self portrait challenge

Trying to put a few things I have learnt into me!! Man focus is hard with out looking into the eye piece because you are the one in front of the camera!! so here I am today, deer in the headlights look and all!

Who needs expensive toys?

The boys visited Grandma and Papa this weekend. Papa got a new chair that came in a big box! Yep there is nothing more entertaining than a box. Who need toys or TV or balls or anything else? It kept them occupied for a good couple of hours this morning. So today my photo comes from my Dad who grabbed this great capture of the boys in the box!

enjoy J

The newest thing

Caden has discovered footy cards. We only have one. I have no idea where he got it from but it is his latest obsession.

tonight while I cooked dinner the boys did the dishes - well they splashed water everywhere and all over themselves!

This morning Daz and I got to see the new Transformers movie! we loved it.

enjoy J

A hint of a rainbow...

on my feet! I love having colourful socks to wear under my tall boots and I found these cool ones that actually go up to my knees! They just cheer me up with the colour. Boring grey work pants but bright socks that only I know are there!

enjoy J

lately....

not much has been happening here in terms of actually being home. The kids and I are in school all the time, Daz is home during the day and we are home at night. I finally made a final decision to drop back my availability to only 3 days and have the kids home 2 days a week instead of FT day care. Probably going to regret it in some ways but I can't think of  too many at the moment. I always have second thought issues but today was another one where I know that what I am doing is right for us. I hate being so grumpy wit the kids and to be perfectly honest I am missing the time to cook and bake with them. I am so not interested on the weekends and that is breaking my heart that the kids have a cranky mummy. so here goes a try for a better mum (we'll see how we go!)

anyway on a much lighter note we had this funky orange unset tonight with the totally massive clouds. I haven't got the pics ready yet as I was doing my NLCC assignment editing tonight but I do have Tyler outside in it. It was a way different light to try and edit in and I finally self corrected to improve!! Here is my grubby boy with cheese from corn chips all over him!

the light turned his hair a really orangey red rather than that strawberry red it usually is!!

enjoy J

It is always the way...

That you look at the clock, it is way later than it is supposed to be and you get a run of these all the way to work...

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lovin' the big brown eyes!!

And then you get these cuties on the mail box. As you can see Caden is just sooooo happy to see the camera!! Technically perfect? no way. heart perfect? absolutely. A true reflection of the boys at 5.30 in the afternoon after school!

 

enjoy j

NLCC assignment 2 - 45 degree indoor lighting

This assignment was all about using natural light but at a 45 degree angle to create modelling shadows across the face. It was also the opportunity to use a reflector for the first time. I struggled with that so that is going to be a practice thing. Daz is so wonderful he even made time to model for me before heading off to work.  my setting were f1.7, 1/250, ISO100 with a CWB set as well.

 

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Something so simple

as bubbles can create the best feelings in everyone. There is something so cheery and happy when on is either blowing bubbles, chasing them or watching a child's face when they pop on their face!

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having fun..

I just love this one of the boys blowing a bubbles! the other is one Daz shot of Tyler and I. I actually am really happy to have a nice one of the two of us! I have some more but they are tomorrows job!

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fun family photo!

I have wanted to do this type of photo for a while. while it isn't perfect it is us!!

and Caden was fashion statement man today...

Sportacus suit, red flannel jammie top, blue trackies no shoes and of course the Sportacus hat!

 

I checked out the local bridal fair today seeking inspiration for wedding photography. Very scary prospect photographing a wedding as there is no do-over. There were actually quite a few there, the albums they had were gorgeous.

you know looking at these two photos I can see that I nailed the bottom one and need to do more work on the top one in terms of focus. different lenses, light and aperture etc but still at least I am starting  to see how I want all of my pics to look.

I have a heap (read over 100) to go through from today as well as edit so I'll put them up soon!

enjoy J

Time to breath and have a jammie morning

Whew the week is finally over. It has been a busy busy week. I worked full time this week so while my photos were taken, there was no time to get postable quality (just snap shots)!! so you now have a round up of this morning! We chilled around in our jammie's till late, the boys watch TV till the cartoons (ben 10 and ABC kids were over). I made some counting games up for the boys to help them a)develop counting skills and b) give them something new to do! Tyler got snuggles from Daddy which we don't get to do as often as we like since we are out the door pretty quickly to school and such. Oh and Caden practiced his letters with his alphabet cookie cutters cooking them in the microwave (via the kitchen timer!) in Sportacus blue to match his suit! I got the 'don't take a photo look' and  he moved too quick for a in focus one of him!  Josy decided to help the boys out well me out with the scrabble floor puzzle that I got out for the boys. All this before 10.30. Phew time to chill a bit!!

enjoy J

Assume the pose...

bet you cant tell what he is glued to!! yeah no real conversations out of the boys until the milk is warmed and drunk and the cartoons are at one that they don't like!!

essentials for the day...

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Gotta wear the new socks..

Sorry for the slight blur.. I switched to auto and used the icky flash but love the moment... G'ma bough the boys a pair of socks each closest colours to the Broncos (a National Rugby League Team here in Australia). T's pretty much reach the top of his legs but he wore them to school. As you can see Caden is such a happy camper in the morning especially when I grab the camera! He had the full garb on shirt, sock and would ave worn the shorts if it hadn't of been about 4 degrees (Celsius that is!) outside.

enjoy J

Sunny Sunday around here!

You would think that a stack of pancakes would be relatively safe from little fingers... not here! T decided that the best place for Barbie was tucked in his shirt, Caden wrote his full name for the first time all by himself, lined up everything that could possible fit inside his Spiderman lunch box and both of them played with the Little People for ages. Ahh Sundays with the sun shining (YAY!) the weather still cool but able to air the house out it was a good morning! I was also really really happy with a few things today. First up was my photos of Tyler. I nailed my exposure and focus in 5 out of 7 which is such a  vast improvement, Daz made yummy scrummy pancakes (yep that is Tyler's finger!) my photos printed out really well so I am happy to be handing over the disk now, the house is a little cleaner (or it was until the little people took over!) and that was about it!

 

have a lovely day! J

The little miss in our house...

    Well it certainly isn't me! the only other female we have here certainly rules the roost and today she decided to do it from the top of the fridge. Josy get the coolest expressions on her face and she was very patient with me snapping her!

enjoy J

Brrr! turning chilly here!

We had our first frost this morning. We have had about 10 consecutive days of dreary not always raining just yuck weather and the stars came out last night. Very very chilly last night - thank goodness for electric blankets! Anyway of course when you look outside and there is the first frost. The first thought that goes through your head is grab the camera!! So Tyler and I headed outside and there we are lying on the COLD concrete (for a very short amount of time) taking pics of the frost!! And I was so pleased - I got a sun flare!! (The blue thingy is the top of the poles on the kids trampoline and a stray sock that missed being taken in and a poor ball that has seen better days had a mini frozen lake in the pouch!!)

Tyler and Caden had a pirate show at their school today which I was able to go to! Of course I took the camera and I was really happy with my shots. I found this little gem amongst them. He looks so sweet and innocent here. Hard to believe this is the Holy Terror of the Byrne household!

I'll put some up of the Pirate Pete show tomorrow as I haven't edited them yet.

enjoy J

Pirate Pete!

This afternoon the boys had Pirate Pete visit their school. I was able to go along and got some photos which hopefully I will be putting into book for them this weekend. PP sang some really funny songs and had the kids counting up while the shark ate them! he moved left, right, forwards, backwards losing his which he 'glued' back on. He had some 3 kids drag some adults up - one Dad had just arrived to pick up his little girl and got pulled out the front! Tyler wasn't too sure about the whole thing and became a monkey for a while. Caden sat with his friends ad had a great time. T pretty much followed me around while I took photos.

here are a few of the chubbies and Pirate Pete!<

Taking a pic on PP phone!

<<

digging in the Treasure Box!

enjoy J

we saw a little bit of blue

This hint of blue sky is the first we have seen in over a week! Daz looked out the window and said "quick grab your camera there is a tiny bit of blue sky!" Oh that man knows me well! So here is my neighbours cool naked tree and a little bit of blue skies!

I wait for this every morning

One of the unfortunate side effects of being a casual teacher is that you have to wait for a phone call to know if you are working or not. I sometimes can't figure out if it is a good thing or not. It really depends on my mood! Today was one of those days that it didn't ring so it was nice to have some time with my DH without the kids being home.

Pink milk

Every single morning and night the boys ask for their pink milk (for T) and chocolate milk (for C). It cannot be cold, HAS to be warmed up for 30 seconds. These boys of mine are definitely creatures of habit. This is T getting ready to warm it up. It is still dark at about 7.30am (when I took this) so it is really hard to get going!

 

have a great day

enjoy J

When your own words revisit you out of the mouths of babes!

I have started taking photos in the morning to put up on the mornings blog (link in my link bar) and this morning Tyler was blowing on his porridge as he says it was too hot. Anyway as I pulled the camera out he pipes up with " No Mummy you cant take my photo it hurts my belly". Now this may not have much context to my readers but the boys have tummy problems with gluten so food that are not good for them we tell them it hurts their belly. Well there is nothing like you own words coming back to bite you huh!!

Photo to follow tomorrow when I have downloaded it!

Tyler is too funny!

I love this shot of T- telling some story and asking for more chocolate I think while sitting for photos for me!!

It was a quiet day here I didn't even get out of my jammies. Love days like that! We are having the most revolting weather. Just have to love June in Wagga! Anyway Daz did a marvelous job on organising and cleaning up the study.  you would never know that there was a bomb detonated in there!! I worked on my photos and the kids got house bound really badly. by the end of the day we rugged them up and booted them outside. pics to follow!

enjoy J