Morning Blogger

I'm a morning blogger. I think there's something so fresh and beautiful about the time of day and I'm usually in the most positive frame of mind.

This weekend my sleep finally became regulated. I'm relieved that I can sleep more than 4 hours per night. Due to the green pollen everywhere (and Jay at the doctor getting allergy shots) I took a benadryl on Friday. Just the one pill readjusted my sleep pattern and I'm finally back to normal!

We showed our house a couple of times this weekend, which was a great time to work on photography. All of the lessons are due on Sunday, and with all of the housework I was pretty behind!

A quick update on the photography class: It's going great. In my first post about the class, I was really freaked out that I was way under qualified to take it! Some students had already copyrighted their work. However, the copyright that I saw on other students' photos turned out to be an optional watermark that can be added to each photo as it is uploaded to the Better Photo.

The professor is very helpful. He has amazing photos posted from his experience shooting animals and people all over the world, which is really inspiring. He critiques each photo that is submitted and usually starts with the aspects that he really likes. Then he says what could make it better. For example, he recommended that I adjust my white balance in outdoor photos (and told me how) to provide a warmer tone to my photos. All other students' photo critiques are available so I can read through their critiques and not make the same mistakes. I'm really enjoying having an instructor's insight.

Here are a few of my favorite photos that I took this weekend as people were touring our house.

The calls for this weekend's showings came 30 minutes before the buyers wanted to walk-through the house. It really isn't much time to straighten up and get everyone (dogs, dog beds, dog bowls & toys) out the door. I'm off to clean our house from top to bottom so that I'm prepared for the day.

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Happy Easter!

We have had so much going on this week and I can't wait until I can post some actual news. I found that I have a hard time blogging or taking pictures when live gets busy with change (so sad). Hopefully I will have news this week to announce. Let me just clear one thing up... no, we're not preggers.

I begged Jay to come down to Marietta this morning so that I could practice photographing people. Animals and scenic views are fun, but I wanted to try something new. People and skin tones are a totally different animal (parden the pun.)

He took a couple of me too, which I was not prepared for!! I just rolled out of bed, no make up or jewelry and yesterday's clothes. Maybe I'll get it in gear for the next time the camera can be turned around on me!! And maybe I should get out and get a tan first!

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First practice

Today I went to historic Marietta to take a few pictures.

The old train station, dating back to the mid-1800's.

Stopping the train by using a fast shutter speed.

Showing the speed of the train by slowing down the shutter speed.

I need to make plans to visit Marietta Museum of History. I heard about the history of this building during a girls night out ghost tour around Halloween. During the Civil War (1862), trains carried the wounded to this once hotel then make-shift hospital from a local battlefield (Kennesaw).

They used elementary means to numb the soldiers like alcohol while removing limbs - think Haiti today - and this building was said to be filled with "screaming patients." The morgue was on the forth floor, which you might notice is missing. The next owners removed the floor due to its past. Today, there are numerous ghost stories of patients roaming the halls and peering out the windows at night. We were shown some surveillance camera footage that caught some wispy beings on tape. An interesting place!

The dogs came with me for the ride....they needed some fresh air. And the 8,000,000 pets they received while I was taking pictures didn't upset them either. They make me smile.

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Here goes nothing

I signed up for a photography class yesterday. I had been waiting and waiting to join a class, I'm not sure why. I finally joined on the day the class started. I would love it if anyone is interested, that you join with me!! There are still 11 days to complete the first assignment, just four pictures!

I have been thinking about since we bought a Canon SLR at the end of last year. I suppose I waited because I wasn't sure if I wanted to spend the money. Especially until I knew I was ready to commit to following through with homework assignments again. (I just finished school in December for Accounting, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to be held accountable for homework.)

But learning on my own hasn't been going so well lately. I have been starting to feel overwhelmed with all of the aspects involved in taking great photos. I've been thinking lately,"Why are my pictures coming out blurry?" and "Why are hers so much better than mine?" "I'm dying to know what she knows." Photography can be so hard and so frustrating.

After reviewing different class options, I decided to sign up for Better Photo's online "Fundamentals of Photography" class. I heard from two different people to try the Showcase School of Photography off Cheshire Bridge in Atlanta. But trucking 45 minutes into town in no traffic was a little too much driving for me. I don't do well in traffic at all. I also heard from a professional photographer that Better Photo has a good name in the industry...just her opinion. So off to Better Photo I went.

I feel like I should say that I have no desire to make money off photography. I think that would put undue pressure on the whole process and stunt creativity. I only want to learn to take better photos to document our life and update our little blog.

I started the online class yesterday. The class starts with assignment #1, and by uploading our portfolios by this Sunday.

• Problem #1. I don't have a portfolio. It think it's supposed to be an easy, "What level are you at?" experiment for the instructor. Seriously, it's only like 5 or 6 photos. But still, portfolio sounds intimidating. I spent some time yesterday throwing together some recent photos in Smugmug. Then I had Jay glance through them to tell me which few he liked as a second opinion.

• Problem #2. The first, and currently only person to upload photos has a professional camera. (We are to note the camera, lens and specifics about the shot underneath each photo). I'm talking the $5,000 professional Canon. And her photos are copy-righted already.

Huh? I thought I signed up for a beginning photography class. I literally started clicking through the student "rooms" to ensure that signed up for the right class. I finally confirmed that "Yes indeed, I'm in the right place."

Maybe the other beginners in the class are thinking what I'm thinking. So march on, I must.

Here goes nothing. I'll let you know how it goes. Please join me if you can.


Sunset in Cabo, Mexico.
Taken with a Canon xsi, tamron 17-50 aspherical lens.
f/6.3, Exposure time-1/160 sec., ISO-100, Focal length-17mm, no flash
;)

*to get your photo info, simply right click on your picture icon and look at properties*

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