Our early Christmas present...

Recently I won a giveaway from 'The Photog Hotties', also called the Langs.

I love their style, especially the candid shots and their locations. June wasn't completely into it like I wanted her to be, but Stacie managed to get some really great ones. I'll try to refrain from sharing every single shot, but these were just SOME of my favorite:

 

And apparently The Langs are also miracle workers. In the (almost) 5 years that William and I have been married, we've only taken maybe one or two GOOD photos together. Of course, Mrs. Lang happens to get like TEN GOOD ONES in one photo session. 

These were my favorite:

Believe me, I have MANY others to share, but I must refrain and save for future posts, for Christmas Cards, etc.

Thank you again, Langs, for the free photo session. Merry Christmas to us!

Lens Flare

Tried it out on 2 of my favorite people:

I should try it more often.

Here are some failed attempts at lens flare, but I still love the way the photos turned out.

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Waiting Impatiently: to cross off everything off my "No-Fun" list so I can start doing my "Fun" list. (What's on my "Fun" list? Repainting a desk, bake an apple pie from scratch, go to everything in here, paint chip art, finish this project, this one, and this one.)

Tasting: APPLES. The best right now.

Listening To: The Whole Love by Wilco... again and again and again.

Laughing At: these pictures. I wish I can see why they're so scared.

Excited: to finally get my haircut today. It's been 7 months. Gross.

Hot Hot Heat and 5pm lighting

I can't believe how quickly this week went. I feel like I was busy, but when I think back to what I've done, I can't think of anything.

Usually, the heat of AZ gets to me by the end of June. I managed to make it all the way to the middle of August... but now I've nearly lost my nerve.

What is it with running errands with a baby that makes you feel 100 degrees hotter and as sweaty as Kent's hands?! (Sorry Kent, I needed to prove a point. The next time I see you, I'll let you tease me about my secret crush on Freddie Prince Jr. when I was in 9th grade in front of William... oh wait, YOU'VE ALREADY DONE THAT.)

Anyway...

This morning I had my favorite breakfast, cereal and bananas:

Every so often, William asks me if I could eat one food everyday for the rest of my life, what it would be. I ALWAYS say cold cereal. There's no doubt that I could eat it everyday, because I (almost) already do. That and cheese quesadillas.

Okay, now for the boring stuff.

Remember how I'm trying to be a better photographer?

Continuing my notes on lighting at different times, here is 5pm lighting:

Now let's compare 9 and 5:

Not much of a difference, but I think I like the 9am better... it's a TAD bit softer. (I'm actually just pretending that I know what I'm talking about.)

I'm going to try a few more lighting times and see if I can get dramatically different results.

The next thing I want to try is achieving a lens flare in my photos, as seen in recent photo trends, and the last two J.J. Abrams movies. (Next time you watch Star Trek or Super 8, those flare shots will be all you'll notice...just wait.)

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Listening to: the Bob Dylan Station on Pandora. SO GOOD.

Laughing at: Clair on 'The Cosby Show' doing an aerobics class. One of my favorite scenes (it's the best starting at 1:29).

Researching: How to plant an herb garden.

Reading: 'Virus on Orbis 1' (almost done), but I just started 'The Westing Game'.

Eating this:

Thanks for the cupcake, Mom. It hit the spot after a hot day.

9am Lighting

As I've mentioned before, I'm trying to learn to take better photos.

No, I will not call myself a photographer.

Yes, I have a loooooooooong way to go. How long? I hope to be a sufficient photographer by the time June has her firstborn.

One thing I've been reading about is natural light. I've been told to find out what time and which room brings in the best natural light. So first I tried morning light. (I WAS going to try late afternoon light, but it was a cloudy day today --I'm not complaining.)

Don't mind my notes on photography:

This is the lighting in my room at 9am.

Not too bad.

Taking these pictures also made me realize I need a bigger lens. I tried doing a close-up on June's eyes:

Look how long her eyelashes are!

Okay, I'm done.

Reading: "Virus on Orbis 1" (meh, it's aight... I'm trying to read more science fiction)

Anticipating: Making my first peach pie

Listening to: Strokes, Angles

Wanting: This camera strap ($138?! Might as well get a new lens.)

Counting: The number of times that June peed or spit up on a surface today. Let's just say I can do an ENTIRE load of laundry on what she marked her territory.