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OOTD - First Day of Spring & a B-Day

This year on the first day of spring we had a party to go to.  My little nephew (actually, he's my grand nephew but that just makes me sound much older than 37) is turning 2.  Party was held at my sister-in-law's house and the weather was pretty nice.  Warm sun but the wind had a bit of bite to it.  I figured a good ole cardigan was the way to go here.

And luckily I decided not to have my new Paige Lou Lou's hemmed before washing and drying them.  The length is now perfect for the wedges I would typically wear with these.  Probably could lose an inch off the bottom, but after seeing how much they shrunk, I'm just going to keep 'em as is.

jeans - Paige Lou Lou via Anthropologie; tank - Gap outlet; cardigan - Land's End Canvas; shoes - Preview via Nordstrom Rack ($21 score!); nails - Zoya Eve

The kids all had a blast playing outside for the first time in a while!

 The beautiful birthday boy.  Can you say eyelashes for miles!

And we had skebbies for dinner.  This is my grand niece and her first spaghetti slurp.

And one of the hubs just cuz I think he's cute.  :)

Happy Spring everyone.

Photography - My Baseline

As mentioned before, I have a burning desire to be a great photographer.  Toward that end, my husband gave me a fabulous gift this Christmas - two private lessons with a photography teacher.  He will work with me on my specific needs and wants and I'm sooooo excited.

I figured I'd post what I consider my favorite photos to date.  They are straight OOTC (out of the camera) as I am clueless about Photoshop and post processing.  They are also in no way perfect and for most of them, I wasn't trying to take a perfect photo, just some family shots or trying to document an event.  But, they will give me something to compare myself to in terms of progress.

So, here are my favs from the past two years (which is the amount of time I've been shooting with my DSLR).

I'll stop there.  Sometimes I think I like the subject matter more than the technical aspects of the picture.  Here's to improved photos in 2011!

I'm going to link to my other blog here where I am posting my favorite (most appetizing) food photos of 2010.  Hoping to take more time and effort photographing that too.

Photography - My Equipment & Resources

Yet another of my short term goals is to become a better photographer.  In the long term, I hope to have the knowledge and skills that will help me become the art photographer I've been dreaming of for years.  On the bucket list is actually selling at least one art portrait for profit (and not to my mother or grandmother), becoming a professional!

The types of photography I'm interested in run the gamut from somewhat dark and romantic/erotic black and white portrait photography to the quirky and unfocused photo art created with various lens attachments and post processes (Lensbaby, HDR).  Of course, I also love taking fashion mag type photos of the kids.  I am obsessed with costuming and staging photos to look completely natural and unstaged.  LOL  This part gets expensive (thank God for H&M kids - great crazy fashions for kids, cheap)!  Driving around town, I am always on the look out for great locations to stage a shoot and have to pull over to jot it down along with photo ideas.  Drives my family nuts!  Just wait until I actually start shooting.  They will love spending their Saturday at the train yard changing in and out of three different outfits so mommy can "practice".  There will be bribes a plenty I'm sure.

As for equipment, here is what I am working with right now.  Nikon D80 DSLR with kit 18-135mm lens, a 50mm 1:1.8 prime lens (love, love, love), Dolica Proline tripod, Nikon SB-600 speedlight and a Nikon wireless remote.  Not a whole heck of a lot, but enough to learn the art without becoming overwhelmed by too much new equipment.  Learn the basics first.  :)

Sorry, crappy point and shoot used to take that photo.

My wish list is much, much longer than my equipment list unfortunately.  Ain't that always the way? It consists of, for the time being and for the sake of being somewhat realistic:

Three backdrops (black and red velvet, cream color canvas)
Couple of light boxes
Reflector
Additional camera body (Nikon D90 perhaps)
Any and all of the Lensbaby lenses and aperture kits
Another tripod
TIME to learn and practice

If anybody else is interested in broadening their horizons and learning more about photography, below are links to some interesting resources (technical and inspirational) I've found.  I would LOVE to hear about others you may know of and thank you in advance for any info.

Wolfe189 Photography (adult natured/nude photos so move the kids out of the room)
Mpix Forums (also a really great lab)
Lensbaby Studio Forum (extremely cool stuff)
The Photo Forum
Strobist (a blog about lighting)
Flickr (for inspiration)
HDR Photography Blog
All Things Photography (tips and product reviews)

I've got a few great books about digital photography in general, black and white conversion and HDR that were referred to me by my super fabulous camera shop (a/k/a my crack dealer, the money pit, my second mortgage...) if anybody wants the names of those as well.

For the other makeup and fashion obsessed, Flickr has many photography groups dedicated to those subjects as well.  Great stuff, lots o' eye candy!

Anybody else have resolutions, hopes, a bucket list?