Josh & Melissa

I'm A Wedding Photographer: Take 2

2012-02-26T14:27:00.002-07:00

I did my first ever solo wedding yesterday.

I looked up tips for new wedding photographers and there was all this scary stuff like

"you have no idea what your doing"

"you're not prepared"

"hire the couple a real wedding photographer"

"you will most likely ruin the wedding"

"don't do it"

After many encouraging messages, I figured the morning of the wedding would probably be too late to call and cancel...

So I put on my big girl panties and walked out the door.

This was my mantra for the day

"Stay calm. Act cool...kind of like you know what your doing"

I'm learning MANY new things every time I do a shoot.

Here are the things I learned yesterday.

1. My height is a disadvantage

2. I need to buy a couple extra lens covers. Those suckers get lost too easily.

3. A light diffuser thing is life changing. I need to return this one to it's rightful owner (Thanks Jedi Josh & Kelley!) and buy one of my own

4. Other vendors become your friends during the wedding and keep you company
5. It is a guarantee that I will put the camera down and join in on the cupid shuffle

6. Stay calm

7. Act cool...kind of like you know what your doing (I think they believed me)

This was like one of the most intricate weddings ever.

Christy handmade 98% of everything. Bouquets. Table decorations. Boutonnieres

I wish I could show you everything.

I'm not legit enough yet to say "Christy and Mike's Sneak Peek"

but here are some of my favorites.

Or a lot of my favorites.

Whatever. Don't judge. There was a lot to take pictures of.

Every center piece was a different color of the rainbow and looked completely different

brown table

pink table

Brittany and I got a shout out!

These were used in the game to decide which order the tables got to get up and eat

All bouquets match the girls. Christy made each one by hand out of paper.

Christy's bouquet

paper flowers made that hung from the tree where the ceremony took place

getting Mike ready for the first look

the first look about to happen

they were having just a little bit of fun :)

She was just a bit stunning.

Boom.

First solo wedding.

So Excited.

2012-02-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

I am so stinkin excited.

I entered to win a absolutely fabulous bag designed specifically for cameras.

(On this blog)

First of all, let's just state the obvious.

I could NEVER afford this 3 digit number

(not that it's not worth it, just not in my oh-so-glorious teacher budget)

but I had seen ONA before and thought they just looked like wonderful.

Especially the plum color.

(Random fact: I am consistently teased by close friends, and the hubs, about having a different favorite color every week)

I think plum is a beautiful color to wear.

But red (and yellow) will always remain first in my heart.

Long story short,

I WON IT!

This little padawan right here.

I'm so excited I think I'll post a couple more photos that this little ole padawan has taken from this little ole big girl camera that will soon have a beautiful new home!

I sure do hope I am "earning the respect" of a new lens.

Did ya all know I still almost pee my pants when I hit the submit button for a post with pictures.

That's fun fact #2 for the day.

Oh! We need a new photo up top. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED our wedding but it's about time. Anybody like to play photographer like me and would like to snap a few of us in the next couple weeks, por favor??

I totally would, but, let's be honest, we all saw how the self portrait turned out.

ONA Giveaway!

2012-02-09T17:58:00.000-07:00

Anyone who loves....

1. Photography

2. Great bags or purses

Go check out this fantastic giveaway!

http://colorissue.blogspot.com/2012/02/ona-bag-giveaway-woohoo.html

It is pretty stinkin' awesome.

Um, I'm a wedding photographer?

2012-01-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

So. You all thought that my first "all by my lonesome" wedding shoot was in February.

Well you were wrong.

And so was I, as it turns out.

My hubs sent me this text last Monday

"Want to take photos of a wedding on Sunday for free?"

My response:

"Haha. No?"

Please.

I have plenty of opportunities to practice weddings all the time.

Not.

It turned out that his coworker, Elashun, had gotten engaged two weeks prior and was getting married Sunday.

The only thing she bought was a dress and the rest of the wedding planning, her church was throwing it together.

Josh offered my amateur services as our wedding gift.

Well, alright.

I guess it's no pressure.

It was either my amateur photos or no amateur photos.

I decided why the heck not.

I had met her once before and knew she was super sweet.

So we arrived at church yesterday and I patiently waited with my handy dandy (and quite handsome) assistant.

(Amateurs are totally allowed to have assistants FYI)

It seemed like we waited FOREVER.

And then once it begun, it begun.

(now I know I promised all the good and all the bad. But I already deleted all the bad.

oops. But you can trust me, there were plenty of "blurfests")

So, I'll just show off the ones I'm proud of

(...at least for right now. I'm already going back and looking at photos thinking,

"Seriously, Melissa? That was kind of embarrassing.)

All a part of the process, people

Oh and at this moment, I have a free trial of lightroom going on so that is what I have been getting to play with! if anyone wants to give me a hands on lightroom 101...yes, please.

waiting to walk down the aisle!

Now my favorites..

LOVE the tat.

So I just realized this is like 99.9% the bride.

Can you blame me though?

Honestly?

She was stunning.

Ok.

So lessons learned.

1. An ISO of something in between 800 and 1600 would greatly benefit me.

1A. Grainy is better than blurry. Lesser of two evils.

2. having an assistant is great, even if it is only for emotional support :)

3. photographing a wedding is nothing but an adventure

4. I need to be confident and assertive

5. Not so great at posing people. I tell people kind of where to sit and tell them to do what is natural and hope that it looks good.

6. Seeing what a church family can pull off for one another is greatly encouraging

7. I still have A LOT to learn but it was a great experience

Family Shoot!

2012-01-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a fun couple weeks.

I've been on break.

Josh has been on break.

So we play.

Or become semi-permanant couch potatoes.

Call what you will, I call it a-maz-ing.

Relaxation at it's finest.

Unfortunately, Josh went back to work this past week.

But I did have a few fun things on my to-do list.

1. repaint the laundry room (which was definitely more work than I had bargained for but worth it. I think?)

2. help Jedi Liana get ready for the Bridal Expo (which was total madness FYI)

3. get some good editing tips/lessons from Jedi Liana

I was just about to get started on painting when I got a call from my friend, who I will call J-Lo just for funsies.

(her name is Joy and her last name starts with lo. I can't believe it has taken me this long to make that connection)

She had some friends that needed some last minute family photos for their son who had just turned one.

(Back up, back up....I had met momma and baby before this and knew who she was talking about)

Let me just say this is what went through my head...

"So you are telling me I get to add photos of one of the cutest babies ever to my budding portfolio?"

YES, PLEASE.

Two days later I found myself at Anthem park with this fun family.

Here are a couple of my favorites.

You try to tell me he isn't one of the cutest one year olds.

this may be one of my favorites

a treasure that was found in the grass

after a while, it was time to snack on a stick

Love him.

Love the family.

(Learning to) love editing.

Actually, I'm lying. I love editing. It's the user errors that are no fun (and cheap wireless mouses? meece? mice?)

But that will get better over time.

And maybe I'll stinkin stop way OVER ANALYZING everything I do.

Everything.

I annoy myself.

Oh. and still no zumba job.

(why is one not just falling in my lap? For real.)

Yep. I'm that (un) cool.

Come join me in my kitchen every Wednesday night at 6:30 to shake what your momma gave ya.

Real Padawan Updates

2011-12-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

Apparently this is what I look like when I am using the camera.

A constant state of confusion and analyzing.

Over-analyzing, really.

Yep.

So I was gonna give this big long spiel of whats been happening

(because it's exciting, trust me)

BUT really what it boils down to is that I have been taking a lot of photos.

A lot.

Like an obnoxious amount.

But it's cool.

mainly because it's a blast.

There have been issues here and there.

There are issues that are mine.

Or the cameras'

Or the little girl editing tools that I am using.

Really, they are all my issues but we'll just blame it on the technology for right now:)

So let's look at all the photos of late.

Here are a couple that I have taken with A Moment In Time Photography with my mentor, Liana.

(edited by Liana using big girl photography tools and skills)

FYI, I'm just gonna shorten A Moment In Time Photography to "AMIT" for the rest of this!


A close friend at a fundraiser from church


very first engagement photo used for a real album for AMIT


another engagement shoot I got to do with AMIT!

I have also gotten to tag a long on a couple of weddings.

Will some of my photos get used in the real set of photos??

I don't know!

It's always exciting and nerve-wracking to get feedback from Liana.

She has been nothing but encouraging

But it feels like the equivalent of giving a famous chef a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and hoping they will at least just taste it.

I have also done some of my own stuff

Three family photo shoots?

The Barney Family

Pretty much models, right?

And from these photos I got 2 more shoots!

The Sauer Family

And also

Christy and Mike

These two just so happen to be getting married in February

And guess who gets to photograph this wedding?

This little padawan right here!
I'm so lucky, it's ridiculous

It has been lots of fun
and I love getting feedback from people
and like I said there are still issues

nervousness

I barely know what I'm doing

blurry photos

little girl editing tools

But I'm banking on the fact that these things will come with time

(and dinero)

I hope at least.

And then one day I'll have a facebook page and website and my own photography blog and a legit company name... (you just got a small glimpse into my way too optimistic head. I also am hoping that Santa and/or the city of Phoenix will get me a Sprouts and/or Sunflower Marker and a Super Target within 2 miles of my house)

I'm so realistic.

But like I said at the very beginning of this adventure...

There will be good photo days and not-so-good photo days

And learning how to make the first outweigh the latter is a crazy good adventure.

Also random fact: it is a really odd experience to airbrush yourself

I guess that's enough of an update!

And I'm positive this is way longer than anyone intended to read for.

I will leave you with some of my favorite Christmas photos


GQ, right?

Merry (early) Christmas from the AZ photography padawan!

Padawan Updates

2011-12-08T21:52:00.000-07:00

Oops!

So it's been a while.

Some might say a long while.

BUT it's been a little crazy.

good crazy.

Prepare for multiple photos.

Here's what's been going on

1. Zumba!!

I attended zumba instructor training and LOVED it.

Finding the actual job seems to be the hard part :) It is very different from the professional world, rather informal actually. Which is odd to me. After 4 1/2 years of learning how to be a professional and 2 1/2 years of being one, shooting somewhat informal emails to people is weird.

I HAVE taught 1 class to highschoolers at PDSD. So that makes me semi official. AND I have a zip up hoodie that says "INSTRUCTOR" (and a tank on the way:))

I'm pretty much legit, really.

(But seriously, this poor zumba instructor is looking for work. Call me if you want to shake your booty)

2. Visitors

we had the parentals in town for thanksgiving

we hiked.

we ate.

we shopped.

we hiked some more.

A beautiful Thanksgiving morning


At the top of my mom's very first hike!

It was a blast.

2b. Thanksgiving


Had to recreate our dessert photo from last year!

photo from 2010

A bit of a blurfest.
Meh. Oh well.

3. Random

3A. Javelina sighting.

This happened.
It may have been a near death experience. We may also have ran back home screaming like little girls.

3B. Spreading Christmas cheer.

I made a tree skirt and was avoiding the sewing machine at all costs.

Were all the glue-gun burns worth it?

The jury's still out.

4. Visitors part 2

We had some close friends from college visit for a long weekend

I'll use the phrase loud and proud: These are my besties! Reunited. Sweet long last.

bahaha.

I can't get over the high-school homecoming dance esque-ness of this photo.
Although I am fairly certain none of us would have been as close of friends, let alone dated each other in highschool.

5. Teach DHH students

(insert too many pictures of cute kids with hearing aids)

6. Start children's ministry

(insert expense report that is so close to being done it isn't even funny)
(No cute pictures yet. Although the purple shirt I am in above is our shirt. Pretty sweet)

7. Photography

Oh bummer! I am pooped. And this is going to be the longest.
And the best.
And so much fun.
Let's save it for tomorrow.
Or this weekend.
Probably this weekend.
yeah, this weekend.
Expect the real updates of this photography Padawan shortly.

And I don't mean to toot my own horn but I will.
I know you'll be back to see it :)
I have gathered quite the little following.
And I am not just referring to my whole 17 followers.

I'm referring to my stalkers who catch me off guard by creepily knowing about my life
or they automatically refer to Josh's (very serious) masters program as "principal school"
that's my personal favorite. sh.

So come back.
This Padawan has been a very busy kind of busy.

Fall Adventure

2011-10-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

We decided to escape the obnoxious heat today

and headed up to Lynx Lake in Prescott

Only an hour and a half away

yet a major difference in temperature

(reason # 241 Arizona is a great place to live)

After a two mile hike and some delicious food later,

it's time for sweats and a movie.

I'd say this adventure date makes up for last two weeks of missing coffee date nights,

right?

DIY Padawan?

2011-10-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

I take the (more than) occasional trip to the one and only

You know it and love it, just like me.

And if you don't know it yet, you will love it.

There are many benefits to "pinteresting"
1. Makes online hoarding doable, acceptable and even somewhat cool
2. Gives you plenty of yummy recipes
3. Makes you feel capable of being crafty

I have been feeling in a "fallish" mood and stumbled upon this little, fun pretty

I was determined to actually do a DIY project so off I went to hobby lobby to get the goods.


half wrapped "D" and my photo of inspiration

After lots of hot glue gun burns and some frustration, here is what I ended with

I have yet to decide if it is too many patterns all at once.
It's funny how you second guess EVERYTHING when you decide to put it on the internet.

But for now, it's on my door :)

Honestly though, too many hot glue gun burns to not hang it somewhere.

Pooped Padawan

2011-10-10T17:56:00.001-07:00

I'm pooped!

Within 24 hours I went up to Chino Valley, AZ with my mentor and jedi, Liana (from A Moment In Time Photography), to shoot my first wedding and then woke up and shot my first newborn photos!

Phew!

Here is some knowledge I have gained in the past 30 hours

I need to build up stamina.

Seriously. Shooting a wedding is like running a marthon. Except you are also carrying heavy camera stuff everywhere and doing squats while not taking any breaks.

I think I'm gonna start running marathons and lifting weights.

Which leads me to my number 2.

I'm weak.

Like super duper weak.

My arms are so sore today and my big girl camera doesn't even compare to the mother of all cameras that Liana was carrying.

(I did use her mother lens at the reception for a little while but I had to change it...my arms were so tired! I was too scared I was gonna drop it and cause a scene and never be invited to a wedding shoot again)

Insane, right?

Lighting always changes.

ALWAYS

Even if it is only 10 steps in the opposite direction.

Gr.

Dancing people are hard to capture....

The ratio of not bad photos to "blurry blurs" is about 1:80.

I had to apologize in advance to Liana for all the photos she was going to need to delete.

I'm meant to be a zumba instructor

It was really hard to not get my groove thing on during all the fun music.

Eventually the awesomeness of music with a great beat broke me down. I couldn't contain myself.

If you ever want a dancing photographer, you know where to go.

Newborns like to smile for the 2 seconds you put down the camera

Hopefully some out of the 400 I took, she will at least have two opened eyes :)

Babies are faster than you think

All their cute, slow, baby-like movements?

No.

You would be surprised at all the blurry hands and feet I got.

But maybe that is just because I was on manual and should have adjusted something.

Windows "Fix" doesn't cut it

I'm getting ready for big girl editing stuff.

Wedding hangover is real

...and it's not the drinking kind

It was all so much overwhelming fun, I don't know how to contain myself except for fall asleep out of exhaustion.

But, hey..
I haven't even had Zoila for 3 months yet and I already got to tag a long for a wedding with a legit photographer

Holler!

Flag

2011-10-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Flag

We have some visitors staying with us.

We all took a day trip up to Flagstaff, AZ today to do some sight seeing.

We got to pretend we were ancient Native Americans all day.

Attempting to pronounce odd Aztec names (and other hard to pronounce northern AZ names)

and planning retirement homes.

Here are some of our highlights!

Some chilly weather, sight-seeing, and photos?

A good time was had by all.

The Grand Finale! Part A

2011-09-27T19:39:00.001-07:00

Self Portrait

Finished.

Done.

Succeeded.

Accomplished.

There are so many things I want to cover that I made part A just in case I forget something and need to make a part B.

So like I said at the very, very beginning.

It's a process people.

I can't believe I have learned SO much and still have no idea what I am doing all at the same time :)

I have learned there are lots of different settings to adjust and what there names are.

Inanimate objects are beautiful but are getting SUPER boring. Time to move on to people

My husband gets bored really fast when he is my human subject.

Technical terms like bokeh.

How to appreciate good lighting outside.

It's no fun to take photos inside

I'm too scared to ask people if I can take their photo. Even though I really want to practice.

Editing can really help fix an oops. and I would like to have a better photo editing program.

Apparent some people think I am good at writing. That's hilarious in itself.

Overall though, I feel this accurately describes how I feel when opening my Canon camera bag.

This really is just the beginning of a beautiful friendship :)

I SO completely and naively thought that self portait on the last day would be much easier and way less awkward.

WRONG.

It was horrendous, and I felt like I was doing a trashy myspace photo all over again.

Let's enjoy these gems, shall we?

Precious.

I wish I could tell you that was all of the not-so-good.

There was this times about 40.

I don't think self portraits are meant to be flattering or easy.

I've decided it's next to impossible.

They got a little better eventually.

And I will leave you with the two.

(I guess I can consider that a win...I'm ending this with two photos...of me of all people)

My hubby likes one and I like the other. Can you guess who likes which one?

I don't think the above one is the best. And I don't think it is an awesome photo of me.

But it is the most natural.

and that is my goal.

To capture the natural beauty that does exist in this world.

I have so much more to learn and am so excited to learn it.

Oh and without further ado.

And much deliberation.

The name of my "yettobenamed" Canon Rebel is

Zoila

She is named after a housekeeper on a reality show called Flipping Out.

Here is clip of her. (Viewer discretion advised :))

She is spunky and fun and has an attitude and is beautiful

And has an accent.

My camera would be all of those things and more.

Thanks for reading my crazy rants and putting up with me for 30 days.

This happy padawan greatly appreciates it.

Challenge Day 29

2011-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Black and White

I may be a few days late. Oopsies.

This one is going to be short and sweet.

At first I wanted to do feet.

Fail.

Then I decided to do one of my favorite parts of my husband.

His hands.

With his wedding ring, of course.

It may be alittle bit of a "grain storm" as one of my Jedi's would say.

But I kinda like it on this photo anyways.

See ya soon

Challenge Day 28

2011-09-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

Flower

I went for a nice long 3 mile walk this morning.

The second mile and a half I had 3 buddies.

My hubby, our dogs friend Carlos, and yettobenamed Rebel.

Join us on our walk, won't you?

It is mostly brown with some green like this

and some mountains like this

But every once in a while you get a pop of color!

like this...

I spy mr. bee

why hello again, mr. bee


this bicycle is just plain ole' fun

why hello weird little bugs that are thankfully not near our house.

why hello mrs. butterfly

But here is my favorite from the walk!

I LOVE capturing these beautiful colors.

Want to hear my big birl news??

I got to tag-a-long on a big girl photo shoot with A Moment In Time Photography

I almost peed my pants in nervousness and the excitement that was combined for a magical 20 minute engagement shoot.

This came at the most perfect time.

I'm not gonna lie, I love this photo challenge but inanimate objects are getting old.

Challenge Day 27

2011-09-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

From A Distance

Not gonna lie.

I was expecting a fail.

But I actually enjoy this one! Yay!

We drove out specifically to get this shot.

I have never pulled off to the side of the road to get a photo before.

I'm so artsy, it's insane.

This is on a road near our house: Happy Valley.

Who doesn't love that name?

I do think this photo makes the small, fancy Norterra area look much cooler than it really is

But the mountains are wonderful, aren't they?

I LOVE being able to capture beautiful things.

Winning.

Here are a couple other photos from my roadside adventure

I don't think this is water you should drink

Tiny little purple dot on the right hand side is our Harkins theater. I feel it is necessary to point that out for whatever reason.

Off to enjoy a beautiful (but still too hot) night.

Who is also glad it is Friday?

I have 15 followers now!!

I am still finding it way super ODD that people are enjoying my blog.

Weird.

I might just be a miniature, blog version of Ellen.

Probably true.

Day 26

2011-09-22T20:13:00.002-07:00

Close Up

So Josh and I went a little crazy and instead of going to our usual coffee house for Thursday date night, we went over to an old favorite, Yogurtini.

If you have yet to try a yogurt bar, you need to go stat.

They are delish and it CAN BE way healthier and way cheaper than the place that rhymes with "Boldstone."

I got a new something pink photo.

My hubbys delicious, not so healthy, treat.

Now technically, I could also use this as my close up for today.

No.No.

I can't cheat you like that.

So here is a close up of their beautiful huge cup.

Or should I say bucket.

Here are a few other photos from our date tonight.

This was the first time I have ventured out in public with my yet to be named Rebel 2Ti

(who is thinking "yettobenamed" is starting to sound like a good name)

pretty AZ sunset

not much healthier than Josh's yogurt treat

If you haven't noticed by now

I take a lot of awkward photos.

A lot.

Some say cute, I say awkward.

But I realized I haven't posted any of Josh's awkward photos.

So in all fairness...

FYI he is aware that I am posting a not great photo but he has not seen it yet.

I think it will be better as a surprise. Don't you?

So if you happen to come back in ten minutes and it's gone....:)

Also, I should probably get some sort of mula for all the advertising I'm giving Yogurtini. Obviously my 2 devoted followers will make a huge change in their profit.

Oh.

I forgot to mention two things yesterday!

1. Happy first day of fall!!!! Yay! That means I get to start decorating my house!

Thanks Target dollar section!

2. In one month from yesterday, I will be a certified Zumba instructor.

Which means I will be in full swing pre-mid life crisis.

Bring it on.

Challenge Day 25

2011-09-21T19:40:00.002-07:00

Something Pink

Fail.

But not necessarily the fault of my "photography skills"

Phew!

I can handle that.

So here's the story.

Last weekend we were with our friends. They made us some chicken.

This chicken was pink.

Like VIVID pink.

I was slightly weirded out at first.

But it tasted so dang delicious!

And it was just from a seasoning packet in the Asian section of the grocery store.
According to my friend, it was "easy to find"

OBVIOUSLY I had found my day 25: something pink.

I ventured to the nearest Albertsons to find what surely would be called

"vivid pink tasty chicken seasoning"

No such luck.

I got the closest thing I could find.

Tandoori??

Not pink.

Not pink at all.
(and not as tasty)

Fail.

But see? Not my fault!

I thought

"Well, as long as I am taking photos of non-pink food I may as well add the rest of my dinner."

That's right.

Cookies.

Don't judge.

Just let it be.

You'll notice I have no "X-large" photo today.

I just can't commit to my day 25 photo.

I'm hoping to come back with a vengeance tomorrow.

Hubs and I are taking our weekly coffee date night over to Yogurtini tomorrow night.

Surely we'll find something fun and pink to take a picture of.

Surely.

Challenge Day 24

2011-09-20T21:07:00.001-07:00

Animal.

I knew it was gonna be hard with our little monster.

But I didn't know it was going to be this hard.

It was kind of ridiculous.

This isn't even a small fraction of the amount of horribleness I got.

The ratio of bad pictures to not so bad pictures was about 50:1

After a while, I asked for hubbys help.

He was a tad busy with principal school.

As soon as I would figure out the ISO and Aperture and Shutter Speed, he would move!

Darn you, dog!!

I was making all the oddest and loudest sounds in the world to try to get him to look at the camera.

He lost interest in that WAY too fast.

After talking with Liana, one of my Jedis, she confirmed my theory.

You need multiple people to do animal shoots.

And she gave me some good tips.

Maybe next time.

So, here ya go!

If there is irony in real life, this is it.

( I was taught by my high school English teacher that there is no irony in real life. It can only be created within story lines. Otherwise it's called a coincidence. Take that Alanis Morissette!)

I chose the one decent photo where he is not looking at the camera.

I'm no sure why I was so set on him looking at it.

But the under the table shots are kind of fun to look at.

Here a couple other somewhat decent and/or funny from today.

I'll let you decide which category they fall under.

this is his favorite position to be held. seriously.

And since we're on the subject of this crazy animal named Wrigley, here are a few others of him from this past month.

2nd ever photo from yet to be named Rebel 2Ti

another favorite position of his.

Who knew an 8 pound ball of fur could bring so much laughter in your life?

I love my little family.

I forgot! It is Tuesday, September 20th.
Glee is back.
Time to get my Gleek on!
I absolutely love turning into a 13 year old for 1 hour a week.

Challenge Day 23

2011-09-19T18:23:00.001-07:00

Sunflare

I teach preschool children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE teaching children

But every (not-so) great once in a while

I arrive home with my patience tank on almost empty.

Such as today.

Josh picked me up

(we carpool. we're just that cute)

I mumbled something along the lines of "not ready to talk"

turned the radio off and reclined the chair.

And remained silent for at least the first 30% of our car ride home.

this is a typical Monday afternoon.

I lead a glamorous life, people.

Life gets much better when I get to take some photos near the end of the day.

I find it somewhat relaxing.

Although I was somewhat frustrated with sunflare today.

Like I said, my patience tank was empty and I was ready to curl up in bed and sleep for the night.

Want to know something else fun?

I think the "B" key on my computer is on it's way out.

Bummer.

I got a long way to save before (it just took me 4 tries to get that b) I get me my Macbook Pro.

Anyhow! Here is my photo today.

Anyone recognize the handsome model??

You got it!

Frank!!

Hehe.

Just jokin, but I do think he is one mighty fine lookin cactus.

Here are a few others from our miniature shoot.

work clothes hubby

taking modeling tips from Frank. reliable source.

I think his patience tank may have been low as well.

It's 103 degrees today.

Seriously.

For real.

It is one of the 15 out 365 days I am jealous of my Illinois peeps.

I am so incredibly ready for Fall.

Bring on the pumpkins, cooler weather, and hot drinks!
Pumpkin spice latte anyone?

Challenge Day 22

2011-09-18T10:27:00.001-07:00

Hands

My hubs started playing with his hands in the air, so here ya go.

(What did I tell ya about the huge crush on sunflare?)

So, I didn't realize until this morning that I could totally represent.

ASL

American. Sign. Language.

We just did the cheesy stuff

Maybe one day I can do some cooler ASL stuff.

But we have a Bears game to watch STAT.

So here it is despite the cheesiness.

So Sweet :)

I can't even take full credit for using ASL.

Not until he started playing with his hands in the air did I realize.

Um. Duh.

My creative juices are flowing.

You just wait till I'm a professional.

I'm gonna blow your mind!

Challenge Day 20 and 21

2011-09-17T13:28:00.003-07:00

Bokeh

Buckle in, folks.

It's a gonna be a long one.

"Bokeh is the photographing technique of aesthetically blurring the background; to exaggerate the effect of the lights shinning in the background/foreground."

So I got a photo not too long ago with a blurry background.

Yay, bokeh!

Not so much.

It is slightly more involved than I first thought.

I went out with my beautiful bicycle to try to get it.

The best shot I got was this

I was not a huge fan.

I was defeated by bokeh and was determined to get something better.

But the beautiful sun was going down and my hubs had a hungry belly.

Off to Bdubs I went as miss crabby pants.

I wanted to get this one right, darn it.

Who cares about failing the over-exposure day? not me.

But Bokeh? That's fun to say AND fun to look at.

___________________________________________________________________

Let me interrupt to say that I DID make up for my something blue day.

Here is my BEAUTIFUL beach cruiser.

Wrigley got his first official ride home from the mail box in it yesterday.

While editing this post...

Hubs: Where is Wrigley's photo?

Wifey: You want me to add it?

Hubs: Well if you're gonna mention him...geesh.

We like our dog.

____________________________________________________________________

So I woke up this morning and said "Bokeh, I will beat you!"

After some research I fashioned this fancy lens cover.

and this was the result..

nope.

OK. Let's do some more research then.

I changed my lens to the "zoomier" one

and set the aperture as low as it could go.

After some playing with the settings

(all on manual of course. all manual, all the time. I didn't forget my rule!)

this is what I got

Boom, baby!

I ran up stairs to a husband in the shower.

I was jumping up and down.

"I did it! I got bokeh! I did it!"

I am an overly proud little photographer!

I think that technically the more you can see the circles, the less quality bokeh it is. But I kinda like the circles so the middle photo is mine for the day (or, er. yesterday) I'm also going to brag and say that these are not at all edited. Now ask me to do it all over again, probably wouldn't happen.

Sappy Serious Melissa will interject here: I am FASCINATED by the technical stuff and LOVE researching how to use my camera to it's full potential.This is hard work but it's something that is bringing so much more joy into my life! What a blessing that humans were created in the image of God and were given an artistic eye, and the ability to create something that will capture all of His beautiful creations! Woah.

I win!

Bokeh:0, Proud Little Photographer: 1

_______________________________________________________________

Faceless Self Portrait

I think we all know by now that I am over taking photos of myself.

At first I did this

but then I quickly realized that technically that's a face.

Oops.

So here is camera face Melissa.

Overall I'll consider today (3 in 1) a win thank you very much.

Challenge Day 19

2011-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

Something Orange

Some of you may know from Facebook that I was pleasantly surprised with a gift this morning from my husband. It entailed this lovely note.

Hello Love,

So I know you have a photo challenge today to take a picture of something orange. I know you want to do something for like a pumpkin and the only orange thing we have is my wonderful Bears shirt. Since you are working so hard and do so amazing at taking pictures I thought you deserved a little present which just so happens to be orange...

I love you.

Hubby

I was expecting this little pumpkin candle holder from bath & body works (which I would also love to own) but....

I got this beautiful little diddy above (which was way better than a pumpkin candle holder). We were on a date night last Friday and were moseying around a store and I found this and fell in love.

And let me just say this: I am a little too excited for fall.

This orange is absolutely perfect for it!
(it's a little sad how much fun I am having planning my Halloween unit for my itty bitties)

flowy beautifulness

pretty detail

I have fairly large crush on sunflare right now.

So the hubs did a good job, right??
This is a BIG deal.
I have always wanted him to buy me a piece of clothing.
And it happened.
sweet. long. last.

Oh!

I have 13 followers...

13!

I will celebrate every follower.

Every.Single.One.

Challenge Day 18

2011-09-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Your Shoes

I was really excited for this day for some reason.

Like really, really.

I think it's because I love shoes.

And you can't be insecure about your feet.

At least I don't think so/ have yet to experience that sort of insecurity.

Although I will say it is no coincidence that flats were chosen over flip flops.

It may be time for a pedi.

I LOVE these flats.

They're blue.

They match with everything I wear.

Just trust me.

Of course some of my other favorites made an appearance.

You can see the "worn out" love

Love my rain boots!

Glamorous.

Also, I found out it actually is called sunflare not sunglare.

I'm not original.

And I'm kind of embarrassed.

meh. oh well.

Such is life.

Off to zumba my booty off!

Challenge Day 16 and 17

2011-09-13T19:05:00.001-07:00

Long Exposure

fail.

But I had fun trying.

It turned into me just trying to take pictures at night.

And I figured out how to do the fun swirly things.

way over exposure

spooky Halloween moon.


swirlies!

Oh and I saw my first snake since living in AZ.

On our very own street.

He was in the process of going to snake heaven so I snapped a photo.

I am pretty positive it was a rattler.

Any experts out there?

Now on to...

Technology

I was going to show you all the technology I'm thankful for.

Including how the white balance feature works on my yet-to-be named camera.

But, drinking hot tea sounds better.

So you just get the short and sweet version.

wireless internet.

light switch. I would need multiple step stools if not for these babies.

hubs is most grateful for access to sports information online

this is a beautiful machine that makes wonderful desserts


yay healthy juice. I also spy a black thing that takes pretty photos

Off to enjoy a cozy, rainy night in phoenix.

If you look in the left column of this page, you will notice a full box of boxes.

Why, you ask?

12 followers!!

I have tripled my beginning number.

boo yah.

Challenge Day 15

2011-09-11T19:51:00.000-07:00

Silhouette

We got to see our friends Ben and Steph tonight.

We don't see them often enough.

But it was the perfect opportunity to branch outside of Josh and Wrigley.

They are wonderfully attractive subjects but it's getting boring.

Ben and Steph are good friends from college and I love that they live close to us.

(and I was informed this past week that our other friends, Kim and Bryan, have booked tickets and are coming in in December. I'm stoked for our family reunion. Expect too many of photos)

Wrigley came to visit before the beautiful sunset.

And Ben happens to be Wrigley's favorite person.

It's a beautiful friendship.

We are currently doing the thing couples do best.

Playing nerdy games like Risk. And Settlers of Catan.

I gotta go capture some countries.

I'm half way done with my photo challenge and I am still enjoying myself.

I think this is a start to a beautiful friendship.

I have yet to name my camera, but it is probably going to happen.