Photography

365 – August – Photos 335-365

Well folks, I did it. I completed my 365 project. How on earth I’m not sure… and I swear this year, especially this last month has flown by. There were a few times I wasn’t sure if I would make it… but I pushed through. I can tell you, after that first 30 days then it was just habit. Today will either be my first day not to have to take a picture or else it’ll be the start of my next 365. I haven’t decided although I really think I’ll do another one… I haven’t decided if I start today or if I’ll wait until January 1st. Any ideas/thoughts?

In the next few days or maybe sometime next week I have a post I’ve written with how to successfully complete a 365 or at least tips and tricks that worked for me. But for now, I’ll leave you with my last 31 days.

335/365 – Beautiful Day for the Lake! Let’s go scuba diving!

336/365 – Had a fun day hanging out with these two! And what’s great, they love each other!!

337/365 – Am I losing my mind? Watching Christmas movies (favorite holiday… okay) and thinking about snow. I hate snow and I’m kind of dreaming about snow… someone take my temperature because I must be sick!

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How to: Make a Photo Wall

There has been a lot of uncertainty in our life in the last couple of years. Truthfully more than I even want to admit to… I know that God has great plans for everything and everything will work out in the end. I know that all the trials and tribulations help us grow into the people he wants us to develop in to. But I also know sometimes I just want to scream, pack up the bare minimum, move to a place no one knows me (far far away) and start a new life. Whew… uncertainty is very scary to say the least :). But that last part is an extreme.

So with that out of the way… If you know me at all, I take pictures of EVERYTHING. Think I’m kidding, just check my camera/phone/computer/external hard drive. No joke! For a long while I’ve wanted a photo wall, and I had one for a bit, then we took it down, and now we’re putting it back up. It goes with some of that uncertainty….

The initial photo wall was hung up with the Command Strips so that it wouldn’t put holes in the walls or do damage to the wall paper, etc… yeah that didn’t work. Sad but true. I don’t know if my sticky part of the command strips was too old or the wall paper was the wrong texture or what, but after I put them up, they came back down, some quickly (like a few days). It was extremely frustrating! So this time around there are holes in the wall. It was just easier that way…

Now here’s how to do it:

What you’ll need:
Photo frames/Photos (sizes up to you!!)
Paper
Pen
Scissors (just for cutting… ha. see below.)
Tape
Command Strips or Screws
if screws, then you need a drill
A Wall for photos

1. You’ll want to trace your photo frames on to paper. The first time around I used newspaper, this time around I used regular notebook paper, except for my 8×10 frames. Then I went into Tbug’s room and stole some used poster sized paper. Trace the size of your photo frames out onto the paper.

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How to: Make a Vintage Canvas

So I recently saw this project on a fun blog… if you’ve never checked out Story of this Life, you’re totally missing out. Anyway Ester made this project look extremely easy so I thought I’d give it a shot. Let’s just state, it’s easy and I totally loved the way it turned out.

So what you need, a spritz water bottle, a foam brush, a picture printed on a laser printer, a canvas, and Golden Brand Soft Gel gloss. oh and a scrubber thingy…

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12 Month Photos

Hi so my name is Nicole and my baby is already 13 months. Normally I do this particular post the day before her new month, but I kind of didn’t get it done. So we’re going back and making up for it :). I know I’m cool, right? Okay now I have to run because the baby is putting milk drops all over her. Hey don’t judge me 🙂

A Portrait

New Mannerisms

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365 – July – Photos 304-334

304/365 – My fins that we ordered in like January or February finally came in. Now I don’t have to use Tori’s :). haha. Okay so once I get over this dang cold thing, Dano, when we going diving?

 
305/365 – Check this beauty out. I love this time of year! 


306/365 – Foul ball… CL and Abug neither one wanted anything to do with it. Finally Abug claimed it. 

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6th Generation Farmer

The other night we needed to get the rest of the hayfield mowed. Hubby sent me a message earlier in the day asking if I’d meet him after work at the hayfield and bring him work clothes. I figured this might be the perfect time for baby girl to take her first tractor ride.

After baby girl had her round on the tractor, she was sitting in the field in the shade with me. While I was sitting there I was wondering how long my family has been farming. When my dad got there after work we were discussing what generation farmer baby girl would make to our family.

On my dad’s side of the family via my grandma, my great-great grandfather moved to this area from Illinois, his son (my great grandfather), my grandfather, my dad, me, and now baby girl. = 6th Generation farmer. The history before moving to SW Missouri is a bit sketchy. My great-great grandfather fought in the Civil War. He found his way down here moving with the troops, loved the area so much he went home after the war, and moved his family down around here. At the time land was cheap to purchase so he bought 800+ish acres. Since then it has been sold.

Then while Dad and I were talking he said that my great grandma via my grandpa’s side of the family, her father was a farmer, my great grandma (yes grandma) was a farmer, my grandpa, my dad, me and now baby girl is coming into the family as the farmer. That = 6th generation farmer as well.

So either way, you look at it, baby girl has the 6th generation legacy of farming in her blood. And I say that’s a pretty cool fact!

So now it’s time to take you on baby girl’s first tractor ride.

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365 – June – Photos 274-303

Happy Fourth of July! I figured if I didn’t get these posted now it might be next month… okay maybe not but anyway, happy 4th everyone!!

274/365 – Look what I found today on my way out to saddle up horses… I’ve never found a 4 leaf clover before… Must mean horses are good luck!

275/365 – My partner in crime! Maybe even call her my Mini Me… but she looks nothing like me…

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How to: Take Fourth of July Pictures

It’s that time of year… How on earth did we get to the 4th of July? The thing that the fourth of July brings besides celebrations of our Nations heritage and food, parties and get togethers, is fireworks. Who doesn’t like fireworks? I guess there are those out there… but I’m not one of them. I love them.

So the next thing to think about is how do you capture them on film? If you’re ever around me or you’ve been on my blog for a while, you know that I take pictures of EVERYTHING and I mean everything. Although every once in a while I miss a shot and have a #bloggerfail but usually I take pictures of Everything.

A couple years ago I went to every fourth party I could to learn how to take pictures of fireworks and today I want to pass along some of the tips and tricks I learned along the way.

dSLR and Point and Shoot directions for taking fireworks pictures

Normally people would tell you that you have to have a dSLR to be able to take photos like these. And while I’m not going to lie, it is helpful, I didn’t take all those photos above with my dSLR… Nope, I took one of them with a point and shoot. Can you guess which one?

So my first recommendation would be to get a tripod. If not a tripod, make sure you have a very solid foundation for your camera to sit on to avoid camera shake.

Maybe I should have stated my first recommendation would be to have a camera… or maybe that is just a given. Okay moving on…

So you can definitely check out this post that helps clarify aperture and shutter speed… I’ll wait while you refresh yourself…

Okay now for the settings for a dSLR to take great photos of fireworks.

ISO: 100. Now normally that would be what you set it at for a bright and sunny day… and you might be thinking, but wait, what… these will be at night. Oh but that’s the way to do it. First off at night you’ll get a lot of noise, especially by bumping up your ISO. To avoid that and with fireworks being extremely bright against the night sky you don’t need a high ISO.

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