365 Challenge

I have been feeling the winter blues. I haven't been inspired to be creative or take pics at all. Thanks to my dear friend, Heather, I am changing that. I am going to do the 365 challenge. Of course, you are supposed to start at the beginning of the year, but I like to do my own thing (and plus I just decided to do it today!). This is a photograph of my brother's cat, Beauford. He was sitting up on the counter, and I know he was thinking about pouncing on my camera. I love cats!!




~In ancient times cats were worshipped as gods; they have not forgotten this. Terry Pratchett~

iheartfaces "Pink" Week!

What girl doesn't love pink?? I know I do! This picture of my oldest daughter was made at Haywood Community College. Isn't she beautiful?!?!

We use the color pink to represent hope and courage in the battle against breast cancer. This month, make sure you do your self breast exam, get a mammogram, and tell someone you love to do the same!

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you. ~Maori Proverb

iheartfaces Completely Candid Challenge

This week the challenge at iheartfaces is "Completely Candid". I LOVE this picture of my father in law reading to Cora.

From Drop Box

A grandfather is someone with silver in his hair and gold in his heart. ~Author Unknown

i<3Faces "Contemplative" Challenge

This week's theme at i<3Faces is "contemplative". The entries for this one are especially amazing! It is interesting to see the faces and imagine what they are thinking! Here is my entry:

From Drop Box

In this picture, Cora is seriously contemplating a dirt pile she was working in. I love how serious she looks and how her eyelashes brush her cheeks.

i<3Faces Jewelry Giveaway

This is exciting!! Over at I<3Faces they are having a jewelry give-away. Today was the first time I had seen the jewelry at The Vintage Pearl, and it is absolutely beautiful!! Check out the contest here http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/2009/09/vintage-pearl-jewelry-giveaway.html

My first real attempt at editing...

I downloaded Picasa (a FREE photo editing program from Google) a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't really played with it much. Lately, I've been looking at a lot of photography blogs, and I've seen that I really need to learn to edit my photography. So I played with it a bit today. I would love to have your opinions on what I could do better or differently!

Here is the before:



Here is the after:

i <3 Faces "Before and After"

This week's i<3faces photography challenge is "Before and After". I got my DSLR, a Nikon d40, last fall, and I've learned a lot since then. I've learned to turn off the flash whenever possible, to get in close to my subjects, and to pay attention to backgrounds! Another really important thing I've learned not to do is "pose" my girls; sometimes the best photos are the ones that I make when they aren't looking at the camera! I am still not really doing any editing, but maybe that will come next.

Before:




After: