Meet Little Miss Brooke

This is Tyler's best bud, Brooke. She is our neighbor and her Mommy and I were college roomates! It is great to have them grow up together. Tyler will surely protect her at school! Brooke is wearing a Baby Beatrini Easter sweater and hat made by my mom :).

Rubber ducky, you're the one...

...you make bath time lots of fun!

Tyler takes a tubby with a minimum of approximately 8-9 duckies. A bath is not complete without the ducks.

Two picture Thursday!

Whoa. Not only am I posting a picture again...but I am posting two. Tyler loves to play with the gates we have and it usually keeps him content for 10 minutes. So, I whipped out my camera and tried to catch a good picture. I like this one because of the backlighting. It shows how big my little man is getting. He looks so tall here. Oh man, love that boy.

This next picture was taken just before dinner. I am *really* starting to understand focus and depth of field. This picture has a lot of distractions in it (the background) but I am proud of my focus and depth of field as well as my little dude feeding himself!

Maybe I will even post a picture tomorrow. Maybe not. I am planning a super cute photo session this weekend.

Happy 14 months, yogurt face!

Wow!! It's been a whole week since I posted my last picture. That's bad! To be honest, I am busy! Busying playing with a toddler during the day, cleaning during his naps, making dinner, teaching, stalking the Internet....you catch my drift. I still take out my camera almost every day. Sometimes I just don't find pictures "blog worthy". I'm reading a lot about photography and trying to apply it.

Today is Tyler's 14 month birthday! Yay! In the picture he was enjoying some half blueberry half plain yogurt. Mmm. He also got a haircut today. Ironically, his last haircut was exactly two months ago on his first birthday. I swear I'm not that anal that haircuts can only occur on the 2nd of the month...or am I?

I love that sweet, messy face.

Sushi anyone?

I drove all the way to Whole Foods today for sushi (and of course some other things). Tyler and I came home to have lunch. I made him a grilled cheese and I put my sushi on my plate. He grabbed my sushi off my plate and ate it!  Here is a picture of the sushi that I never got to eat.

Two pictures in two days...not too shabby!

Impatiently waiting for Spring

We are all ready for Spring. I look at these tulips and its a reminder that the season is just around the corner. I have never had such cabin fever before. I can't wait to hear the birds chirp in the morning, sleep with the windows open, go to the playground, go for jogs, the zoo.....I could go on and on.

Punxsutawney Phil better not see his shadow on February 2nd.

Got Milk?

Tyler and I enjoyed a little snuggle moment this morning.

Books and more books.

Tyler loves to read. He loves it so much that sometimes I can't read the pages fast enough before he turns the page. He is my little book worm :)

13 months!

I'm a little behind. Yes, life got in the way (a little) with this blog. We have been traveling so I will do my best to play catch up.
Here's a picture of Tyler at 13 months. He was technically 13.5 months when we took this picture but I promise in two weeks, he didn't change much.

I have focus issues with this picture too....as I do with all the rest. I really hope by Spring I can iron out my issues. I will be meeting with a few people in April who are great with photography and hopefully they can help me!

You are my sunshine.

He really is. Sometimes I just want to squeeze him and give him kisses all over. He is such a sweet little boy. He makes me melt into a puddle.

I am so, so excited!

I feel like I accomplished something today. I ventured out with my assistant (Mr. Tyler James) and we were on a mission to set up a little "studio" in the house. We stopped at JoAnn Fabrics to get some fleece and then Lowe's for a sheet of plexi glass. Plexi glass can produce a nice reflection of your subject. When you use black as a background color, it can maximize the amount of reflection you see (at least that is what I read). I decided to start with an easy object that won't move or cry....a leaf bowl.



I had to edit this in Photoshop to remove the plexi glass lines. I am excited that I am actually starting to learn things. It is just the tip of the iceberg though. 

Focus

This is one (of the many) things I struggle with. Of all the blogs and books I have read about photography, mastering focus is one that comes with time and practice. It is currently my #1 frustration when taking pictures. There are so many variables when trying to nail a focus. It isn't as easy as it seems. Sure, pointing the red dot at what you want to focus on seems easy enough. However, my focus tends to "fall" on everything but what I want it to. I am determined to master it....even if it takes years.

Below is an easy example. The front pine cone is what I wanted in my focus and everything else fell behind it and to the side.

Now that I called my own bluff, you may want look back on my photos and see how I struggle with something called "focus". Don't.

Meet The Little People

I love Little People. I really do. I do not know where my obsession comes from. Perhaps I loved them as a child? Anytime I am in a toy store (or Target) I browse the toy section to see if any new Little People toys were added to the shelf. Tyler likes them too but maybe not as much as me. The Little People share meals with Tyler, go for car rides and even make it into the tub. They are the perfect size for his chubby little hands. Why else do I love them? They are the perfect models. They don't complain or even flinch. They are great to use as I try to learn how my shutter speed, apenture and light all affect one another.

Not all of my photos will be exciting. I promised they would be interesting. I think a Little People lineup is interesting....and so does Tyler. 

Mr. Clean

Tyler was in destroy mode this afternoon. He went through the cabinet under the sink and pulled everything out only to move on to another cabinet full of mixing bowls. It was fun for him for 10 minutes, then he was on his way to something else to discover. You better believe we will be childproofing this weekend.

What is black and white and red all over?

It's not a newspaper....it's Sophie Mae. She is our 2.5 year old energetic Boston Terrier. My son adores her (and vice versa) and my husband has an oddly close relationship with her. She doesn't really care for me much - she must prefer men. Look at the way she stares at me even through a lens.

Drip drop.

Today I was playing around with my shutter speed and wanted to freeze the action of the water coming from the faucet.

Baby, it's cold outside.

Today, we played in the snow for the first time with Tyler. He loved it for the first five minutes and then became too cold and wanted to go back inside....just enough time for me as well.

A fresh start.

January 2011 is a fresh start for me in many ways. I love being able to stay home with my littlest man but I refuse to let it define me as a person. So, I have started to pick up photography as a hobby and this is why I have started this 365 project. I want to improve in my photo taking as the days, weeks and months pass.

This was a coffee mug this morning. It was a fresh start with a 6am gym visit followed by a refreshing cup of joe.

I just learned how to watermark. Oh, it's the little things!

Day 6...and a picture!

As I promised, today is the day I start posting pictures. I "owe" my project (and commitment) six photos since today is January 6th. I have one for now but five more shortly behind. This picture is of my awesome sister, Michelle. She is expecting a baby in seven more weeks and this is a photo I took last weekend.

Here are a couple more of Michelle and Rory. I'm sure people thought I would "open" this project with photos of my little man, but if you thought that, you are wrong!



 

Here are my last two photos from this evening. I sort of cheated for the first six photos. I took them over the weekend. I will have to do that when I need to play catch up. However, the majority of the time, I will be taking a picture a day....and they will be different.

The picture above is Cman and Tman meeting Baby D for the second time. We can't wait until she is outside!

Day 3 and I still have not started.

Today, I jumped on the 365 bandwagon. I know it is January 3rd already and I do not even have my camera in my possession at the moment. So, until Thursday, I will not be posting any pictures. I will make up for it and post six pictures on Thursday. Stay tuned!

Welcome to my 365 Project...just 2 days late.

I have recently started photographing (mostly of baby Tyler) and have adopted it as a new hobby. My goal is to take a picture a day and share it on the blog. I hope to review my pictures and see improvement as the days, weeks and months pass.
Get ready to see a lot of photos of Tyler and I will try and keep it interesting!