856
As we are nearing the half-way mark in November, this is the number of photos I have taken so far this month. And there were days I didn’t even take my camera out. Of those 856 photos, I have kept 562 - that is almost exactly two-thirds. Of those 562, I uploaded 162 to Flickr so about a quarter.
Ok so I’m thinking maybe I need to be more discerning about the photos that I keep. I have a dedicated hard drive just for photos and video but it won’t last forever. And honestly - since, to date, I have completed exactly 10 scrapbook pages EVER, do you think it is likely that I’ll ever use these photos anywhere other than this blog?
This project of posting at least one photo a day is turning out to be a great lesson in using my new camera. My camera does stuff that I don’t even understand yet. What I mean by that is that it takes pictures and I have no real understanding of how or why the pictures turn out like they do.
For instance this picture I took earlier today is a leaf dangling by a single strand of spiderweb from a tree:
I was reading in a photography forum (see, I don’t just read about adoption!) a debate over whether it is a photographer’s talent or the photographer’s equipment that makes a photo. Well most of the time, I wish I could take the credit but I can’t. My equipment is far more talented than I am. Maybe some day I’ll be able to claim otherwise.
So, despite what I just wrote, my goal for today was to figure out the shutter speed mode and I finally figured it out a bit. Here are some of my favorite “in motion” pics of the kids today - you can contrast it with the photo of Addy I posted earlier to see the big difference:
I also got a few beautiful portrait shots of Addison and some funny shots of her various incredibly silly faces but I’ll save those for tomorrow. But I will leave you with this priceless pic of Addison. This is the face she makes when she is “very very sad”. She keeps her eyes closed tight and squishes up her face like this and sort of does a “fake cry” too. She walks around garnering sympathy from whoever will acknowledge her. How she can see to walk around is beyond me - she has to walk with her arms straight out like a zombie so she won’t run into anything! However it totally cracks us up. She can go back and forth between people for a long time faking her pain! haha
November 14th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Way cute pictures, I have tons of our first children - 2 dogs and 4 cats (yes, it’s a zoo here) I can just imagine how many pictures we will have (never mind the hours of video) of our daughter when she comes to us.
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November 14th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Those are some really great pix, so I can only imagine how fantastic you’ll be after you figure out how to really use your camera. LOL. I love the photo of the leaf. If you hadn’t told me about the spider web, I don’t know that I would have been able to see it because it’s so tiny. Maybe you’ll inspire me to learn how to use my camera other than just pointing and clicking. I know there’s more to it than that, but I just haven’t gotten around to learning. So sad.
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November 14th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Do you remember that LJ post I made last December in which I asked you guys if I should sell my expensive camera to facilitate getting pregnant with Lola? And you guys gave me a resounding “Sell the camera and have another baby”….do you remember that? Well as I look at your pictures while listening to a screaming baby, I am rethinking what my decision should have been. LOL!!
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November 14th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
OMG, that is the funniest thing I have ever read. And that saddest part is that you can’t even take good pictures of your screaming baby! Hahaha.
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November 14th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
Plus also, smartypants photographer types, can you tell me why the background is black in my leaf pictures? Cool but not intentional!
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November 14th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
Very cute-whenever Sienna wants sympathy she will cover her eye and whine and say “ohhhhh, ohhhhhh.” Kids are so full of it.
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November 15th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Sarah - I’m telling you they are twins separated at birth!
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November 15th, 2007 at 1:21 am
nicki! i saw your email address from the email sarah sent and looked up your blog from that. YOUR KIDS ARE SO GORGEOUS!!!! wow. and i adore your blog. and your new addition. she’s precious. beautiful. and your happy and balanced life. and your url!! sigh. you’re inspiring me. maybe i should start a blog. i’m always saying i don’t have time to read or write blogs, so i try to stay away. but….jeez. how fun. awesome photos. excuse my newbyness, but what kind of camera do you have? mine died and i need to get a new one (it just started being blurry all the time…does anyone fix cameras anymore?) the leaf one is like coffee shop art material!!! so happy to glimpse into your life. misses for you from times long ago! vic
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November 15th, 2007 at 2:27 am
Great photos!! Love the pout!!
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November 15th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Great photos! Remind me what kind of camera you have please. I may need to get a big girl camera like yours!
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November 15th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Does discerning mean moe pictures or less pictures? CONFUSION!
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November 15th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
I love those pictures and her face is so cute!
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November 16th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Okay that last pic of Addison is adorable. Great action shots…my father is getting back into photography since he is now a recovering alcoholic and I am so happy. He used to be really good, but he won’t come into the digital age yet…someday maybe.
I love seeing pics of the kids.
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November 16th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I wish that I had your talent–I definitely need to brush up on the photography skills. I hardly take any photos at all!
The kids look like they were having a blast on the trampoline–and Addy is always adorable!
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November 16th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
As a fellow amatuer photographer, I have a suggestion for shots like those on the trampoline. Try using a slower shutter speed and then move the camera to follow the subject. This will freeze the subject and they will be in focus, but the background will be blurred, giving the sense of motion. Takes a bit of practice to get it down right, but you get some awesome pics once you’ve got it. These sites explain it much better than I can…
http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/mastering-panning-to-photograph-moving-subjects/
http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Camera-panning
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