Baby Bear

Not exactly what I was going for, but all the same looks like some COMFORT to me. By the way the bathtub is restored!!! After some Google research I found that Hydrogen Peroxide would do the trick and thank the heavens it did!!! I guess I could also do a little intro. My name is Melissa I am a mom of 3 and work part-time as a dental hygienist. I'll try and spare you any of the disgusting things I see in people's mouths. I just got a new camera for Christmas and have no idea what I am doing so hopefully I can learn from all of you.

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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.

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Crocheted Comfort

This is one of my favorite places to be - curled up in the corner of the couch, leaning against my handmade crochet pillow, wrapped up in my handmade crocheted afghan, reading a good book. Simple, homespun comfort.

Comfort

The lighting in this photo is all off, I took several at different settings but couldn't get what I wanted. Any sugestions?

My comfort is wrapping up in a blanket, with my pj's and cozy socks on while reading a book, watching a movie or simply talking to my husband or kids.

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COMFORT objects

Comfort just included too many things for me. :) I had a billion ideas rolling, but then it came down to this...

In case you can't tell what these things are:

C- The C Is Brandon's hands. HE is comfort to me!

O-White chip macadamia cookie from Subway. EVERY single time I go there, I get one (not that I go every day or anything. But when we do, it's always a given. )

M-My eagle claws (salad/pasta tossers) from my trip to Alaska a few years back. These have a two-fold meaning...one, I find comfort in COOKING. And the other is family. Ever time I look at these I remember the crazy trip my sisters and I were on when we got these. I will always have such fond memories of my sisters...

F-SEWING. I find great comfort in sewing. It is peaceful and I just love creating things. (the objects are a seam ruler and some safety pins)

O-This is a soup bowl I have had for 7-8 years now. :) My mom sent me flowers when I was on my mission and really sick once. This is what the flowers came in. Now, whenever I don't feel good, this is the bowl I go to for whatever I am eating. :)

R-This is to symbolize mac and cheese. I am kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I LOVE MACARONI! Not just homemade. I love the Kraft stuff. I know, completely unhealthy (I DO put veggies in it sometimes) but THIS is so comforting to me. It ALWAYS sounds good...yum.

T-This is paint. If you read my family blog, you already know I have an obsession with projects and painting things. :) It makes me happy. I guess that's really what this is to me...happiness. All these things make me HAPPY---and to me, happiness and comfort seem to walk hand in hand.

Comfort Food

On a cold night, there's nothing that comforts like some hot soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. Nothing profound I'm afraid. It just makes me feel good.

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Comfort-Hands

When I think of the word Comfort I think of my husbands hands, they are big and soft and always willing to hold someones hands, especially mine. ( this is my grandaughters hand in the picture, I tried to do my hand but it didn't look right). Anyway when ever I need comforting I turn to him and his comforting hands and hugs.

 

Comfort

I love to soak in a HOT bath. So that is my comfort this week.
I missed last week.... aah.. so this is my clean to. The rules aren't up yet...right!!

Comfort in Warmth

I love to be warm, and I love the sound and feel of our wood burning stove... especially on a snowy, dreary day like today! I had a lot of fun trying something new and "playing with fire".

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Comfort

I walked in to wake up my 7 1/2-month-old boy this morning, and this was the sweet, innocent scene I found. It nearly made me cry as I thought about all of the love and joy this guy brings. Not only does he comfort my soul, but it is quite clear he is finding comfort in his blankets.

I'm not usually a fan of diaper-only pictures, but the other side of this story is that he leaked out of his diaper during his night feeding and I was too tired to put new jammies on him. Oh, the added perspective two more hours of sleep bring!

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Comfort - A Sister's Love

My 2 little girls! Now this is definitely Comfort!

We were all tired and worn out today. We were all up too late playing at Nana & Papa's with my hubby's siblings that just arrived yesterday. So we went to our church meetings, where the kids were all squirmy and yawning, came home, had a quick lunch and then my hubby laid down with the girls, while I laid down with our son. And yes, my 6 year old is even in her jammies already! Even more comfortable! I love the moments when all of my children are playing nicely together, sleeping together is even better! To me, that is a huge comfort!

Like my previous post, I know this is not a very artistic or creative picture, but I did try a few different angles and really liked how this one turned out.

Multipurpose Chair

This chair is a big comfort in our house. It's where I rock my babies, where I curl up with a book and blanket, where I start my day off with prayer and scriptures, and where I chat with my husband while he's working on the computer. Maybe a little odd that something comprised mostly of wood would be my comfort, but there you have it.

I wasn't that pleased with the picture. The angle was bugging me- but I was trying to incorporate the importance of it being a rocker without doing a face on shot. BUT I am proud that it's not a picture of a person!

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Comfort

This picture represents two of my favorite comforts.
1. I am a beginning quilter. I am learning to LOVE the art of quilting. It's relaxing. I am a firm believer of the old "Idle hands are a Devil's playground" saying. I have to be doing something. Quilting is my new 'something'.
2. I love snuggling in quilts! I love getting all warm and cozy.
When I look at all of the wonderful quilts that my mom has given to me over the years I feel closer to her. (She lives about 3000 miles away). I know she thought of me the whole time that she was hand piecing and hand quilting these beautiful treasures.

comfort

This is a dark photo, I know. A lot of detail is lost. I have one lamp, providing a soft light but not illuminating really anything. I played around with the flash, but it didn't achieve the desired effect. I went into Photoshop and played with the levels there as well. Again, it just didn't give me what I wanted. I was going to scrap the whole thing and look for something else, but this was the answer for the assignment. I don't know if Mission 24 will serve to make me a better photographer, but I am challenging myself to be honest with myself--to really find the truest answer to the challenge. That is what this photograph is to me. It is dark, but it is what it is. Details are lost in darkness, details that are unimportant in the grand scheme of things. What matters most is the feeling I have at this time, in this place.

I took a photo of the end of my bed at the end of the day. The house is quiet, the kids are asleep, my husband is asleep, the lamp is on the lowest setting. It's peaceful and calm and I can take the time to kneel and talk to my Heavenly Father. I am able to pour out my heart, to share my thoughts, to feel the love and comfort that I so desperately need. After I pray, I crawl into bed and either read a talk from a conference Ensign or thumb through my scriptures for a familiar verse. Usually, I find an answer to a prayer there and receive even more comfort as I am assured that my Heavenly Father listens to me, that He knows me and cares for me. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to kneel in prayer and to receive answers.

The Forever Comfort

I'd been thinking on this one all day.

I took pictures of my husband shoulder. When I'm stressed, upset or sick, that's where I end up. But the pictures didn't turn out well because he thought it was weird I was just taking a picture of his shoulder. Sooo when I thought about all the times he travels for the military or when we have disagreements...

I turn to Heavenly Father and the scriptures. No matter how bummed I am, how sick I am or how stressed I am...I ALWAYS find comfort in the scriptures.

It just so happens that my hubby bought me these scriptures for Christmas with my name on it. So it's kinda a double wammy!

I haven't introduced myself either. I'm Krista. I am a SAHM of Connor, who is 18 months old. A wife to Chris, who is in the Air Force. We are currently living in Alaska. We will be moving in August and I'm counting down the days..no joke. It's just too cold up here. We have a beagle named Hooch. A cat, Louie and a chinchilla, Rosco. I am a member of the LDS church. I love playing the piano, blogging and quilting. My hubby LOVES to fish. Connor likes to rip apart toliet paper...as of right now. :) I'm looking forward to these assignments to stretch my camera skills. Already I have learned so much in two weeks. Thanks for letting me play!

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Comforting Memory

I was originally taking pictures of everything I ate today (because I LOVE comfort food... too much!) but while I was uploading my shots onto the computer, I heard my husband giving our daughter a bath upstairs- the two of them giggling and having a genuinely good time together. Then I looked to the left and on the bookcase next to the computer, this photo- small and often ignored, popped out at me.

And I smiled.

A COMFORTing Thought

After eating this wonderful meal, I don't have to clean up or do dishes, or pry a "thanks, Mom, that was yummy!" from my daughter's lips!

After reading several of these, I realized I was assuming you all know me, even when I'm certain I don't know many of you. I'm a SAHM of two little girls, cousin to Rachel (founder of our blog), blogging fool, and while I love taking pictures, I'm very aware that I'm completely ameture. I'm so honored to be a part of this cool group of other learning, and learned, photographers!

CC

Comfort: Chocolate, Not Diamonds

So they say that diamonds are a girl's best friend, but we know better right? Tonight's dessert: the last brownie in the pan, with some Breyer's chocolate ice cream, and dark chocolate mint topping.

I was first thinking I would take a picture of a stack of the quilts that my mom has made for me (there are four when you include my daughter's), but then I realized that I really didn't want to pull the one on my bed off of it. So I turned this way instead.

A couple of notes: (1) My camera is a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS Digital Elph. It's not fancy. It's a pocket sized digital camera, so I don't have any fun features really. It's enough for scrapbooking and blogging, though. (2) I realize the lighting is terrible. (3) I was in a hurry, so I didn't iron the napkin. Next time I will.

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CHALLENGE: Comfort

I have been sick the past few days, and as I was laying on the couch feeling totally blah I remembered today was a challenge! I skimmed the list of words to pick one, and this word stuck out to me. :)

So the challenge this week is COMFORT.

What does this mean to you? Don't forget, push your limits and be creative!!! Let's try to have the pics posted by Sunday at midnight. :)

....and I promise that in the next few days I will make some changes to the blog, put up the rules, etc. Mindy was so nice to make a cute header to put up for now and I want to line up some Feature fridays. So, lots of change coming soon!

Clean Snow

I know this is really late but I have a good excuse. . . I'm new here. My name is Teryn. I am a SAHM of one beautiful 1 year old boy. (you will probably see lots of pictures of him later) My hubby is a student so money is tight but I'm learning to make the best of what we've got. Like, appreciating these deathly cold winters! At least the snow makes for good pictures. I love the dark berries with the bright white of new snow.

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Clean

Hi - my name is Lisa and I am a slacker!

I Know, I know! This was supposed to be done by last nite, but I have just been busy and a slacker - trying to get the house CLEAN for company coming tomorrow and also organized for when I start a new job soon and have a babysitter here, I want things to be CLEAN and easy to find for her!So here is my latest "CLEAN" - the guest room where my wonderful sister-in-law will be staying for the next week. CLEAN sheets and bedding - I LOVE a freshly made bed!

Also, just to introduce myself a bit - I am a mom of 3 +1 on the way. For the last 3 1/2 years I have been a FT SAHM, but like I said, I am getting ready to start a new job in just over a week - working as a secretary for an accountant. Which happened pretty quickly! I am a mix of being nervous, excited, and stressed over this. How do working moms do it?! I just keep reminding myself that it is only temporary, for tax season, and then I will be back to being mom FT.

I am by no means a photographer! I love enjoying others photos and creativity and hope that this will get me thinking more out of the box. My photos mostly consist of my kids and just for fun. And I really need to start taking more of them!

CLEAN, just a little late

I was all disappointed about not getting another 'assignment', so I came to the actual blog instead of my blog reader, and I missed it! So terrible. (I'm going to have to get that fixed so I get the updates!) So, even though this is late, this is what I came up with:











These are close ups of my wedding gown. I am helping my future sister-in-law get her wedding dress set to go, and wanted to show her something we did to bustle it up. Anyway, I pulled it out of the box, where it has been CLEAN for the last 4 1/2 years.

It also reminded me of the CLEAN and beautiful day of my wedding and how careful I had to be in my white dress. Good memories!

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(I like the sepia because it seems like an heirloom, but it doesn't scream clean like the pure white. The blue reflections on the sequins are from the blue around it; my dress isn't really blue. However, I think it works okay for the picture. Also, blue was one of the colors of my wedding, so that is fun.)

Can You Clean This?????

So...as time is running out for the CLEAN challenge I am forced to post this wretched picture. After weeks of a slow draining tub, and my husband ignoring the problem, I decided to take the problem into my own hands. And in my hands I had a small bottle of Liquid Lightening. Beware of Liquid Lightening for your tub my end up looking like THIS! Apparently the fumes from the sulphuric acid do this. If anyone has a clue of how to clean this PLEASE HELP. Oh by the way the drain is still clogged. I'm calling a plumber tomorrow.

CLEAN CUT

I couldn't decide...I like the simplicity of the first picture...
But I like the warmth and spotlight on the second...I put it under a lamp by an open window and got that neat spotlight...

So I will post them both. Nothing wrong with a little indecisiveness on a chilly Thursday evening...

I thought about clean a lot...has so many meanings! But then it hit me...I like my boys to be clean cut...(my husband included!!)

You Sure CLEAN up nicely!

I was originally going to go in a completely different direction with this assignment but I could not get my photo to match the image I had in my head! So frustrating. So I played around with a couple of different things today. But when my daughter dressed up her little brother, I couldn't resist showing just how well he cleans up ;)

I do wish it was a bit more visually interesting, but I really struggled with getting anything to really work for me. Any ideas?

CC

Clean

I thought and thought about what it means to be clean to me. I thought about my kid but he was definately not clean with his snot nose! I thought about a whole bunch of other things but nothing worked.

I thought that if my kitchen sink is clean, so is the rest of the kitchen sooo....here's a picture of my sink.

1/30 F5.6 (is there anything else you need to know?)

CC

I'm really excited about this!

Clean

It's been raining here today, and I love how everything looks fresh and clean after rain.

This photo was my lame attempt at trying to get some cool pictures of the rain drops in the puddle. I took many other pictures of my rain gutter with the rain gushing out and another of a leaf in the grass at the bottom of the gutter. They all looked just ok to me but this was my favorite. I love the reflection of the mail box in the puddle.

I have a question for all you photographers out there, I tried to speed up my shutter speed but when I got it to a certain speed the pictures would over expose. Why is that? I would have loved to try and get a shot of the rain actually falling in to the puddle but it just wouldn't turn out!!! I've said it before, I'm so new to my SLR I'm still trying to figure stuff out. Any suggestions?

The settings on my camera were F4.5, Mode: shutter; speed 1/320, ISO:200

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Clean: Kitchen Style

Nothing says clean to me more than my kitchen at the end of the day. I love having an empty clean sink. It means that the kitchen is clean and I can tackle the rest of my house tomorrow! I am not a pro so please let me know what you think! CC

The Clean Question

"Is the dishwasher clean or dirty, mom"? Who doesn't get asked this all the time?? Right now I can say CLEAN... which is more than I can say for the rest of my house. This is a hard assignment to do when I haven't showered yet and the house is a mess. Nothing is clean around here!

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Soft, Warm, Clean...

For me, nothing beats the feeling of snuggling in a warm towel after a soothing bath, then sliding between clean sheets that smell of fabric softener and the strange but comforting dryer scent.
1909 X 1431 pixels, 1.1 MB CC

Clean

When I saw our topic for this week, I thought what in the world am I going to take a picture of that reprents clean, then my little grandaughter just got out of the tub and her mama put a braid in her hair and I quickly grabbed my camera for a shot of a clean face and pretty clean braided hair.

 

Clean Those Contacts!

Someone just taught me how to use my "micro-something-or-other" button and I LOVE IT!!! Anyway, my hubby was doing nightly ritual: clean teeth, clean face, clean contacts... made him "wash" his contact like 30 times before I got one shot that wasn't blurry! Fun to learn new things!

ps. I'm choosing to forgo critiques for my photos... not because I don't want to get better, but because my "Photog-Ego" is tender and easily bruised! I think in time, I'll get more confident... till then, I am LOVING everyone's pictures!!!

Shampoo makes you...

1/125, f 2.8, ISO 500.Flash fired off camera.

I was practicing with my flash tonight and thought this picture was perfect for the topic. Just my son taking a shower.

I really wanted to try and not take pictures of my usual subjects (i.e. my kids ;)) to get my photo juices flowing- but I wimped out and my house is dirty. HA!

All CC welcome and appreciated! I've included my settings in case that helps anyone give me CC.

Clean: Bathtime for Baby

This is my daughter in the bathtub tonight. Tomorrow she will be nine months old. She's been sick all day today and yesterday, but you can't tell it from this picture.
The "clean"liness of this picture is twofold. First is the obvious...bathtime, scrubbing, cleaning, bubbles, etc. The second part is a little deeper. My daughter is a "little child," to speak scripturally. She is pure, innocent, clean.


(CC)

Clean

I think I was supposed to give this a different title, but I couldn't come up with one. I chose this photo because I went and had my teeth cleaned this morning...

Up front, to let you all know, I'm a photo-fraud. I take lousy pictures, and then fix them up in Photoshop. I really did try this time, though, to adjust the aperture and manually focus it... but I couldn't get it focused to save my life, and I don't think my camera has a wide enough aperture range to get the effect I wanted. So, if anyone has any tips for me,

PLEASE CC.

MISSION 24 CHALLENGE - CLEAN

If you are just tuning in to this blog, start here

The goal of this group/blog is to really challenge yourself to think outside the box and get creative with your photography! Group members will then have 24 hours from the time of the assignment to take new pictures that interpret that assignment and post their picture for us all to see. (we will say to have it posted by THURSDAY EVENING AT MIDNIGHT to cover all the time zones and allow for busy moms to take part)

Again, this is YOUR interpretation of the word...be creative! On each post, title your picture so we can differentiate each persons, and please be sure to put a LABEL ON IT with the category name so we can keep track over the year. If you aren't sure how to put a label, please contact me!! :)

Your challenge today is:

CLEAN

OH!! And if I have forgotten to add you by now, PLEASE leave a comment with your email again. I got distracted with company being at my house all weekend and I am SURE I have accidentally forgotten someone!!! I will hurry and get you added...

I think we are all set now!

I really liked the suggestions you all gave! THANK YOU!

It looks like some people WANT feedback, some are just in this for the creative aspects. Both are welcome!

I loved the suggestion to put a CC at the bottom if you want it critiqued. Make sure it's bold or something so everyone can tell. If it doesn't say CC, don't critique. Just keep positive feedback on it. And I like Mindy's suggestion: "we could have a rule where you say a positive observation for every constructive criticism. So, I might say, "I love the composition of your photograph! The diagonal lines really draw my eyes right to the subject! It is a little hard to tell what you focused on... maybe next time you could make sure the chair was most in focus."

Just to keep things upbeat and positive here.

ALSO, I know some of you know a lot about photography already or are taking classes. I would love to do a feature friday or something where we have a little lesson...shared with everyone...just a tip about photography, manual settings, etc. Would there be anyone willing to share some info with us all?

I have decided to do a midweek post and a weekend post for the actual challenge. Look for a new assignment WEDNESDAYS and SATURDAYS. Hopefully those days will be far enough apart. That also means that TOMORROW is a challenge...be looking!! :)

Now that my company is gone, I will work on getting the rules and guidelines for this group posted on the sidebar. And in the meantime, anyone wanna volunteer to do a fun header??

Critique?

It has been suggested that we critique each others pictures.

This, to me, is a touchy subject.

While I see many benefits in doing so, I am afraid some people won't post because they don't want to be put down for their efforts. I really wanted this group to be open to ANYONE of ANY skill level--I want EVERYONE to feel welcome and accepted.

Are there some good guidelines we can put for this so we can build each other up and still get some pointers?? I would really love feedback and ideas on this one. Am setting up a poll on the side...do you think we should critique or not?

resolution

One of the definitions of "resolution" is a solution to a problem. What's my problem? The two I wanted to focus on in this photo were (1) loving myself and (2) seeing things in the same way.

I bought myself flowers last week because I decided I deserved them and that I wasn't going to wait around any longer for someone to bring them to me. When this assignment came up, I played around with a few different images and decided on this one. It's a little different and reminded me to try and look at life with a fresh perspective.

Resolution

A few of my resolutions are to simplify and spend more time with my little ones. I am completely new to photography and I am so happy to have this blog to give me a bit more motivation to keep learning!