Final Assignment

My final Photography 101 assignment was a group photo. I was lucky enough to shoot a lovely family whose little girl you may recognize from a previous post. :)

Here's the assignment shot straight out of the camera. (All of my assignment shots have been posted here SOC--straight out of the camera. Anytime I take photos, I make edits to them prior to posting. These assignment shots are my only exception.)

And you can hear my audio comment from Candice by clicking HERE.

(P.S. Today is Tuesday. The last photo I took was almost a week ago. I've officially taken a break! I even scrapped a little last night... more to share later!)

In Memory

Today as I remember those who have served our country and gave the ultimate sacrifice, this image comes to mind.

A year ago on Memorial Day weekend I was in Saipan. I visited the American History Museum that has a great display of the story behind the Battle for the Marianas.

That day, this older gentleman was intently studying the facts. Standing there in his hawaiian print shirt with nice tanned skin... likely on vacation just like me.

Oh how I wish I'd asked him his story. I'm assuming he is a veteran. His age, interest in the artifacts and even body language told me he had a history with our military.

Was that picture on the wall his plane? Did he fight against the Japanese during that bloody battle? Was the man pictured at the right a friend he knew? Or perhaps it's a picture of him???

I guess I'll never know. But just seeing him there and having this image from that day makes me so grateful for what the american soldiers did for us then in that one battle.

And that was only one battle. The lives lost in all military situations where we had brave men and women fighting for our freedom is unspeakable. But my gratitude for them all is neverending.

Friday Fave-- three year olds in tutus

Here are my favorite shots from a recent photo session. Isn't this little sweet pea just the cutest? You can read more about her and her family here on her mom's blog.

Hopefully you'll be seeing more than just my photos here soon. I gotta put down my camera-- I'm not getting anything else done!!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

Lesson Three: Portraiture 101

This last week's portraiture assignment was to photograph someone from a specific age group. I chose children-- partly because I had a perfect model in mind! :)

My sweet middle child offered to have her picture taken... a couple hundred times. :) I got some really fun shots of Allison and picked the following shot to turn in for my assignment:

And if you're interested, you can listen to to what Candice has to say about the shot here.

And, I have to share a few more of my favorites here too because like I said, we took hundreds! :) The shot above is SOC (straight out of the camera), and the ones below I edited in Photoshop Elements.

Wordless Wednesday

Blogroll Surprise

So, I was scrolling along through the blogs I follow this a.m. and look what I found HERE...

Looks familiar! :)

I'm grateful to be featured on the Echo Park blog. I just adore their products! Thanks, Echo Park, for making some incredible products to work with!

Wordless Wednesday

Lesson Two: Portraiture 101

Remember my Friday Fave Photo of Sadie? It was for my assignment for my portraiture class. Just last night Candice Stringham commented on my photo for the side lighting assignment in class. I actually got a better review than I expected!

If you're interested, you can hear what she said about my photo here.

And if you care, here's the technical info on the shot:

This is my 10 year old, Sadie. We used a white posterboard for a reflector. I shot in aperture priority.


Camera: Nikon D40
Shutter speed: 1/200
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 40 mm (35 mm equiv. 60 mm)
ISO: 1600
WB: Auto

Did I mention I love this class and I'm so excited to learn more and more about photography? ;)