George Has a New Friend

So I made a simple, $100 purchase for my camera. A new lens. A portrait lens, to be exact. Back when I first got my camera, I decided that I was going Canon all the way. I wouldn't buy any other lens than Canon - no generic brands for this girl. However, lenses are not cheap. By any stretch of the imagination. But this lens? It really was only $100. And it's the shortest and lightest lens Canon offers. The strongest quality happens to be its sharpness....which is key for portrait photography. It also produced the harshest blur.

This was taken with my Canon 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 (we'll call this the bigger lens from here on out). See how you can still make out quite a bit of detail of the background carpet?

This was taken with the new, smaller lens (Canon 50mm f1:8). It focuses on the subject and nothing else. See how ALL the carpet is blurred?

Bigger lens.

Smaller lens.

Bigger lens.


Smaller lens.

See, sometimes better things come in smaller packages.

There is no zoom - you either move in or out, physically. And I kind of like this - I think I will learn to REALLY like this with my photoshoots. I really dislike relying on zooming. I think it adds noise to the picture, and I try as often as I can to get as close as I can to achieve my shots. I think this lens will make me a very happy photographer. I have a photoshoot this weekend, so I will report back on how the new lens performs out in the real world.

Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming

Ok, so I took a little break from blogging to deal with life. Home life and work life have been beyond chaotic lately, but I feel as though both are back under control now. So George (my camera) has been taken out of his bag and will once again be capturing the moments in our life.

We had quite a busy weekend, and I was really only able to capture some of today. Eric and I had date night last night - we went to see Sherlock Holmes. I wasn't sure what to think of this movie since I'm not a Robert Downey, Jr. fan at all....nor Jude Law for that matter. However, I do have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and Downey, Jr. and Law act opposite each other extremely well. I really do hope there is a sequel to the movie....they certainly set it up for one.

Today was a busy day of getting caught up around the house. Carter and I took a little shopping trip, and he picked out a bat and ball. Naturally, I couldn't turn it down...especially with opening day a little over a month away. This baseball-lovin' heart is longing for some action.

So we worked on batting lefty (for my dad).

And righty, of course. Because he can never be TOO talented!

And then we went over to the cemetery to feed the ducks and geese. They were super hungry today....walking right up to Carter and biting for the bread. He wasn't very happy about that, and mostly kept his distance.

And I finally printed my bridge pictures that I've been wanting to frame for such a long time. I opted to go big, taking a gamble on the resolution warning the computer gave me. And the gamble paid off. It looks fantastic!!

Happy Weekend!

Carter and I wish you all a happy weekend! It's a grainy phone pic, but he's still my love!

Swingset

I was waiting to do this post until I could load these pictures into Photoshop, but I'm tired of waiting. So here they are, with super basic editing.......one of our friends donated a swingset and sandbox to Carter. I'm sure Carter will be spending many summer nights playing with both.





(Alternate titles to this post include: The Day Before It Went To Shit)

That is all.

Let's Catch Up, Shall We?

Let's just assume, for all intesive purposes of this post, that my life has been busy. Haven't I been saying that since.....I don't even remember. A while. Definitely a while. So I am a little behind on posting some updates. So I am here to catch you up on the happenings in my life.

Last weekend, we had an impromptu girls' night at my house. We had a fantastic meal, which quickly lead into a Wii tournament. There were definitely some adult beverages included, so the tourney got a little entertaining.

{Me, my sister-in-law Janelle, and my longtime (ok, since we were in diapers) friend, Abby}

{Me and Abby}

Bowling was definitely a good source of entertainment, especially since Abby had her best form on display!

Even the husband got involved.....though I'm certain he didn't win.


In the middle of the week.....couldn't tell you which day.....the boy rediscovered his obsession with the spray bottle. I'm not sure what the fascination is, but I'm all for cheap entertainment.

We also had a follow up appointment with Eric's cardiothoracic surgeon this last week. Everything checked out great, though the surgeon is still keeping him off of work for another two months. Yes, months. For someone who is already going stir-crazy (him, not me), this was not the best of news. But we'll take it for what it is, and keep pushing through the recovery. Along with this news came the realization that we needed to start saving money since worker's comp isn't covering 100% of his wages. So we opted to reduce Carter's time at daycare - the most obvious choice for saving money. The new schedule starts tomorrow and I really hope both Eric and Carter have the patience for this change. It's definitely going to be an adjustment for both (moreso Eric than Carter), but I'm confident it will work out.

So, in celebration of the good news, we headed out for a very nice dinner with my family, and then out for a much-needed adult night out. We gathered up some friends and hit our longtime favorite, Shorty's.

{Me and Nicole}

{The hubby and me}


{Rob and Nicole}

And since the boys wouldn't let us play in their super cool game of pool, Nicole and I started our own game. We are much better.

Sunday was a day of R&R. It was mostly spent watching tennis in the morning (way to go, Roddick!!) and attempting various chores around the house. Carter and I opted for some comfort food in the form of mac n' cheese. He LOVES helping me cook.

And we also worked on some smaller issues, like blowing our own nose. Which apparently shouldn't be done unsupervised.


And helping mommy clean the bathrooms.

Which turned into NOT so much of the helping part, but more of a fashion show of the shoes in daddy's closet.

Hey, at least he provides entertainment while I do the work! "A" for effort, little buddy.

The First "Formal" Wedding

Over the last year, I have informally snapped some pictures at the weddings we have attended. Since the photography business has taken off, I really haven't had the chance to do any big weddings yet simply because we are in the cold winter months.....and let's face it, more people get married in the warmer months. Last weekend, I had the chance to shoot my first wedding....which was almost perfect because it was an LDS wedding, so I didn't have a ceremony to shoot. So I was able to get my feet wet without being totally thrown into the deep end, so to speak. The bride and groom, and their wedding party, were so much fun! They were young and lively and a piece of cake to instruct....and they had plenty of their own ideas too. Which is always a big help.

And let me tell you something....it was so fun shooting this wedding because I was not the bride! It's fun to be right in the mix of all the stress and anxiety, but know it's not MY day and I don't have to make anything perfect.

So taking the pictures? That's the fun part.

Ahhhh.....young and in love.

Overall, I had some good stuff to work with. Obviously there were hundreds of pictures to choose from, and I ended up with a fantastic selection......only a small fraction of which is up for display here.
And there are some things I still need to work on.....but that's all part of the process. And I welcome the learning, and the trial and error.