I got a new toy!!

I have been considering getting a lightscoop for awhile and finally ordered one last week. It arrived today and I finally got to pull it out this evening and check it out. I was immediately impressed and am glad I bought it.

Don't ask, as I have no idea. LOL

Typical teenage exuberance.

Tonight Claudia was also playing with her Flytech Lightstar that she got for Christmas, and I got these shots. The focus isn't perfect because I didn't bother to get out my tripod. I can't wait to play with it more. Fun for long shutter speeds.

TGIF

So, I'm really glad it's Friday. It's been a long busy week and I'm looking forward to the three day weekend. I've felt like I was running on empty all day, including running empty on creativity. In the end I just used some of my kids toys for todays pictures.

First up.....

Legos!!

My kids love legos. We have tons of them and they seem to be everywhere, all the time. Star Wars lego sets are especially popular here. They get built, played with then demolished to build something new. Over and over again. Every time I step on one of the little buggers I want to get mad and take them away (those suckers hurt!) but I enjoy the hours of peace that they give me.

Next we have....

Zhu Zhu pets!

Like every other kid in the country, my little ones have been clamoring for them since November. I certainly wasn't going to go crazy trying to find them, nor was I going to pay a ridiculous amount for them. But today in Walmart they had a bunch of them for less than $8 each. Now that's more in my price range so I let them each pick one. They're thrilled. :)

Frosty Morning

This morning when I went out to warm up the van the windows were covered in intricate frost. It looked so pretty with the sun barely peeking through the trees that I ran in to get my camera. I can only imagine what my neighbors thought of me taking pictures of my windows in the cold instead of defrosting them.

The specks of gold is the sun reflecting off the frost.

Tonight the kids got out their new play-doh toys from Christmas. They love sculpting things from clay and can sit there for hours creating and destroying and creating all over again.

"Wayback Week"

I love facebook. It's the first place I go every morning when I turn on the computer. I love being able to see what friends and family are up to and I love how I'm able to keep more in touch with my friends and family that live far away. And, if I am to be completely honest, I love playing some of the silly games they have.

This week I've noticed that everyone has been posting a status about "wayback week" and changing their profile pics to one of themselves at a much younger age. It's been fun seeing all the old pictures (love the fashions!) and it inspired me to post a scrapbook page that I had done of myself with my father when I was a kid.

Kit is Sweet Couture by Laura Berger

Today was one of those days. You know. The kind where despite your best intentions, things go wrong, you take one step forward and get pushed two steps back.

At no point today did I even want to take out my camera. I just wanted the day to end.

I finally decided to get out some nail polish and paint my toenails as they really needed it and while doing that I snapped a pic for today.

At least I did post a pic, even if my heart isn't totally in it today.

"After all...tomorrow is another day"

Experimenting with Lighting

Most of my pictures are taken in natural light situations and in more natural surroundings so winter really gets in the way of me getting out with my camera. To be perfectly honest, I could go out, I just choose not to as I hate being cold.

I do have some limited lighting equipment, and today decided to pull it out and set up an area to start learning it better.

Anakin was the first to sit for me as I played around and you can just feel the enthusiasm coming off of him in waves.

Mia was slightly more animated, if not too much so. I ended up converting this shot to B&W as her colorful dress was distracting to me.

I even had Claudia sit for me for a minute. I always feel slightly guilty asking her to sit as she always feels so self-conscious and takes a while to relax.

I even tried for a group shot. This one is off focus and completely imperfect, but I love it anyway because that is the most natural I've ever gotten Claudia to be for the camera.

As you can tell, I wasn't paying as much attention to focus or composition as I normally would. Learning lighting is a lot harder for me than those things, but I think today went well, and I definitely got better results than previous times. I count that as a success.

Bookish

Mondays are never my days and to be perfectly honest, I was too occupied shopping for ebooks for when my Nook (just ordered!) arrives, that I didn't get my camera out until right before I put the kids to bed.

And even then, I only pulled it out because of Mia and her books. She definitely takes after her Momma.

What's most fun is that she's at that age where she remembers most of the story, so she "reads" them back to herself, complete with facial expressions.