Going to the Garden...

some photos taken at the pool and at the gardens...

  

 

Pictures this afternoon at our local

Botanical Gardens...

 

And then there are my three favorites of the day...

Land or Sea?

I'm feeling it...the feeling you get at the end of the year when you are DONE. You know that feeling? The Christmas decorations are everywhere, toys are everywhere, people are EVERYWHERE...

Today I NEEDED to get out and take some pictures. I called my mom up and after a quick discussion of where we'd shoot, we headed out to the beach. Two different beaches and not lot going on...It was beautiful.

I ♥ Faces "Hilarious Outtakes"

This week at  I ♥ Faces is "Hilarious Outtakes" week. Here are my entries...

Christmas pictures gone wild...

Silly faces...

My new favorite blog and lots more Hilarious Outtakes at...

 .

Go check it out!

HDR

We ate dinner yesterday at our good friends house. My friend Kim and her husband David are good people and we enjoy their company just as much as their yummy food! David has recently started doing more photography and showed me a program that he has learned to use. The idea of the program (as simple as I can explain it) is taking several different exposures of the same picture and then combining them using a free down loadable program from this website called http://hdrsoft.com.

Without actually taken any photos just for this specifically, I did manage to find a nice group of under & over exposed shots of Coronas (playing around with my AV setting on the camera) and then trying to get a decent shot of the flowers my mother in law sent my family for Christmas.

Three photos of the roses combined

Corona - four photos combined

I wish I could be more specific about the settings but I honestly didn't pay much attention when I was taking them, just messing around with the settings on my camera. I'm slowly figuring things out, and plan on purposely taking pictures for this program...then I will make a point to remember what settings I used.

Merry Christmas

cupcakes and pretty boxes

Every Christmas we make up a plate of goodies for the people my husband works with, along with the kid's teachers. This year we're cutting back on the sugar and calories (I know, that's just not nice!) and upping the cuteness with a single cupcake and pretty little box, bow and tag. 

Tonight I'm posting a picture of the cupcake, tomorrow I'll post the whole package.

Cupcake anyone?

Here we come a carolin'

Oh the joy of being a 2nd grader...oy' the joy of being a 2nd grader's mom. Day three of the holiday fun. Today the kids caroled our local hospital as well as the convalescent hospital. They were just too darn cute with those elves hats...

 

ah...the dreaded bus

I heart faces "Pets Only"

Say hi to Rosie...I was out at my friend's farm getting ready to shoot some family pictures a couple weeks ago.

Rosie just had to come over to me and say hi.

Not your typical "pet" she definitely is loved like one. And she knows it!

Tea with the Principal

Here at our Elementary school the kids worship their principal. Today was my youngest daughter's day to celebrate with the principal - 100% homework for the first half of the school year. Not only did my daughter have 100% homework turn in, her whole class had 100%. It's just so exciting to see kids who want to do well. Now if this can just stick through teen years!

Mary K. Our most wonderfully awesome principal!

All the kids used real tea cups & saucers.

 

 Four best friends waiting patiently...

And in the end it was all worth those nights of "Mom, I forgot my math is due tomorrow!" and "Mom, I know it's bedtime but I still need to read for 20 minutes". Because all that matters is those cute little faces smiling ear to ear when I went around and asked...

1 lump or 2?

While waiting for the family to arrive

Me and my girlies got to the farm a little early, so I did manage to sneak in a few pictures of them while waiting...

  What a beautiful sky...at least in this picture. 

A minute later and the clouds rolled in and it was cold and overcast AGAIN!

Just being Emma

We did have a great time at the farm. It was really cold and I did have a lot of extra help from Savannah but I'd have to say, not too bad for the first time shooting someone else besides my own family. Next time I will probably split it up a bit, do a little more one on one time with each girl away from everyone else (less distractions that way) - otherwise everything else worked great. There is an inverse equation I learned yesterday from this photo shoot:

Increase the number of people in a picture/

decrease the likelihood of everyone smiling at the same time

That's okay though...we got some fantastic shots and I know Jenn and Tim are happy with the results, and in the end...that's all that matters!

And for me, well I got some fantastic shots too...

Photo shoot at the farm

It started out cold and ended cold today...but I think I managed to get a nice handful of pictures for my good friends Tim, Jenn and all their kids! Here are a few from today...

Tim and Jenn...you can see the love in their faces, 

even in freezing cold weather!

 A picture of the whole family...

I think this might be a Christmas card picture for sure!

A fun one of just the three little girls

The link to the pictures is here: 
http://s740.photobucket.com/albums/xx48/TammieGilchrist/Bosma%20Family%20Fall%2009/

Let's make this right

This morning I got into a fight with my oldest, again. And it just seems like these days we keep wanting a do-over, Every. Single. Day.

After having a much needed coffee (and great advice, thank you!) with my friend Liz this morning I realized I need to spend some one on one time with my daughter. She hates having her picture taken. But not having your picture taken around this house is like not getting dressed in the morning...two things that maybe only happen once a week.

I picked up Savannah from school and headed off for a quick bite to eat before I tortured took pictures of her in front of a spot I found on my way to the farm this morning.

I think they turned out fantastic, a little bright yes, but I'm still figuring this camera out and all the thousands of features and functions that are on it.

Caught-cha!

My youngest daughter just doesn't get a break these days...no matter where we are I always manage to have my camera in hand, just in case! So after a not-so-smooth morning with my oldest, I got out the camera and started shooting pictures of my youngest. Taking pictures does make me feel a whole lot better!

Quote of the day

Time passes, people change...but the amazing memories, never fade.
Author unknown

Turning down a shopping trip for a photo shoot

Sunday I have a photo shoot with some good friends for their Christmas pictures. Sunday I planned to go out of town with my husband to finish up my Christmas shopping...Two of my most favorite things to do and I managed to plan them doubled up on the same day!!! This is just so sad for me because I know which one I have to cancel...Shopping. I am actually more excited about the photo shot with my friends than shopping. I can finish the shopping another time, after finals which is Thursday and Friday of next week. Tomorrow I'm going out to my friend's property to scout out places to shoot.

Just along the border of the pond...

What beautiful fall leaves...I have big plans for this area!

I think this is going to make a lovely area for the whole family to pose for a picture!

My first post!

I'm not sure how many people will actually see this or even a step further, read this...but I need a way to get my pictures out there to the public (and when I say 'public' I mean anyone else who is not living under the same roof as myself!) I have been going through the motions of the pre req's for nursing school for about three semesters, just finishing up the 4th next week. I have just one more class left to apply to an RN program but due to small class size I will not be taking this much needed class until the Fall. So meanwhile I will drown myself in photography...