Next school project

This week I have a huge paper due, and this poster.  I just finished the poster, I hope it doesn't look too Twilight-esk.  Now time to do the paper.

Update

So it's been kinda crazy here lately.  Work, photos, school, babies, apt hunting, and family emergencies have just been nonstop.  I like my life super busy but this has almost been too much for my foggy pregnant brain to handle.  McKay was super amazing and took Ellie for the weekend to Braiden and Sharon's house after I had a meltdown because the dishwasher wouldn't open.  It was just what I needed, but that night I woke up sick and I ended up calling out from work the next two days.  It was still a good and a healing weekend.

While McKay was gone he took some videos for me so I didn't feel totally left out.  I figured McKay's parents would love this video b/c it includes Ethan, Marlo, and Asher in it too. It sounds like fun.  Ellie is starting to break out of her "parallel play" and starting to play with other kids.  She loves other kids.

As far as pictures are concerned I am still working on a wedding.  CLICK HERE to go to the gallery for the wedding.  My friend Lindsay shot some of the wedding with me :) 

I turned in that map assignment too, my teacher liked it but made me put vertical slash marks in the parking lot to make it look more like a parking lot.  OK whatever you say.  I just need a good grade and him to forgive me when I come in late to class (traffic).

Midterms are next week so that means I have to go to the testing center for my literacy class.  Uggghhh.  Good news though, I can take one paper of notes in with me :)

Conference sounded pretty good, or at least the min or two I heard of it cuz of Ellie.  We will see how it goes tomorrow but I don't think it will be anything different.

Apartment hunting is good, I think we are going to get this townhouse in Walkersville but we shall see.

Furloughs are kinda a big deal over here, I don't know how it is everywhere else in the country.  My dad and my stepdad both haven't been to work in a week.  It's a good thing McKay switched from working for Public Health Command on Aberdeen Proving Grounds and went to the private company he works for now.  Thank you!  The only good thing about it was that traffic was lighter when I went to work at the hospital down by DC.

So yeah, that's about it.  Or at least that's as much as I want to share online anyway. 

My computer class

One of the classes I am taking to renew my teaching cert is a graphic design class.  I didn't really know how to use Illustrator at all, let alone correctly.  I always get stuck on dumb little things, I know what I want to do but I don't know how to do it on the computer.  So this is the first thing I did.

The second assignment we had to do was create a map of the campus, and I wanted to do a chalkboard theme.  This is still in the works. I'm not sure if he will fail me with the parking lots because the lines are not to scale and it looks like multiple semis could fit in the spot, but I'm not trying to make it realistic. I also know that my teacher thinks it would be cool to have color in it, I'm not so sure.

I'm tired of looking at this.  haha.  So what should I do? 1, 2, or 3?

The Great Imitator

Ellie has been born with the talent of imitation and making sound effects.  She has been doing a perfect raspy rooster since she was 6 months. Having her listen to the kids songs cd in the car she has learned more things too.  When the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" comes on,  in the background you hear "get your peanuts, get your popcorn, get your crackah jacks!" and "Yooourrrrrr Out!"  Meanwhile Ellie is in the back seat gumbling angry jibberish about popcorn and cracker jacks.  She is really good.

This is a random video of Ellie eating pudding.

I just took wedding photos with a friend and I am working on getting all 16+ gigs organized and edited quickly.  I'll share some pictures later.

Home videos

These are some videos of Ellie for the past few months.  She has gotten so big, funny, and quite the handful.  I hope that these videos will help our far away family feel a little more included into our daily life.  Ellie loves the Wiggles, trains, singing (Wheels On the Bus, Popcorn Popping, and Old McDonald), other kids, cookies, twizzlers, ketchup, reading.  Right now she is starting the "NO! MINE!" tantrum phase and are trying to teach her to share.

She has also started to really really become attached to her crib sheet.  I kept all blankets out of her crib as a baby because of SIDS, and she grew accustomed to grabbing the smallest piece to hold while she sucks her thumb.  Now she is so strong and just pulls the whole thing off, and I'm kinda sick of putting it back on the mattress.  She calls her fitted sheet "reeree" but now she wants to carry it everywhere (this is a new development.) She cries when it's in her room or somewhere unavailable (also a new development.)  I'm not really sure what I should do, should I just break this habit before it gets out of control or let her have it? Is this just a ploy to get attention?  Also would breaking this habit entail having this girl sleep on a mattress with no sheet, and what about the plastic pee cover?  Would that be next, or then the curtains?  lol.
Crazy kid.

She want's it back daddy!

Proof of this tom foolery:

 

As I am cleaning out the back of the car and this what Ellie is doing.

One of Ellie's fascinations is with my moms cat's food.  I had a pillow propped in the baby gate  (to prevent loud noises while McKay was sleeping) and decided to go to the bathroom.  While I was in there she went through the gate, climbed down the stairs, walked through the pitch black basement to the dry cat food and stuffed her mouth full.  So. Gross. This was not her first attempt either.  I have caught her with her hands in the canned stuff and trying to get more and more of the dry stuff.  She goes "mmmmmmmmm! nummy!" everytime we walk past it.

Her favorite animal is a cat. Just in case you didn't know.

How can you say no to this?

These last videos were all taken by my sister, most of which were filmed in the car on our way back from South Carolina.  See the way she tortures my baby?  horrible.  Just kidding, she is a really good aunt.

 We love this girl so much.  She is so smart and spunky!  I love you my baby Ellie!

Lately

Lately I have been feeling a little overwhelmed.  Juggling part time school, part time hospital, part time photography, full time mom/wife/sister/daughter/etc., dr's apts, and looking for a townhouse has my preggy brain scattered too thin.

I am taking two classes to renew my teaching certificate.  One is online and called "Reading and Acquisition Processes" and it is boorring.  My other class is a graphic design class and I will be learning how to use Illustrator, InDesign, and stuff like that.  So far I have learned how to make a gradient and a 3D cone, we will see what else I shall learn.  These classes end the 13th of Dec and my due date is on Dec 23rd.  Just in perfect time! It is better for me to get it done now then start in Jan, or let my certification expire.

I have been wanting to post some home videos on here of our life lately but you will have to settle for a picture of sunflowers.  You still can't see how hot it was in this picture but it was probably 105 and very unpleasant.  The picture makes it seem nice though.

Something educational- Studio Portrait lighting (one light)

So I've decided to occasionally write about things that I am learning and develop them into cohesive thoughts so when I go back to teaching I will basically have a whole bunch of lesson plans already made.  Since a blog is such an easy format I can easily go back and change things, add videos, link awesome websites, and whatever else.  They will mainly serve as a rough draft, maybe if you have a good idea, you can add to my lesson.  Or maybe you will just sit there and be enlightened by moi. 

This educational moment is about....

Studio Portrait Lighting


(Warning: Studio lighting is not my forte)

This picture is SOOC (straight out of camera) with no editing, just good lighting.

                                                                                                   photo by Douglass Bolt, NIHCC member


So here we begin, with one light.  Having one light leaves one half of her face in light and the other half in dark.  This is fine if this is the look that you want to go for, but if not there is a way to combat it.

 One way to combat this is by the use of a reflector, hold it on the opposite side of your victim to allow the bouncing light to fill in the shadows.

A hair light is a light from behind that illuminates your victim's head, which creates extra dimension and interest. 

You don't have to go out and purchase a whole bunch of expensive equipment to achieve this look.  Here are some cheap-o alternatives for studio lighting.

1.  Lights: desk lamp, garage/work light, any other bright light, window

2.  Reflectors: car reflector, crumpled tin foil, foam core board

3.  Umbrella/diffuser: sheet or tissue paper over light (don't let it catch on fire!!!!! Lights get hot!!)

Not into the whole artificial light thing?  The same rules apply when doing the same thing but with window light.  Check out this article natural portrait lighting with a reflector *super easy* 

 Here's a cheat sheet from digitalcameraworld.com about simple lighting techniques and the effects it will have on your portraits

Some tips:

-Have the model sit on the edge of the seat.  This promotes good posture.
-Remember: white reflectors are softer than silver
-If your reflector has any creases or folds in it, they may show up on your victims' face

So yeah, that's all for now.

There's only two things that money can't buy...

...and that's true love and homegrown tomatoes!  

So I decided to try a bit of food photography right?  I did it while hanging out with my brother Aaron while Ellie was sleeping. You have to guess which one is homegrown and which one is store bought, and which one is more delicious.  

The one on the right is from the store (the hollow, yellow, dark one.)

This big boy (haha) is the homegrown one. 

 Aaron was a taste tester too.  He said the store bought was more watery and "blah,"  the homegrown one was sweet and meaty.  We both decided the homegrown was 100x better.  Why do we even buy tomatoes from the store?  idk.

Since our main goal on the agenda was our "food photography" homework we quit with the funny business and got real serious.  I wanted to do a red raspberry because those are my fav.  Right when I started to take its picture it started to cry.  Awwww.  poor raspberry. :( 

  This next picture was Aaron's idea.  He started throwing stuff together and it looked pretty cool.  I lost a lot of definition at the base of the glass and you can see me in the reflection but oh well.  It still looks cool.  I could probably fix it in photoshop but I am lazy.

and then guess who woke up?

Trouble

I love Trouble.

Time sucker up-er

So I have been doing a lot of photo shoots lately and it's been eating all of my spare time.  I still have a wedding in sept, newborn pictures next week, and maybe some engagements here and there.  My preference is for family photography even though there is more money in the wedding business.  Weddings are way more work and more pressure.  So here is the list of things I have been working on for the past few months.

1. Family Shoot: These twins

super fun shoot, they found me from my website which is pretty cool.  These kids are so sweet with a touch of crazy.

 We took half of the shots in their backyard and then another half on a farm. 

 They both are loosing their teeth at the same time... lol

There are so many more cute pictures but I had to filter them out.

2. Wedding: Cousin Karen

My friend Lindsay and I teamed up to do this wedding and I was so grateful for her help.  Together we got tons of awesome pictures of this motorcycle wedding.  The picture of the bouquet on the white tabletop and the bride and groom walking down the isle were taken by Lindsay.  I just love those photos.

 Again, there were so many more cool pics but I had to filter out a fraction of faves. There will be more pics on my website.  

3. Senior Pics:  Amanda

It is the start of a new school year and a new batch of seniors, my sister included.  So we headed down to Poolesville to get her in the sunflower fields.  It was very pretty but it was so hot, got lots of mosquito bites, and poison ivy (but hey, it doesn't look like it from the pictures lol)

Again, there was so many ones I liked I had to filter them...

I have also learned many things while taking all of these pictures most importantly being I cannot do this for free.  Not that I did these for free, and not like I didn't enjoy doing them, but I'm getting burned out and I would much rather sit on the couch and be lazy, or take pictures of Ellie since I haven't taken any pictures of her in like 3 months.  Anyway, I'm glad I'm chopping through these and gittin 'er done.  And I hope I don't look through these and am like "ohh I did a horrible job" in a few months. :)

Myrtle Beach

We went to Myrtle Beach again this year and Grandma came too.  Although she wasn't able to come down on the sand she was able to watch us on the beach from the balcony.

Ellie doesn't like the pool, she just screams and wants to get out.  She definitely takes after McKay in this aspect.

 Ellie loves the beach though.  When it comes to that she is fearless, she will just run straight into the ocean laughing.  Look at this girl she just smells of trouble, we just had to chase her all up and down the beach.  

 When she would see seagulls she would hold her arms back and run, screaming the whole way.

 She is wearing shoes because she is obsessed with them.  This.girl.loves.shoes. (and the beach)

Movie recommendations

McKay and I have been watching a lot of movies together lately.  It has been just my speed.  I haven't been craving any chick flicks, mainly action and comedy, which further convinces me that I'm having a boy.  But we should find that out soon.  So here's a list of movies that I have loved (in no particular order)...

1. Here Comes the Boom- Redbox

sooooooooooo hilarious!  Husband approved.

I was laughing out loud the whole time, it takes quality comedy for that to happen.

2. Jack Reacher- Redbox

A lot of bad-assery going on here.  Husband approved.

3. The Host- Redbox
Loved the book, loved the movie.  Not husband approved.

4. North and South- Netflix
Never heard of it before but loved it. Great when you have 4 hours to kill. Probably not husband approved.

Movies I want  to see:

The Wolverine

Superman

Now You See Me

...

Any recommendations?