Homeschool Diva

Why use a flash if you can work the camera manually to where you get enough light to pull off the shot?  Well, simply because good photographers need to know how to hit all elements, and knowing how light works, will give you great images all the time.  Not only that, but if you want to work on your craft while the kids are in bed, you will need to work at night, therefore you need to work with a flash.

That being said, I hardly ever use a flash, even though I have one.  Now that I am pushing farther to learn a few new things….I super heart my flash especially right at dusk.  It gives you crazy definition and color, that a low f stop and high ISO alone will not give you. It will allow you to have your shutter speed set so that you don’t get that blur that happens when hand holding your camera to capture an image. Everything I have learned with photography has been self taught.  I am in good company. Some of the best photographers in the world are self taught.  I read, I study, I experiment, I read, I study, I experiment…..it is one of my favorite things to do.  So, I have been reading and studying about off camera lighting and strobe work.  Wow what a cool look you can pull off with all of that info.

if you only have an on board flash, one of the things you can do to diminish that hot spot glare, is to put a piece of wax paper, tracing paper, parchment paper or a coffee filter over your flash to diffuse the light.   So go play around with your flash and show me what you got!

Grace and Peace to all those who love learning~

Okay, I had a week full of shooting and editing and all sorts of new things to show you.  Yesterday, I went to the park with my prego girlfriend.  She had her4 nieces and nephews and I had our 3 children, and one trusty camera.  She wanted a park setting for her shoot, which I thought was cool and different not to mention having 7 children running and playing in between clicks was  a fun time. With this image you would never know we were at a park.

My last 2 shoots, my gear has been a bit squirrely.  I am not quite sure why, but with the amount of clicks I have been given this bad boy, I believe it needs a good cleaning.  I am always trying to stretch my skills, learn new things, and push myself.   Good photography is more then composition, or shooting something pretty, it is good lighting, good technical skills behind the lens and editing that takes it all to the next level.  What I love about this, is that there are always things you can be learning and improving with. You never arrive in photography…you only get better.

So what are you playing around with today in your photography? What do you want to get better at?

Grace and Peace to everyone out there doing their thing~

I know I am in a good place when I have the space and time to think.  I also know I am in a good place when I have the space in time to create.  Overall, everything about this season in our life is good.  Space to breath, think, create, and be with those God has put in our lives.  I have so much rolling around in my head about so many things.  Here are just a few.

• Creating an environment where deep and authentic Christian community can grow is a slow process. Slow growth is good growth.
• Thinking about how brilliant Jesus is to use agriculture as a symbol in so many of his teachings. Really just thinking about how brilliant Jesus is in general.
• Thinking about how long things take to bear fruit, but once they do, there is fruit all over the place.
• Big picture concepts direct my day to day “doings”.  When I lose the big picture I fall flat in my day to day.
• I am so inspired by Luke 10 and Psalm 24. All day long I am just thinking and praying through both of them.
• This is the year I will learn Spanish fluently and not just piece meal.
• Being content with what you have and where you are is a good, good discipline.  It heals a weary soul.
• The more I let go, the more I see God move.
• It is true, worrying about anything will not add one hour to your day.
• My top all time 5 favorite theologians that influence the way I think and live out my faith are all old men. I am in search of a woman’s voice to add to my mix. Any thoughts other than Phylis Tickle?

It is so beautiful this am, we are taking school to the beach.  We will run and play and gather and read and do all sorts of life learning.  Show me what you are learning today! I need a heck of a lot of drift wood for an idea I have…so I am putting “los ninos” to work.

Grace and Peace to all thinkers today~

I LOVE what I do .  I really find it such an honor to capture peoples memories for them.  This weekend I had the chance to document new and growing life. We had a providental break in all the rain, and we were able to get some great images. 

Arn’t they the cutest young Mama and Papa you all have ever seen?  I knew her when she was 12.  Kind of trippy to photograph her married with child.  These two will make great parents and are full of all the joy and expectation that envelopes this season in life.

These are just a few of the MANY gourgous images I grabbed of these three. Thanks Kyle and Bethany for giving me the honor of capturing this very special season.  Enjoy every messy minute as life moves on.  Look back at these images fondly remembering all the love and joy that kicked this whole thing off. 

Many blessings to you three~

a

Now that we are all settled in, and I am all back on track, I thought I would throw a foto friday up with a twist.  Play along and show me your best shot from the last 2 months.  I will start with “Show me something green.”  The next person will show me something green and then pick the next thing…curvy, blue, pink…..whatever and post it in the comments.  It will be fun to see what people come up with. If you don’t take photos of your own and want to play, just find something fun  on flickr and link it in the comments.   So whoever comments next should show me show me something green and leave directions on what you want them to find for the next one coming along.

Have fun hunting…..

For this foto Friday I thought I would show you some of my recent work. I had a wonderful spring photo shoot yesterday.  All the flowers were blooming and the children did beautifully.  The light was gorgeous, the colors were intense and the kids had fun.  I couldn’t ask for more! If you are interested in booking a spring session for your family, drop me a line a here.

 Show me some of your most recent work.  Spring is in the air and everything is fresh and new.  Go outside and get inspired.

Blessings,

a

Wow my blogging has been spotty, so if any of my 2 readers are still left…we are on a little family vacation.  We have rested, relaxed, played, did the touristy thing (minus the Disney theme parks) and just enjoyed a break from the normal schedule.  It is good to relax and detox especially after our super busy season of preparing a house to sell, then actually having to move out of it.

In the spirit of family vacation’s show me something fun today.  Here is a twist, show me something of your own, because you know I love to see you shoot your own stuff.  But if you do not like to take photography, but like to look at it, go to flickr, find something you really love and link it here. I love to find new photographers all over the world.  It is always good for inspiration.  So join the fun I know that some of you dear readers don’t shoot like I do but you can still play.

I will start.  Here is my fun shot. I grabbed it with our point and shoot and edited it online in picnic through flickr. So you don’t need a big girl camera to do some great things.  Just start shooting!!!

and here is one I found from a contact on flickr that I LOVE:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heleens/379162902/in/set-72157607732950662/

Grace and Peace to all~

I’ve been gone for a week, recovering from moving.  We are now settled into my parents home waiting to move (again) into our new home.  Can I be honest without you thinking I have a bad attitude?  I HATE moving, but it is good for weeding out and reorganizing. I schooled this week, and organized our room here, so blogging wasn’t even close to happening.  My computer is still in pieces, my camera has seen little use, and I pulled a hamstring that the move really “jacked” up.  Thanks to Epsom salt soaks, deep tissue massage, no running and cross training with the swim and the bike, I am almost back to normal.

So for today, show me something pretty.  These are pretty to me, but I am a bit funny.  My new bike shoes.

My tri training is going well, other than the hamstring thing.   I ran after not being able to sleep early one morning.  I was kind of stressed from the move, and hit it hard and wasn’t as warmed up as I thought.  I strained it then.  Then, I babied it during the move but obviously tweaked it more, and now I am paying for it.  Take it from me….don’t do that.

I am working out with my brother who has done iron mans in the past and is now training for one in May.  He is a foot taller than me, and an ex Navy guy so you can imagine what that is like.  I guess I kicked him around when I was little being the “big sister” and he is now kicking me around as adults.

I will be away on family vacation next week, so I don’t think I will be posting anything.  I will microblog through twitter via my phone so if you are not already, follow me on twitter.  See you back here in a week or so. I am limping along, physically, mentally, well in most ways.

Grace and peace to all those walking with a limp~

I got this idea over at shutter sisters.  Walk 100 steps in any direction and snap whatever artful thing you see.  If you are in a rut and need a little kick in the pants….this will be the thing for you and me.

I walked 100 steps in the SE direction.  When I got there I realized a silhouette shot would be fab.  When shooting a silhouette, place your point meter right on the light source and your object in the foreground will be in silhouette.  Have fun and show me what you got!

So in case you are just tuning in…..we are moving.  I have 6 boxes down and about 60 to go before the PODS arrive in one week.  The kids are with the Grands and we are working our fingers to the bone.  I had to at least give you a little taste of the mayhem around here. I am actually trying to figure out what homeschool stuff to pack and what to keep out as we will be bunking with my parents for a few weeks until our new place is ready to go. I have had so many ask, and just not enough time to respond to everyone….so YES we are staying local and moving about 5 minutes away to a house with a yard for our kids. When you are home all day with your ninos, you need space for them to get grubby.

What one thing in this image do you see, that you think I will miss the most about this house?  Take a guess, and I will let you know if you are right. I converted to black and white.  I think you get a better feel of what is going on because the color and clutter in the image don’t distract you from the subject matter. So show me what you are up to today.  Relaxing, cleaning, playing with your dear sweet children, folding clothes.  Anything.  Surprise me.

Grace and Peace to all who are up to their ears in work~

Here are 2 images for this week. I love looking for unusual images that are perfectly symmetrical.  I have a few of them laying around, and I thought I would leave these here for all my dear foto Friday friends.

Life  has been crazy around here.  My flickr isn’t uploading and I can’t figure it out.  My phone isn’t working and I can’t figure that out. The cable man came to “fix the cable” and everything else that worked before he came now does not work including the phone and the stereo. Thank goodness for a cell phone. I think I may die without music this weekend, so if you don’t hear from me, send help.   I still need to fit my training in today, and my husband is away.  Not only that, but we are MOVING in 21 days and I have to pack up my entire home and put it in a POD for one month before our new residence will be ready for us.

I say all that to say, my posting will be possibly incoherent due to all of the changes around here for the next little bit.   I will keep training though.  People think I am soooo amazing to work out like that.  Trust me I am not. What they don’t realize is it is my key to stress relief.  If I don’t get outside and move everyday, I start to get a little crazy and not very nice to my family and the people I love.

NEVER a dull moment around here.  Please leave me some pretty little picture here for me today, as it will brighten my technically frustrated day….and it is only 8am.

I will sign off before I begin to babble….

Grace and Peace to all those trying to work it out today~

Today, I want you to shoot into the sun, and see what you find.  For some inspiration, go to flickr, and search flare under everyone’s uploads.

My husband actually snapped this.  He is pretty handy with a camera too.  I decided I liked his so much I would use it today.  I will post the one I had for today next week. You know the drill.  Post a comment and then we will swing by for a visit.

Now I am off to a field trip to a local art meusem.  See you soon!

I love triptychs.  I paint them, I shoot them, I am always drawn to them when I am looking through others portfolios.  I love how they really show many facets of one moment.

The other day, I took the kids to the park with a dear girlfriend and her kids.  We had cupcakes galore.  You can see all the other photos of the day on my flickr.  I thought these three made a sweet triptych that captured this little guys first cupcake experience.  It was so sweet, I couldn’t stop shooting.

You do need a photo editing program to do this, but if you are starting to get the shutter bug I highly recommend getting one.  Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Elements are great and inexpensive  programs to get  started with.  Check ebay first my friends, you can get some great deals.

So, show me your story in a triptych.  If you don’t know how to edit it like this, just post three images in a row on your blog or flicker.

Blessings to all artisits today~

Anything ordinary can become artful.  It is all in how you look at it.  Back end editing is what will take your images to the next level.   Today I couldn’t decide. I like the color mix on the first one but like the smokiness of the second one so I put them both up. Show me something artfully ordinary today.

Friday’s has become pancake morning.  The kids, make a full breakfast with eggs, pancakes, bacon and fruit.  We all work together to make it and then we all work together to clean it up.  I don’t know why we started doing this, it kind of just happened. After we cleaned up our mess, I swept the floor and asked the kids to go make their beds.  I joined them upstairs to find hair on the floor from a 4 year old hair cutting experiment.  Then after cleaning that up, I was asked to come back upstairs to see something.  As I followed our 4 year old upstairs he said, “Mom is isn’t exactly safe but it is fun.”

Holy Cow people it is going to be one of those days~

Thanks Sarah for the idea this week.  Here it is a bit of whimsy.  Song to listen to while viewing.  Crank it up Peeps!

Show me your whimsy~  Have a great Friday~

So, I almost forgot that it is Friday.   Our lives have been moving at lightening fast speed these last few weeks.  I haven’t even taken any images just for fun in about a week.  YO! that is not like me, and my flickr is having withdrawals.  I am going to go out this afternoon with my camera just for principles sake for Pete sake, ohh or maybe afternoon tablescapes at my dining room table.  Oh well, we will see, check the flickr later and see what I came up with.

Here is one from my archives.  Selfies are fun.  I shot this one while our dear kids were splashing away at the pool and if you don’t know this about me yet, I am addicted to modern black and white images. One day I will do a 365 experiment of selfies.  Basically one a day.  But right now, I can’t add one more thing to my plate. I am too busy planning a worship night with some friends and painting like CRAZY!  So show me your selfie, and let me see a little glimpse of you.

It is funny how life takes you full circle.  I am enjoying so many new things lately that are really old things for me, just reborn in a new way.   Speaking of old as new, I have to run, the kids and I have recently found the retro channel and are watching Leave it to Beaver.  (Ha I left a link in case some oh you have no idea what in the heck this show is) It is still just as silly for my kids as it was for me as a kid and I think my parents when they were kids.  Every well adjusted American child needs to have an understanding of slow paced, black and white classics mixed in with all this high-def, high tech madness.  Keeps em grounded.

Latah peeps~

The other night I went out with a friend for coffee, and the light glancing off of her shiny nails just caught my eye.  Finding something pretty in the smallest of details.

We had fun doing some low light work downtown.  It is always good to practice in challenging situations.  I am hoping to upload the rest of the images from that night on my flikcr.  The day is just flying away…but I hope to get it up there soon.

What tiny little thing have you found beauty in lately?

Peace to all~

Ever met someone that just got your mind to thinking?  Engaged you in a way that made you want to be better and when you left being with them, you felt empowered to go out and do something amazing?  Ya, me too.  That is just how I felt when I got to document this super woman’s blooming form.  Her first 3 children are GAW-JUS and I have no doubt the 4th will follow suit.  You can’t imagine how special it is for photographic artists to capture natural beauty.

Women go through many seasons and I see strength in so many ways peek through my lens.  Pregnancy is just one of those seasons but not the only one. Think about what season you are in today, and how you are able to be strong in it.

Give me your best super woman shot today. Come on… you know you want to play.

Well, I have had a nice little blog/online break.  We have slept in, and spent tons of family time, as my husband has been home for the last two weeks.  We watched a few family movies and just generally relaxed with not much schedule.

I did some much needed reorganizing around here.  Cleaned my desk area of junk mail etc., cleaned out my hard drive of all the junk you accumulate over a years time, got a stack of papers ready for the kids to shred, organized my year of photos worth keeping and ruthlessly pitched deleted the rest, reworked my photography site online, cleaned out one child’s closet, got several boxes together to go off to goodwill, and last but not least thought through some things I want to add to our homeschool in the Spring. I guess I do my spring cleaning….in December.

Last night Mike and I went out for a date and saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  I read the short story almost a decade ago and due to having all of these children, and my old age;-) I could barely remember the story.   I did, of course take along my camera to grab a few night images.

So, I am off to enjoy my last vacation day.  Next week back to my normal schedule.

Grace and Peace to all this year~

Here is a  rare image of me in a coat, scarf and mittens taken by my wonderful husband.  He is pretty handy with a camera too.

I spent some time with my better half and our stunning offspring the past few days, in a cold and beautiful campground in a rustic cabin just steps from the Suwanee River with no tv, no phones and no Internet access.  We have started a beautiful and new family tradition.  We hiked, and roasted marshmallows, went canoeing, sat on the fire hearth and  warmed our toes, played backgammon and read long leisurely passages aloud of The Wind in the Willows.  It was glorious.

So how is the weather where you are at?  Give me your best shot.

There are days, I can’t get out to shoot anything new.  My kids are well over me shooting them with my camera, but I still have an itchy trigger finger.  At this point, I usually open my fridge and see what there is to see.  I start to build things, usually out of food on my dinning room table and see what happens.

Here is my still life photo stream.  You can find tons of still life groups on flickr and one of my favorites is Simply Breakfast and Before and After. It is amazing what beautiful art you can create right in your own kitchen.

Peace to all food stylists today~

Show me what you are making this time of year.  It is all sorts of handicraft craziness around here today.  My flickr is uploading as I type.

Wishing you all a warm and sweet Christmas.

Some of the most memorable images tell a story.  They tickle your imagination, they take you to another place.  One of the things I love about shooting portraits of people, is getting to tell their story.  Show them who they are, little things that they can’t or don’t see in themselves.

Every time, I walk into a photography situation, where people have commissioned me to tell their story, I pray.  I pray that God would give me his eye for them.  That He would be present in a special way, and that those I am working with would feel a special sense of the one who made them, the original artist.  Good photography takes a lot of technical skill, but takes even more letting go. The more you let go, the better you are.  Then you wait, for just the right moment, and then “click” there it is, a story in just one image.

This family wanted a “secret garden” theme, with dress up and princess and glam galore for their 3 sweet girls. We did that, actually we hit that out of the park.  Dang, I felt like I was on the set of Lord of the Rings.  And yet, I watched their oldest, sweetly comply, to honor her Mom, yet sit right on the edge of saying good bye to dress up and fairy tales, looking forward.   Looking past those fairy tale dress up moments, out into the big wide world with just a faint sense of wonder. She is growing up, and when I see this image I get a little teary.  It is lovely and bitter sweet all at the same time.

So show me a story today.  Give me your best shot.  Leave it on your blog or flickr and tell us the story.

Peace to all artists today!

There is a whole flikr group of people who never look through the view finder. They shoot from the hip. It can be fun to see what you get by shooting from the hip.

My husband took this with our point and shoot yesterday on our Thanksgiving day excursion. My flickr tells the whole the story.

Have a great day!

There are some benefits to running 25 miles a week.

Not only that, but I wanted to capture that morning light, the chocolate brown and teal blue with my favorite dish towel. Really, I love shooting still lifes and tablescapes. When you are thinking about things you want to capture with whatever camera you have, think composition and natural lighting. You can put a Tupperware container containing some fresh tomatoes or fruit in the natural light, compose it artfully, stand above it and take a picture, and you can hang that shot in a museum. Maybe not the MOMA but a kitschy touristy museum. You get my point!

So now I have an idea for you dear readers, but it will only work if you comment and participate. Could I drop any more of a hint with that one. I was thinking a photo Friday every week. Post our favorite pic of the week on your flickr or blog, and leave a comment and link here so we all can see. Then we can all go and leave comments for you, you little artist you. I am finding that blogging is so much more fun when people participate. So comment away and pull out that point and shoot or SLR and give me your best shot.

So let’s try today, totally random and not planned but let’s just see what happens. I am kinda like that, just pull a wild hair out and go for it type gal.