Portrait of a Little Gentleman

This week in my photography class, we learned all about portraits. I didn't realize how much there was, to taking a portrait, and all of the different kinds of lighting there is to think about. I prefer natural light, but even with natural light, there are so many ways to have the light hit your subject. Here are some pictures of my guy in our living room, which has like 6 windows coming from two different directions. I really liked the results!!!

Weight Gain

I seem to have a large 23 lb growth that has taken up residence on my legs. Here is what I look at when I am cooking or doing anything else that doesn't center around EVAN!!!! He's a pretty cute "growth" though, I must say.

Pretty much, if he is not picked up ASAP, he collapses to the ground as if he is devastated. Poor little guy, he is so neglected huh??!!!

Job Hazzard

In place of Not Me Monday... I will let you in on something I actually did today. Today was my first accident while taking pictures. I am surprised it took this long to happen, knowing how clumsy I am. As Evan was acting cute, walking down the sidewalk, I decided it would be a good idea to race ahead of him and get a shot of him coming towards me. Afraid I would miss something, I kept the camera glued to my eye and was looking backwards while running forwards. Little did I know, the sidewalk was uneven, causing me to trip. In an attempt to save my Mom's camera and new lens, I fell extremely awkwardly, catching myself on my elbow. Missing a little skin there now, and just a tad bit sore. But totally worth it, the camera is safe. Whew, that was a close one!!

Things I Learned at the Zoo

To a 17 month old, sticks and dirt are just as cool as looking at Gorillas and Elephants.

My biceps are much too weak, and actually are sore after carrying Evan through the zoo. Stroller's are too short and little boys do not want to sit in the stroller for more than five minutes, for fear they will miss something.

Everyone in Jacksonville under the age of 10 was at the zoo today, being that it was a holiday.

Giraffes are my favorite animal in the world.

They are HUNGRY animals, and appear to have bottomless pits for stomachs!!

They have such a sweet disposition and are so peaceful.

They are so unique and fun to photograph.

Don't take your lens cap off too close to the rhino's cage. Because if it falls in, it's gone. Trust me on this one.

If you are looking for a healthy alternative to a $7 hot dog for lunch, you will go hungry!!!

There is no better way to spend an afternoon with your best guy and your Mom.

Although exhausting, it's totally worth it all. Just to see your son's light up when he sees an animal for the first time in person... even if it's just for a second in between melt downs.

Oh yeah, and little boys LOVE trains.

Things I Learned From the Carousel at the ZOO

People may look at you funny when taking pictures of yourself in the mirror on the carousel.

It's really hard to get a good picture on the carousel. It goes around way too fast.

And it's kinda hard to predict when they are gonna be coming around again, so it's easy to end up taking pictures of their back.

Often times the pole on the horse, obstructs the subject's face.

Finally, auto focus is too slow, and I am not fast enough to manually focus, so 97% of my pictures are BLURRY!!

Flowers from my Valentine

Paul got me some lovely tulips for Valentine's Day. That, along with some decadent Fudgie Wudgie dark chocolate fudge, a bottle of amazing Pinot Noir and dinner at Bonefish. He has really stepped it up since 2005's Valentine's Day when he got me a Happy Anniversary card for Valentines day, when our anniversary is in August!!!

Aren't these tulips gorgeous? I am practicing still lifes for my photography class, so it was a perfect present for me!!!

Half N' Half

When Evan was about 10 months old, he decided he didn't want to be rocked to sleep anymore. He just wanted to be put to bed awake. For the 10 months before that, I rocked him to sleep for every single nap and bedtime, despite what all the "books" recommended. I usually enjoyed doing it, but as it took longer and longer each time, I found myself getting anxious about all the "stuff" I should have been doing, other than sitting and singing with Evan in the rocker. But when Evan gave it up, he gave it up, cold turkey. I was half relieved, but half disappointed, like I wasn't needed anymore! It's been 7 months since I rocked my little guy to sleep. But this week, my little clingy boy has let me do it twice!!! He is feeling under-the-weather, and particularly snugly. And I am eating it up. So I find myself changing my priorities, and it's no longer only half of me that wants to take the time to rock him to sleep, it's 100% of me, no doubt. The only problem is, it's a lot different putting a 17 month old in the crib asleep, as opposed to a 10 month old. It's a little tricky, I must say. Limbs are longer, his body is heavier!!!

Here are some shots of Evan at the park the other day at sunrise. That's right, he is up at the crack of dawn again. Our one day of sleeping in was nice, but now a distant memory.

Lunch Date

Evan's got the sniffles AGAIN (fourth cold in four months). So today we decided to take it easy. But Evan is getting to the point where he is SO spoiled, and he needs to be entertained. So around lunch-time I had to take him out of the house before we both went nuts. So we ventured over to Downtown Disney. I just got a few pictures of him playing near the Mickey Mouse fountain, with my point and shoot. We had a nice day, window shopping, eating lunch by the lake, and feeding the birds.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Well, if practice made perfect, I would be a freakin professional by now, I would be leading seminars on photography for goodness sake!!! So no, practice doesn't make perfect, all of the time. But hopefully, practice and my class Tuesday nights will make me a little better at photography. In class last week, we learned about aperature, and how setting the camera at different aperatures would make a difference on what was in focus. I love setting it at a low aperature so I get a nice blurred background. We were supposed to practice that technique and here is the result. I have so many pictures already of Evan with a blurred background, so I decided to focus in one one body part, and have the rest of his body be blurred.