Photography Class

I'm just about done with my photography class. So far, I've learned less than I expected. The class is relatively laid back and the teacher is very interesting. She shoots only in black & white and prefers to not concentrate on the "rules" of photography. I was hoping to gain more insight on the "rules" of photography, but I'm enjoying the class anyway. We have homework assignments each week. You bring your photos to class and the class discusses/comments on them. I thought I would share my first two homework assignments.

The first assignment was to take a twelve photos of the same object from twelve different angles. I thought this was extremely boring. I'm not going to post all twelve photos, but I will post a few.

Comments on this were that the house was too distracting, but the weed at the bottom of the frame was nice.
Our teacher did not like where the sky hit the landscape, but she thought the lighting was great.

This photo was a favorite among the class, but I don't like it. Everyone liked the softness of the weed and then the texture in the rocks behind it.

My favorite. I feel like this is my style. Our teacher loved this one. She really liked the sun spots and the lighting in general.

The second homework assignment was to take a total of five photos in an urban and rural environment.

Here are the photos that I presented:

This was well liked. The one criticism was that the building and sky at the top right are over exposed. I like how this photo turned out.

This was another well liked photo. I think I'm the only one that had a complaint about this picture. I think the blurriness takes over the photo because it starts halfway through it.

In our class, our teacher talked about cropping in camera and playing with the idea that sometimes photos are better if you have to imagine parts of the person/landscape. I tried to crop this one with that in mind. Did I succeed? I'm not sure. The consensus in class was that this is a strong photograph and would be great if the wall to the left of the guy had more texture in it. Definitely interesting though.

I love the lighting on these two pictures of Greyson. I had some complaints about the sun spots in the first one, but I love them. Overall consensus is that the cropping in camera could have been better.

I really like the feedback that I get. The most important thing to me is to hear the feedback and utilize the things that I want and ignore the things that I want to ignore.

Btw - I posted tons of new pictures of Greyson but it missed up and posted it on the wrong date. If you haven't got your Greyson fix - go back before the cheap shopping trip and you will see them.

1st Steal for October

Can I get a woohoo? I'm still on a high from yesterday. Total bill $5.62. Exciting! Just had to share.

You at 9 months

Here's your life at 9 months:

You weigh 16lbs and are 28 Inches long.

You are in the 3rd percentile in weight and 25th percentile in height and head circumference.

You have just started eating three meals a day. We added breakfast to the mix. Some of the new things that you tried this month are: egg yolk, cheese, broccoli, potato, pluots, and beets (gross!),

Your sleep schedule is pretty much the same as last month. You go to bed at 7 and wake up about 5:30 am to eat. You then go back to bed for about an hour or an hour and a ½. You are taking two naps a day. One nap is about a little over an hour and the other nap tends to be a little over two hours.

You wear 3-6 month pants and 6 months onesies. You are wearing 6-9 month sleepers. You went up a size in everything.

You wear a size 3 diaper. You wear Huggies overnight and Pampers/Huggies during the day.

Your hair has grown in. We just got you baby hair gel to get your mohawk going again.

You still love the water. We have to watch you really close during bathtime. You will turn to your belly, teeth on the tub and grab the shower curtain.

You are still doing the army crawl, but you are super fast. One second, I'll see you in the living room and the next time I look you are in the kitchen. You "mop" the kitchen floor for me all the time! lol

You said "dada" and it made your Daddy happy. I'm still waiting for you to say "mama".

You just pulled up for the first time (09/30)! I was so proud. I know it will be any day now that you figure out how to do that in your crib.

You are still a happy baby. We get comments all the time about how happy you are. Even though you are happy most of the time you have started to show a bit of a temper. When you get mad, you arch your back and start crying/screaming.

You still love the kitty. I have to watch you because you try to put his tail in your mouth.

Pictures of you during the last month:

Above picture taken on the day you first said "dada" (09/23).

Eating broccoli.

1st trip to St. Louis Zoo (09/25).

Had to get a picture of us with our rain boots.

You love to take Daddy's glasses off. It cracks me up!

1st time you pulled up by yourself (09/29).

Thank Grandma for your shirt.

You were sick with pneumonia and would only sleep close to me.

Super Yummy Sandwiches (Go Martha, Go Martha, Go Martha...Go..Go)

I've been on a kick for quite awhile to try two new meals a week. I've been bookmarking everything that I want to try in all of our cookbooks. Once I try the recipe, I write my notes down (what I like, didn't like, what I added, etc.) in the book. If it is a good recipe, then I write down the recipe in my handwritten recipe book. Once I finish going through one of the recipe books, I'm going to pass it on. Pay it forward. Hmm, does "Pay it forward" make sense? Well anyways, I hope you get the idea. Who wants to be the recipient of my first cookbook?

So, back to the yummy new sandwiches that we tried. The first one is from Martha. In her magazine, she had a page all about gourmet grilled cheeses. Yummy! We tried the one in the top/center of the picture.

Grilled cheese with bacon, avocado, tomato and honey mustard. So simple, yet so amazing. Probably the best sandwich that I've ever had at home. Prep/Cook time: 10 min (You have to love that).

On to number 2: Grilled Chicken Sliders. I loved these! Grilled chicken on buns with a kiwi/honey/mint mixture and apple slices. Sooooo good. I'm glad I have leftovers for lunch today.

Coconut Almond Macaroons (thank you Martha!). If you eat them expecting a cookie, then you will be disappointed. They are airy and chewy. I'm not sure I can compare them to anything. They didn't quite turn out like the picture but they were still good. Really easy to make as well. Prep/Cook time: 12 min.

I don't usually end up adding everything that I tried to my "good" recipe book, but all of these were good. I'll have to remember this when I have a few bad ones in a row.