Birthday Cards Day 3

Find this card here in my Etsy Shop

Birthday Card Day 2

Find this card here in my Etsy shop

Birthday Cards

I had a really productive week this week. Hubby and I cleaned out the garage, and we both agree that it was the best project yet that we had done together! No fighting, working together, planning, dreaming, shopping, building... it was wonderful! I also went shopping with my bestie at the scrapbook store last week and left totally inspired. I saved the stuff I bought with her to have a scrapbook day, but I pulled out an old stack I had and got to work. I am also excited that I decided to list the cards I made in my Etsy store! My store needed a good dusting off, but they have really done well updating the interface and I was able to list all 10 cards in about 30 minutes. Piece of cake compared to what it used to be! On the blog I'll feature a card a day again, so enjoy for the next 10 or so days!

Find this card here in my Etsy shop

A Smile For Your Day

Our church had it's annual Summer Bash this past weekend. Little Miss C got her face painted, and I quote, "with a scary green dragon." Sometimes she can be girly, but sometimes she is all tomboy!

Happy Birthday, Baby J!

I can hardly believe it has been a year already! Baby J had 2 birthday parties, what a lucky duck! The first one was in Michigan. My camera died during that one, so I still need to get pictures from my Mother in Law. I know, some photographer, right? Letting my camera die and all... anyways.


Tonight was her second birthday party, and it was wicked cold! We had it at the park so I didn't have to clean my house. Great fun!

 

My Precious Inlaws

We recently took a trip to Michigan to visit my inlaws. We only get to see them once a year, and last year my brother-in-law and his wife Emily (yes, there are two Emilys in our family!) had a precious, busy baby boy named Carson. He is absolutely adorable. My mother-in-law messaged me before we came, asking if we could do a photoshoot for them. I was really excited about it! It's a lot of pressure though, and I wasn't sure how it would go.

We shot a LOT of pictures. I'm still going through and editing the keepers, but here are my favorites so far:

(This one is my fave....)

Fireworks Photography

I am in Colorado, the state that is burning to the ground. My heart goes out to those who have lost their homes, and the few that have lost their lives. Fortunately, there is  peace in the storm. Check out this post by Stephanie Hillberry on a really beautiful perspective on the fires.

With the dry weather and concern of starting more fires, most of the cities in Colorado cancelled their fireworks shows. I am so glad, though, that my hometown decided to keep ours up. We tried out a new spot  we have never been to, and I think it was our best view yet. There weren't any trees blocking the view, we had plenty of room, and we actually saw a lot of the low fireworks we normally have missed in our old spots. 

I read this article on shooting fireworks and gathered my gear, determined to capture some beautiful shots of fireworks this year. Most of my shots last year were blurry, out of focus, and just all around not very interesting. This year I really focused on making sure I set up the camera well, adapted my shutter speed accordingly, and made sure my shots were in focus. Here are my favorites:

I love the feel of a photo of a family watching the fireworks.... 

(This was my favorite shot EXCEPT a guy walked past me during the shutter, and to avoid him I moved and bumped the tripod, which is why everyone on the bottom is doubly present. DANGIT! Hence, cropped image below...)

Here are the techniques I used:

-TRIPOD, TRIPOD, TRIPOD. Seriously, you can't hold a camera that steady for that long, no matter what you do.

-"Bulb" mode or 30 second shutter speed. Bulb mode is when the camera opens the shutter when you push the button, and closes the shutter when you let go. This allows several fireworks to be exposed, instead of one at a time. My favorite shots had a 30 second shutter.

-Flash - for the shot of the people watching, I actually used my flash. This actually helped light them up just enough so you knew they were there, and then I left the shutter open to expose the fireworks.

It was a great day! Blessings!