My Christmas Photography Wish Come True

My sad kit lens does not do well with indoor pics, and it does not do well with Bokeh and the beautiful blurred backgrounds that are ever so popular right now. So I made a nice little wish list to Santa (cause I swear I have been good ALL year) for a Nikon 35mm f/1.8G AF-S DX Lens. Well Santa (a.k.a my amazing husband) decided to bring it to me this year...and early too! I spent Christmas playing with my new lens, and was just so blown away by the pinpoint focusing I could do. Well in all my excitement I forgot to change my white balance and all my pictures ended up with an orange tint. Oh well, thankful for cooling photo filters! That is what this journey is about, learning. Boy, did I learn my lesson on that one. Here are a few fun pics (some edited and most not) that I took with my new lens! Big thanks to my loving and supportive husband!

New Years Goals

It's a little soon to be thinking about the New Year, but I can't help but feel like I have major photography goals in 2013!

First off I am taking a college photography course which will take up a lot of my time, and I really hope it is not as boring as it seems. There is just a lot of technical stuff I wish I had a better understanding of. I think this will help me learn more about my camera and "become one" with my camera.

Second, a new lens! I really really want a new lens. Something with a better aperture, and that I can take better indoor pics with.

Third, more photoshoots! More and more and more of them! A lot more practice. And not all with my son, who is getting really tired of mommy sticking a camera in his face and not playing with him. After Christmas mommy will be taking a break from photographing her son in hopes she has not destroyed any love he had for the camera already.

Things I want to capture next year

• Birth photography
• Couples 
• Snow/winter photography
• Boudoir
• Newborns
• Babies
• Unique themes
• Birthdays

And of course, I want to keep up with my blog! Keep documenting my journey. 

Christmas Shoot

Just a few of my favorites from the Christmas themed photoshoot. Did not get much bokeh this time around, but wanted more full body shots anyway.

Milk & Cookies

I have had in my head for awhile that I wanted to do a Milk and Cookies photoshoot with Tristan, and I have been preparing for it for weeks. I got the cute Starbucks coffee jugs, drank the coffee and cleaned them out. I got a big bag of cookies. I had a red plate! Finally along with our Christmas themed photoshoot yesterday, we did Milk and Cookies as well. The kiddos had a blast! Who doesn't when you are eating cookies though? And the pics are super cute. This is my very first storyboard I have ever created, and I am pretty proud if I do say so myself. There are tons of things I want to change looking back at it now but hey, you live, you learn. Next time will be ever better!

Christmas Bokeh Photography

Today was my test run of Christmas Bokeh pictures. With my kit lens, I have to be very close to my subject to achieve somewhat of a decent Bokeh, but I am happy with the few I did get. I happy I was able to do it at all. I hope next Christmas I will have a better lens. These two are my favorites.

Tomorrow will be the full on photoshoot with themes and everything! I am excited, but very nervous. Toddlers are hard to photograph! Too much going on for them to want to sit still with a camera in their face. Tomorrow they shall be bribed with cookies.

Finally!

Tomorrow is my last day of a very hard semester. The hardest semester I have ever had in my college career. Tomorrow marks the end, whether it is good or bad it is still the end and I am still thankful that it is over. That means I have roughly three weeks or so where I can concentrate on photography! Anyone looking for a photoshoot?

Then next semester begins my first photography class. I can not wait! I hope it is as exciting as it sounds, and not truly boring like the history of the camera and it's parts or something totally not useful to me. I hope I can continue to grow myself as a photographer, and I hope I can continue to learn and capture moments.

Indoor Photography

Indoor photography is just plain hard. You lack natural light inside which usually means lowering your f-stop and upping your ISO. My kit  lens only goes down to a 3.5, so I am forced to up my ISO but then the photos can become very grainy looking with a lot of noise. I guess I could always use the flash, but that produces horrible light with a ton of shadows. So alas, I am struggling with taking pictures inside. I am thankful my house house tons of light and most of the time I can get good pics with it.

Tristan's Girlfriend

My son just might beat my record someday. I met my husband when I was twelve and we have been together ever since. Tristan met his girlfriend when he was 6 months old (she was just born!) So if they marry someday like we joke that they will, he will seriously have his mommy and daddy beat, by a lot.

It is fun to watch them now because they interact with each other and play and laugh and (sometimes) share. They love to hug and kiss each other. It happens so quickly that I don't catch a lot of good pics of it but today I got this one which I thought is super cute. Indoor photography is hard for me and something I am still learning, the quality kinda sucks and it's grainy but it still melts my heart!

Besides, if they do marry someday, I will have a whole slideshow of embarrassing pics!

What I Love to Photograph Most

"If you want to learn what someone fears losing, watch what they photograph."

My son is the reason I bought my camera. I wanted, no I NEEDED the memories and I needed them documented (thanks to my total lack of memory capability.) So first and foremost the number one thing I love to photograph is my son. And boy did I luck out with his beautiful blue eyes!

Welcome!

Welcome to my photography blog! I have been dreaming this up in my head for awhile, and finally have gotten around to doing it. It is by far not in any way shape or form fancy or professional but that is okay with me. I was just looking for a place to share my work, share what I am learning about, what I am struggling with, and what goals I have. I have been on the photography journey for only 7 months so I have a lot more to learn, and so much more to capture!