Joy of Love: Days Eight & Nine

Day eight prompt: gift from the heart.
Day eight camera tip: manual mode.

Day nine prompt: passions & hobbies.
Day nine camera tip: keep working on previous tips.

My husband gives me a gift from the heart every single morning. He wakes up before the sun, proceeds with his morning routine, then gently kisses my forehead as I sleep in bed & holds the baby monitor up to his ear for a moment to listen for tiny breathing sounds & then heads out to work. So the gift from the heart I chose was dishes. My least favorite chore. Because as much as I hate them. I am grateful we have them & forever thankful that my husband gives me the gift of being home with our baby boy. Our current financial situation is sucky...at best...& I am currently looking for work, but I am still incredibly grateful for the hard work he puts in for our little family every single day.

Collin is still too little to have many hobbies or interests...unless Yo Gabba Gabba counts. So, I like to think he enjoys our trips to Target as much as I do. I mean....who doesn't find Target interesting??

Okay, so maybe Collin doesn't find it as interesting as Mama does. He does enjoy our newest activity. Coloring. I foresee many afternoons filled with crayons & markers & torn out pages from coloring books. These are mostly blurry, but I was too caught up in our moments to worry too much about my camera settings.

And I threw in a Yo Gabz picture for good measure.

Do you have a few seconds to spare? It only takes two simple clicks!

Joy of Love: Days Six & Seven

Day six prompt: who they love.
Day six camera tip: continue with metering & selective focal points.

Day seven prompt: generations.
Day seven camera tip: none (take a break).

Lucky for me, we took a little break from camera tips so I could finally dig out my camera manual & learn about metering & focal points. Can I just say OMGIAMLEARNINGSOMUCH! Thank you, Willette! Seriously. I nearly gave up with trying to adjust my exposure myself & only just finally figured it out tonight! I was ecstatic & felt so accomplished after I learned, though. I'm so glad I am taking this class. It's challenging me to really learn everything about my camera.

When I received these prompts in my email, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Fortunately for me, the concept sort of killed two birds with one stone. Greg's brother & sisters all grew up playing traditional Bolivian instruments. Greg & his brother even had a band that performed all over LA at museums, festivals, malls & public concerts. He still plays, but only private concerts on his charango for Collin & me. Collin loves his Dad's charango. He's a little obsessed. During this shoot, he literally sat still for an entire 45 minutes just playing with it...& gently! There is nothing gentle about Collin...& FORTY FIVE MINUTES of staying in one spot?!?!?! Unheard of. Greg has passed on the love of traditional Bolivian music to his older son, Adam. Adam even self-taught himself how to play the panpipes (another traditional instrument Greg plays...yeah, he pretty much can play any instrument you put in front of him...I love this about him). This is something I hope Greg passes on to Collin as well...& that Collin passes on to his children...throughout our family's generations.

{  Oh, don't mind the green fluff coming out of our couch. I need to sew up the pillow. How embarassing!  }

{  This was the picture I took after I *finally* figured out how to adjust my exposure/metering manually!  }

Joy of Love: Days Four & Five

Day four prompt: what they wear.
Day our camera tip: metering.

Day five prompt: love to hate.
Day five camera tip: selective focal points & metering.

I was crazy busy running errands & other Mama stuff on Friday to be able to sit down & read my daily lesson. Needless to say, I didn't even break out my DSLR. So, I did both challenges today. I am also still digging around for my camera manual, so I didn't get the chance to read up on metering or selective focal points. If we were getting grades this week, I'd be getting a giant F. I DO plan to read up tomorrow while the boys cheer on the TV during the Superbowl.

Does anyone else remember Andy Milonakis singing, "The Supabowl is gaaaayyyy? The Supabowl is gaaaayyyy? Supabowl, Supabowl Supppaaaaabbboooowwwwwlllll is gaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!" Every time I say Superbowl, I sing that in my head....never fails. In case you've never heard it, go here.

Even though I didn't do my homework, I still wanted to do the prompts.

I love putting Collin in jeans. I kinda feel like they fit his personality. I think he is going to grow up to be a laid back, chill kinda kid & jeans are a laid back, chill kinda pants. Besides, he rocks the adorable shizz outta them.

As far as what I love to hate about Collin, I couldn't choose between two things.

First, his energy. The kid never holds still. I mean never. He is always on the go. Always exploring. Running. Dancing. Playing. Eating whatever he finds on the floor. Always moving. I love this because I want him to do all of these things. Exploring & learning. Moving & laughing. Exercising & running. These are all essential to his growth & development...but for a photo-holic Mama, this makes for terrible photos. More often than not, I'm huffing & puffing as I cycle through my photos on the computer.

Second, his relationship with his Daddy. He is so attached to his Dad. It's kinda redonk. I mean, the kid goes into hysterics when Greg walks out the front door. Every. Single. Time. He's never once cried when I've left the house. And he is perfectly content to ignore me the rest of the day once his Daddy has arrived home. That's okay. It's not like I'm the one home with you all day changing your Stanky McStank Stank poo & feeding you & you know...keeping you alive in general. In all seriousness, though...I love that Collin loves his Daddy. It melts my heart to see the admiration in Collin's eyes when Greg walks through the front door. And I don't really mind being pushed to the side because that gives me the most perfect view of my two boys together. Cuddling & laughing & loving.

Joy of Love: Day Three

Today's prompt: then & now.
Today's camera tip: cropping.

I loved today's prompt! One of my favorite things to do is to look back at our old photos. I knew instantly that I wanted to use a picture of Collin from the exact day one year ago. He was three months old & still just a bitty thing. He was just barely learning to sit up with support. Now, he will hardly hold still & more often than not, my photos of him end up a blur. A Collin tornado. I love this little man so much.

It's okay....you can admit you kinda love him, too.

PS: Don't forget to enter my super cute print giveaway! Click here!

Joy of Love: Day Two

Today's prompt was: how they look.
Today's camera tip: position.

I feel like I am always pretty aware of my position when I take a photo....unless it comes to lighting. Since I struggled with that, I put our TV on (which is directly adjacent to a big window) to distract Collin while I tried different positions & experimented. Once again, I am my worst critic & I'm not happy with my results, but I am getting the hang of the lighting situation....on auto. Gah!!!!!! I am focusing manually, but I cannot get a good picture in my house without it being dark & grainy. I've tried everything! This class is forcing me to try & try again, though...which is a good thing.

Sorry about the Collin overload...but this is my blog & IDOWHATIWANT!

PS: Don't forget to enter my supa cute print giveaway! Click here!

Joy of Love: Day One

I am participating in the February 2011 Joy of Love Photography Class. It's completely free & anyone can sign up! There is still time if you want to join in. You'll get a daily email with a tip & a photo prompt. You do not need a, "fancy," camera like mine. You could even use your camera phone. In the wise words of Yo Gabba Gabba, "Try it! You'll like it!"

Today's prompt was: what they do.
Today's focus: natural lighting.

Willette photographed her husband working from home. Unfortunately, Greg works away from our home & more often than not, he worked well into the evenings & doesn't make it home until 7PM. This made for today's focus (natural lighting) even more difficult for me than it already was.

We have shit poop brown walls. This means any natural light we get is sucked into the vortex of our ugly, brown paint. We are changing this soon, but right now I struggle with lighting.

I tried to stay really aware of my light sources with these photos. I wasn't happy with any of them & may even give this another go after nap time.

Collin & I have a morning routine that consists of a little bit of TV time while we play & eat. This is what we, "do." Our little mid-morning activity together.

I became incredibly frustrated with my camera & myself during this little lighting challenge. I still don't know my camera the way I should & I couldn't get my settings to produce the photo I wanted. On top of it all, Collin isn't exactly a great subject to practice on lately. He is all over the place, constantly running & throwing his hands in the air...a miniature Tasmanian devil of sorts. After I put him down for his nap, I practiced some more with an inanimate object & finally got a picture I liked. So much so, that I've decided to enter it in the Paper Mama's Valentine's Photo Challenge.