Lifestyle Photography: Thematic/Self-Portrait Shooting

Well another week has quickly passed me by.  I took some photos of Brandon this past weekend.  I was trying to create the story with just one photo.  I took several shots and I just could not decide which one photo to share with you.  So I narrowed it down to two.  Let me know which one you like best.

Thematic:

 Concept/Theme:  Adventures into music



Click on images to enlarge

Self Portrait Challenge:
Brace yourself because I have taken another challenge for myself.  The challenge is to commit to putting yourself in the photo at least once a week.  I love to be behind the camera and find it so rewarding when I get that perfect shot.  However, as I go through family photos I have very few photos of my mother.  WHY-because she was always behind the camera.  So I challenged myself to do better.  I am not sure I can bring myself to post them, but at least I will take them just so my kids and future grand kids will know that I actually did exist.

So here is my attempt at a self portrait:



ATTEMPT 1:  FAILED-That dang dog was making this project impossible.  He was in my face, my lap and driving me crazy.  So I locked him on the deck.  Problem is he STILL appeared in the photo and this time it looks like his tail is growing out of my head.  UUGGHHH

 

Attempt 2:  So I locked the dog off the deck this time and finally got a photo without him in it.



Lifestyle Photography: 1st Day of Spring-NOT

This weekend I was hoping for warm weather.  There is a very fun lake not too far from my house that I like to walk around.  It's very peaceful and gives me time to think and ponder.  So I took my camera and my daughter Lauren with me and had great visions of capturing some wonderful photos.  However it was so cold and miserable the only thing I captured was my daughter wondering why we were doing this.

Conceptual Contrast:
Here I was trying to capture the contrast of man vs nature.

Click on images to enlarge if desired

Well the compositions were not as cute as I was hoping but Lauren did agree to do  another photo shoot on a WARM day.

Decisive Moment:
Back at home Lauren was teaching Shilo some tricks with the help of a few treats.  They were on the move around the deck so it was hard to compose them just right.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my life through my lens.

More Fun with Studio J Layouts

Hope everyone had a great weekend.   I promised I would post the rest of my Studio J layouts I completed last weekend (where did this last week go).

London:
Lets start with my London layouts.  I think for the most part I have finished our London trip.  I did all of London with the "Passages" paper pack.  So now I can move onto France.  HUMMM any suggestions what paper pack I should do our France layouts with?  So many choices.  Well for now it feels great to have London finished.

Remember to click on layouts to enlarge.



I journaled on the photos since I didn't add a journaling block.  The photos tell the story so I didn't need too much journaling.



This will be the first page in the album.

You have not experienced London until you ride the "Tube"  It is an experience we will never forget.



 Disney:
I did a few Disney layouts that needed to be done.  Feels great to have these done as well.



I used the Hooligans paper pack with this layout.  It fit the characters perfect.

 As always thanks for stopping by.  Hopefully this week will not speed by so quickly and I can get more done.  Talk to you all later.

Lots of Layouts

Boot Camp or bust.  Haha that was my frame of mind last weekend.  CTMH is hosting a Studio J (online/digital scrapbooking) boot camp for consultants.  Registration was open to only 40 participants.  Last month I decided that I have way too much on my plate and that I was not going to go.  However, this last weekend I just felt so inspired that I needed to go.  My family all said "I can't believe you are not going" and trust me anytime CTMH has an event it is so worth every penny and minute.

So when I sat at my computer I had all the criteria to go with the exception I needed to have completed 20 Studio J layout.  UGGGHHHHH I think I had only completed 10.  So I kept telling myself there is no way I can get 10+ layouts done in a weekend.   It was going to be a busy weekend with me finishing up my workshops, Fred had a treatment and lots of other things going on.  So I just came to the conclusion that I would work a little here and a little there on the layouts and after I am done with all 20 if registration is closed that will be my answer that I was not suppose to go.

So I completed my layouts and ohhh yes registration was still open so I took the plunge and registered.  However I think I got the last spot because when I went back to the computer a few minutes later  the registration link had been taken down.  WOW that's what I call a "close call"  and yes I think it was a sign I needed to go and have a good time.  I am very excited to go and spend time with my CMTH friends for a two day boot camp.

Ohhh I almost forgot.  Do you want to see the layouts I did?  Of course you want to see them.  HAHAHA.  I will post half of them now and half later.

Click on images to enlarge

DISNEY LAYOUTS:  It was good to get some of these Disney layouts done.  We are going to Florida this year so I will have more photos so it feels good to have 2009 almost completed with a combination on traditional and Studio J scrapbooking.

Ok now I have to admit the greatest thing about doing your vacation layouts in Studio J is you can click "Copy" and print as many as you would like to have a layout for each child's book.

Thanks for stopping by.  I will post more later but hope you have a fantastic day.  OHHH and by the way I was not around yesterday to wish all of you a Lucky St. Patrick's day so I am wishing you one now.

Lifestyle Photography-License to Drive and Yardwork

WOW where did this last week go.  My lifestyle photos of the week were not my favorite photos I have ever taken so I guess I will just have to take some more.    So if you are wondering what I did all weekend here ya go.

Well I like this photo.  Since I am a mountain girl I love anytime I can get the mountains in the background.

My son Brandon gets his license in 7 days and he is not letting me forget it.  So every Sunday evening we go for a ride.  We drive and drive and drive in order to get all his hours in.  So this week I made him pull off the road and I had a little fun taking some photos using a different point of view. 

You have all been warned.  Come March 22nd I suggest you stay OFF the road because here comes Brandon.  Haha-just kidding.

LESS IS MORE:
So speaking of "Less is More"  we have too many fruit trees and I am very tired of the mess in the summer.  So here we are giving the tree's a little trim and will spray them this weekend.  Brandon and Fred were on a roll trimming these trees.  Unfortunately there were only able to get one tree done.  Those darn trees are lots of work.

Have a great week and wish us luck that we will get all those trees trimmed.

It's an Oldie

This frame sets on my counter in our office.  I had someone request that I send her photos of it so I thought I would just post for all of you to see.  I made this frame a couple years ago when I was asked to teach at convention for CTMH.

I started with a wooden frame that I picked up at a local craft store.  Put adhesive on the front of the frame.  Adhere the stripe B&T paper to the corners.  Then take B&T #2 and tear the corners.  Distress the torn corners with chocolate ink and adhere that to the frame.  I then distressed around the entire frame.

Then just add as many accessories as you choose.  This particular project I was asked to teach about the voice recorders that we use to carry.  So I had my kids record something they loved about there Mom.  It's something that I will always treasure and the best memory was watching my kids think of something they loved about mom.  It was hilarious.

This makes a great "Mother's Day" project and I promise your mom will love it.

Lifestyle Photography: Swimming

This last weekend I was given an assignment to present part of the lesson at church.  So as I was thinking what I could say that perhaps would be inspirational I immediately thought of my grandmother.  When I was a small child I would climb upon her lap and listen to the amazing stories she had to tell me and trust me she had some amazing stories.

I am sure my grandmother kept a journal but I have not idea where it's at and she has very few photos.  Therefore I immediately thought of my future heritage.  To me it seems that I live a very boring life, but generations down the road I am sure it will be amazing how we did things, what the prices were, trends ect.   I want to leave a legacy behind to document time for my family ect.......  Therefore documenting life through photography is a very high goal of mine.

So I will start by sharing just a typical weekend activity.  The activity is my daughter Lauren taking  private swim lessons.  My goal is to have the photos tell the entire story, but I am adding some journaling to complete the story.


I stated the photo shoot by taking some detail shots.  I love detail shots.  Here we have the many supplies and equipment you will find at the pool.

Next I photographed my subject.  Here we have Lauren trying to master the breast stroke kick.

Finally I shot a couple conflict shots.  Conflict meaning emotion or response.  I love the third photo in this sequence.  Lauren is so tired she is trying to talk the teacher out of doing another lap.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek at my "Lifestyle" photos for the week.  You will all probably see these photo's again when  I scrapbook them.

Sharing Some Successful Studio J

Wow, did you all notice that "Sharing Some Successful Studio J" is a lot of "S" words.  That could be a real tongue twister don't ya think?  Anyway I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.  I just wanted to share some Studio J layouts that I have recently done.

As you all know I LOVE Studio J .   It is not an abandonment to traditional scrapbooking,  but works as a companion along side traditional scrapbooking or looks beautiful all by itself .  That is the beauty of it. 

Have you noticed at the top of my blog there is a page tab that says "Online Scrapbooking"  I am in the process of adding a few Studio J tips, tricks, tutorials and techniques under that page so check back often to view some great Studio J information to help you.

Remember to click on image to enlarge

What I love about this Studio J layout is that you can easily journal on the photos.  Notice the journaling on the photo in the right hand corner.

With Studio J it's so easy to edit your photos.  Alyssa was wearing a bright orange shirt that was so distracting to the overall layout.  With one little click I changed my color photo to black and white.  It made the world of difference.

Journaling in white.  I love that look.

I added lots of layering and matting to this layout.

This layout I used the background and textured paper as the base.  It really added to the theme of this layout.

Of course my favorite thing in the world to do in Studio J is re size all or any of the embellishments to the size I want.

Have a great day.  That is all I have for today.  Thanks for stopping by and if you have not played around with Studio J give it a try.  You will LOVE it.