Less than my best

I've been feeling less than my best lately. I'll spare the personal details here. As for the photo, I cropped it, but no other processing beyond that. I metered on a point that would under-expose myself, then hit the timer and ran.

CC always welcome.

... a TIME to every purpose...

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." -Eccl. 3:1

Childhood is for discovery. Our wide-eyed enthusiasm for life evaporates far too quickly, but it's great to see it in the eyes of a child. Thanks for looking. CC always welcome.

Always Use Caution during water activites

Do you think he's got enough floaties?

Totally lame picture. I know. Baby was not cooperating during photoshoot, and I didn't get a second chance. Forgive me. What I had really hoped to capture was the neighbor kid jumping in the pool, (throwing caution to the wind!) but he was too chicken. Go figure...

CC (and any advice on how to get kids to cooperate would be appreciated!)

The Secret Life of Bees

My husband and I rented the movie, "The Secret Life of Bees" last week. I can't say it was my favorite movie ever, but I definitely enjoyed it and would watch it again. It was one of those movies that made you think about life in a different way... in a way, I guess you could say it was inspirational.

I had no idea it would be so stinkin' hard to take a picture of a bee... they're fast little buggers! Thanks for looking.

CC

Pool Party

CC

What really happens every day...

Dirty face, slobbery fingers, looking away from the camera, dressed in her brother's hand-me-downs.... not the perfect, pink, baby portrait but it's real. Just like I see her every day.

Sign of Respect

Out of respect for our country, we fly the American Flag a little higher...

CC always welcome. Thanks for looking.

Sam I Am

I won't even bother posting the specs on this because I photoshopped the snot out of it. :0)

I decided Rachel was probably serious about kicking out the slackers, so I figured I'd better get in gear and post a picture this time around!

Is this my best? Maybe not. But I do like the photo, and I am proud of it. So that counts, right? This is my son, by the way... totally in his element.

CC always welcome

Just have one made...

"People say that money is not the key to happiness, but I always figured if you have enough money, you can have a key made." -Joan Rivers.

I thought this quote was pretty funny and I'm low on inspiration tonight. So there you go.


1/5 sec, F/3.5, ISO 400, no flash

CC

Hot Mamma

1/640, F4, ISO 80

Too much of a stretch? There's nothing "hot" about April in Idaho, but when I saw this little piglet curled up against his mamma for warmth, I couldn't resist.

CC

Before there were Cell Phones...

1/1250, f 3.2, ISO 200, decreased saturation, increased contrast

Windows Live Photo Gallery is no Adobe Photoshop, but it was SO nice to be able to make some adjustments to my photo. :0) I get my photoshop back in 3 weeks.... hooray!

Thanks for looking. CC

He Meekly Died

1/1600, f 5.6, ISO 200, 11mm

I've totally been MIA this past month. I'm photoshopless while my husband is away on an internship (with my laptop) and I feel totally crippled. But I'm almost done moping about it and am ready for the challenge of posting straight out of the camera. So let me know what you think.

CC

Fresh Produce

(f 2.7, 1/5, ISO 200, 6mm, natural light from window)

(photoshop enhancements: duplicate layer with soft light blend, color variation to add more green.)

There's nothing very fresh around here except my groceries. This was really an experiment in composition for me. I played with everything from pineapple and oranges to carrots and zucchini. Today I present: Asparagus.

{CC}

Love: A Hand to Hold

(Canon Powershot S5IS, f 2.7, 1/3, ISO 200, soft light blend, burned the edges)

I took this photo tonight while my hubby and I were watching a movie for Valentine's day. He got a little annoyed when I finished my photo shoot and then had to ask him what was going on in the movie. :0) But that's one of the things I love most about him: that he humors me.

{CC}

Success: Anger Management

Canon Powershot S5IS: f 2.7 (super macro setting), 1/15, ISO 200

Sorry I'm late... Success is keeping my cool when my 2 year old does stuff like bite off little pieces of apple peel and then spit them on the floor... Or when he cracks eggs on the floor... Or gets into the dry erase markers... Or pulls every single book off the shelf... Or... you get the idea. I felt successful yesterday because instead of freaking out about the apple peel, I calmly asked him to spit the next one in the garbage- and he did. Success, even in small portions, is still success.

So anyway, a question: If you could pick any background for this apple picture, what would you choose? I didn't have time to find a new spot for it, but was afraid the background would be too distracting (although I kind of like having my toddler in the background). But if I would have had time to move it and "pose" it, where should I have put it? Any ideas?

As always, {CC}

Keepin' it Real

"Life without love is a shadow of things that may be."

Okay, I admit it... I took this photo back in September. I'm currently rocking my new baby and can't bring myself to put her down just to set up for a photo (that I have no good ideas for anyway.)

To give the colors and shadows a little more pop, I duplicated the layer in Photoshop, and then changed the top layer's blending mode to soft light.

Oh, and I actually took the photo by hanging camera around my neck and using the timer.

{CC}

Breaking Tradition

My husband comes from a long line of lousy fathers. I've never met my father-in-law, and probably never will. But my husband and his brothers are breaking that "tradition." They are all fiercely dedicated family men, and I'm grateful for their examples and ability to rise above the past.

Keep Dreaming...

My dream is to have my OWN washer and dryer and not have to go down into our ghetto apartment's basement to use the coin-op. That's all I want out of life right now... ha.

This is not at all how I intended the picture to come out. I scouted out the lighting yesterday to find the perfect time of day when the sun beams were shining through the window. And then it was over-cast today, so the lighting was completely different than I'd planned. Grrrr... oh, well.

(CC)

I Finally Found Myself

Hi, I'm Charlotte.

I'm a stay-at-home Mom, which is the best thing that ever happened to me (besides my husband, of course!), hence the picture of me being a mommy. My kids are Samuel, age 2 years, and Alivia, age 2 weeks.

I enjoy photography (obviously), though I am much better with Photoshop than my camera. I also enjoy digital scrapbooking, modern dance, and all things chocolate. We live in Southeast Idaho.

Please feel free to CC my photo.

Inspired Comfort

f/3.2, ISO-200, 1/8 sec.

This photo was inspired by Mindy's fire pic and Tina's bath pic. :0) I wasn't going to play along this weekend because I just didn't have the energy, but the kids went to bed and after checking blogs and I decided to take a candlelight bubble bath- one of my all-time favorite comfort activities.

CC