Photo Class Week 4-"Using Natural Light"

This week Brooke taught us about using natural light.  I love natural light and it was so exciting to learn how to really utilize the light to get the look you want and the many different looks you can get by manipulating the light.  Yes it was another "light bulb went on" week.  Thanks Brooke this was such an amazing class.  Actually, I might suggest that you teach this "Natural Light" class before the "Composition" class.  I would have positioned my subjects completely different last week if I would have known what I know now.  TEEHEEE I am getting very dangerous.

With that said I loved the phrase you used "Choose your light first and then location second"  Well I am not very pleased with my photos this week.  The two days that I was able to grab my camera the weather was terrible.  When you looked up at the sky you saw nothing but very dark and grey.  I have not seen any life of the sun for three days.  So I want to start by saying that I plan to take plenty more photos of "Natural Light" the second I see the sun.

Sidelight:  First assignment was to capture light coming from the side.  Here I placed Lauren in front of her window to help grab the sunlight.

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Back light:  Next assignment was to capture the light from the back of the subject.  This photo was taken mid week in the middle of the day and the last day that I saw sun.  Shortly after taken this photo those darn grey clouds moved in and well they are still here.

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Front light:  Next assignment was to take a front light photo.  Well the greatest thing about this weekend was my two college daughters came home for the weekend due to some family activities we had going on.  So of course I grabbed them to take this photo.  This was taken around 3:00pm and it was very dark, dreary and cold outside.  Well I must say my two girls asked me to put this photo on facebook and tag them so I guess the cold dark day was worth it.

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Natural Reflector: We were then assigned to find a natural reflector.  Here I used the white garage door to reflect light back on the subject.

 Alyssa

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Rachael

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Silhouette: Ok here is where I FAILED MISERABLY.   I wanted so bad for this to work.  I wanted to get a Silhouette/Sunburst of the Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple.  I know it can be achieved because I have been on the temple grounds around sunset and have seen the sun wrap around the Temple so beautifully.  No worries I will not let this beat me.  The first evening the sun is actually out I will try this again.

I did wait about 45 minutes in hopes that there would been some sort of a break in the clouds but, no such luck.  So the best thing I could do is adjust my white balance to "Tungsten" to get this look

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I am going to go ahead and post this photo of a silhouette.  This was taken about two weeks ago and was able to capture a silhouette by accident. I looked out my kitchen window as the sun was setting the sky was so beautiful that I wanted to take a photo of the beautiful sky, but what I got was a silhouette and didn't even know it.

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Well that is all I have for this week.  Thanks for stopping by.  You will probably find me out somewhere around sunset trying to capture my silhouette and sunburst photos.  I love this technique so I am determined to perfect it.  Have a wonderful week.



Photo Class Week 3-"Composition"

Ohhh goodness my homework for week three is very late.  Last week was very hectic then when I did have a moment my models (the kids) were never home when I was.  However, the last couple of days I have been battling some bad weather so finally today as soon as my models got home from school we were off to take photos and did I mention I had to bribe them with food.

Week three we focused on composition as we learned about lines, shapes, colors, patterns, framing, simplicity and texture.  I found myself looking around all week as I was driving thinking "OHHH that location would be a great composition shot"  and a couple of times I caught myself thinking "I wounder if that homeowner would consider me trespassing if I jumped that fence and took a photograph of my kids in front of that great colorful door."  So I decided I better not trespass, but I sure was tempted.  WOW the possibilities with composition are endless.  Can't wait to take more photos. 

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Well I have always loved photos taken along the old railroad tracks.  I always thought it was because I love the urban, rustic look but after this weeks lesson it's the lines and shapes of the tracks that makes the photo so fun and interesting.  My challenge was that it was starting to get dark.  Hey Brooke I wanted to use the rule of thirds and place Brandon on the right side, but there is a road on the left side of that track and I could not get him in the view finder exactly where I wanted him.  i probably should have positioned myself a little better. 

I hope to convince my family to come with me to the tracks this weekend and take some family photos for our Christmas cards and have a little more sun for better lighting.

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Well here I loved the horizontal lines of the bridge.

Brandon has a few trees growing out of his head with this shot which I didn't even notice when I was taking the photo.  It's so hard to remember everything at the click of a button.

Thanks for taking a minute to look.  If you see me in your backyard taking photos don't call the cops.  Just know I am practicing my composition skills.  Have a great week.

Greatful and Phase Two of Treatments

I am so very grateful for so many things, but especially so grateful for each of you.  There was a knock at my door a couple weeks ago.  I went to the door and to my surprise it was my lovely downline Sharon.  I was so surprised and thrilled to see her.  She handed me this beautiful card and said to me we all missed you at "Leadershare".  WOW I was so surprised.  Leadershare is a CTMH event that was held a few weeks ago in Ogden and due to limited registration I was unable to get registered in time to attend, but had many fall clean up activities planned with my husband that day so was feeling OK for not getting registered in time.

After Sharon left I found a relaxing spot and opened the card expecting to see a couple of signatures.  However to my surprise I opened the card to find the card completely filled on the inside and back of card with signatures of those that attended "Leadershare" expressing so much love, thoughts and prayers my way.

I have to say there was so much power of love in that card that I just wanted to thank all of you so much and express to you how touched I was.  Actually to be honest I could feel so much love and support that it made me cry.  It's OK because Fred was out of town so it was a much needed cry. So THANKS so much to all of you that signed and sent wishes and prayers my way and thanks to the person who made the beautiful card.

TREATMENT UPDATE:  Well while I am here blogging away I have had many want to know the latest on our treatments so I will quickly update you.  This last week was a difficult and emotional week.  We had some big appointments and had to make the decision to do radiation.  The doctors feel this is the prime time to radiate while the tumor is as small as possible in order to kill that ugly thing as much as possible.  We have known all along that we would probably have to do radiation, but it's just scary.  I realized that I need to exercise more faith.  I know that fear and faith can't exist together so I need to pick one or the other so I better pick faith.

Anyway, radiation will be a daily treatment for the next six weeks.  Our Oncologist admitted to us this week that Fred did better on his chemo treatments than any of the doctors ever expected, so I know that is because of the power of prayer.  Thanks so much to all of you that remember us in your prayers and different prayer rolls and we know we have an army of support behind us.  Have a wonderful day, I love you all and keep praying-teeheheh.

Photo Class Week 2-"Shutter Speed"

I hope everyone had a great week and a very Happy Halloween.  Today was a beautiful day here in South Jordan, UT so with camera in hand I was excited to do my assignments for this weeks class.   I especially loved this lesson.  We learned about shutter speed and how to photograph action.  For those of you that know me you all know that at least 85% of the photos I take are action due to the fact all my kids have been involved in sports and sports=action.  After this week I really wish I could rewind time and re-shoot all those swimming, football and baseball photos.  OHHH well, really nothing to lose sleep over-right!!!

ASSIGNMENT ONE:  Our first assignment was to take a "Frozen Action" photo with the shutter speed around 1/1000.  Here we have Lauren jumping on the trampoline.  She loves it when I take photos of her jumping and doing all the fancy tricks she knows how to do on the trampoline.  Usually my tramp photos are blurry, but today I was able to get crystal clear photos (thanks Brooke).  I took several and decided to post this one.

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Well one thing I did this week after learning about action from Brooke was sit at the computer and go through many of  the action photos I have taken the last couple of years(yes there are millions).  I could see what I did wrong with each photos as I reviewed the aperture, shutter speed and ISO readings of each photo.  I was totally having a "light bulb went on moment" as I reviewed some photos.  However, I am proud to say  there was a few by sure luck that I had done correctly so I want to quickly share them with you.

Taken last spring.  You may want to click on the photo to enlarge, but I was able to capture Brandon batting and was able to cature Brandon, the bat and  the baseball in the photo.

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Taken this summer.  Lauren playing in the sprinklers.  Loved how I was able to capture her flipping her hair as she came up out of the sprinklers. 

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ASSIGNMENT TWO:  Next assignment was to photograph something that "Implies Motion"  Here I had Brandon, Lauren and the dogs run towards me.  I set the shutter speed at 1/125, metered the camera and took  the photo.  I think the photo is a little washed out.  I forgot to adjust my ISO speed.  Brooke taking the ISO to 100 probably would have been a much better photo right? 

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Same thing here.  I like the motion is shows other than I almost cut her head off.  So once again forgot all about lowering the ISO. 

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This photo was one I took back in February of my daughter at the state swim meet finals.  I was very proud of this photo.  Trust me it's front and center in her scrapbook.  Brooke here I did have to really increase the ISO because the meet was inside and very dark.

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ASSIGNMENT THREE:  Our last assignment for the week was to take a "Panning" shot.  WOW I need tons of practice here.  The photo shows our beagle "Shilo" running after a bone and a very high speed.  So how could I have made the dog a little more in focus and still blur the background.  The photo was taken at almost dusk like you suggested.

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Thanks everyone for stopping by.  I am going to practice more this week on shutter speed and photographing action so beware.

Photo Class Week 1-"Aperture"

WOW hello everyone.  I am so embarrassed that it's been so long since I have blogged.  Once my two oldest girls left for college things have been super busy.   Anyway I am trying to get all my ducks in a row, but every time I turn around there are more ducks.

So one of my goals for a really long time is to take some photo classes and really learn more about photography since I love it so much.  So this fall I took a class at the last Scrapbook USA Expo. It was great since this is the first time in many years I choose not to be a vendor it gave me some time for myself.  The photo class was only two hours, but I learned so much.   The instructor walked around and showed each of how to use our own camera's.  It was a whirlwind class but so good.  So I wanted to build on that class and my awesome friend Nicole hooked me up with Brooke Snow. 

Brooke is a professional photographer who offers on-line photo classes.  Check out her website at http://www.brookesnow.com/   I am so excited to lean so much from Brooke.   I love how she explains things in great deal and in terms that us "photo for dummies" can understand.  I will be posting my homework for the next 6 weeks here so hopefully I will get better.  If not then there is just no hope for me. 

Our first week she taught us about aperture and metering.  After studying the tutorials I was off to do my homework assignment.  I usually shoot with a different lens but of course my college daughter borrowed it so it was good for me to use another lens for this assignment.

Assignment 1:  We were to find a "Storytelling Opportunity"  Something that has a beginning, middle and end.  HUMM this was the hardest part of the assignment.  What should I photograph?  After driving around town looking for something that would tell a story I finally drove to the Jordan River, parked my car and took a little hike.  I came upon this bridge.  I think bridges are fun and the anticipation of what is on the other side of the bridge always arouses curiosity.

Storytelling Aperture-Bridge

 This was shot with an aperture of F16

 This was shot with a "who cares" aperture of F8

and this was shot with a "singular aperture" of 5.6

I was finished with assignment 1 and was about ready to turn around and leave but first decided to really see what was on the other side of the bridge.

Well as I crossed the bridge the Jordan River was very calm and beautiful.  I felt such a feeling of serenity so I decided to repeat assignment 1 and photograph the river.  I love to photograph water in general, but especially a river or stream.  I love the look of the river where it disappears at the top of the photo.  Whatever that is called I am sure Brooke will tell us.

Storytelling Aperture-River

 "storytelling aperture" of 18

 "who cares aperture" of F8

"singular aperture" of 5.6

Assignment 2:  We were to shoot a "Who Cares Opportunity"  The subject was to be on the same plane.  I don't think I chose a very good background so it was hard to capture what I was trying to do not to mention my subject kept telling me that "I have my own homework to do MOM"

Who Cares Aperture

 "who cares aperture" F8

 "storytelling aperture" of F22

"singular aperture" of 5.6

Assignment 3:  Now we were to find a "Singular Theme Opportunity"  So  I decided to walk around my yard and find something I could photograph.  I walked around one of my rose bushes in  my front yard.  This dang rose bush I had been swearing at all summer because it just would not bloom.  The more I fertilized, watered and pampered the more stubborn it was.  However, just today for some reason it had one long steam beautiful rose at the very top of the bush.  It was a little miracle and blessing just for me.  The rose smells so amazing so I picked the rose and called it my "Last Rose of Summer"  no joke because the next day I woke up to that rose bush was covered with snow.  So for right now I am really enjoying my "Last Rose of Summer" 

Single Theme Aperture

 Here I shot the rose at a "Singular Aperture of F5.6"

 "Storytelling Aperture of F22"

shot at a "Who Cares Aperture of F8"

Well that is all for this week.  Can't wait to see what I learn in lesson two.  Have a great day.

Passages

Finally today I was able to get my picture on these layouts from our "Passages" workshop.  It took me all day to get my photos printed and on the layouts (no joke).  I decided to use photos from my Europe trip two years ago and trust me there were thousands of photos to go through.  It was so very hard to decide which ones I wanted.

Have I told you how much I love our "Passages" paper pack.  Well I do because the paper tells a story all by itself.  The entire line is about life and taking a journey.  So I did decide to use Europe photos on my layouts, but really these layouts can be used for any event or day of the year.  In a nutshell we are all on a great big journey and just like layout one says "Happiness is not a destination it's a Journey". Trust me it really does say that in the bottom right hand corner of the right page.  You might have to click on the photo to see it.

Layout two is very fun and easy.  The frames on the left hand side of the page I powdered with baby powder on the back. Why did I do that?  No it's not to make the layouts smell good when in fact the layout does smell good for a few minutes. HAHAHA.  The powder actually neutralized the adhesive on the back of the stickease.  Because I popped those frames up with 3-D foam tape I didn't want them to be sticky and sticking in all the wrong places.

Layout three will go together very quickly for you.  If you are loving the layouts (which I am sure you are-haha) and you don't come to my workshops then what are you waiting for?  We have so much fun.  Email me for details at myhandsyourheart@aol.com  You can complete the layouts with me walking you through them or on your own.

Have a great day and enjoy your life "Journey"

The Latest and Greatest

Yikes I am finally coming up for air from the last few weeks.  Life quickly passed me by as I was trying to get two kids in college and the younger two ready for school.  I have to say that life is good.  It could be better, but I am so very happy and blessed because life could be so much worse.

Well let me just give you an update on how things are going and which direction we are headed.  Let's start with the last PET scan.  The scan showed that the lesions in the liver and lungs have decreased in size and there was no metabolic activity which means that these tumors are asleep or dormant.  That is fantastic and we are so very excited.  We do need to keep in the back of our mind that these types of tumors do have a 95% chance of returning but we feel so blessed that there is not metabolic activity at this point.

The tumor in the rectum showed a large decrease in size but there was still some metabolic activity.  So you have to realize that this tumor was much larger than the liver and lungs so it's going to take time to conquer that beast.  Also the rectum is a very small and vascular area so anything that tries to grow there wants to spread quickly because there is not room to grow and tumors like lots of space.  Therefore because it is still trying to grow we don't want to stop treatments or we will back to ground zero.

So the current treatment for the next three months (trust me I live my life in three month increments) looks something like this.  We are staying on "Avastin" which we go in every three weeks for and it's only a 30 minute infusion .  We then need to stay on 5-FU but that drug comes in a oral form called "Xeloda"    So he takes Xeloda twice a day (uggghhh it's 10 pills) for two weeks and then he takes a week off. 

So far he feels great.  There will be a little fatigue associated with Xeloda but so far we are doing great.  Now on top of all the drugs we may have to start radiation here in the next few weeks.  Once we start radiation it will be a daily treatment for 6 weeks.  Dr Whisenant thinks that the combination of Avastin and radiation will really help knock the rectal activity down.

Now for the greatest news of all.  The CEA level (that's the tumor marker) is down to 75.  Remember we started with a CEA of almost 400.  So that basically tells us the chemo is working and we WILL NOT let this beat us.

I can never tell all of you enough how much I appreciate your love, support and prayers.  We would not be doing as well as we are without each of you thinking of us and praying for us each and everyday.  Everyday I wake up and think how blessed I am to have each of you in my life and pulling for us.    I am so grateful for my Savior that he is so mindful of our situation and most days is carrying me over the hurdles and giving me the strength to overcome my trials.  I also thank him because I know out there in this big crazy world there is someone that has much bigger trials than I do and I pray for you whoever you might be that you will over come them and lean of your faith for comfort and direction.  I know I do.

Well I leave you with my blessings and hope all of you are having a safe and happy weekend.  I have many more fun things to post this week so check back often.  Until then do you like my photos for this post?  This was a work party Fred had last weekend.  His work party is the most amazing thing ever with lots of food, games prizes and much, much more.  However I just want you to know that standing on that little post and trying to knock off your opponent is not so easy.  It was fun so that is all that matters.

It's a Mystery

OHHH my goodness do you all think that I have been missing in action?  Well I am not totally missing just time flying quickly by.  It seems like just a few days ago the kids were just getting out of school and then I blinked and WOW I realized that it's time to go back to school, finish up my yard work, home improvements, harvest my many tomatoes in the garden (well almost time for that) and all the other many things I have to do on my daily "To Do" list.

My latest hobby that I have picked up is quilting so I wanted to share my latest project with you.  Yikes, I never in a million years thought I would find myself quilting.  However, I have found it to be very enjoyable, relaxing and it allows me to have a creative outlet other than scrapbooking.  I love to scrapbook very much, but due to everything that has been going on in our lives this has been a very therapeutic thing for me.  I have been going to a quilt club in my area that has been organized by my dear friend Juli.  I love meeting up with my quilt club ladies each month. 

Over the last few months Juli planned a "Mystery Quilt" for us.  Each month she gave us an assignment.  The first month was to buy the fabric, the following month we did the cutting and then the next two months she gave us sewing instructions.  We had no idea what the quilt would look like when we finished.  However I was not worried one minute because Juli does amazing work and I knew it would be well worth it in the end.  Each of us in the club chose different fabric so our quilts are all different.  Anyway, I was very happy with the way my quilt turned out.  I love pink and brown if you have never noticed so of course when I went to the fabric store all the pink and brown fabric jumped out at me and into my arms.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Front of quilt

Back side of quilt

Thanks so much for taking a minute to share my excitement with me.  Have a wonderful day.

Zippidee Workshop

Climb aboard for a fun workshop this month using our Zippidee kit.  I know all of you have hundreds and hundreds of Disney and theme park photos waiting for the perfect layout.

These layouts were so fun and yes I am so guilty of having all of those photos laying around needing to go onto layouts and in my kids albums.  YIKES these photos were from 2004.  I can NEVER have enough Disney layouts.  Lauren loved meeting all of the characters at Disney World.  Her favorite experience of all was eating lunch at Cinderella's castle.  She was in big time heaven all day.

These layouts work so great for Disney and theme park but they will also make great birthday layouts. I used the photos for layout two from last year when Fred took the girls to Disney World.  Brandon and I were not invited to go with them since the two of us had just returned from Europe.  OHHHH well Brandon and I had had the best time ever in Europe so I guess that was only fair. 

We love staying at the Wilderness Resort.  We have a time share at the lodge and we love it there.  We can never come home until I have taken photos all around the resort.  Thanks to stopping by.  I have to run but I will be back later to add my details. 

Scrapbook Sale

Close To My Heart is having a scrapbook sale to show appreciation for YOU.  All items are 50% off.  My Stickease ($2) Level 1 kits ($4)  Level 2 kits ($6)  Take advantage of this amazing scrapbook sale starting August 4th-August 11th. (while supplies last)

These items will go fast so RUN don't WALK over to my "Close To My Heart" web site at http://www.stampinscrapexpress.myctmh.com/  then click on "Shop Online" to take advantage of this HUGE sale.

You can Download a PDF list of everything that is on sale here   Once the page opens click on the blue "download button"  Have fun stocking up on all the great deals and let me know if I can help you with anything.