Day 31

Not exactly a stellar photo but I wanted to document the start of the Blizzard of 2011 here in Springfield.  You can see that the sleet has started to accumulate on our patio.  School was dismissed an hour early and the stores were packed with people who were stocking up for the bad weather.  There is much more precipitation to come. 

SOOC shot, no editing

• f/4
• 1/250 sec
• 400 ISO
• 28mm

Day 29

I’m cheating a bit by posting this.  Obviously I didn’t take it myself.  I had my friend Laura take this photo of me at our scrapbooking retreat this weekend.  Note: the photo was taken on automatic settings.  Though I didn’t take the photo, I wanted to appear in this blog at least occasionally.  I really don’t like to have my picture taken, but I know that it’s important to document my presence in life!

While I actually like this photo of me, I was bothered by the chaos of colors.  My purple sweatshirt really clashes with the out-of-date brown couch in the background.  Knowing that I didn’t want to have to do a bunch of work in Photoshop, I tried a simpler approach.

 

I changed the photo to black and white and I’m much happier with it. 

Editing: cropping in ACR; icing action and the pioneer woman b&w beauty action in Photoshop

• f/4
• 1/100 sec
• 400 ISO
• 40mm

Day 28

LilCrockett’s kindergarten class has started writing & illustrating journals.  This is a sample page from his January journal.  So cute to see their unsteady handwriting and adorable artwork.  I’m thinking that someone must have helped him with the spelling as he likely wouldn’t have been able to spell motorcycle or Christmas correctly on his own yet. 

Editing: cropping & white balance adjustment in ACR

• f/4
• 1/125 sec
• 400 ISO
• 28mm

Day 27

We don’t have donuts in the house very often, but I saw this box of iced goodies at the store yesterday and figured I would buy them for Crockett & the kids since I am leaving for my weekend scrapbook retreat tomorrow.  Couldn’t resist getting a close-up shot.  Check out those cute little heart sprinkles!

Editing: slight exposure increase in ACR

• f/3.2
• 1/160
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

I caught the kids on a rare moment getting along tonight.  They were working on a seek and find booklet that Santa brought for them.  I love it when they actually work together.  They do have fun times playing together, but usually LilCrockett gets bored and wants to wrestle his sister, which eventually leads to someone crying over a slight injury before long.  Ah, kids! 

Editing: slight exposure decrease & sharpening in ACR, the pioneer woman boost action

• f/4
• 1/60 sec
• 800 ISO
• 50mm

And because I got such a crummy shot of GothGirl last night, I wanted to redeem myself with a better picture of her.  I probably should have cropped this as you can see part of Crockett in the background, but I was short on time.  Getting ready to head out for my girls weekend!  I’ll catch up with pictures when I get back. 

Editing: slight exposure increase in ACR, the pioneer woman boost action

• f/4
• 1/30 sec
• 800 ISO
• 50mm 

Day 26

We went up to the middle school tonight to watch our 6th grade neighbor’s volleyball game.  Happily, her team won the game. 

I wasn’t sure how well my photos would come out since it was in a gym and the girls were moving.  My nifty fifty lens did really well and I didn’t have to use my pesky flash (not that it would have helped in such a large room). 

Editing: slight exposure increase in ACR

• f/1.8
• 1/160
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

I did remember to get a photo of GothGirl as she was eating popcorn from the concession stand.  Though it is winter and it seems like it’s been many months since we’ve seen the sun, she is not really quite this pale….the lighting where she was sitting was pretty terrible and this was the best I could do in Photoshop to get all of the colors somewhat true to life.  The result is that her face is extra pale.  This photo was also taken early in the night when I was still shooting at 800 ISO, before realizing that it was light enough for 400 ISO.  Thus, the grain.  

• f/1.8
• 1/125
• 800 ISO
• 50mm

Day 25

We ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse tonight….it’s one of our favorite places.  It turns out that it was Kids Night, so they had face painting for the kids and visits by Andy the Armadillo. 

Seth chose a baseball design and he wanted me to get a picture of it (or else I might not have ever gotten him to wash it off!).  He’s also sporting a fake medal, which he got at a friend’s birthday party, around his neck.  It’s been his constant companion the past few days.   

GothGirl is now too mature cool for face-painting anymore, so once again she misses out on a photo opp.  I am going to make it a goal to get more photos of her, whether she likes it or not. 

Editing: slight exposure increase and sharpening in ACR

• f/1.8
• 1/320 sec
• 800 ISO
• 50mm

Day 24

Crockett took the kids sledding  behind the ATV yesterday.  It was pretty cold, so they didn’t stay out very long.  I had to laugh when they came inside.  GothGirl’s friend wears glasses and they condensed as soon as she stepped in the door.  I thought it made for a great picture.  Excuse the hodgepodge of clothing – the kids bundle up for warmth, not fashion!

SOCC shot, no editing!

• f/1.8
• 1/800 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

Day 23

I got some great shots of LilCrockett hard at work putting together one of his many Lego masterpieces.  Look how hard he is concentrating. 

Editing: slight exposure increase & sharpening in ACR

• f/3.5
• 1/30 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another close-up of my boy.  I know it seems as though I favor him because of all the photos I take of him.  Sadly, GothGirl doesn’t want to be in the limelight that often. 

Editing: slight exposure increase & sharpening in RAW

• f/1.8
• 1/125 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

One of LilCrockett’s aforementioned Lego masterpieces.  Several themes are involved here: Star Wars, Egyptians, military.  I think it’s way cool.

Editing: slight exposure increase in ACR

• f/4
• 1/40 sec
• 800 ISO
• 50mm

Day 22

I wanted to post a photo from Seth’s basketball practice (only his 2nd time), but that would require actual photos.  We got to the gym yesterday and I pulled out my camera only to discover that my battery was dead (and the spare was at home).  Ugh!

So instead, you get a close-up shot of my ornery sweet son, LilCrockett.  He has the most beautiful blue eyes with killer, long eyelashes.  Unfortunately this photo doesn’t do them justice.  He also has several cowlicks in his hair that match his spunky personality.  I love this boy to pieces!

Editing: adjustments in raw, pioneer woman boost action

• f/1.8
• 1/50 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

And while we’re talking about pieces, I thought I’d share another photo with you from today.  That’s our laptop and the screen is cracked in a bazillion pieces.  Not pretty.  But that’s what happens when a laptop gets dropped twice {Crockett’s fault!}.  Fortunately, this is our old, spare laptop, but I’m a little nervous that I didn’t have everything backed up.  Hopefully so.  And now we are down to one laptop shared with 3 people.  We will definitely be shopping for a new laptop ASAP!

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW

• f/1.8  
• 1/25 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

Day 21

Unfortunately GothGirl doesn’t really enjoy having her picture taken lately.  Perhaps it’s because I always seem to have the camera out.  But likely it’s because she’s a pre-teen and thinks that photos are not cool.  Anyway, she looked so cute sitting in the recliner tonight that I had to take some photos.  This was the best smile I could get.  I’ll take it though!

Editing: pioneer woman boost action

• f/1.8
• 1/20 sec
• 200 ISO
• 50mm

 

 

Our cat Kenai on the other hand, is a willing model as long as I don’t have the flash on, which is rare for me these days.  Today I was sorting through some paperwork (one of my goals for the new year is to continue to get the house better organized) and he decided to help out.  It’s great having a cat who wants to near you, though a little space would be nice.  After all, I need to be able to read those papers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Editing (both photos): pioneer woman boost action, cropping (bottom photo only)

• f/1.8
• 1/20 sec
• 200 ISO
• 50mm

Day 20

We had more snow today in central Illinois….an additional 4 inches on top of the snow that we already had on the ground.  I raced home after work to snap a few pictures.  Unfortunately we don’t have a lot of areas of interest in our yard at this time of year and I didn’t have time to drive somewhere else without losing the sunset.  So, I made do.  And I’m glad I did because I ended up with some beautiful photos (at least in my humble opinion). 

This shot is of a portion of our bottle tree, which is basically a tree made out of metal and then decorated with wine bottles.  The tree was made by my husband out of rebar and then painted black.  I’ll have to make sure to get a photo of the entire tree sometime.  I was able to capture the sunset at the tree line in the background and with the use of a low f-stop, it presented some nice bokah.

According to www.bottletree.com, the origin of the bottle tree can be traced back to Africa. Evidently, it was believed that shiny objects placed around the home would attract evil spirits away from the family. With the tragedy of the slave trade, the tradition found its way to North America and continued to evolve into the hanging of bottles in trees to "trap" the evil spirits.  Over the years the bottle tree has become a very unique Southern gardening tradition.

Editing: none, this was a SOCC (straight-out-of-camera) shot!

• f/2.8
• 1/2500 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

This is a shot of ATV tracks in our front yard.  The tracks were left by my neighbor, who had graciously plowed our drive with his snowblade attachment.  There are several things I love about this photo: 

• the beam of sunset in the distance 
• the texture of the tire tracks in the snow
• the pinkish/orange cast of the snow due to the sunset.

Pretty!

Editing: cropping, pioneer woman boost action, curves adjustment

• f/2.8
• 1/2500 sec
• 400 ISO
• 50mm

Day 19

My mom bought GothGirl a new desk for her birthday.  Unfortunately it had to be assembled, so we set to work.  LilCrockett wanted to be right in on the action, helping Crockett put it together.  He loves handing him screws and helping him screw them in.

The desk came with a gazillion different types of screws, a bazillion types of drawer slides, and tons of boards.  And like most self-assembly items, the instruction manual was severely lacking in clarity.  We were glad when we got it all put together.   And best of all, GothGirl is actually hoping for homework tomorrow so she can break in her new desk!  Too cute!

Editing: slight cropping, slight adjustments in RAW
f/1.8
1/40 sec
400 ISO
50mm

Day 18

I’m cheating a bit as this photo was taken yesterday.  Tonight was just too hectic.  Came home from work and heated up some leftovers for dinner before we had to run up to the school.  GothGirl participated in the TeamQuest academic challenge in November.  Our school actually sent four 4th grade teams and all four teams ended up qualifying for Regionals.  So tonight the School Board wanted to recognize the students for their accomplishments.  Now we cross our fingers that some of the teams end up qualifying for the State Finals.  I did take some photos at the meeting tonight, but there are other kids in the photos and I don’t want to put their faces on my blog without permission.

After we wrapped up at the school, we headed to a friends’ house to look at some furniture she has for sale.  We are in need of different furniture for our basement as the fabric on ours is ripped on every couch and chair cushion as well as on the top of the ottoman because the fabric is so thin.  We don’t want to purchase new furniture as the kids are still young and fairly hard on furnishings.  The set we looked at tonight has a denim fabric that’s totally removable so you can wash it.  Sounds very kid-friendly to me!

Anyway, back to the photo.  GothGirl and LilCrockett set up a fort in the living room yesterday using a blanket stretched from chair to couch to chair.  Then they climbed underneath along with the portable DVD player and some photo albums.  I love that I captured them snuggled in their little fort and that they were actually getting along (which is not always the case!).  I used The Pioneer Woman’s Boost action to enrich the colors and then the Quick Edge Burn action to mute some of the clutter at the edge of the photo so as to bring the photo on the kids’ faces.     

Editing: cropping, pioneer woman boost & quick edge burn actions
f/2.5
1/30 sec
400 ISO
50mm

Day 17

It’s Christmas in mid-January.  Actually, my dad and stepmom were not able to make it up on Christmas and we had already purchased some gifts for the kids from them.  Rather than try to figure out what to get all their grandkids, they send us parents money to pick out some things that we know our kids would like.

Anyway, it doesn’t appear as if the kids will get to see their grandparents soon, so we decided to let them open the gifts.  LilCrockett hasn’t been featured here lately, so I figured I would use his picture for the day.  Besides, most of the other photos I took of both kids were slightly blurry.  I definitely needed to get my shutter speed up with the action of opening gifts.  This one of Seth turned out OK because he was actually holding still in a pose.  Too bad I have more hindsight than foresight!   I guess that’s part of the learning process and the point of this blog….getting to know my camera inside and out.

Editing: cropping, slight adjustments in RAW, pioneer woman Boost action
f/1.8
1/80 sec
400 ISO
50mm

Day 16

GothGirl went in the bathroom last night to apply her nightly skin care system (Proactiv) and came out looking like this.  It’s the first time I’ve seen her with the beauty mask and I felt like it warranted a photo.  I grabbed my camera and asked her to smile.  She said, “Mom, I can’t….the mask won’t let me.”  So, though she looks a little glum, I love that it captured a moment of her pre-teen years.

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW, Icing action
f/2.5
1/50 sec
1600 ISO
50mm












My hubby Crockett wanted to be in a photo as well.  He and GothGirl are really close.  I love that she was able to work up a slight smile (despite the mask) for her beloved daddy.

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW, Icing action
f/2.5
1/80 sec
1600 ISO
50mm

Day 15

Today’s picture for the day is one of my favorite meals.  A burrito from Chipotle Mexican Grill.  Talk about yum!

• Tortilla
• Cilantro-lime rice
• Black beans
• Fajita vegetables
• Chipotle pepper adobo chicken
• Roasted chili-corn salsa
• Sour cream
• Cheese

It’s a little (well, actually it’s a very big!) burrito that tastes like heaven!  The shot was taken after I had already eat a few bites.  Perhaps it would have looked better had I taken the a photo of it whole, but then I would have had to wait longer for that first bite and you wouldn’t have been able to see all the yummy goodness inside!

Editing: cropping & rotating
f/2.8
1/1250 sec
400 ISO
50mm

Day 14

It was my day off today, so I decided to use the time to get organized.  I have a weekend scrapbooking retreat coming up at the end of the month and I need to figure out what I want to work on next.  Unfortunately I don’t scrapbook in any kind of order, so I can’t actually put my pages in an actual scrapbook album.  The only exception is our first vacation to Maine….it’s my only completed scrapbook.  Instead of storing my pages in scrapbooks, I have a hodgepodge of loose pages stored randomly in clear Iris containers. 

So, I sat down on the living room floor and started grouping my pages by year.  Then I went through each year’s stack and sorted them by month, writing down the events I have completed.  Now I have a much clearer picture of what I still need to accomplish and I’ll know which photos not to print.  And it’s a good thing, I came across 3 different events which I had scrapbooked twice.  My pages for these duplicated events look different, but most of the same photos are featured. 

After I got up to grab my camera, I noticed that I had inadvertently made a pattern on the floor with my stacked pages and thought it would make a cool photo.  I was really pleased to see that I captured a little sunbeam streaming in the window at the top of the picture.  There is some glare on the upper photos due to the sunlight, but I like the muted effect.  I don’t want people to focus on the individual scrapbook pages….I want to them to notice the stacks and the pattern that they make.  Note that this is only a portion of my pages!

Editing: slight exposure increase in RAW

f/7.1

1/40 sec

400 ISO

28mm

I couldn’t resist getting a close-up of a few of the scrapbook page stacks.  Considering that I average about 1 hour per page, that adds up to a lot of time.  Luckily, it’s my passion. 

Editing: slight exposure increase in RAW

f/2.8

1/100 sec

200 ISO

28mm

Day 13

Today was our Junior Girl Scout meeting at the local elementary school.  We were working on the Frosty Fun badge, so the girls did quite a few activities outside in the the “Habitat” near the school.  Here’s GothGirl practicing a little snow painting.  Simply fill a spray bottle with water and food coloring and “paint” away.  The girls all loved it.  Since I’m a troop co-leader and was busy trying to help the girls, I didn’t have a ton of time to play with my camera settings.  This picture turned a little dark, but gets too grainy if I try to lighten it much more.  Also, GothGirl’s face is not quite in focus, but she’s still my girl and a beauty at that!

Editing: adjustments in RAW, cropping
f/2.8
1/500 sec
400 ISO
28mm






 

After our fun in the snow, we headed back inside to warm up.  I spotted this pretty tree near the school.  I loved the contrast of the snow next to the brown and maroon of the tree and the snow in the sills of the windows. 

Editing: cropping, pioneer woman boost action
f/2.8
1/160 sec
400 ISO
30mm

Day 12

My passion for reading started when I was just a kid.  Both my brother and I were avid readers, devouring all the books we could.  I loved losing myself in a story and finding a new adventure on every page.  Over time, I developed the skill of speed reading too (not on purpose, it just happened).  So, I go through books really quickly, especially now that my kids are a little older and I have more free time to read.  You’d think that reading would be a hobby that is harmless; however, I’ve found that reading is a bit hazardous to my health.  I get engrossed in a book at night and can’t put it down, so I end up getting to sleep super late.  The results are not pretty when I have to get up the next morning to get ready for work.

I enjoy reading books of various types, but generally avoid ultra romance novels (a little romance is fine, but I won’t read it if there’s a Fabio-look-alike on the cover!) & thrillers (i.e. scary books!).  My favorite books are women’s fiction and courtroom/life dramas.    

This is my latest pile of books.  I typically go through this many books in about 1 to 1-1/2 weeks.  I rarely read a book twice, at least on purpose (there have been times when I’ll get part-way through a book and it will dawn on me that I’ve read it before!).  The only exception is the Twilight series.  I’ve read all of the books twice and feel like I’m due for a 3rd reading.  These are really the only books I’ll keep long-term.  The rest of my books are passed on to others so that they can enjoy them as well.

Because I read so much, I refuse to pay store-price for a book.  I get most of my books from garage-sales, book sales, Salvation Army, etc. as well as from friends and family.  I tried PaperBackSwaps.com for a short time, but found that I was paying more for books than I like (the books are free, but shipping costs are not cheap even using Media Mail rates).  But then last Friday, I finally got around to getting my library card here so now I can read for free.  I’d been wanting to get a card for awhile; but held off mainly because my library locations are not that convenient and I wasn’t sure how often I could get there.  My schedule is a bit looser now, so hopefully this won’t be an issue.

Editing: cropping, slight adjustments in RAW, pioneer woman boost action

f/4
1/30 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

Day 11

Old Man Winter ushered in some more snow here last night and today.  So as soon as I got home from work, I grabbed my camera and headed out to my back yard sans gloves (so I could change settings easier).  By the time I was done, not even 10 minutes later, my hands were super frozen.  I had to run them under some warm water to thaw them.  Ah, the price we pay for attempting to get some good photos!  It wasn’t even that cold here, but the wind was quite ferocious and was causing some crazy drifts.  Despite having about 4 inches of snow, there are parts of our yard that are barely snow covered because the wind has blown nearly all the snow away.  And since I had several favorite photos of the day, I thought I’d share them all here.  I’ll be doing that on occasion.  Why share just one photo a day?

This grass bunch near our detached garage is one of my favorite plants in the yard.  Though it looks pretty all year long, I would argue that it’s prettiest in winter with it’s warm tones, especially when juxtaposed next to some white snow.  Our neighbor’s pretty fence added some nice contrasting color in the background.

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW, cropping, pioneer woman boost action
f/2.2
1/125 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

I snapped this photo of our snow-covered log pile.  In hindsight, I probably should have backed off a bit to get more of the sides of the logs rather than just the ends.  I’m not sure if the subject is obvious to viewers.  But, I still like how this shot turned out.

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW, cropping, pioneer woman boost action
f/2.2
1/50 sec
400 ISO  
50mm
 


Our cat Kenai ventured outside today because like us, he’s feeling a little stir-crazy from being inside so much this winter.  Though he loves being outside, he doesn’t love the snow.  I snapped this photo of him standing on the little ledge by our back door hoping to go back inside shortly after we’d let him out.  I’m sure he was thinking something like, “quit taking my picture and let me in the house already!”.  Love that I captured the little snowflakes on his back and one of his paws “buried” in the snow.

Editing: slight adjustments in RAW, cropping, pioneer woman boost action
f/2.2
1/160 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

If you didn’t already notice, my images are now posting in high resolution.  All my prior pictures are lower quality because Blogger compresses them during posting.  It was making me quite peeved.  All the editing I was doing was for naught because much of the edits wouldn’t show up in the compressed image.  After much “googling” (is that a word?), the only solutions I found were some pain-in-the-neck work-arounds.  However,  tonight I actually stumbled on a simple solution…..a Flickr Image Plug-In for Windows Live Writer (my normal posting software).  Now I just upload my high quality images to Flickr and import them directly into my posts via Live Writer.  Ahhhh….it’s the little things that make my heart sing!

Day 10

LilCrockett has a passion for building things, which is about equal to his love for destroying things.  While at a friend’s house last year, he discovered Legos and I thought it would be great for him to have his own.  Luckily, my neighbor and I ran across some while garage sale-ing last summer as these little buggars are fairly pricey!  We paid about $10 for 2 big bins filled with many different sets.  But since the sets were all intermixed, did not come with building diagrams, were small in size, and were designed for older kids; I wondered if he would be able to play with them without getting frustrated.  It turns out that my little guy is quite good at putting together some awesome Lego concoctions all on his own and he spends a good chunk of time designing them.  He builds them with amazing detail.  What look like random parts to me are actually pieces with a purpose (“this one shoots fire, Mom”).  Pretty neat stuff coming from a not-quite-6-year-old!  Now if only he were as good at picking them up.  Note: I snapped a photo of this work of art before LilCrockett switched to destroy mode.

I do have to confess that this picture was taken on Saturday, rather than today.  I decided to take several different kinds of photos over the weekend so that I would have some natural light available. 

 

Editing: cropping

f/4
1/50 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

Day 9

Each year, my husband brings home flowers for GothGirl on her birthday.  This year, she was with us when we went to the store so he let her choose her own.  She opted for a beautiful bouquet of peach & yellow tulips.  They petals have been opening more and more each day.  In fact, some of them have already spread all the way open and are dying.  I decided today that I’d better snap some photos quick.  This was one of my favorites from the day. 

I took this photo while standing on a chair to capture the inside of the tulips.  The dark background is actually the cherry tabletop below. 

SOOC shot, no editing

Canon 50mm f/1.8

f/4
1/40 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

Day 8

A rare moment capturing LilCrockett sitting peacefully on the couch looking at a book.  And that’s not just any book, it’s his Bible.  This despite the fact that there are few pictures and he can only read a handful of sight words.  Seeing him carefully turn those delicate pages is something to see, especially from a boy who is normally very rough and tough.  Sweet moments!

f/4.5
1/20 sec
400 ISO  
32mm

Day 7

Warning: long post!

10 years ago today, my firstborn made her way into the world, though I must say that she took her sweet time in doing so.  Not only was I two weeks overdue, but my labor was long as well (17 hours of back labor, plus an additional 2 hours of pushing).  But my extra long pregnancy and hard labor soon seemed insignificant due to complications right at delivery. 

While pregnant with Mia (a.k.a. GothGirl), I had been looking forward to the Norman Rockwell-like hospital moments after the delivery: snuggling with our new daughter, celebrating with my husband over a glass of champagne, and showing her off to visiting family and friends.  But, that’s so far from the way it actually happened.

Mia had been doing great all through my labor & pushing; but as she passed through the birth canal, she breathed in amniotic fluid and collapsed a lung.  I remember seeing her as soon as she was out and thinking that she looked so blue.  But I’d never seen a newborn baby before, so I figured it was normal.  The nurses immediately carried her over to a side table, which I could barely see while the doctor got busy checking me.  I asked the nurses what Mia’s APGAR score was and they told me it was a 2 out of 10.  I had read What to Expect When You Are Expecting, so I wasn’t immediately concerned as I know the 1-minute APGAR scores are often low.  At 5 minutes, I asked again and her number was still at 2.  Now I was very alarmed and rightly so as the neonatalogist came into the room around that time.    They hurried Mia over to me for a quick kiss and then they rushed her up to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

My heart plummeted and I was out of my mind with worry, but yet stuck in my maternity suite.  And unbeknownst to me, I was in trouble myself.  While I thought the doctor was just doing a routine post-baby wrap-up on me (I was so focused on Mia that I wasn’t really paying attention to what was happening with me, plus they never said anything out loud to alarm me), I was actually starting to bleed out because my uterus would not stop contracting.  But while I was oblivious, my husband knew exactly what was happening because he is a nurse.  The poor guy was worrying about both his wife and baby.  Fortunately they finally got my bleeding to quit and I sent my husband up to the NICU to check on Mia.  I think the only thing that allowed me to keep my sanity in those first few hours was the fact that I was so worn out from the long labor & delivery and then weak from losing so much blood. 

It was several hours before we were told that Mia had finally stabilized, when her neonatologist came down to let us know her condition.  He told us that when he first saw her in my room right after the delivery, he didn’t think she was going to make it.  We were both beyond relieved to hear the news and we hurried upstairs to see her (me in a wheelchair, due to my condition).  Seeing Mia in the NICU with monitors and tubes made my heart hurt.  When it was finally time for me to hold her for the first time, I was scared that I would hurt her.  She had a tube in her head and she looked so fragile.  Gradually I convinced myself that she wasn’t going to break and I was able to relax.  Even looking around the room, I realized yet again how lucky we were.  There were so many preemies in the room who were dealing with many struggles.  At 7 lbs 9oz, Mia looked like a brute.  Though her condition was now stable, she had to spend some time in the NICU so they could watch for infection and give her percussion therapy to break up the fluid in her lungs.  Few people outside immediate family came to visit because it was such an ordeal to see her in the NICU and only 2 people were allowed in at a time.  My doctor tried to extend my stay in the hospital so that I could at least be in the same building with her, but my insurance company wouldn’t approve it.  Next to those first few hours after her birth, probably the hardest part of all was leaving her at the hospital.  No mom should have to do that.  I was so sad and an emotional basket case without her.  We visited her several times a day (our house was a 30 minute drive away) for fairly long periods, but I was also trying to recuperate and needed my own rest.  Finally, she got the all clear and was released 4 days after her birth.  We were finally all together as a family. 

Now 10 years later, we think of her as our little miracle and we treasure her all the more because we almost lost her.  I wanted to do something special to celebrate her “double-digit” birthday, so I called the local grain elevator down the road for us.  They post birthdays for local kids on their sign.  Since her school bus does not pass by the sign, I drove her up after school for a look.  I didn’t say anything, wanting to see if she would notice it.  She didn’t, so I ended up turning around and pulling into their lot.  She saw her name and her eyes lit up and she gave me the biggest hug ever.  You could tell she was so excited.  I’m happy that it made her day!  And I love the look of the old grain elevator and sign in the photo. 

Editing: curves & levels adjustment

f/4
1/160 sec
400 ISO  
50mm

Day 6

I had a hair appointment in a neighboring town today, so I took my camera along.  I snapped this photo at the entrance to Lincoln’s New Salem Historic Site just outside of Petersburg, IL.  The site is a reconstruction of the village where Abraham Lincoln spent his early adulthood. The six years Lincoln spent in New Salem, starting at the age of 21, formed a turning point in his career. Although he never owned a home here, Lincoln was engaged in a variety of activities while he was at New Salem. He clerked in a store, split rails, enlisted in the Black Hawk War, served as postmaster and deputy surveyor, failed in business, and was elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1834 and 1836 after an unsuccessful try in 1832.

New Salem the town was founded in 1828 by two men who started a small grist mill near the Sangamon River. Unfortunately, the location just off the river was less than ideal and the town enjoyed a very short lifespan. Very few families stayed for more than a few years, and by 1840 the town was abandoned. During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) reconstructed 22 of the old structures and moved one original back to the original town site.

Editing: removal of small sections of sidewalks & parking lots via clone stamp, The Pioneer Woman Boost action, curves adjustment

f/4

1/250 sec

400 ISO  

45mm

Day 5

Because it’s winter here and it gets dark so early, I had resigned myself to having to take more indoor photos under poor lighting conditions tonight.  But this is the view I saw across the road when I pulled up to our house after work!  I quickly ran in and grabbed my camera.  I was able to crop out some powerlines that were overhead, but was left with the powerlines on the horizon.  I thought about taking those out too using Photoshop; but the horizon itself is pretty plain, so the powerlines offer a little perspective and interest.

Editing: cropping & minor adjustments (contrast, increase black tones)

f/2.8

1/250 sec

400 ISO  

47mm

Day 4

Two nights ago, my coworker’s house caught fire while she and her husband were at work.  Fortunately their 2 kids, who were home on winter break, escaped unharmed along with the their pets.  In the aftermath, the family has been staying at a local hotel while they find a place to rent until they can rebuild.  Sadly, the family has very few possessions on hand now.  The son was left with no shoes and the rest of the family really only have the clothes they were wearing.  My fellow coworkers have been organizing a collection of clothing and shoes for the family, as well as gathering monetary donations and the outpouring of generosity brings tears to my eyes.  I can’t imagine having to go through what this family is going through. 

Ever since I found out, I’ve been thinking about what I would hate to lose the most in my home.  For me, as I suspect it is with most people, the pictures would be the hardest loss to bear, and I would take that a step further and include my scrapbooks as well.  Perhaps I’ve become even more aware of this in the past few weeks as we’ve been going through old photographic slides (remember these?!!!) as part of my continued efforts to improve the organization in this house.  On Christmas Day, we had the best time looking at the slides from when my brother and I were young.  Our kids really enjoyed seeing pictures of their mom & dad at the age the kids are now, especially when we were dressed in some very fashionable out-of-style outfits.  Then tonight, my husband and I went through slides he had from the 3 summers he spent working in Alaska when we first started dating, right out of high school. 

Sure, all my more recent photos (from 2005 through present) are digital and I have back-ups as well as online back-up via Carbonite, so they are fairly secure.  But the photos and slides taken prior to that are irreplaceable in most cases.  Thus, I’m taking steps now to sort through them and have the ones we keep converted to digital files.  Maybe I’ll even get to scrapbook them one day!

So, following tonight’s review of some slides, I had to snap a few photos.  I’m pretty pleased with the way this shot turned out, though I wish I’d taken the photo with the elements on a different surface as everything seems a little monotone (shades of beige).  In my defense, my Photoshop version of this photo has a warmer cast on the surface, but it looks more subdued when saved and brought into this post.  Perhaps a darker surface would have really made the slides & carousel “pop”.  I could do more editing in Photoshop but it’s already super late, so I’ll leave it as is.  I do love the bit of bokah I captured on the slide carousel & the farthest loose slides.

Editing: vertical cropping & some slight adjustments (white balance, color balance, exposure).

f/2.8
1/60 sec
800 ISO 
28mm

Post addition on 1/5/11:

I thought a lot about my photo last night and the monotone look was sort of bugging me.  While I feel that it’s a pretty good photo, nothing about it really pops.  So I began wondering how it would look in black & white.  Turns out it looks good.  The slides seem to stand out a little more in black & white format.  What do you think?

Day 3

Tonight was family Wii night, so we were all down in the basement getting our game on.  I snapped a bunch of photos but ended up with only a few that were acceptable.  The lighting down there is pretty pathetic.  I knew this going in; but since this is something I struggle with all the time (snapping pictures of the kids indoors at night with no natural light), I decided that I will only get better if I experiment. 

I also wanted to see how my newest lens (the Tamron 28-27mm f/2.8) would perform in these conditions compared to my kit lens (the Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6).  Obviously my Canon 50mm 1.4 would do better in the low light, but I usually don’t have the space to get what I need in the frame.  Note that I was also trying to avoid using my flash.

However, due to the low light and high ISO, my photo was fairly grainy.  Normally I shoot so that each photo is saved as a JPG and a RAW image format.  But, somehow my camera settings were changed so that I was only shooting JPG images.  This eliminated my ability to edit the RAW image, which is definitely easier to edit.  Perhaps my image would have been a little less grainy had it not been compressed in JPG format.  Anyway since I couldn’t fix the graininess (if that’s even possible, I don’t know how to do it), I decided to enhance it a bit by changing the photo to B&W and adding the Texturizer texture effect (click on the photo to see an enlarged version where this is more evident).  The B&W was also nice because the couch was multi-colored and clashed with her shirt.    

So though it’s far from the most technical photo I’ve ever taken, it is one of my favorites.  I love GothGirl’s natural pose and the composition of the photo itself.  I also love that it captures her wild & fun shirt & converse shoes (at least the tops of them).  

Editing: cropping, sharpening, Pioneer Woman B&W Beauty action, texturizer texture

f/2.8

1/30 sec
1600 ISO 
28mm

Day 2

Since I am trying to get back on track with eating less and moving more after my many indulgences over the holidays, I thought a picture of my morning snack would be appropriate.  The plate of apples is sitting on our butcher block island in front of a window with a floral curtain.  The sun was very bright, so I pulled the curtain shut to avoid total washout of my subject.

Straight-out-of-camera (SOCC) shot with no editing.

f/3.5
1/320 sec
400 ISO 
28mm

Day 1

I spent a good portion of the afternoon setting up this blog, so I didn't get as much time with my camera as I had hoped.  I managed to snap this photo of our cat, Kenai.  He looked so cute sprawled out on the bed and he was meowing at me when I took the shot.  This cat brings so much joy to our family.  Unlike a lot of animals, he doesn’t really have a favorite human…. he seems to love all of us equally.  He also has some cute quirks.  He’ll spend about 5 or so days in a certain spot in the house, before finding a new favorite place.  

Editing: cropping, slight sharpening of the face, & some curves adjustment
f/4
1/60 sec
400 ISO 
35mm