Sweet, Sweet Zara

It's People's Choice at I Heart Faces, as well as Sweet Shot Tuesday, and I sure shot a lot of sweet faces this past weekend at Me Ra Koh's Confidence Workshop! I am bursting with inspiration, confidence, and lots of dreams after 2 solid days and look forward to sharing more with all of you soon. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite shots.



Building my Photography Confidence

I can't believe in 3 short days I will be meeting MeRa Koh and attending her Confidence Photography Workshop in Chicago! I did a whole lot of begging to get my husband on board but I know he'll be happy in the end because I'll be so much more confident as a photographer and a woman. If you are not familiar with MeRa, I encourage you to visit her blog. She is a regular on the Nate Berkus show and she's also had her work featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. [Sidebar - sniff, sniff - I will miss watching her show everyday, I literally grew up watching the show]. I will be attending the workshop with 25 uber talented women and I look forward to learning so much from them too.

If you are looking for a great photography book on taking pictures of babies, you'll definitely want to purchase MeRa's best selling book, Your Baby in Pictures. I really love the book and I think it's a great book for any new parents even if they are using a point and shoot. And yes, I am going to be that nerd that gets my copy autographed!

I'll share much much more when I get back on Monday! In the meantime, keep snapping away.

I Heart Faces - Flowers

This week I thought I would try out a new photo challenge through I Heart Faces and it turns out that this week the challenge is "flowers" - my favorite! Who doesn't love a beautiful picture of flowers?! This picture was captured at the Conservatory at the Lincoln Park Zoo and I just love it. Let's see if she is a winner. It's also SOOC - do I get bonus points for that?

Scavenger Hunt Sunday [05-15-2011]

Running a little behind with getting my post up and ready so let's hop right to it this week.

Here we go on another scavenger hunt.

Bring me Flowers

or dandelions if you are a 4 year old that doesn't know the difference.

Here's my niece giving my mom some "flowers" from the yard.



Visual Contrast



Friendship

with Brooke is something I treasure dearly.

BTW - the reflection from the "bean" is making my thighs appear larger than they really are - honestly!

Dark

What beautiful shots of Buckingham Fountain after dark. And if you don't have a tripod with you don't worry, grab a garbage can nearby, it does wonders!



Before and After - well let's save that one for another hunt shall we?

Scavenger Hunt Sunday [5-8-2011]

This past week I went on a photo excursion to Chicago with my dear friend Brooke from My [Boys]terous Life and we had an absolute blast! We went to so many places that I lost track but I have my 966 pictures to remind me of all of the wonderful places we went to that day. Ouchy.....I also had an aching body to remind me off all of the walking, squatting, and running around that we did. I was WIPED out to say the least but the pictures I captured were truly worth it.

SOOC

or Straight Out of Camera for you non-photo type.

Easy peasy....that's how I like to roll. Photoshop is evil, yup I said it out loud.

This was my favorite capture of the day and I think it's just perfect.

This was taken at the conservatory at the zoo and despite the very warm temps it was totally worth it.

Sprouting

Took a million pictures for this and here are my 2 favorite. Sorry I couldn't pick just one.

 The city of Chicago did a beautiful job of making the area around Millennium Park so beautiful.

Isn't it Ironic

that my husband spent his birthday on Saturday at a play house for my niece's 2nd birthday?!

He's a kid at heart which is one of the things I love about him.

Lazy

Something I definitely haven't been lately but the animals at the zoo sure were.

My ape buddy just sat there chewing away on those sticks all morning. This is how I plan on spending my Sunday morning this week, sitting around doing nothing but munching on some good food.

 I couldn't forget about him, this is the definition of lazy, don't you think?

BTW, their horns are made of hair not bone. Good to know right?

Smells like Spring

at Millennium Park when you have beautiful tulips and trees blooming all around you.

Isn't this just breathtaking?! I took a lot of pictures here and I'm sure you'll see more soon.

Linking Up To:

Sunday Scavenger Hunt [05-01-2011]

It's been a busy week but I still managed to have my camera by my side since after 5 long weeks, my new lens finally arrived in the mail! I ordered the Canon 24-105 f/4 L lens and have been patiently waiting for it to ship and it arrived on Thursday. I have felt like a kid in a candy store ever since and I think it's going to be my new BFF. I am going on a photo safari all day Sunday with a camera club I belong to but most importantly my friend Brooke from My [Boys]terous Life will be my sidekick. We will be seeing the City of Chicago through our camera lens all day and we are both uber-excited. We start out at the zoo and will hit many of the fun sites throughout the day. It will be nice to be with so many photographers and I won't be shy about asking questions, I have a long way to go but I'm an eager learner. Can you imagine a full day of shooting with no one saying "hurry up" or sighing because you are taking pictures of things that others think are not good photo subjects?! It's going to be a fun day and I hope the 20% rain stays at bay. Cross your fingers for a successful photo shoot kind of day. I'm sure I'll post a few shots from the day during our next Scavenger Hunt with Ashley. But I shouldn't get ahead of myself, below are the Sunday Scavenger Hunt items from this week.

Architecture

This is a shot from the bottom of a 5 story spiral staircase at work. I work in an all glass building that has some beautiful architecture and it's a beautiful place to take pictures in my spare time - lol.....

 Rimmed with Light

I had my first newborn photo shoot on Friday with my friend's 9 day old newborn. I was unfamiliar with the concept "rimmed with light" until I read Kat's blog which was very helpful. I love the side lighting here.

Toes or Feet

You probably guessed it, what's sweeter than a newborns feet?!?! I took many shots of her feet and had a hard time choosing one since chubby baby feet are just the cutest. 

This is my favorite

shot from my newborn session on Friday.

I just love the lighting and how peaceful she looks in this picture.

She did a great job posing with her hands for this shot too.

Shades

or blinds. Not so creative but I ran out of shooting time thanks for the thunderstorm coming our way.

Even though they are simply blinds I love the lines and how interesting something so simple looks.

Linking Up:

Cupcakes and Pink Cheeks

Pink

bunny ears,

whiskers,

jelly beans,

sprinkles,

and peeps.

 Move over Martha......I was a cupcake baking and decorating machine this past weekend.

It was my first attempt so please be nice but I think they turned out decent considering I'm a cupcake virgin.

Sweet Baby PINK Cheeks 

What is a sweeter shade of PINK than a newborn born 2 weeks early just in time for Easter.

Meet Kamryn or Kami who is the daughter of good friends of ours.

 Peacefully sleeping

 and now making her first Easter appearance 1 year earlier than expected.

She was born 2 weeks early and was a whooping 8 lbs.

Imagine if her mother went full term?!?!

 and now she is getting ready to leave the Easter festivities.

Not happy at all, I guess she doesn't want to leave the party after all.

She made that clear when she started crying.

I have my first newborn session with Kami and her Mom on Friday afternoon. Very excited but nervous. Cross your fingers and send me positive photography vibes that all goes well. I have some fun ideas planned and as long as the baby has a full tummy and sleeps soundly we should be good to go. Also great lighting is probably what I am most nervous about.

Linking Up:

hoppy easter

Scavenger Hunt Sunday {04-24-2011}

Happy Easter! I am so happy to find some much needed time this week to snap a few pictures as a part of Ashley's Scavenger Hunt Sunday. I've missed a few challenges recently and boy have I missed them! I am STILL waiting for my news to arrive after I ordered it 5 weeks ago so unfortunately I am limited to 1 prime lens and my telephoto.....I really miss having a lens with a better range. My lens is shipping from Japan so needless to say shipping is slow getting out of the country. When it arrives don't worry, you'll hear me yelling from the rooftop!

Reflections

of me while sitting at a stoplight with my husband. At least the sun is shining - finally!

Not a very exciting pictures but at least I am participating this week, right?!?!

Guess what this is.

Still can't guess what it is? It's my new secret weapon for wrinkle free skin! It's my much loved Rodan + Fields night serum that I put on each night before my age fighting night cream. My friend Brooke over at My Boysterous Life blogged about her love of the Rodan + Fields products and as a dear friend of mine I knew it had to be good if she liked it that much. So good that she talked her twin sister Beth into becoming a consultant! Interested in learning more check out Beth's website.

Also look at Brooke's results from using their acne system - unbelievable!

What's inside

my cupcake carrier today? I made some Easter cupcakes for Easter and I was surprised by how fun they were to make today. I may now be baking and decorating cupcakes every weekend.

I decided to make some Easter bunnies and then one's with green grass, Easter eggs, and peeps too.

The Easter bunnies turned out better than I thought. 

Playtime!

My big child loves to play video games and it happens more frequently than I would like.

While I was decorating cupcakes, here's what my husband was doing.

Playing Xbox......notice the headset?! That's so he can play online with his other adult friends.

Who knew video games were so popular for adults!

Lawn & Garden

This called for a visit to the "lawn & garden" section of the Home Depot!

But the second picture of the UGLIEST toad I've ever seen was found on my lawn in the backyard today.

I was in the yard doing work and let's just say I thought my dogs left something behind for me until I realized it was alive! Yes, I screamed and ran but then grabbed the camera.

Linking Up: