Beanie's Corner

This weekend when we returned from the bike races (post coming soon, I promise!) the Beanster set off on a mission as soon as we walked in the door. I thought he was making a bathroom stop or washing his hands... silly No-No.. he was changing his clothes, of course!! He came out with his long sleeve Polo and asked me to please button the 2 buttons "all the way to the top". He had worn this shirt before we left but we told him it was too hot to wear to the races but he could wear it later. So when we returned home I told him he certainly had a one track mind to which he replied, very sincerely, "Its because I really, reeealllllly want to be like Grangrad". Oh, melt my heart!! Needless to say I called Grangrad right away and told him he has a copycat! Melted his lil old, cowboy heart too...

Here's the completed outfit:

Cowboy hat, check!
Long sleeve cowboy shirt, check!
Cargo pants, check!
Cowboy boots, check!
And one eagle head belt buckle (from Grangrad) that must, absolutely, be worn OVER the shirt, ONLY, check!

A few minutes after this picture was taken the outfit morphed into "The Puttering Grangrad" i.e- all cargo pockets FILLED with tools and he went around the house fixing everything that was broken. No need for a paid handyman in this house!

My nephew- Jack of all trades :)

Week 3

This past Sunday my week 3 photography assignment was due. I squeaked in at the last minute and submitted 2 photos that I had a blast taking! Our assignment this week was to practice using shutter priority mode, which means we got to play with shutter speeds. We had to take 2 pictures of movement this week; 1 'freezing' the movement and one showing the movement.

Here is the frozen movement:

Here is the one showing the movement- Angie said he looks like a ghost!

(see the blur there on the right- in front of the Lipton sign?)

My comments from Angie were: "Great job! He's almost invisible in that 2nd one. Ghost like as I like to call it.  Good work~!"

As you can see, we went to the Amgen Tour of California bike race this weekend. We saw the last two stages and I had so many exciting moments! There will be a blog post coming soon to fill you all in on that one..

Stay tuned!

Cowboys

I love cowboys.

Well at least I think I do. The cowboys in my head have good manners, love their Mammas, work hard, play harder, ride muscular horses, and wear chaps (or is it chinks?) like the fabulous Marlboro Man that belongs to Ms. Pioneer Woman. They also wear hats. Dirty, sweaty, great, cowboy hats.

But what does the hat say about the cowboy? There are so many types. Do they reflect personality?

There are straw hats

"We're just good 'ol boys"

There are felt hats

"We mean business- go round those 500 head of cattle up!"

There are different shapes

There are different colors

 "I need to get some boots. These crocks are crampin my image Grangrad"

My Dad just recently got back from his annual Rancheros Vistadores ride. He spent almost a week camping out with the 'boys', riding horses, BBQing pig heads, and causing trouble in the Solvang hills.. I told him to go find me a husband.... He came home empty handed. Maybe they were all wearing the 'wrong' kind of cowboy hat....

Midnight photoshop madness

Okay... its not quite midnight but it is past my bedtime! I seem to have too many things running through my mind tonight to be able to close my eyes and drift off to sleep. Maybe I created too many endorphins at my yoga class tonight ;)

I decided to break out my Photoshop For Dummies book and see if I couldn't 'fix' some of the critique Angie gave me on my first photo assignment.

So here is the original picture:

Angie said it was slightly under exposed. Because I shot it in RAW I figured 

I could fix it in Photoshop. I also did a slight eye sharpen and I tried to 

'erase' some of the little goobers around his eyes. This is what I ended up 

with! 

Awww such a cute little Nemo!!


What do you think?

Beanie's Corner

Ok, so I know it is day ONE of my blog but I am adding something new already!! haha.

I have the most adorable nephew... well actually I have TWO, most adorable nephews! But one is brand new. His big brother is 3 and he is sooo creative... with his outfits! This shining example was just 2 weeks ago, the weekend of his baby brother's baptism. Lets examine, shall we?



Part cowboy with his hat, boots, and 'gun' (actually my sister's Pilates bar!)
Part Imagination Mover with his Wobble Goggles
Part athletic champion with his basketball shorts
and definitely ready for anything that might present itself while he was 'patrolling' the front yard for bad guys!!

Don't you just love boundless imaginations?

PS (photography script ;) )
This was just shot on my iPhone and I used polarize to make it look like a Polaroid ;) So I know the quality is poor and it is way blown out but it's the outfit that counts!

Hello!

So I have started a blog... oh my. I am inspired by so many blogs I read but I could NEVER hold a candle to them. So I am not going to try to!! This is just a place that hopefully I can expand and improve my photography. I am currently taking an online photography class from Angie Seaman at http://angieseamanphotography.com/

I am starting week three today. I figured I would post my weekly photos here so you and I can see the progression of my pictures :) So here we go. These are not great, that's why I'm learning! Each week we have an assignment. So the content isn't the greatest but the lessons are getting learned.

Week one.
Objectives- get in close, compose the picture using the rule of thirds


My comments from Angie were that it is slightly underexposed and that this would be an exception to the rule of thirds. I should have just centered the picture ;)

Week 2.
Objectives- using aperture. Take one picture with a high aperture and one with a low aperture keeping the subject the same




I actually got a compliment on the first photo!! but on the second she said I lost focus on the primary 'flower'

So that is where I am right now! I am having fun and I am learning things!! Hopefully some day I can take beautiful pictures of my family and my adorable nephews, that I am proud of!!

Until next class!!