Goofiness

Last weekend I decided that it was time to get a decent picture taken for our Christmas card.

Sounds easy enough, right?

Get everyone in clothes that sort of coordinate and snap a few exposures.

Have you met my family, the Goofies?

There is never a shortage of goofy whenever we get together, 

but tell them to touch each other and it ramps up to a whole new level.  

There's the "Aw, I got left out of the hug" pouting.

The "I'm am too as tall as you guys" pose. 

I am just not sure that this was about.

Or this, for that matter.  

But it is a given that whenever these three are together and asked to 

behave long enough for pictures there will be silliness. 

Lots of silliness. 

Happy Veteran's Day!

Here in Huntsville we do Veteran's Day up right. 

We have Redstone Arsenal - so - we got stuff.  

We have an Army garrison so we have soldiers.

We have families of fallen veterans.

We have old firetrucks carrying our mayor.

We have very large military vehicles.

We have lots of high school JROTC students.

More vehicles carrying veterans.

Did I tell you we have large military vehicles?

What's a parade without Shriners in little cars?

Several scout troops.

Future soldiers.

Old cars.

High school and college marching bands.

And of course more veterans.  

After the parade our church members were treated to very special entertainment 

during lunch,

the Army Materiel Band.  

They were talented and very funny as they played oldies for us,

lots of songs to sing along with. 

Allison seemed to be a magnet for flags during the course of the parade.  

I told her she looked like a patriotic peacock.  

It was a wonderful way to spend a very special 11/11/11.  

Makes me proud to be a Huntsvillian, Alabamian, and American.

Teens... Gotta Love 'Em

In Milwaukee over fall break we all made a trip to one of the lovely city parks

 to take some family pictures. 

The foliage colors were amazing!

While my in-laws were arriving I got the grandkids together to snap a few pictures.

I asked them to group up and to touch at least two others in the group.

This is what I got.

So I told them that I needed to see their faces.

This is what I got.

I then told them that I needed everyone to face me.

This is what I got.

What I have is four cousins that enjoy goofing off together.

And some cute photos.

Girl Power

I love this picture of my daughter and my mother in law.

It's not perfect - there are some hair issues and the lighting isn't perfect

but I love the love in this picture.  

My MIL loves her grandchildren very much but since

Allison is her only granddaughter I think they have a special bond.

It's a girl thing.

Picture Perfect

This Thanksgiving my dad's side of the family will be gathering for a reunion.  

One of my cousins came up with the idea of everyone scanning in their pictures and bringing in a digital version so that we can all have a complete collection of family pictures.  

I started scanning in pictures at my folk's home at Christmas.

I have been back a few times since to work on pictures 

but this is still how the dining room table looks.

This is a much bigger job than I originally anticipated.

We have been taking pictures out of frames to get them scanned in.

So many of the Polaroid pictures that were in frames have faded badly.  

We have also had new archive quality mats cut 

for the pictures that are going back in frames.

Like I said, this has turned out to be a much bigger job than I anticipated.

(If you have Polaroid pictures out where they can fade with UV light - 

scan them in and frame a scanned copy.  

Otherwise your family pictures will slowly fade away.

Really.  Do it today.  

Go ahead, I'll wait.)

This is one of the highlights of this project.  

This is a hand-tinted portrait of my mother when she was 18 years old.  

Beautiful, huh?

She still is.

My Photography Assistant

A couple of days ago I had the privilege of photographing my nephew's newest daughter.

Knowing that I was dealing with a three month old baby and that the clock would be 

ticking as soon as I started photographing her I knew I would have to work fast.  

This is where my lovely and able photography assistant came in very handy. 

 (Look at those lashes!  So jealous!)

She laid down on the pad I had set up for the baby 

so that I could make lighting and camera adjustments.

She did a great job holding the reflector and following instructions. 

She maybe felt a little self-conscious lying on the floor while I took pictures of her

and her aunt and cousin-in-law looked on.

But she was a good sport.  

This is one happy young lady.

My Budding Photog

 Allison has decided that she likes to take pictures. 

She's actually pretty good.  She has an eye for details and loves to take close-up pictures.

Last Saturday she enjoyed our walk through the botanical gardens, snapping pictures of the flowers that are blooming everywhere right now.

 Who knew that you could combine photography and yoga?

What she lacks in experience and techincal expertise she makes up in style points.

Makes a momma proud.

Be Our Guest!

Last night my family had the pleasure of going to Grissom High School's production of Beauty and the Beast.

I am here to tell you that high school productions ain't what they used to be. 

Rudimentary props and borrowed (or momma-made) costumes were the norm of my day.  

The talent and production quality of the school productions in this town are amazing. 

This is one of Disney's sweetest stories I think.  Two individuals who don't fit in - Belle is considered odd because she wants more out of life than to settle down with the blowhard Gaston and have his children.

The prince is now a beast because of a curse cast upon him because of an unkind decision he made.

You know the story.

Belle was beautiful with the lovliest soprano voice. 

This girl has a career in music if she wants it.  Such a mature, rich voice for a high schooler!

 

Gaston was terrific! 

A Jim Carey-esque character whose ego was a big as his head was empty! 

He was very fun to watch as he tooted his own horn.

The beast was truly beastly as he stormed around the castle, sad and angry.

Belle managed to soften his rough exterior over time as they grew to love each other.

Luminiere was funny and well, illuminating.  He was the voice of reason for the Beast.

And with all Disney stories, everything ended well. 

The curse was lifted for all of the residents of the castle, including the beast, er, prince.

Belle found the love of her life with the handsome prince.

Life is good.

And they lived happily ever after...

Daffodils and Violets

Day 8 of the plague and went to Mom and Dad's home for a short visit and to pick up a package. 

Mom had picked a beautiful bouquet of Mt. Hood daffodils and violets out of her yard. 

Mt. Hoods have always been a favorite of our family.  Their creamy yellow cups are just lovely.

They just screamed to be photographed but all I had was my point and shoot that I carry in my purse.

For the first picture I literally just pointed and shot.  I don't use this camera everyday so I forgot to turn off the flash.

The first bit of advice that I got from my friend Erin to improve my photography was to turn off the flash.  It makes a huge differenct in pictures.  See how this picture looks dark, the colors are washed out and there is a harsh shadow behind the objects.

See?  Much better picture.  The colors are truer, no weird shadows, and the color represents the light that was in my mom's kitchen.

But it could be better...

Subtle changes.  Erin, through her Clean Color tutorial video, taught me some tricks.  I brightened and enhanced the colors just a touch.  I also got rid of the distracting background.  

Not a perfect edit, but not bad either. 

Ugh! and Oooo!

First the Ugh. 

I am on day 4 of the plague. 

I have only been crawling out of the bed to do things that absolutely have to get done. 

(Sorry, but getting a blog-worthy picture just doesn't fall into the "necessary" category.)

The fun of hanging out in the bed all day wore off, hmmm, about 3 1/2 days ago. 

I don't have a picture for this. 

Trust me.  You don't want me to go there. 

Next the Ooooo.

Here's what I have been scheming dreaming about lately. 

I have been researching and shopping online for this camera for weeks now.

Canon 7d, you will be mine!

Sweet!

Walk and Talk

Today I had the privilege of meeting an friend of mine from high school at the Botanical Gardens.  Our walk through the newly awakening gardens was lovely.  This time of the year when everything is so new and colorful is my favorite time of the year.  

Even though we haven't seen each other much since high school, the conversation never lagged.  

Shocking, I know!  :) 

Amy graciously agreed to be my victim model for the day. 

She is so photogenic that it was easy to get some nice pictures of her. 

Here is a close-up before editing:



Here's the after:

Thanks for a lovely day Amy.  Let's do it again soon!