You Capture - Sky

The theme this week for You Capture over at I should be folding laundry is Sky.

I wanted to share some shots of the sky over one of my favorite places to be.....the beach at sunset.  Only I waited until the last minute to leave the house and it became a race to see if I could get to the beach before the sun dipped into the pacific ocean.

I got this shot as I drove down the hill to the beach.  I love how the the clouds are lit up by the sun.

I suspect that I looked like a lunatic rushing from the parking lot just in time to capture the sun before it said good night.

The sun took all the color from the sky with it.

As I left the beach I looked up to find this one last shot of a kite stuck flying in front of the moon!

Happy shooting. :)

WW - Copy Cat

My favorite art magazine is Cloth Paper Scissors.  The magazine is filled with mixed media goodness.  I drool over the projects and they fuel my desire to create.

However after I pour over the bi-monthly magazine I find myself hesitant to start any of the projects. It is hard to explain but I have a hard time starting anything I don't think I will be good at.

I doubt my own ability to be creative and I realize that the only way I am going to get over it is to let go and stop worrying about the end result.

So when I saw the featured article by Serena Wilson Stubson I knew that I had to give it a try.   After all, I had all of the supplies on hand and I already know how to make lollipop flowers. 

Feeling the need to make my first project easier and more likely to make me happy (aka: I wouldn't have to throw it in the trash) I chose to copy one of her pieces of art (the cover art).

So here it is.  Babies first (copied) piece of mixed media art.  It will proudly hang in my daughters bedroom.

So thank you to Serena and other Cloth Paper Scissor artists for sharing their talent with others and helping this hesitant crafty girl to come out of her shell.  To purchase Serena's art go to her ETSY page.

Depth of Field

Back when I was in college I took a black and white photography class.  We were taught all aspects of photography as well as how to develop our rolls of film and print our photographs on these huge photo enlargers.  I can still smell the chemicals and hear the shutter clicking shut when the exposure was complete.

I loved that class!  It was a great creative outlet for my young self.

There was only one thing I didn't like about the class.  The professor.  He was constantly harping on me for cropping the shot through my camera lens and taking too many shots with a shallow depth of field.

He wanted us to practice shooting an entire scene and then coming back into the dark room and cropping the shot we wanted. 

My brain didn't work that way.  How I saw the shot in my camera was how I pictured printing it out.  Plus, I liked a close crop on the subject with a shallow depth of field and since I was paying for the supplies I was going to shot the way I liked.  So there!

Shots that included the entire scene always felt to distracting to me.  They still do.   I do take shots of entire scenes when necessary, but a shallow depth of field will always be my default setting.

Check out a few shallow depth of field shot I took this week.

Giggles galore erupted when my flat footed lovely flipped up her cavebaby foot while I was checking my exposure for this shot.

My mom brought these delicious banana bread muffins over on Monday.  For me food should always be shot like it is just about to enter your mouth. 

Kate's first sock monster doll.  Tell me that isn't the cutest 11 year old created sock monster you have ever seen?  Apparently the crafty gene will live on.

The added bonus with this shot is that the shallow depth of field caused the light coming through the trees to create a slight bokeh effect. I love when that happens.

Head over to 7 Clown Circus to see more Wordful Wednesday posts!  On Thursday check out You Capture over at I Should be Folding Laundry  to see more Depth of Field shots.

WW - My month in pictures

I have made it through another month of the picture a day project.  Completing April brings the grand total to 485 days that I have been participating in this project.

I have a certain love hate relationship with this project.  I hate when I'm busy, tired and uninspired and  need to get a shot for the day.  I want to stop on days like that.

What I love is that the project makes me think outside of the box (when I'm not tired, busy or uninspired).  It also gives me pictures of my life that I would not normally have.  So I press on.......

I wanted to share my favorite shot of the month.  This is of my 14 year old daughter sprinting the 400m. 

This is Reid's first year running Track.  She was fast enough to participate in meets, but never fast enough to come in first.  In fact, most of the time she came in 3rd place and many times ended up second to last in her heat.

Despite not being the "best" she always tried her hardest and strove to improve her own personal time (and she had fun doing it).

I love that about her and it is why this shot is my favorite for the month.

Happy Wordful Wednesday!