Do you notice his face and eyes?  This man was sitting all alone in the grass.  He kind of looked defeated and oblivious.  But as soon as I was taking his portrait, he SMILED at me!  And he wasn’t just smiling to take the image, he was smiling with his eyes.  I SOOO wish I could go back and find him there and give him this image.  When my 2 year old saw this image he said it was Santa Clause and that he was happy and that he wanted to give him a hug!  So sweet….

Over the next few days, I took photos in both Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.  Some for other personal projects and some for this project on color.  Here’s what I came up with.  Hope you enjoy!  I learned to look for the color around me in some interesting places

I read this quote about mothers this morning and loved it.  I felt like it was something that inspired me a little more:

“The whole process of raising a family is one of perfecting our own lives. That which we transmit consciously and unconsciously to our children in their rearing in the home and in the community must be the best within us.” Henry D. Moyle

I want to say thank you to my mom, grandma’s and mother in law today.  These women certainly are examples to me.  And to all my friends out there who are mother’s, I hope you have a special day!

Now……..on to posting about my Project 52.  I’m just going to catch up where I left off.  Let’s forget the- oh…..about 10 weeks that I haven’t posted.  We’re catching up with week 6 and it’s Macro.  I had a friend on a forum post some images from some macro filters that she bought for her 50mm lens.  I’ve always admired some really great close up shots of things but was a little intimidated of it all.  Well I bought these Tiffen filters at Adorama, got my 50mm lens in the mail this week.  This morning I went out in my yard and here’s my results with the +4 filter.  These are my “Adrienne inspired macro shots”, and my Project 52 Week 6 results! and flowers always remind me of mother’s so it seemed fitting to post together, enjoy………Week 7 is going to be COLOR

I’ve been a very bad blogger!  But I’m back in the game, and starting off this week with my delayed week 5 from the 52 week project I’ve been doing.  The topic for week 5 was “small town”.

I’ve lived in a small town almost my entire life.  The earliest place I can remember is Krum, Texas, population under 1000.  Hot stepping it across the sizzling pavement barefoot, sloshing through the gutters on rainy summer afternoons looking for crawfish, and eating popsicles in the steamy afternoon sun were common occurrences.  I finished kindergarten in Mrs. Belkins afternoon class, 1st grade in Mrs. McCaughns class and 2nd grade in Ms. Peppers class.  I went to my very first pee wee cheerleading camp put on by the high school cheerleaders who I thought were untouchable, got my first pair of glasses and was amazed that the leaves on trees weren’t blobs of green, and went weekly to the Saturday matinee with friends followed by the cool, refreshing water of their pool.

My grandparents lived on their ranch about 5 miles away in Sanger, Texas and my grandpa would come and pick all of us kids up each Saturday morning to go to “DQ” as he called it (Dairy Queen).  We were allowed to get 1 small vanilla ice cream cone and then he’d either take us driving on the dusty, back dirt roads or to sit and “think” at the thinking spot by his barn.  I distinctly remember him getting out of his old Ford pick up truck and telling me to parallel park between the fence posts.  I was 7 years old.  Somehow everything seemed ultra magical when I was little.

Nathan and I tried living back in Texas for a while after we were first married and all I can remember about those awful 6 months, was how unbearably hot it was, how much traffic was in the city, and all the cicada’s that were so loud at night.  OH!  and all the coyote’s howling in the woods.  But still…..those childhood memories are wonderful.  Some other small towns I’ve lived in over the years?  Sanger, Texas; Forney, Texas; Dillon, Montana; Nephi, Utah, and finally, before I got married, Emmett, Idaho.

You see my dad loved the small town atmosphere.  Maybe it was because he spent all day long in tall high rise buildings working in the computer industry and traveling the world to huge cities.  Maybe it’s just because he wanted his kids to be able to grow up in a place where things were just a little bit slower than most.  Who knows?  All I know is that as I’ve had my own children, I long sometimes for those experiences that you can get growing up in a small town.  Even though I thought I hated it when I was young and vowed that I would always live in the city, somehow my views have changed over the years and I’m thankful that my parents kept us in the “small towns”.

My images this week are some of the very first images that I took after getting my first DSLR, the Canon 40D in 2008.  I was staying at my parents home in Idaho for an extended period of time while Nathan was out to sea and I was learning the in’s and out’s of photography.  I still love these images even though many of them aren’t “technically” perfect.  It reminds of the interesting places in small towns and it also reminds me of those first few months in photography and the excitement I had about everything.  I decided to go back to the RAW files for the topic this week, and reprocess some, now that I know a little more than I did back then.  Enjoy! and this weeks topic will be TOYS……

It seems like the weather has just been against me every week!  This week was no different, in fact it was the worst of any so far.  Anyway Urban was the topic and I drove the back alley’s of Bremerton to find these places.  Some I’d been past before and some I’ll definitely be revisiting for future shoots

I tried a little bit different processing this week also…..not sure how I feel about it yet, but let me just say a LITTLE goes a long way.  I toned this down to 25% and it’s still…..different.  It definitely gave some depth and punch to the image though and made it look how I really saw it.  I used “Super Heroine” from TRA which I’ve never even tested out before.

Now, next week I’ll be doing “SMALL TOWN”  that’s the topic and I’m excited about it because I know exactly what I’m going to do.  I promise my 2009 Lifestyle post will be up this week.  The workshop is kicking my booty it’s coming up so fast!  I’ll leave with a Sneak Peek of the shoot I did on Saturday.  I love 6 month olds!

In other news I started an online journal today!  I used to journal a LOT when I was younger.  I have like 4 or 5 journals from when I was a teenager.  Describing in detail all of my young thoughts, dreams and aspirations.  I’ve frequently gone back and read through them and each time read about something that has been long forgotten.  It details my first loves, accomplishments in school, frustrations with my parents and family, and just what I was thinking at the time.  As I grew older and LIFE settled in, I’ve gotten away from journaling and have often thought in the past few years that I should be writing things down for me AND for my future family.  So today I started, and am hoping that keeping the journal on my computer will work better than me writing it down.  HEY, whatever keeps it current right?

oh P.S.!  I’ll be announcing the winner of the wedding image contest going on, on Monday!  And then we’ll have one for the portrait clients I’ve done last year.  Also at the beginning of February I’m going to be announcing a BIG Senior Portrait Contest so think about senior’s that need pictures and keep your eyes glued to the blog  Only about a week away until the B I G announcement!  It’s TOP SECRET until then

Now, onto another thought direction.  Yesterday I turned 31!  Thank you to all of my friends and family who thoughtfully wished me a happy birthday.  It was greatly appreciated.  I thought in celebration of my birthday, I’d list 31 things about me.  Some people may know these things, some people may not- I think a few are deep dark secrets of mine, but it’s something for me to look back on- say when I’m 41- to remember how I was when I turned 31.  These are totally random…

1.  I remember 15 years ago like it was yesterday and often wonder where all the time has gone.

2.  I absolutely love when Nathan massages my hands and wrists- weird I know, but I could let him do it for hours and hours and never get enough.

3.  I’ve recently been craving salads of all sorts!  chicken cesar, bacon salad, strawberry and baby spinach, chef- at least it goes along with my healty habits of 2010!

4.  I recently got SO excited because I got a bunch of awesome shirts for only $1.74 each and a $100 coat for $35- gotta love end of year clearance sales!

5.  I secretly love the salt and pepper mix that Nathan is getting in his hair and think it’s sexy (I guess it’s not so secret anymore)

6.  Being a mother is the hardest thing ever but the greatest thing ever too- I’ve learned to be less selfish.

7.  I think I have some of the best friends in the whole world and am so excited that we all get to stay here for shore duty!

8.  I hate the sound of cracking knuckles or toes- it makes me want to vomit!

9.  I miss my brother Jared in Canada and can’t wait to go get him in a year to come home!

10.  When my dad called to wish me happy birthday, my heart was sad because I thought it could really be the last birthday he wishes me with his voice.  I hope that isn’t the case but I think about those things a lot.

11.  I love it when my two year old tells me he loves my blanket and he misses me.

12.  I’d really love to coach a cheerleading team sometime in the future.

13.  My desk really needs my attention in a bad, bad way…it’s a small mountain of papers and things and it’s driving me crazy!

14.  I’m excited to go to WPPI this year with Nathan!

15.  I love that my little Riley loves to give gifts as much as me- he’s definitely a little me in male form.

16.  Shannon’s fruit tart is quite possibly the best dessert I’ve ever tasted in my whole life, and I’m not a big sweet person.

17.  If I could be certain that I’d have a baby girl that looked exactly like Danika, complete with big chunky baby legs, I’d have another in a heart beat!

18.  Someday I’d like to meet all the awesome friends I’ve met online through photography- and YES I do consider them friends even though we’ve never met in person!

19.  This year I’m going to get a bike, ride it with my kids and let the wind blow through my hair at fast speeds, I miss that.

20.  I used to be a nanny in Connecticut when I was 18 years old for about 6 months and sometimes wonder what the little girl I took care of is doing now.

21.  I need to work on taking more pictures of my kids and displaying them in my home.

22.  I love Pina Coladas- virgin of course.

23.  Sometimes I feel bad about the thoughts I have of others.

24.  I love that my Braedon is a thoughtful, loving boy and can’t believe how fast he’s growing up!

25.  When I was 25 I thought I was in the profession that I was going to be in for the rest of my life, now I feel the same about photography, and wonder if in another 10 years I’ll feel the same or be on to something else.

26.  I’m feeling the itch to redo my bedroom.

27. When I graduated from high school I was going to go to the University of Cincinnati for a music degree- I wanted to teach music.

28.  I’ve lived in 9 states over my lifetime.

29.  When I go into retail stores I still fight the urge to finger space the hangers on a rack of clothes and size order them.

30.  I want to go to Bora Bora within the next 10 years.

31.  I love my life!- the good the bad, the difficult times and the amazing times, but I look forward to 8pm every night when my kids are tucked safely into bed and my house is quiet….I like the quiet!

And here’s an image I found from this summer!  This is my cousin Michelle, and at a wedding I snapped a picture of her and her husband.  I just loved how he was looking at her!

It’s SUNDAY, and another week to choose a topic for my project!  As I was thinking, over the past week, about this task I’m undertaking for the next year, I decided that I needed to have some tangible goals that I wanted to be able to see over the next year.  For me, this project is to help me grow as a photographer, to nail my shots in camera (focus, color, exposure) and to be able to shoot things that I normally wouldn’t think about or make time to shoot.  Notice I said “make time”.

It took me 5 years to shoot that moss covered tree that I posted last week, an embarassing thing to admit internet!  I mean how long does it take to park my car, get out, and take a few minutes to shoot something that has tugged at my heart for days, then weeks, then months, then years? Well in true form, this week I’m doing another topic that I’ve wanted to for a while.  I have a small ongoing project on windows that I’m doing, which I plan to add to over the next year, but I’ve wanted to do one on mailboxes too.  Call me weird or something, but I notice them all the time when I’m out.  The jumbo size ones on the side of the road, nailed to a piece of slanting wood.  All rusty and dented.  The “creative” ones (I have a few examples I’m going to shoot this week), the cold and sterile cluster boxes.  Whatever it may be, they seem to catch my eye all the time, and I’ve often thought, I should do a series on mailboxes.  Well friends, this is my year to start that and THIS is my week to kick it off.  So this weeks topic will be mailboxes!  It better not rain all week, but even if it does I WILL make it out there, because there’s LOTS of mailboxes I’ve seen in Kitsap County and I’m going to go back and photograph ALL of them

As I leave today I was downloading some cards I have and found this picture of my little Kasen in my slippers, and it made me laugh again!  He loves to put on my shoes- any of them- boots, heels, workout shoes.  All my boys have gone through that phase though….right around 2.

When I decided on this topic I knew exactly the tree(s) I wanted to shoot. We moved to Washington almost 5 years ago and ever since we’ve lived here there’s this road that cuts over to another road and my kids termed it “The Tunnel of Trees”.  You have to slow down to 20 to go through, there’s a park, and old military airplane, the Scout shop in an old cabin….and lots and lots of trees.  In the summer time it truly does look like a tunnel of trees.  I still sing the song they made up almost 5 years ago- well mostly it’s a chant of sorts- but my oldest made it up and I still sing it every time we go through; only now my kids roll their eyes at me…..except little Kasen.  Since he’s 2.5, he LOVES the song and chants it along with me.  Anyway, there’s this ONE particular tree that when the afternoon sunlight hits it JUST right, it just glows.  And shamefully for 5 years, I’ve wanted to get pictures there but never have.  So I knew this week, that is where I was going to go.  The light wasn’t exactly how I wanted it to be, but the moss that grows on these trees are just beautiful to me.

Nathan and I were talking just the other day- while it was raining I might add- about how much we loved it here.  While other friends and family of ours were digging out from winter snow, we were driving home to curl up on our couch as the rain poured down, and watch a movie.  I’ll gladly take the rain over the snow any day, and I love that it can be the middle of January here and be so green still.  Tomorrow I’ll announce Week 2’s topic  Have a great weekend internet!