show {off} your shot!

Since I am a Photographer at heart always and my baby girl can't run away from me (yet), I am taking pictures of her constantly.

Today, she turned 9 months old!

Aww..my baby is almost not a baby anymore and will soon be a toddler running away from me! ..then a teenager!..then going off to college!..and getting married and she won't need me anymore! Noo! Ok, I guess I am getting just a little ahead of myself..but in all seriousness, Seraphina has been such a true blessing for my husband and I. The time with her just flies by and I just can't believe that in a mere 3 fast months she will have been in this family for a whole year!

I had some free time so decided to work on this particular shot a little and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to participate in another photo challenge that I just discovered. I love the expression on her face and those nice catch lights in her eyes..and her cute little button nose and the little drool that's dripping off her bottom lip.. Ok, I love the whole darn thing. Just makes me want kiss those little cheeks all day.

I was all over the place with this image.. I started off in Photoshop where I did my routine Auto-Colo/Auto-Contrast/Auto-Levels, then I took it to Picasa where I bumped up the highlights and fill lights to make the whole thing a little brighter, then I finished off in Picnik where I added the "matte" effect and muted the background color.

but now here is this tiny baby

and they say she looks just like me

and she is smiling at me

with that present infant glee

and yes I will defend

to the ends of the earth

her perfect right to be

-Ani Difranco

Macro Friday!

As much as I would absolutely love to have a keen eye for interior design..I just..don't. My house is unfortunately a modge-podge of mis-matched furniture, knick knacks and kitchen ware (and not in that cool mis-matched way either..). Anyway, in my attempt to decorate my bathroom, I put q-tips and cotton balls in glass jars on the counter top. So simple and easy but it really makes a difference on an otherwise bare** bathroom counter. When I was admiring my interior designing skills (okay..I'm stretching the word "skill" right now just a little..) I thought this shot would be a perfect shot for Macro Friday.

**otherwise bare counters except for these cute little quackers...they're in loooove!

personal fave = personal best

I am totally becoming obsessed with photo challenges that I am finding on line!


The most recent one that I have come across is on the blog Photo Freak and this one had a pretty broad topic.."best photo that you have ever taken." I mean, come on! How daunting is that?! I can't even begin to fathom how many photographs I have taken in my lifetime..and I am supposed to pick just one that I feel is my personal best?! Well, I did. I think. This one might look familiar..I just posted here about it the other day but I actually played around with it since then and created a nice vignette on it now. I do love this picture.

I took this particular photograph when I was a fresh-faced, newly graduated, single young woman. I had just moved to Brooklyn from North Carolina and New York City was my playground. I had no money and not very many friends so I would spend hours just wandering around the City with my camera. Hours upon hours. All by myself, just me and my Nikon. It was pretty awesome for the most part.

I think I love this photograph not only for the beauty of the one lone bird in flight (I have a thing for birds..I love photographing them)but also for the memories that it embodies for me. New York will always hold a special spot in my heart ultimately because that is where I met my husband..the City is where we fell in love.



This photograph, Bird in Flight, is circa 2005.

P.S. Bird in Flight can also be found here :)

The little details...

Gosh, I looooove being a mommy to my beautiful baby girl..one of the many perks are the adorable girly things that she gets to wear, like these cutie-pie boots. These have been anxiously awaiting her in her closet, waiting for her little baby feet to grow into them. I'm sure that she will grow out of them by next week but at least I'll always have this picture to remind me of how little itty bitty her feet use to be!

Photo Hunt Challenge!

Yeaaa! I have completed my first photo hunt challenge! This was a super fun way to keep those creative juices flowing and I can't wait to see the other people's interpretation of the words.

In Disguise; I was taking pictures of this fountain
for several minutes before I realized that the "rock"on the lion's head was a cute little toad!

Crisp; aaaah, I can feel the sunshine and smell the salt in the air!
Thinking of the cold, refreshing water screamed the word"crisp" to me for some reason.. Great South Bay, Patchogue, New York

(this one was from my archive..unfortunately I did not make it to the beach this month!)

Fall Colors; Pilot Mountain, NC

Jack O Lantern


Shot from the ground

Landscape; Pilot Mountain, w/ Hanging Rock in background, NC

Fall Tradition; everyone goes to a pumpkin patch in October!

Books

Dining; goat cheese gnocchi w/spinach & tomatos (YUM!),
Trio's Restaurant, Mount Airy, NC

Child; oh, nooo, I'm not biased at all..

I can't help it if my daughter is adorable

and a wonderful model! ;)

Faces formed in Nature; Slipper Orchid, You see it, right??

Reynolda Gardens, Winston-Salem, NC



Tilt-Shift Photography; I learned something new and cool...tilt-shift!

Downtown Winston-Salem, NC

P.S. a little trivia for you.. did you know that the white tower in this photograph

(the Wachovia Center)

is the only granite domed skyscraper in the world?





B+W w/ Selective Coloring



Bokeh; I use this technique all the time but never knew what it was called!

Best Photo from October 23

Something from the kitchen; I made sweet potato ravioli!

Something Creepy; Arrowhead Spider

(2nd pic from archive)

Something Vintage; Got lucky at a car show,

the 3100 Chevy truck is from the 1950's




Something Golden; 'nuff said.

Self-Portrait; yup, that's me!

Happy Halloween, everyone! I don't know about you but I am already twitching from the amount of sugar that I have eaten today..

Can't wait for the next photo hunt challenge to keep me on my toes!