Well, Hello Nifty Fifty!

I decided that I *needed* a new camera lens, so I opted to start simple and got the "nifty fifty," a 50mm f/1.8 Canon lens.  So far, I love it!!  It's taking a bit to get used to it, but I'm getting it.  Thanks to the big dogs and the cat, I'm getting some practice.  :)

What's best is that I didn't pay a penny for it!  Between MySurvey rewards and my Swagbucks, I've been getting all sorts of free stuff.  I'm loving it!

Steve, King of Sad Eyes:

Mindy, The Old & Scrappy Lady:

Pippin, the Sweet Duchess Lady Girlfriend:

If you happen to follow my 365 blog, you'll notice that it pretty much faded away in April  That's the month that work kills me, and honestly, between losing my grandmother and Mackey - May sucked.  Just so I don't fall off the photo bandwagon, I am in the process of setting up a blog simply for photography.  I'll post photos and post-processing and stuff in between.  If you want to check it out, I'll keep you posted . . .

Looking Good = Good Photography?

Well, I don't know about that statement, but I did just buy myself a new camera strap from PhatStraps!  My current camera strap digs into my neck and is neither comfortable nor cute.  My new camera strap is both fashionable and functional.  I can't wait to get it!

Isn't it awesome?!  I got the same damask pattern with a lighter pink minky backing.

photo borrowed from the PhatStraps site

Check out PhatStraps if you're looking for a new camera strap or Fido's Fashion Collars if your pup needs a fashion upgrade.  You can enter the Epiphanie bag giveaway, too!

New Camera

Todd got "us" a new camera (Canon DSLR - EOS500 t1i) for Christmas and told me that I "need to figure it all out and use it." Okay! I even got "us" a cute bag. :)

It's going to take me a while to figure it all out though! There are so many functionalities for still shots and video. I've already downloaded some tutorial books, asked lots of questions to people who know, and started trying out different shots. Here are my first few shots:

Pippin looking pretty on her new doggie bed.

Stevie giving me sad eyes and wrinkle head.

Time for some morning dog wrestling and head-chewing!


New sign for the laundry room that Todd gave me for Christmas. The "Do It Yourself" part is my favorite. :)

I'll be firing up our photo blog after the new year begins, but you'll still see plenty of photos here too!

Photos & a Photo Crasher

My BIL and his friendgirl/girlfriend/untitledawesomefriend came to visit us the last weekend of August. We had a great time and stayed busy! We had two happy hours, a few meals out, football and the dog park. "K" (the friendgirl) is a shutterbug like this K is (another reason I like her!), and sent us a CD of all of the images.

Here are a few from the dog park. It was a great time because all of the dogs were calm and behaved, so not even Steve got in trouble.

Todd fills up the baby pool under the fountain. Steve is the white pup near Todd.

While Todd adds water, a poochie decides to take a dip. Steve is the white butt on the left.

Love that puppy enjoying the pool. Steve (white butt on the left) is scared of water (chicken dog!), so he gets a drink instead. God forbid Steve not be near his dad when other dogs are there.


Mackey likes the dog park for all of maybe five minutes, so he hangs with Dad and Uncle Tim for a while.

You already know that we went to a preseason Cowboys game at the new stadium. "K" got a couple of neat shots of the stadium, Todd & Tim, and the big screen.

View of the stadium during our mile-hike to get there.


The brothers. I like this picture. Todd does not. I write and read this blog. Todd does not. Picture stays. :)

A view from the ground up. I swear our seats were at the very, very top up there (or higher!). They had to be.

Wonder if Tim took this shot of the big screen? When closeups of the cheerleaders were shown, I told Todd that I've never seen such big boobs in my life.

We also asked a stranger take a group shot of the four of us.

Anyone have a clue who the photo crasher is between Tim & me? WTH? Get out of our picture!

Yet Another Blog

I've started another blog just for the photographs I'm taking for Project 365. It will be a simple blog with no frills or sparkles. I'll be changing the look of the blog as soon as the Cutest Blog on the Block fixes their website, so it won't be completely ugly.

Hope you enjoy the pics!

People are Talking . . .

. . . about this photo from prom my junior year of high school. What of it?


I'm sure my high school boyfriend (with whom I am still friends) would absolutely love that his photo is available for all the world to see. :) I'm even more sure that I would never post a picture of this caliber had Todd been standing next to me. I have to be married to the guy, ya know!

Project 365 - A Photo a Day

I found this on my friend Misty's blog, and I am going to join her! Granted, some of it will be under the ruse of wanting a new DSLR camera for my birthday. Until I hopefully get my birthday gift, I'll have to use my phone's camera and my point & shoot. (Which is close to the point of shot.)

I think I'll post my photos here (maybe weekly?) unless I decide to start a new blog for my project. That's doubtful since I have a hard time managing the blogs I already have now.

Why don't you JOIN ME? If you do, let me know. We'll need one another for inspiration!


Here's the info I pulled from the Project 365 website:

WHY DO IT?
Taking a photo a day is a big undertaking with big payoffs. Here are just a few reasons why you should consider doing it:

Imagine being able to look back at any day of your year and recall what you did, who you met, what you learned… (Often we find it hard to remember what we did just yesterday or even last night, let alone a whole year ago!)


Your year-long photo album will be an amazing way to document your travels and accomplishments, your haircuts and relationships. Time moves surprisingly fast.

Taking a photo a day will make you a better photographer. Using your camera every day will help you learn its limits. You will get better at composing your shots, you’ll start to care about lighting, and you’ll become more creative with your photography when you’re forced to come up with something new every single day.

TIPS ON HOW TO DO IT

6 Tips on How to Do It....

1. Bring Your Camera Everywhere
Yes, everywhere. Get in the habit. Grocery stores, restaurants, parties, work, and school. Going to a movie theatre? Snap a pic of the flick with your phone–there are photo-ops everywhere. If you have one of those tiny tiny cameras, you have no excuse not to have it in your pocket all the time. And if you don’t? Camera phones are a great substitute.


2. Make Posting Easy
You can install blog software like Movable Type or Wordpress on your own site and create an entry for each photo, but for true ease of use, try a photo sharing site. Flickr will let you post a week’s worth of photos in 2 minutes flat, and fotolog and Photoblog are geared toward a photo-a-day workflow. Making it fast and easy means you’re much more likely to do it.

3. Vary Your Themes
Try to capture the day’s events in a single photo. Perform photographic experiments. Take a photo of someone new you meet, something you ate for the first time, or something you just learned how to do. Take a photo of something that made you smile. And don’t forget to take a photo of yourself at least once a month so you can remember how you’ve changed, too.

4. Tell a Story
Use your blog entry, or your photo description, to explain what’s going on in each day’s photograph. How good did that dinner taste? What made you want to take a photo of that stranger? It’ll help you remember down the road, and it gives friends following along a better appreciation of why you took the photo you did. You don’t need to write a lot, just enough to add some color.

5. Don’t Stop, No Matter What
This is perhaps the most important tip of all. You will get tired of taking a photo every single day. Some days, you will consider giving up. Don’t. The end result is worth the effort. Remind yourself why you wanted to do it in first place.

There will be times you’ll think there’s nothing interesting left to take a photo of, and times you’ll think you didn’t do anything exciting enough to take a photo of. There’s always a great photo to be made.

Get out of the house and take a walk. Or stay inside and look around. Take a photo of something important to you. Take a photo of the inside of your house so you can see how your taste has changed over the years. Take a photo of anything, just don’t stop.

N.b. It helps if you’ve told your friends about the project and asked them to follow along. Their encouragement will keep you going!

6. Post early, post often
Plan on going through and posting your photos at least once a week so you don’t get backlogged and feel overwhelmed. Ideally, post every day or two. Again, spend the time up front to make sure it’s quick and easy to post. It’ll make all the difference.