DCP - Day 12

 SWEET

I went for two pictures here.

One that is litterally sweet.

The next is a 'sweet' gift.  We invited new friends over for dinner and they brought flowers.

DPC - Day 11

Today's theme:

ON THE SHELF

And all I could think was 'Elf on the Shelf'.

But.

To make it a little more challenging I decided to try a little experiment.

First picture was to get our Elf on the Shelf with a normal bokeh back drop and the next I made the background lights look star-like or twinkly.

I can't decide which one I like better.

DPC - Day 10

The theme for today is:

STRIPES

I'm sure that I could have come up with a more Christmasy stripe picture but Jacob got himself dressed in this today and I couldn't resist.

Now I have to break it to him that he isn't going to school in his outfit pick.

:)

DPC - Day 9

 Decorated

DPC - Day 8

The topic tonight is:

Shopping

And it just so happens...

Krista did a little shopping today.

DPC - Day 7

The view from here

DPC - Day 6

A Burst of Red

DPC - Day 5

Someone I Love

DPC - Day 4

Shadow Play

I had some fun ideas for this one but the flu is making the rounds at the Taylor house and I just can't find the energy to set something up.

So.

I looked around my house and decided that with all the Christmas lights...  I just love ALL the warms shadows that are going on in our house at night.

DPC - Day 3

The topic today?

What you're reading.

I realized that I am reading several books right now which is normal for me.

From the bottom up...

The Host.

This is a fiction novel and I actually started it awhile ago and haven't made it past the first few chapters. It's a hard book to get in to but a friend assures me that once I do get in to it, it's great.

The Coming of the Lord.

I'm enjoying this, a little at a time.

Farmer Boy.

I am reading this book to the kids at night when they are ready for bed early enough to have a little extra reading time.

The Book of Mormon.

I will forever be reading this I suppose.

On the top is my kindle.  This morning I just finished a book that I had on it called "The Three Gifts of Christmas" by Anita Stansfield and I've just started another book that I have on it called, "What a Difference a Mom Makes.  The indelible Imprint a Mom Leaves on Her Son's Life" and I am already really enjoying it.

There you have it folks.

That's what I'm reading.

DPC - Day 2

Today's topic is:

ELF

And it just so happens that this morning we found this box under our newly decorated tree.

We named him Jingle and I don't know who is more excited about him joining us for the month...  Me or the boys?

I'll post more about his visit on my other blog.

December Photo Challenge: Day 1

I'm going to do a photo challenge that I found on a website that I frequent.  (iheartfaces)

It's for the month of December and starts TODAY!

Wow.

December really snuck up on me but I suppose it does every year.

Anyway.

Dec. 1st is:  Me.  (Introduce yourself)

I thought about not doing this one because given the amount of info I put on this little ol' blog, you probably already know more about me than you want to.

But I figured it would look bad if I started out my challenge by not doing the first challenge.

So...

I decided to take some pictures of me.

Really me.

No fancy camera.

No getting dressed up first.

No Photoshopping myself afterwards.

Just me.  Being silly.  On a Saturday morning.

 I'm sure that's already more than you needed but just to be sure...

Here's you a few extra Krista-facts.

• I love rain.  (Bonus if there's thunder to go with it.)
• I hate chatting on the phone.
• I love wearing my husbands sweatshirts.
• I hate confrontation.
• I love fall.
• I hate winter.
• I love to find a book that I can't quit reading.
• I hate to clean but love a clean house.
• I love cheesy Hallmark movies and happy movie endings.
• I'm left handed.
• I read the book "Killing Mr. Griffin" in High School.  It scared the crap out of me and I had to sleep with my mom for several nights afterwards...
• My favorite time of day is early morning.  But only if I'm the only one up.
• I like the toilet paper to roll off the top.  Rolling from the bottom is just wrong.
• I LOVE the ocean but being on it in a boat, scares me.
• I'm the oldest of 11 kids.
• I've broken bones in my body 6 times.
• I've lived in 23 different houses...  That I can remember.  (It took me a long time to figure that out just now.)
• It takes me a long time to fall asleep at night.
• I was baptized in the Pacific Ocean.  All I remember is:  It was COLD.
• My most embarrassing moment is... Ya right!  Like I would tell you.  It was embarrassing.
• Talking to people I don't know, or don't know really well, scares me.
• In elementary school I tried to fail the vision test so that I could wear glasses.
• In 1st grade I told every one that a boy I liked was my cousin so that I could hang out with him without everyone teasing me.  Everything was going well until the boy heard and told everyone that we WEREN'T cousins.  :(
• My first memory is a Mickey Mouse birthday cake.  I think I was two.
• I think fast food is gross but I still eat it sometimes.
• My biggest fear is that...  Whoa.  That's way to 'deep' for this post.
• I don't understand cigarette smoking.
• My dream vacation would be a week on a tropical beach with my Hubby.
• I'm a dog person.  I encourage my dog to chase cats out of our yard.
• I got married when I was 19.
• I love being a stay-at-home mom but that doesn't mean I'm not feeling crazy by the end of almost every day!
• I have 3 boys and would rather have 3 boys, than 3 girls...  Except when I'm cleaning their bathroom.
• It was easier for me to be friends with boys in High School than girls.  That is a completely useless skill after you get married.  :)  Luckily, over the last few years, I've learned how great it is to have girlfriends.
• My favorite color is purple.  No.  Red.  Wait...  Tiffany Blue...  Okay.  I just love color.
• I'm starting to get gray hair.  I hate that.
• I can't go under water without my nose plugged.
• My kids make me laugh every single day.
• My kids make me mad every single day.
• I love my family.
• I love my kids.
• I love my husband.
• I love my life.

Alright.

That's enough.

Happy December everyone!

Time out

I think it's safe to say that this project is a big-fat-failure!  I find it interesting that it was easier for me to do a picture every day rather than a once a week thing...

That could be because doing one everyday made it a habit faster.  Or it could be because the year I started the 365 project, I had just moved to a new city.  Therefore,  I had no friends, no commitments, only one kid in school...  Basically no life.

Now I have lots of great friends.  Lots of commitments.  Three kids in school and more things to do than time to do them!

However, photography is still important to me so I'm not ready to forget this completely.  It's just on hold for now.

HAPPY SUMMER ALL!

Next topic?

A day in my life.

Window light results

This project is already proving to be a great learning project.

First I want to say two things.

One: This project isn't really about posting amazing pictures. It's more about learning how to take a great picture in different situations.

Second: I have decided to be honest and admit that I don't love editing.

In fact.

I hate it.

I don't mind a few tweaks here and there but I hate spending hours on a picture just to make it look good.

I think that there are two types of photogs.

Photoshop-photogs and in-camera-photogs.

Photoshop-photogs take pictures with ideas in their mind of how they are going to make the picture look in Photoshop.

Basically their art piece is created in Photoshop.

In-camera-photogs take pictures with the idea that they want the picture to be great with or without any photoshopping.

Basically... Their art piece is created in their camera.

I suppose there are also some photogs that are a little of both.

I'm not saying that one is right and one is wrong but for ME... In-camera is how I want to start making pictures.

Actually.

I don't want to use Photoshop at all. Just a few adjustments in LR to call it macaroni.

So.

Very little editing going on which is great for last weeks topic because you can really see how the light was naturally without any 'help'.

Alright.

Blah, blah.

On to what I learned.

First: Backlighting.

Whoa!

Well. That wasn't what I was going for.

2nd attempt.

Much better. I used a reflector to reflect a bit of light back to J's

face making it so that I didn't have to over-expose the window

so far that it would become distracting.

Then:

I tried a back-light one where I WANTED my subject a little underexposed.

But for this particular window...

I found that I like side light the best.

Here is Lexie. She must have saw my topic and decided to do a few window light experiments of her own.

I'm thinking that she is dreaming of warm sunny summer days. :)

Last.

In my house I discovered that my favorite window light is in my dining room. It has windows on three sides.

Which gives bright, yet diffused light that makes taking cute pictures of my kids, easy-peasy!

Ready, Set, GO!

I know! I'm doing awful at this project!

I have excuses.

I'm in my January no-energy funk.

My Grandma passed away.

My kids have been taking turns with the stomach flu and they were kind enough to share it with me. (I spent a night last week sleeping in the bathroom so that I could throw up every 20 minutes. Good times.)

However. I realize that the only way to pull myself out of my pity party is to just force myself to do stuff.

So...

Drum roll!

Our topic this week is:

WINDOW LIGHT!

The way I'll do this is by youtubing, reading, practicing with my camera, and then posting my favorite pictures at the end of the week.

Until then, Happy Shooting!

Project 52

I was going to do the same project 365 that I did last year but after just one week of it...

I'm bored.

The first 365 project, I was motivated by wanting to see if I could actually take a picture every day for a year.

Well. I can.

I did.

And I feel like I'm taking the same exact pictures that I did a year ago... Only with different editing.

Which I'll probably hate in a year again.

The new plan?

Project 52!

This is how I'm going to do it.

At the beginning of every week I'll pick a paper out of this super cute jar...

(It's cute because who wants to pick inspiration out of an ugly jar?)

On each piece of paper is a topic/theme that I will keep in mind as I take pictures during the week.

The way I chose the themes was by sitting down and writing down all the topics that I wanted to work on or themes that I thought would make good pictures. I was surprised that I didn't even have to go Googleing (totally a word) for ideas.

I had plenty in my head that I want to work on. :)

So.

Sunday I will draw my first one!

I'm so excited!

Oh!

And if you want, you can totally play too! Just share if you do so that I can have a look-see.

Baby G

Just so we're all on the same page...

Every day of this project isn't going to be pictures that are huge challenges for me.

I will try to be creative and push my comfort limits but alot of days will just be pictures in the middle of our normal day.

Model Michael

Taking a little break at a rest stop during a long road trip.

Happy 2012!

This project is definitely starting out with one of my biggest challenges...

Photographing a HUGE group and if that's not hard enough, the group also happens to be my own family.

Challenge? Yes... But I think we pulled it off!