Jax in Photo Contest! Please Help!

Jax is competing in the Parents Magazine Photo Contest!  May I ask each of your help in voting for him each day from now until Sunday, please?

Thanks so much!! XOXO

http://photos.parents.com/parents-cover-contest-2011/25/2011/177

The Low Down on the Low Down

I was able to get a solid 5 out of 7 days of the low down assignment in.  The way I see it is if I can stick with the 365 Project 100% and the assignment project 4/7 days per week I'll be happy.  So, here's the week in review....

Saturday

We got some snow on Sunday morning and Jax and I got to have some fun in the snow.  I thought his snow covered boots would be something I'd like to remember forever.

Sunday

Sweet pictures of the little guy's and the big guy's toes.  LOVE THIS!!


Monday

Had "photographer's block" and it landed me a pretty sweet picture.  We had some flowers in a vase by the front door, it was 9:00 pm and I still had no photo for the day...thus became my rose photo.  The best part of it ws the natural vignetting and spotlighting I got where they were thrown down.  Can't believe how well this one turned out. :)

Tuesday

Again with the mental block, and this one also turned out pretty cool.  We were hit with a snowstorm and I had some dying roses...


Wednesday

Plain and simple: cuteness down low.

Thursday

Taking a break from the low down assignment. I was going through my camera bag and my grandfather's rosary (which I keep in there) kind of peeked out at me. He was big into photography and I got to play in his darkroom (laundry room) when I was studying photography in high school. I figured since I keep Grandpa with me in spirit while out shooting pictures, he deserved to have one just for him. ♥

Tell me I wasn't completely teary-eyed for this one. Hope he's proud.


Friday

The little guy graduated to the 2's classroom at school.  This was call for celebration and some fun sunglasses.  :)

Next Week (Week 3): General Goofiness - Time to Have Some Fun!!!  :)

Week 1 - Portrait Assignment

Week 1 of photo assignments and my 365 Project are up.  This was a really, really fun assignment to complete and overall, I'm happy with how the shots turned out. 

Week 2's assignment is called "low down." Photos of the ground or from the ground will be the goal this week, so stay tuned.


Saturday

My sweet baby Jax.  The little guy loves nothing more than sports.  This was taken New Year's day in our basement.  The first thing he wanted to do to ring in the new year was play ball.  This shot captures how seriously Jax takes his sports. 



Sunday

I got a new remote and tripod for Christmas this year, so I thought I'd give them both a go.  This is my first attempt at a self portrait.  Definitely took a while to get this one right.

Monday

Ladies - hands off, he's taken!!  This is my super handsome husband and his beloved bourbon.  If he wasn't sleeping next to me each night, I'd have to tape this over my bed. 

Tuesday

Completely unplanned picture.  I was running late Tuesday morning and my little guy overslept on top of it.  This kid has the superpower to sense stress and turn it into laughter within seconds.  We watch SportsCenter or NFL Blitz every morning (his choosing, seriously).  He mimics the plays with his football.  As I was wrestling him to get his clothes on, he ran off with his football wearing nothing but a diaper and started doing tough-guy grunts and football plays while running full speed around the house.  For about 1 minute I actually tried to chase him, then grabbed the camera because this was just too cute to go undocumented.  A few shots in, Jax realized that he could see himself and his football in my camera lens, stopped and leaned in to see the mini version of himself.  This became today's shot.

Wednesday.

 This is my friend Jen...and my first shoot with a 50mm f/1.4 lens.  Can I just say how much I love, love, love this thing?  This wall was really cool to shoot against with its contrasting blue and red colors.  Unfortunately, I had only about 10 minutes to shoot because I was on lunch break at work.  More time for play this weekend. 

Thursday

My beautiful Lyndsie got to be the second subject for my 50mm lens.  Pretty girl!

Friday

This was a seriously fun day.  My friend, Lori, was gracious enough to subject herself to a photo shoot for an hour.  We chose an outdoor mall venue with an old town feel and I couldn't be happier with how these turned out.  Friday's picture was my favorite of the bunch.


Givewaway Results!!

Thanks everyone for commenting and following my blog.  I appreciate hearing which print each person liked the best, it's great getting feedback from everyone. 

I drew a name from the Flash Random Name Generator, and the winner is...SUSANSMOAKS!!

Congratulations!  Please send an email to michelle@clicksphotographyonline.com with your address so I can ship your print out right away.


Thanks again, everyone, for participating!

Big Plans for 2011

Among the 3,344,579 resolutions I'm making for 2011, one is to grow as a photographer and decide which direction I want to take my obsession.  This blog  will be centered around the fun projects I'm embarking on for 2011 in hopes that my photos will improve.  The name of the game is practice, practice, practice.  My photographic resolutions are as follows:

1.  I've invested in this fabulous book by Kevin Meredith.

The goal of this book is to complete one project per week.  Week 1 starts now - Portraits. 

2.  I've started a Project 365.  One picture per day for an entire year.  My hopes are to frame these around my 52 weeks of assignments.  So, for the first 7 pictures I hope to add some interesting portraits.  Picture 1 was posted this morning of my sports-nut of a son.  His first task of 2011: basketball.

3.  I'm so excited for my first four second shooter gigs this year.  One of my favorite photographers is giving me some cool opportunities to try my hand at weddings.  (Thanks again, Danielle!).  Check out her site at Danielle Cover Photography.  Her work is fantastic.  First Wedding:  July 30.  That should give me ample time to practice and save up for my new lens.

Stay tuned... hopefully these projects will take me on some interesting journeys to produce some (hopefully) great pictures!! 

Happy and healthy new year to all!

XOXO,

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

So, in case anyone wants to look at cute kid Christmas pictures, here they are.  :)  A proud mama has to show off her cutie pie each chance, so why not publicly for the world to see?

What a great way to spend the week - with my two favorite boys. 

Meanwhile, over the Christmas break I had a few more prints featured.  One of which is my most favorite print, Rosepetals on the Gunpowder.  This was a once-in-a-lifetime shot.  The guys and I were out on a hike along the Gunpowder river and along with the setting sun and beautiful fall colors was a line of multi-colored rose petals on the bank of the river.  What a great shot this was.  There must have been a wedding or something that had just taken place.

Here's the beatiful treasury it was featured in:  My New Year's Resolution by Liberty Originals.

The carnival print was featured again here. 

My winter's bridge print was featured again here. 

Thanks again to my fellow Etsyans for the wonderful community and venue provided to promote art.  It's really great networking with such talented artists. 

Happy New Year to all!!  May it be a safe, happy, and healthy one.

XOXO,



Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas weekend.   I spent much time with my adorable son & wonderful husband with our families.  Hopefully, I'll be able to sort through the 800 pictures I took this weekend. 

Yesterday, two more prints were featured. (SWEET!)  Here they are, along with the treasuries with some talented artists.

Have A Little Wine to Help With that Whine

Wine bottles at the Mercer Kitchen in New York City (SoHo).  I'm thinking about getting this printed for our kitchen. 

All Circus Without the Clowns

Really cool treasury!!  The carnival print was featured again here.  :)