Family Portraits.

Found a few pictures from Mardi Gras that I decided to play with today.

(Comments/critiques are fully welcome. I have a long way to go with finding my photographic "voice", so to speak, and a really long way to go technically, so any input is welcome.)

Daddy Whistling

Grandma Waiting for the Throws

Always Waiting

Lost.

Not really me. I'm doing pretty good at the moment. But I keep feeling that this blogs needs to be something, that I need to be putting something of myself out there, but not... ugh. I don't know.

So, hodgepodge. Scattered focus. ADD.

Yeah. I'll work on that. Right about...

Shiny! Yeah, not like anyone sees any of this but me. Lalala.

Have a lot of projects in the works. Eldest is starting at the local community college for her junior year of high school, so all of a sudden our laid back, unschooly house feels, well, schooly. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But it has me focusing on math, for the twins, the eldest, and myself.

I've been playing on khanacademy.org. It's fun. Even Bug Boy seems happy on it. We'll see how long that lasts.

I've been wanting to get back to taking pictures, but I'm not seeing things through that eye at the moment. This particularly sucks because I have these awesome film cameras just no inspiration at the moment.

We've been working on rehabbing Michael. He's getting stronger, rebuilding muscle, all is well.

Been right about a year since I quit smoking and started vapeing. I still love it. Haven't touched a tobacco cigarette since July of last year. Also lost some weight. Nothing much. Can't really see it. But hey, I quit smoking and didn't gain weight. At all. Whooohoo!

Speaking about photos (I was, wasn't I?), I've been going back through some older pictures and looking at them with new eyes. I seldom get the picture I see in my head, and I need to work on that. But compositionally (is that a word?) I like a lot of what I take. The colors and focus and such may not be where I want them to be, but I'm guessing (hoping?) that just comes with practice. So I've been playing in post-processing with some photos I originally considered marginal, or were flat out mad about taking. Play with the color, crop a little from the edges, add some effects then remove them just to see the picture from a different point of view. And I'm liking what I'm seeing, for the most part. So that's something.

Projects, projects, projects:

• Math taker
• Math teacher
• Everything else teacher
• Physical therapist
• Photographer (or post-processer, or wannabe, or something)
• Organizer
• Researcher of stuff for congregational anniversary
• Planner of family things
• Sanity keeper
• Wife

Yeah, guess which of those don't happen?

So, that's what's on my mind tonight. I'll leave you (me) with a couple-few redone pictures from 2013.

Allium

Bird in a Field

Random Guy in Park at St. Louis Arch

Getting Ready for Bugs

Some photo progress.

I'm getting a little bit better handle on this camera thing. Yesterday was the local Homeschool Prom, and they have a tradition of taking pictures outside in the late afternoon before heading to dinner then the dance. Last year, I took a ton of pictures, and very few were usable without hefty editing. This year, a good 80% or more were sharp as a tack, and didn't need as much cropping. So, I'm getting the concept of working in natural light down a bit better, as well as framing on the first shot rather than taking a larger scene and hoping that there's a usable crop in there somewhere.

I don't want to post anything here without the permission of the other kids' parents, so I'll just throw in one of the solo shots of Alexis, unedited. No color fixes, no sharpening, no cropping, nothing, just SOOC. Tada!

My baby!!

Next weekend, a nearby small town is having a local festival. I'm tempted to go and shoot pictures of random people. I need to get over my feeling that I'm creeping people out by aiming a camera at them. Well, maybe I am creeping them out. Still, it would be good practice. We'll see.

Playing.

My dear mother- and father-in-law are visiting for a week or two. Today they played outside with the kids, and I was able to get a few pics of the little brats that actually turned out okay. I LOVE the smile on Michael's face, but I have that horrible merge with the playset ring. Bah!!!

Warrior Girl

Smiling!

When did she grow up?

Pretty Pictures.

I love taking photos. I do decently, considering my hands shake - a lot - and I just can't seem to learn my camera and get it to see what I want it to see.

That's my biggest issue there: getting the camera to see what I see. I still feel like I'm just taking snapshots. I look at the photos that my friends take (unedited, SOOC shots, groups of them not just the "chosen few"). I can't get my camera to do that. It's a user issue, not a camera issue, for the most part. I would like to get another lens or two that go outside of the kit lens that came with my camera. But really, the biggest issue is me.

I keep scoffing at taking a photography class, but I think I'm going to have to. I just can't wrap my head around certain things about SLR photography.

So this isn't a totally pointless post, here are some edited photos I took over our Spring vacation. I had to do the photos of the kids before my parents shot me, but I did get some shots in New Orleans that I'm itching to get to working on.

Playing with Photography

Focal length: 18mm
Exposure time: 1/20
f/3.9
ISO 800

Subject: Birdie
Date: 11/22/2012
Edited: Playing in Picasa