Day 25: September 30, 2011

Today we embarked on a camping adventure and this photo is of Grace discovering that she could climb the ginormous tree stump in our camping spot.  I was standing below her and using my 35mm, she was way up there!

Day 23: September 28, 2011

I drove up to Portland for this sweet baby's newborn session today and was surprised to find she had gorgeous red hair!  Love that red fuzz!

Day 24: September 29, 2011

This morning I took two photos of the grass in the morning sunshine and then promptly forgot to take any other photos all day long.  So grass it is!

Day 22: September 27, 2011

Today's photo is an outtake from a casual photo session with Ethan.  We were playing outside this afternoon and he was in the mood for photos AND wearing one of the outfits we both agreed on for photos so I took full advantage and did another short photo session with him down the block from our house.  He was getting tired of smiling towards the end so I told him to make any face but a smile and this is what he came up with.

Day 21: September 26, 2011

I wasn't feeling 100% today so I didn't venture very far for today's photo, nor did I get very creative!  This is a macro of one of the buds on my poor mum that survived from last fall.  A minor miracle.

Day 20: September 25, 2011

Taking a break from photos of people and caught this moment of our cat Dexter enjoying the box I brought home from Costco this afternoon.  He is obsessed with getting inside of boxes, bags, lunchboxes, and the like.  I only got three shots of him before he noticed me and got up to give me some kitty love, but I love this shot mid-yawn!

Day 19: September 24, 2011

I realize I'm sharing a lot of portraits of my kids, but I love doing portraits and my kids are the subjects I have the most access too!  I know the gray weather will be here soon enough so I'm taking full advantage of the golden hour evenings I have left.  The golden hour lighting was gorgeous again tonight so I drug out my secret weapon (the step stool) and had Grace sit on it for me for a few pics.  She was in a cooperative mood so I even got some smiles!  We don't usually do pigtails but did them for this morning's soccer game to keep her hair out of her face.  I think she rocks them!

Day 18: September 23, 2011

The lighting was absolutely too gorgeous to not be outside with my camera so I took my son for an impromptu short photo session.  I want to do a four year old photo session with him soon since his birthday is coming up, but I think doing a few mini sessions with him might work out really well to keep him cooperative.  He's a pretty easy subject but when he decides he's done smiling he pouts.  Luckily I got quite a few good ones in his special "4" shirt before the pouts started!

Day 17: September 22, 2011

Today's photo was taken right before we left for Girl Scouts where I filled in for my husband while he was out of town this week (he's the co-leader).

Day 16: September 21, 2011

Today's photo was taken from the drivers seat of our mini van while going through the car wash.  Oooooh.  Aaaaaah.  Pretty....weird?

Day 15: September 20, 2011

The Momtographers challenge the past week or two has been sunflare and silhouettes which are some of my favorite things to photograph.  We've been having beautiful golden mornings lately which have my grabbing my camera to snap a few photos while the kids eat their breakfast and watch me from the sliding glass door.  I know the clouds will be rolling in soon enough and beautiful morning light will disappear.

Day 14: September 19, 2011

One of the reasons I wanted to start up my Project 365 again was to force myself to have my camera out more often for mundane moments like this one.  Ethan helped me do our big can/bottle return (we only go once every few months) and as a reward got to pick out a doughnut to enjoy at home with Mommy.  He chose a chocolate drizzled maple bar...that's my boy!  This was taken in the dark kitchen at 8:30am at ISO 3200.

Day 13: September 18, 2011

Ethan is having a hard time finding a groove in our new school year routine.  He's napping only half the time and acting cranky a lot more than usual.  I'm pretty sure he's just over tired and not sure what to expect and with a little more time he'll get with the program and be just fine.  Until then he needs his Sunday afternoon nap!

Day 12: September 17, 2011

Grace's first soccer game was on a cold overcast Saturday morning and she did fabulous!  The game was a night and day difference from last year...it actually looked like a real soccer game!

Day 11: September 16, 2011

Grace was pointing out the words she knew in her Judy Blume book for me.

Day 10: September 15, 2011

Sharing a beautiful black and white conversion of a photo I took from a newborn session with a 3 week old boy.  I used my macro lens for this shot and LOVE how close I can get with it!

Day 9: September 14, 2011

Today's photo was taken at the beginning of Grace's soccer practice this evening.  It was a rushed evening with soccer from 5-6pm (which actually ran 15 minutes late...) and Awanas from 6:30-8pm.  Ethan was super excited and insisted on wearing his Cubbies vest to Grace's soccer practice which worked well because I needed to take his picture!  This was taken just after we got out of the car and he was waiting for me to hurry up and get his Panda chair out so he could watch Grace play soccer.

Day 8: September 13, 2011

Today was Ethan's first day of preschool!  Mommy and Daddy both came along to drop him off on his first day with a quick stop by Dutch Brothers for a hot drink treat on the way.  He loved preschool and was soooo excited!  He actually told us to leave so no separation anxiety here which I am immensely relieved by.  He's much clingier than Grace ever was, but he's also watched her go to school for a few years now and is excited for it to be his turn.  Such a big boy!

Day 7: September 12, 2011

What better way to spend a morning then with a newborn baby girl?  And even better, she's exactly 7 days old and today is my Project 365 which means that she will celebrate her first birthday on my very last day of this Project 365.  Pretty cool!

Day 6: September 11, 2011

I was feeding the kids lunch when Grace started crying and told me that her bagel was hurting her mouth.  I knew she had a really loose tooth that was darn near ready to come out so I told her to pull it out and she'd feel better.  She did and it worked!  I'm so glad she's pulling her own teeth out because I definitely don't want to have to do it for her.  I don't think she has any other loose teeth at the moment so my guess is she'll have a long wait for the next Tooth Fairy delivery.

Oh, and this time the tooth is safely stored and ready for the Tooth Fairy.  Shoe aisles everywhere are safe.

Day 5: September 10, 2011

I actually did a family photo session with my good friend Natalie in Portland Saturday evening, but since it will take me a little bit of time to go through and edit my favorites from our session I will instead share a photo from the baby shower I went to in West Linn in the morning.  My best friend growing up (I think we were literally attached at the hip) is expecting baby girl number three AND had her 30th birthday the day before so it was a combo birthday party/baby shower.  She got the most adorable pair of baby sneakers and I just had to get a picture of them.  Aren't they too cute?

Day 4: September 9 2011

This morning I saw tinges of pink out the window while I ate my Raisin Bran so I quickly grabbed my camera to take some photos while the kids finished their breakfast.  I'm not a morning person, so this first week back to school (and back to a 6:30am wake up!) has been rough.  One of the bonuses in getting up early is the beautiful morning light, and the fact that I'm up and dressed at prime time.  It was a good thing too since while I was outside in the soggy grass a friend came walking by and we chatted a for a minute or two.  Glad I wasn't in my jammies and slippers!

This photo is barely edited, just a little sharpening for web and a little fill light.  The colors are untouched and exactly what I saw this morning.  I'm starting to love morning light!

Day 3: September 8, 2011

This morning I met two friends with preschoolers and we did a mini "back to preschool" photo session with our wiggly preschoolers.  It was a little more difficult with the lure of the playground and friends to play with, but it was a lot of fun!  This is my favorite photo I've taken of Ethan in a while.  He's such a smiley little guy, I can't wait to do a Mommy and Ethan date soon for his four year old portraits!

Day 2: September 7, 2011

I took my camera along with me to Grace's soccer practice last night and got some photos of her and a few of her friends playing soccer together.  Most of the ones I have of Grace involve her with her finger up her nose but I did get this one which is a bit better.  I used my least favorite lens, the 75-300mm zoom.  I always find the images from that lens to be soft, not very bright, and generally not to my taste.  However I don't have a huge need for that focal range in my portrait work at the moment so I'll live with the slightly soft soccer photos.

Day 1: September 6, 2011

I chose the first day of school to kick off my start of my second attempt to finish a Project 365.  I took "pretty" back to school photos with Grace last week but I still wanted to document her actual first day of school.  She ate and got dressed in 11 minutes flat which is a land speed record for her.  It gave us plenty of time to go outside for a few photos while Daddy and Ethan finished getting ready.  Grace wouldn't look at me because it was too bright and her eyes are super sensitive so I didn't force the issue.  Instead she had a great time dancing around with her shadow and wanted me to take a photo of her shadow so I did.  She chose this outfit all on her own, mostly because it matches her backpack and lunch box.  If Grace is good at anything it's matching.  She's been that way since day one!

Where have I been?!?

I realize that I haven't added a photo of the week since June.  I can blame it on the crazy summer but mostly it's because I think I'm a procrastinator and having a week to accomplish something is harder then having one day.  At least for me it is!  So I've decided to go back to doing a Project 365 since I seem to keep on top of that better.  I chose yesterday for my start day, I thought that the first day of the new school year was the perfect start date.  After all, September feels more like a "new year" then January does!

My goal and purpose of the Project 365 is the same as before, to keep my creative juices flowing and to improve my skills.  This year I am also hoping to get braver hauling my "fancy" camera around in public and to quit worrying about what people think and just shoot what I like wherever I am.  I'm always fine shooting clients in random parks and alleyways, but for some reason the thought of bringing my camera into Walmart or Safeway to document my own life makes me feel silly.  I'm trying to lose my self consciousness and just go for it!