Featured Photographer--Princess Jen

NAME: Jennifer Johnson aka princess jen

1. What camera do you use? a Kodak point and shoot. Although my hubby is more than happy to share his very nice dSLR with me with his fancy-schmancy lenses!

2. What is your favorite photography subject? (or, what do you like to take pictures of the best?) I love taking photos of people but I don't always love how they turn out. I'm striving to look at things in different, more interesting ways.


3. What camera equipment is on your wish list? Nothing really. My hubby is the main photog in our family and we have lots of fun things for me to play with. His wish list is full of all sorts of things that I don't know!

4. What are your hobbies outside of photography? I love to read, it's more than a passion, it's nearly a compulsion. I love doing stuff outside. We go hiking and camping, rock climbing and river rafting, all sorts of outdoor adventures. I love visiting national parks. I also enjoy digital scrapbooking.


5. Tell us about your family! (married? Kids?) I am married--since Feb 2000. I have two children. Anya is six and Aaron is two. I have an amazing extended family too. I have a sister and a brother who are both married with kids and my husband's sisters are also truly my sisters as well. They are also all married with kids. We do amazing, fun trips together quite frequently. Most recently we went with hubby's sisters/families to Oregon/Northern California on a camping trip.

6. Where do you live? (you don’t have to be specific if you don’t feel comfortable) I live in Salt Lake County.


7. Do you have a blog you would like to share? (family blog or photography blog?)
j&a antics

8. What is the best photography advice you have ever received? hmmmm... probably to use a tripod.


9. What (if any) editing program do you use? I hardly ever edit my photos. When I scrapbook and need to fix something, I use photoshop elements.

10.Can you share your favorite 3 pictures with us?? (just attach them to this email)
It was difficult to find three that I liked a lot that I haven't used for this blog...


My runner-up for "vintage" challenge


my runner-up for "sign" challenge


This was for another challenge, but I didn't get it posted in time and now I don't remember which challenge it was.

Time Out

A better way to bribe?

First Sign of a Prince

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Don't Cry Over....

A Day in the Life...

Happy Mother's Day! Along those lines, I started to think about all the things I change... I change the sheets, I change the loads of laundry, I change children's clothing (and my clothing), not to mention I change LOTS of diapers!

resistance

I try to work out every day and when you're stretching or doing weights, you need to make sure that whatever you do on one side, you also do on the other side.

the Key to a good day

Natural light. Taken with a Kodak point and shoot.

BTW, my husband asked me to mention he's selling his Canon EOS 30D. He upgraded to a 50D and planned to use the 30D as his backup but is finding he's not pulling it out all that much and hates to see it go unused. It's in excellent condition and has been regularly sent in for scheduled cleanings and maintenance. It's a great entry level camera into the prosumer series of Canon EOS digital SLRs. It's in excellent condition, no scratches or anything and he has always kept the screen covered with screen protectors. It's the body only and he's asking $550. He's pretty firm on the price and says if anyone would like a more flexible price it's $600 and then he'll negotiate down to $550 if it makes them feel better. Having looked through his camera bag I'd guess you could probably also talk him out of his Canon 85mm f1.8 lens if you made a good offer (he hinted he'd take $350). He seems to use his 100mm more now that he has it.
He says to check out dpreview.com for more info on the 30D.
(http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Canon/canon_eos30d.asp)

If you are interested, you can email me--princess (dot) jen (at) comcast (dot) net.

Hot Rods

I'm cheating a bit on this one... I had another idea but I didn't have the time I needed to get my act together. But I promised Rachel I would post something this time. I actually took this photo 2 weeks ago (so don't vote for it, no matter how awsome you think it is ;) ) and I contemplated just setting it all back up again and taking it tonight so I would be fully following the rules. But it's 11:50pm and I should probably go to bed. So I decided not to. Besides, it was so much cuter that it was my 2 year old who neatly lined up his cars between the dining room and kitchen so that I would have to step carefully or else trip and land on my butt.

handle

This is a photo of the handle of my antique dresser.

"SOOC" with my point and shoot. Natural light, no flash. I put "SOOC" because my photog hubby gave me an interesting lesson about how SOOC on a digital camera is a misnomer... that being said I did not do any post processing in element.

Birthday Burger

When I saw the challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do--take a photo of my free birthday burger at Red Robin! So my hubby loaded up his Canon 50D along with his 100mm macro lens and a ring flash just for me. It's not that the photos of my bruschetta chicken burger didn't turn out... they were incredibly sharp and visually interesting, but the sandwich itself didn't look incredibly palatable (it tasted delicious though!). So I went with this shot. I like how the water glass looks and I like the fry basket behind it too.

Basket of Promise

As a child, my favorite part of Easter was the basket itself. It's always so exciting to have your basket and discover what treasures are inside and then to use your basket on your hunt. In addition I love this light. I love the light that spring brings. I appreciate the sunlight more after a waning winter's suffocating stale gray. Easter is the epitome of spring and new life, which is especially relevant as we celebrate Christ's resurrection and atonement. This is a SOOC shot done with my trusty Kodak point and shoot.

static motion

Hee hee... my title is a little ironic but very fitting I think. I know hair is supposed to have "movement" but I think this is a bit over the top!

Battle of the Bulge

I wanted to take a photo of the aftermath, per se, of my addiction. Namely I am incredibly addicted to dessert. I love cookies and brownies and cheesecake and ice cream. Plus I eat way too much of them. I try not to have them in the house at all because then I won't eat them. I hardly ever bake anymore because I have absolutely no self control. That being said, I started an exercise regimen in November and I've been really good at keeping on top of it. I've lost 25 pounds so far and other than a set back or two (like my SIL's peanut butter truffle brownies!) I'm doing well to beat back my bulges!

If Only...

This is my niece Grace. She just turned one. She is our family's miracle baby. Grace was born with HLHS. She received a new heart on August 18, 2008. There are so many heart babies born every year and there are not enough hearts that are donated to save these babies. It is such a blessing when a family going through the crisis of losing their child/loved one is able to think about their ability to bless the lives of another family through organ donation. It is truly a selfless act of giving.

Grace loves other kids and for so long she hasn't been able to be around her cousins. Due to her immunosuppressant medications on top of her weakened immune system, she has been on "house arrest" for a lot of her life. But she's doing so well and I love that my kids finally get to see her and hug her and kiss her and love her.

When I look at this photo, I am reminded of my daughter's simple, daily prayers--Please bless Grace to get better. Please bless Grace's heart. Please bless Aunt Buggy and Uncle Topher to be happy.

If Only... life were always this simple.

On Angel's Wings

I took a close up of the wings on my willow tree figurine. I used my hubby's new Canon 50D. It was really fun to play with! But I need more practice...

Sweet

Went to a church birthday party the other night and played around with my camera. I'm going to be inherting my hubby's canon eos 30d soon and then I'll get to learn and experiment a bit more. This was taken with my little Kodak point and shoot. I'm getting better with my depth of field. The woman who decorated the cake did a fabulous job with making the cake features... (is that too lame of a tie-in?--I have to admit that I haven't been super inspired in general)

aftermath

This photo is a twist on an idea my husband had. I played with different angles and different lighting. I actually liked the lighting in some of my other attempts better, but I liked the depth of field in this one better. My biggest disappointment is that when I shrunk it for the web, I lost the detail that was in focus and it looks blurry. My full size file looks much better. I went with this one because it didn't look at forced as my other attempts and it captured for me the "aftermath" of a celebratory evening...

Alternate

My hero is someone who isn't afraid to express themselves.