POTD#13 Pizza Party!

If you promise a bunch of hungry teens pizza, you'd better deliver! (Um, no pun intended there) When I saw this stack of pizza boxes waiting to be devoured, I thought of this week's theme so *snap* went the camera with a bunch of satiating onlookers giving me strange looks. If you've ever seen a bunch of teens inhale pizza, you'll know why I didn't want to share pics of them eating!

SS 1/20, F/5, ISO 800, Av mode

Bubble-licious!

We have spent so much time outside playing with bubbles lately! I love the fun yummy bright colors of the little wands. I am loving this warm weather and being outside in the sunshine! More fun days ahead!

POTD #12

This toy has been through it. It is Jeremiah's favorite. Actually we've gone through two of this exact one and several other doodle boards. This Elmo & Cookie Monster one seems to be his fave of them all. Maybe because it's his first (design)? Maybe it's the size? It's easy to carry and fits perfectly in his lap. Either way, no matter how many others we've gone through, this one is a permanent fixture around here. He calls it his "draw" and it even made it into our family Christmas picture 2 years ago! I think it's time for another one...

The ISO is up really high, I know. It seemed so dark! I also couldn't seem to get a brighter white without blowing it. These were taken last night under my dining room light with no flash. Any ideas? HHCC always appreciated!

POTD # 12 Household Items

I started collecting Willow Tree Figurines about five years ago. I have never been a collector of anything but something about these carved figures intrigued me. I have several now so I decided to use one of my favorites. Thanks for looking, CC appreciated!

POTD #11 Mmmmmmm...

Don't you just love M&M's? It's hard to resist these cute little M's! I will always remember the old commercial where the kid said the green ones were the home runs - anyone remember this? Green was my fave until they came out with blue - my favorite color! So now guess which color makes me smile when I open up a bag? My son loves these too and one day he asked for some "M's" and I told him no. He thought for a moment then asked me for some "W's"! LOL He was watching me look through the M&M shots and drew me some pictures. Check them out here: http://capturingeverydaylife.blogspot.com/2007/03/artistic-kid.html


Thanks for looking!

POTD#11 More Blue!

I looked for blue things while we were out of town and found this fire hydrant! In honor of UK team spirit, they painted all of their hydrants blue across the city. I only had enough time to shoot while we waited for the light to change. I wish I would have taken more shots from other angles.

While we waited for my husband to get out of his meeting, we found these tiny little blue "flowers" hidden in the shade. I have no idea what they are, but they were cute!

POTD #11 Woo hoo it's BLUE!!!

Actually, the theme is "your favorite color." So that means you'll be seeing blue this week! I love it! But then when I tried to find something to shoot, nothing seemed interesting! Oh well. Here is my son's huge blue ball. It is almost as big as him but I couldn't get a decent shot of him with it so you just get the ball. LOL Here it is in the yard and a close-up of the swirls: {ss 1/640, F/4 ISO 200, Av mode, natural light}

{ss 1/1250 (!?), F/5.6 ISO 200, Av mode, natural light}

POTD#10 - DVD Player

I was hesitant to purchase this for our son. I didn't want to encourage more TV watching! Turned out to make life easier when we took long road trips. After the books, songs and scenery wear off, life is hard for a toddler stuck in a carseat for hours! That is when we break out some Blue's Clues or Veggietales. It has been wonderful to have this available for the last leg of the long drive. Gives him something to zone out with just long enough for us to get there! As you can see in the close-up of the buttons, Little Man has also figured out how to work it! (See the fingermarks and crayon bits?)

I tried taking it from several angles and used black foamcore just to try that out too. Took these in my living room with lamp lighting and flash but sometimes it came out a bit yellow-y. Guess I'll keep playing with my WB settings! Thanks in advance for CC!

{ISO - 800, ss 1/5, F/4, Av mode}

{ISO - 800, ss 1/8, F/5, Av mode}

{ISO - 800, ss 1/5, F/5, Av mode}

{ISO - 800, ss 1/4, F/4, Av mode}

Also, I was distracted for a moment by my son while shooting and accidentally clicked the * button. Didn't really know what that did but it sent out some flickering and then I got this weird shot! Crazy what your camera will do it you are not watching! I had to reset my camera's default setting to get back to normal! I re-read my manual and still don't know what I did. The second is the original shot (right before the funky one!) Just thought I'd share this for fun. Anyone know what happened? I'd love to understand!

{ISO - 800, ss 1/10, F/5.6, Av mode}

{ISO - 800, ss 1/4, F/4.5, Av mode}

POTD #10 - Kid Viewer

I love that my minivan came with a kid viewer mirror! Being obsessed with my little guy, it only made sense for me to see what he is doing back there but not so good for me to be turning around while driving! When my van was in the shop last year, the rental car drove me nuts because we were missing this feature. I would look up only to be frustrated that I couldn't see him! It's a little thing but it makes my life easier to know what the little guy is doing and if his screaming is because he's dying or just dropped his toy. It helps me to interact with him by knowing what he's doing and he knows I am right there with him, even if he can't really see me. And that makes life easier for the both of us.

{ss 1/100, F/13. ISO 1600, 43 mm, natural light, Av mode}

POTD #10 - Remote!

We seem to have a million things with remotes... to alieviate the perpetual search for the right remote, my hubby bought this Universal Remote to use for three of our electronic devices! It saves time switching back and forth and saves on the clutter problem. So I deem it as something that makes our lives easier! That and we don't have to get off our lazy bums to change the channel! TFL! CC welcomed!

[SOOC, ss 1/60, F/5.6, 49mm, ISO 400, natural light, Macro setting}

**UPDATED! You asked for a view of the whole remote - so here it is! I had a hard time getting the remote to give me a decent pose! LOL

{SOOC but cropped, ss 1/10, F/5.6, 55mm, ISO 400, natural light}

POTD #10 Stepping Stool

This makes life easier for my son! Little Shorty can't reach the sink to brush his teeth witout a little help. I thought it was a cute shot but couldn't seem to get it right. Below is the original (except I turned it vertical). I took a ton of shots (he made a mess in the sink - water everywhere!), and used a ton of different settings (WB, SS...) couldn't get the yellow to go away! And the ones taken with flash were just horrible. So I ended up just choosing one that came out in focus and PSed it! I know the lighting was bad, was there anything I could have done differently? Oh yeah, and I know, the stinkin' rug should have been out of sight! I was too busy trying to get the color right! Oh well... TFL! CC Please so I can learn from my mistakes!
{ss 1/16, F/4.5 34 mm, ISO 400, available light}

POTD Week #10

One of my favorite things in the whole world? To see the word "Washable" on the side of my toddler's markers. He loves to draw and markers seem to be his favorite medium for now. Do I fret? Nope! I've come to trust Crayola when they print this word on their product. It sure makes life easier to clean up in this house!

{ss 1/125, F/5.6, 46mm ISO - 400, natural light}

POTD #9 - I'm learning

"You're never too old to learn!" Have you ever heard that? Here I am in my thirties (ACK! When did THAT happen?!), trying to learn something new - photography. It's so fun! But no matter how much I try, I see that I still have so much to learn! Sometimes I get so frustrated with myself I wonder if I'm just a lost cause with this new hobby of mine. But then I'm just stubborn enough to keep trying my hand at it. It's good to be a student and to never stop trying to learn something new... so I guess you're stuck with me!

Thanks for looking!

CC always appreciated!

{ss 1/50, F/5, ISO 800, 34mm}

POTD #9 Scrapbooker

I'm a memory keeper, I'm a crafty artist, I'm an embellishment junkie... I'm a scrapbooker! I have always loved to take pictures and look at pictures. I used to go through the family albums and wonder what story lay behind each snapshot. Then the artsy/crafty side of me began to surface and I discovered scrapbooking - the perfect combination! Scrapbooking is more than memory keeping and a creative outlet. It brings me joy to look back and remember all the details of life that tend to get swallowed up and lost in the blur of life. I also love it when others look at my layouts and enjoy remembering and hearing the stories behind the pictures. I am looking foward to showing my grandchildren all the wonderful memories they might have never heard about if I had not filled these many albums.

Thanks for looking!
CC appreciated!
{SS 1/125, F5.6, ISO 400, 55mm, taken in macro mode}

Challenges!

I decided to post my photo challenges here as to not confuse those weeding through my other random pics to find these! I'll start tomorrow!