My 'hot mess' singing.

This is poor quality for some reason & it's not the entire length. Will try to rectify, but in the meantime, here she is. :)

Moments.

Last night I stumbled across this photo. It was taken last July. I so love stumbling across fun photos that make me smile. Life is happiness. Contentment. Fun. Love it! And I get the best photos of this boy during pool season! ♥

Moments.

My first 'professional' photography shoot.

My photography is simply a hobby for me. I discovered a few years ago that I ♥ natural light photography & slowly I began experimenting & researching. I have tons yet to learn. Like I mentioned in the post below, I've had a few people ask me to take photos for them, but I have yet to reach that comfort level. Sadly, though I so appreciate their offer, I declined.

Jaguar's team had their soccer photos taken by the same professional photography studio that has taken the association's photos for years. This year, the studio took photos of 65 teams without their CF card. Snort. Obviously, there were no photos. So Jag's coach suggested we all get a refund & have a parent take them. For whatever reason, hubby got a wild hair & volunteered my services. Without my knowledge. Pfft. (I refer to it as a "professional photo shoot" because 1.) I shot for non-family & 2.) I did replace the hired professional company. ;o)

So I went with it, after informing all of them I am certainly no professional, but would give it my best shot. And that happened Saturday. And I did it! I enjoyed it. I was extremely nervous, especially since everyone was staring at me. I'm not used to that. But I took my time, changed out my lenses & adjusted my settings & took my time doing it. The photos turned out super. Whew! Answered prayer! Ü



I took a few group photos & some individual shots/different poses of the girls. The wind was horrendous & the girls' hair kept blowing in their face. Right as I was about to snap the above, two moms noticed her hair blew in her face & they both went to brush it aside. I was looking thru my camera & thought 'oh, that's cute!' & without any thought, I just snapped the shutter. Heehee. Love it! It's actually my favorite.

Where this photography takes me is yet to be known. Like I said, I have so much to learn. But it's fun & I enjoy it - so next time someone is sweet enough to ask me to take their photo(s), if I can muster the courage - I'm gonna say yes. Ü

Moments.

With makeup on. ♥

Oh Walmart, how I love thee.

Pretty rug for under my computer desk, flowery/ruffled pillow & sweet little LIVE sign (small print: LIVE the life you've always imagined.) Amen! ♥

Project: Organizing images.

I love taking photos. I don't take as many as I'd like, but still, I take a bunch. And as crazy as it sounds, I have absolutely no rhyme nor reason to uploading & storing them. I don't have a system. I don't have consistent routine or plan. I have no clue as to how others handle uploading their images, printing them & storing them. The sad part is as many photos as I take, I do nothing with them (if I choose to blog one/some, I install my card, upload it to my blog folder & then put my card back in my camera). I promised myself long ago that I would start printing my most favorite photos. My heart's desire is for my home to be flooded with photos of my children. I've started the process many times - I've saved many of my favorites in different folders, but then something comes up, life goes on & I forget about them. I never follow thru & print them. This is insanely aggravating to me. I'm hoping to discover a good, proven, organized system to implement. When I do, I think it will be simpler for me to actually get my images printed & into my home.

My current lack of system includes:

Taking photos.
Letting them sit on my CF card.
For months. Like, 3-4 months at a time.
When I get entirely too many photos on my CF card, I upload them.
Into one folder.
The start date is the date of the first image.
The end date is the date of the last image.
That's what I name the folder.
After I upload them, I open the folder & start deleting on my card.
One photo at a time.
Before I delete a photo, I confirm it did indeed transfer to the folder.
I want to make sure I don't delete any image(s) that didn't transfer.
This procedure takes me one hour +.
Every time.
Because I typically have 600-700 photos to delete.
When I'm done deleting my card, I close the folder.
Sometimes I save the folder to a cd.
In case my computer crashes.
Sometimes I don't ever save them to a cd, they just sit on my F drive.
And that's the end of that.
I then start all over again.

I've done some googling & found a site that suggests uploading photos monthly. Labeling the folder with the year documented first, so it's easy to locate. And then the month. For example: 2011 April. Certain events have their own folder. I.e. 2011 Christmas. I usually label mine something like this: January12011thruApril42011. What a confusing mess. When I want to search for a certain photo, I have to browse years of folders until I find the right one. Blah. I need to read some more on that site, as well as continue googling. I'm disappointed that I haven't implemented a more organized system by now. I reckon I thought my way worked ok, especially since I don't print any. But now it's time for a serious improvement. At this point, I don't think I'll attempt to go back & resort those I've uploaded, I think I'll just start fresh.

I'd love to know how Kelle or Alyssa handle all their photos. I did notice Kelle commented the other day that she takes her favorite photos & sticks them in specific folder. I understood it as she uploads photos daily, but I'm not certain. No clue how Alyssa handles hers but I will say - both of these moms have photos plastered all over their homes. Yay for them! I want to jump on their bandwagon. So I'm gonna. This time, for sure!

Do you have a certain system that works well for you? If so, please share. I need all the help I can get. Trust. Ü

Moments.

I was totally unprepared for this shot. Right as I was going to focus, he jumped & I snapped. This is the result. Love! ♥ (Swinging beside him is his new bud. They have developed a very strong friendship - so much so that I've had to have them separated in school. Heehee. :) He lives relatively close in our neighborhood. Sweet little boy & I love that he's bi-racial! Very nice parents, too. :)