... it was a fun and entertaining extended weekend, with 8 adults, two rambunctious toddlers and two-month old twins... And of course I had to take some cute pictures, right?

I got home this afternoon and I uploaded the photos I took to my computer, and here's the damage.......... 359 photos!! Three-hundred fifty-nine photos!!!! I didn't take any pictures the first day, and none the last day, so that was just on Sunday and Monday... Holy cow!! (Plus, I deleted many of the pictures on-the-spot, so those aren't even counted!). I told you it would be bad!!

Needless to say I am going to go through and weed out a HUGE number of the photos. So far I've completed one "cleaning", and my total of keepers now is 174. (Still needs a lot of work!) That's my project for the next few days...

SO..... Definitely check back-- I've gotten some really, really cute pics and I am really excited to post them as I go through and get them ready for my blog!

Here's a sneak peak at a few pictures of my nieces-- (sort of)!!

Natalie's adorable pink sneakers:



Jayden has this thing about wearing big people's flip-flops... just look at those tiny feet in those big shoes! And the crazy thing is she can totally RUN in them without falling!



However, that almost completely changed when Grandma Karen bought Jayden a new pair of flip flops on Monday--- Jayden was IMMEDIATELY in love!! It was absolutely adorable, she would hardly let them out of her sight! (And when she woke up in the middle of the night, she wanted her shoes so Grandma got them for her and she cuddled them as she fell back asleep!!)





Personally, I've never been much of a shoe person but to see the cute ones on these two definitely brings a smile to my face :)

PS---- Here's the answer to my "Blog Challenge"... hope you had a chance to check it out! There were only a few comments but I'm guessing just by talking with people that there were just some people too shy to post (which is totally fine). My mom was the first to get the answer correct-- After I took three or four photos of Liz and Jesse and Natalie, I realized the tiki torch behind them looked like it was growing out of their heads (not a good thing!). So, because I really liked the picture anyway, I edited out as much as I could with my photo editing program (and although I did decide to leave the bottom half of the pole intact, I'm guessing most people didn't even notice the bottom of the pole the first time they looked at the family picture).

So, that one was easy.... I won't promise I'll be so easy on the next one!! Stay tuned!

Weekend Away

I'm headed out for an extended weekend with my husband and his family... you know what that means!?!? TONS AND TONS AND TONS of PICTURE TAKING!!!

Be sure to check back mid-next week... I'll be with 4 of the 5 most photogenic people in the world- my two nieces and my twin nephews (the other being my sister!). Add their beautiful parents to the mix, plus my gorgeous husband, and I'll be in photo-heaven! I'm hoping to snag a good photo or two of my in-laws as well-- we'll see how long it takes for someone to take my camera and throw it in a lake!!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!! And of course I can't have a post on a "photo blog" that doesn't include a picture, right?



This was taken when Peyton & Landon were three weeks old (around the 4th of July)...

Nieces

I absolutely LOOOOOOVE having nieces! They're totally cute, and these two have the most fun personalities EVER.



When I took this picture, we were at a park in Eau Claire listening to live music... Natalie loves to dance, and it's so adorable-- it always makes me laugh. Jayden wasn't quite so sure what was going on when we were there that night, but she dances with me when I'm singing in the car on the days I pick her up from daycare (or "school"). I totally love that...

PS--- Perhaps you're shy about posting a comment to my "Challenge" post (which is fine), but check it out if you haven't looked at it yet... I will be posting a follow-up about it soon!

Another PS--- I haven't had a chance yet to try to figure out why some of the pictures show up a little fuzzy when I post them (I promise they're not fuzzy at all!)... I will get to that soon.

Challenge #1

Hello devoted blog readers (all four of you...!!!!)

Here is a picture of my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and my niece. Such a gorgeous family, aren't they?



One of the basic principles in photography is composition. I'll spare you a big explanation, but basically there are "rules" of composition that photographers are supposed to follow in order to make a "technically correct" photo. (All of which I'm still learning...)

Okay, so here's my challenge for you. When I took this picture of Liz and Jesse and Natalie, I didn't notice I was breaking one of the major rules of composition, which I tried to mostly "fix" later in photo editing.

Here was the original before I fixed it:



Can you tell what I tried to fix? **Post a comment with your guess (click on the word 'comment' at the end of this post, it should walk you through it). Anyone who guesses correctly will get 10 points.... They're absolutely useless points, but points nonetheless!!!!!

(****Addendum-- Give yourself 10 EXTRA points if you try to figure it out BEFORE you read the other comments people have posted....)

I will probably continue to post challenges for fun-- I'll make them harder after this one, but this one will be a warm-up. :)

PS-- I'm not sure why the photos are kinda blurry-- I will try to figure out what I'm getting wrong in my posting settings to fix it.

Andy and Jayden

Aren't they sweet?

Happy Weekend!

Wishing you a happy weekend!



I took this picture in Hawaii at the Paradise Cove Luau (which was FANTASTIC!). About 10 minutes before sunset I knew I was going to try to get a good picture as the sun was almost down-- we were sitting in the big circle watching the luau hosts do a demonstration about how the pig is prepared, and it was so hard to sit and relax as I waited for the sun to get in just the right spot-- I was worried I was going to miss it, and I knew it was going to be totally beautiful...! I think it was worth the anxiety.

My Sister Part Two

Check out those eyes! (My sister is such a good sport, I know she won't mind that I posted this picture.)

I love it! When I took this, we were at a "Zippy's" in Honolulu eating Banana Cream Pie. It was darn good, and I always have fun taking close-up shots of my sister.

If only I could just head to Hawaii for the weekend to take some more pictures of her... Berta, what do you think?

Landon

Here's another little guy my camera just adores...



One of the things I'm learning about is some cool techniques with photo editing. Here is another take on the photo of Landon:



When it comes to pictures, some people are hard-core 'color' people, and other people really love black-and-white or other variations (like the sort of in-between one of Landon).

I think I tend to prefer color-- the more the better! But it's still neat to see other ways that photos can look.

In color or not, Landon is one cutie-patootie!

Peyton

What can I say, the camera just ADORES this little guy!



How could it not, he's totally precious...



And here's a sweet one with his mom:



Stay tuned for a post of Landon pics...

Two Cool Girls

Haley and Brandi are two girls I'm lucky to know... This was only the second time I'd met them, but when I asked if I could take their pictures they were more than willing! And boy do these two girls know how to work a camera!!



Here's Haley:



And her big sis Brandi:



They are "FREAKISHLY" like my sister and I were when we were younger, except my dad says they actually get along :)
They're a lot of fun... so much fun, I could totally FREAK OUT!! (inside joke...)

Natalie

I just love taking pictures of this girl...



Natalie is going to be 2 already this fall... she understands everything you say to her and I'm totally amazed at how much she can already say-- she's sooooo darn smart!



Smart and cute and a bazillion other awesome things... I just love my two nieces!

Weeds

My sister-in-law Katie was laughing with me about all the weeds in her yard... If I had these in my yard, I totally wouldn't complain!

Jayden

I can't believe how quickly this little girl is growing up!! I feel like it was just a few months ago that Katie called to tell us she was pregnant, and now here Jayden is, one month shy of turning three years old! She is such a sweet girl, and it can't be easy having two new baby brothers in the house... But she seems to do very well, and I hope she has as much fun as I do when I go over to visit.



She lets me chase her around with the camera, and when she decides she doesn't want her picture taken, she lets me know! But I've learned a little trick to get her to show the camera some love again:

Auntie: "Jayden, will you show me that pretty smile?"

Jayden: "No pictures."

Auntie: "You're done letting Auntie take pictures of you?"

Jayden: (Nods.)

Auntie: "Okay, that's just fine. I will go take some pictures of your baby brothers."

Jayden: "No! Take ME pictures."



And thank goodness, because she's not at ALL photogenic...........!!!