shame on me! November blog circle post... a few days late.

Not even going to try to explain my lack of participation/effort... but, here is my November Blog Circle post, which was shooting through glass.

Luckily, my daughter just happened to have a birthday party at a fun cupcake shop in town - I didn't do justice to how cute it looked from the outside, but that is what you get when you're frazzled!!!

 Visited family at Thanksgiving - my dad and my son took a walk in the woods then came home and played a game of "tackle" football -- I actually love this image, taken from the warmth of the dining room!! I can just hear my son telling Papa the rules or what the next play is or how he DID get that first down!!!

Check out what the other ladies did for "shooting through glass"... here's Amy's blog...

www.paynduo.blogspot.com

A sad attempt at Blog Circle this month!

Ok... I'm girl who makes a commitment and sticks to it... however, I also recognize when I'm overbooked which is what has happened this month --- crazy picture season, fall school activities and the like all have occupied my life this month. Hence, my feeble attempt at this month's Blog Circle!!!! I would have liked to really done something fun with the topic this month which I suggested nonetheless!! So... without any more excuses... here is October's Blog Circle... Colors.  I chose the colors of fall.

Circle on over to Amy's blog to see what she and everyone else has done...

www.paynduo.blogspot.com

 

Happy Fall!!! 

 

 

"Beautiful" Ugly Blog Circle!

 Here we are to Blog Circle month 4! This month's topic was Beautiful Ugly... basically finding ordinarily "ugly" things and making them look more appealing! I struggled with this topic - couldn't get inspired... I have plenty of flowers in the yard that are interesting to look at even in their decaying state, but I love to photograph them when they're actually pretty!!!

So I decided to go a different route and decided to go with an animal theme. We went to the Great NY State Fair earlier this month and saw this really cool skeleton - can you guess what it is??

And,  I normally wouldn't think there is anything "beautiful" about this mama pig but somehow she looks pretty cute here!

This is a cheater picture, because it took it many years ago when my daughter was little!!! Another good example of "Beautiful Ugly."

And, just for fun here is a really fun picture of ME!!! This is beautiful ugly, don't you think?!!

Be sure to keep clicking through the links to see all of the blogs!!! Click to head over to Amy's blog

www.paynduo.blogspot.com

Oh, and did you figure out the skeleton yet?? It's a dog!!! 

It is that time again... Blog Circle #3!!

August's Blog Circle Topic was Close-Up Portraiture. A fun topic and one that is relatively easy for me since I tend to do a tight crop while shooting... I love opening up my lens of choice as wide as possible so I get a really lovely blurred background. I could go back into my files and find hundred of pictures that would fit this category, but I am using a few photos specifically taken for this month's topic.

Sometimes I have a hard time with deciding how a half-face crop looks best -- I do like this one with just part of his right eye, all of his nose and most of his mouth. Do you agree, or does it look strange?

To see what other other ladies in the group did, head on over to Amy's blog at www.paynduo.blogspot.com
and keep clicking through until you see all seven of us!

Happy end of summer/beginning of fall... sigh. it goes so fast!!

July Blog Circle - Interesting Perspectives

Well.

The blog circle "challenge"/topic this month was on Interesting Perspectives. I must admit I wasn't overly thrilled with that choice when I first read it for several reasons, mainly because I knew I'd have to use my brain and think outside of the box. I thought about doing a dog's perspective and following my dogs around, shooting from their level whatever they were looking at... but in my house that amounted to chair legs and dustbunnies. Not super interesting.

So, I tried the technique of the vanishing lines as shown in these examples (stealing the link from Kenzi who sent it to the group for inspiration).
http://www.photographyblogger.net/25-pictures-with-an-amazing-vanishing-point-perspective/

And, that didn't go so well for me, as shown in my example.

Then I thought I'd try to do the forced perspective as shown in Kenzi's link again,
http://list25.com/25-awesome-examples-of-forced-perspective-photography/
However, when you have an 8 year old who is just dying to actually shoot hoops rather than pretend it doesn't always work to your advantage!! As seen here...

You see where I was going with that, right??? Close, but not close enough!!




So, I decided to go with the last inspiration point of shooting with a wide angle (http://pixelcurse.com/photography/20-stunning-shots-taken-with-wide-angle-lens). This is something I almost never do... I tend to fill the frame with my subject and go in close. 

I'm not overly impressed with what I ended up with -- but I'm very happy that I chose to go in the direction I went. I'm drawn to the last two images, grouped together of my son and his friend at either end of the court. I like that the viewer can see the surroundings and get a feel for the day, the neighborhood, the park and the action taking place by using a wide angle. If I would have done what I normally do you would have seen my son taking a shot at the hoop and not anything else. You would have seen some of the detail shots of the moment, his shoes, his hands on the ball, etc.

I'm anxious to see what the other ladies ended up with. Remember, click on the link to Amy's blog: (www.paynduo.blogspot.com) and from there keep clicking through to see what everyone else did this month.

Cheers!

Eeking a blog post in...!

My monthly blog circle post is scheduled to appear tomorrow and I thought I'd eek out a random July post... as you can see, my blog is still a neglected beast!

Here's a very quick snippet of what I've been up to personally and professionally in July. For personal - it's been all about swim team!! For photography - lots of fun families and couples!!

Check back tomorrow for the Blog Circle post -- this month was on Perspective and I struggled with it a bit.. see what I and my fellow bloggers can up with tomorrow!

Blog Circle -- Food!

Well, well, well... here I am months later after I thought I was going to pay more attention to my blog. Low and behold, that didn't happen. I have all good intentions and think about my blog often but I just can't seem to to make myself pay attention to it. Facebook seems the more immediate and widespread social media outlet for me, so that is where I've been.

Don't get me wrong, I do love looking through blogs - reading and pouring over photos and such. So when my friend Jennifer asked if I would like to be a part of a blog circle I said "sure!" We are a group of 7 women who are somehow connected either through hometown, photography, college, etc. We will decide on a topic each month and then on a designated date post our thoughts and photos, linking to one another's blog. 

The topic “food” was chosen for June and it all seemed good to me. I love to cook, my daughter loves to cook and bake, we all love to eat… should be easy! As the deadline loomed, though, I started feeling anxious. Thoughts such as “what exactly will I photograph and blog about? Am I just reinventing the wheel – there are thousands of photographers out there who take gorgeous pictures of delicious food and have extremely insightful things to say about it… My poor blog is so neglected to begin with, am I just setting myself up to fail?” Finally, one Sunday in June rolled around and my children and I decided to go strawberry picking… and it hit me… I should photograph and blog about what we do and eat. So in the full sun in an open field at 11am off we went. I decided not to worry too much about it because it is and always has been more about what we’re doing rather than making it look perfect.

So, without further adieu, here is June… food. 

just starting to grow!

teeny berry

My great berry pickers

Only half of the berries we picked -- 11# total!!

Don't love the way I processed the image, but I sure do love the picutre!

What do you do with 11pounds of berries??? You bake! After a few delicious strawberry smoothies (which I did not photograph), we made strawberry rhubarb pie. My daughter did most of the work - we took a few shortcuts and used a pre-made pie crust (albeit, organic) but it was delightful!

 

So... there you have it... my June entry for the new blog circle. I did it! Next time I'll make sure my kids are wearing decent clothes and I pay more attention to the lighting and such. One of my goals with this project is to reconnect with my blog (which will mean a pretty big face lift!)... can I do it???!!!

I'm excited to see what the other gals have done this month. Click here to visit Amy's blog and follow the circle to see them all!

Here it is again... Amy's blog is www.paynduo.blogspot.com

Happy summer, happy photographing, happy blog reading! Cheers! 

Rebirth...???

This is an old picture from a few years ago... my blog needs new life, new breath... a rebirth... is this the time??? Stay tuned!