Almost 3

Oh my almost threenager. K&A took a nap today and we got to play outside. I wanted to do a 3 year photo shoot with him. I took my camera out with us to play and got some really great pictures. I need to be doing a million other things besides editing pictures and writing blog posts so I edited these two really quick.

Click Chicks: Sports

This week's challenge is sports.

So why am I showing you a picture of my adorable niece Maddisen Leigh that was born on 7/19? Well, I'll get to that. I think I took this picture in manual. One of my struggles a "photographer" is taking pictures in manual when things are crazy. When we are on vacation or in a rush I switch it to auto because it is just easier.

The night Maddisen was born I took a few pictures in manual but the lighting was so low that I just switched to manual and flash! I know I cringe!

Anyways, back to sports. One of my instagram friends  noticed the Giants game on in the background of this picture.

Maddisen's parents are pretty big Giants fans. My sister-in-law even said she was late. She was born at 7:20pm and the game started at 7.

Her uncle made sure she got a good view of the tv and watched her first Giants game less than an hour after she was born.

click chicks food

Thursday again! I was hoping to capture some delicious dinner and maybe share a recipe but that didn't happen. I did take some pictures of our fruit in a bowl and I actually ended up really liking the pictures I took. Love when that happens.

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with this week! I'll have to read them after lunch so they don't make me hungry! Next week is sports!!

click chicks fireworks

Time for another click chicks photo challenge picture! This week's theme is fireworks!

We kept it low key this year and just did a few fireworks in front of the house. Chase was terrified of these so it was pretty quick. Love how this picture turned out though! Can't wait to see everyone else's pics!

Next week is food!!

red, white, and blue! click chicks

Happy 4th of July everyone! Today's click chick theme is red, white, and blue! I made these fun layered 4th of July drinks.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th. Don't forget to get your cameras out tonight and take pictures of fireworks for next Thursday!

Take a picture of you wearing red, white, and blue or your red, white, and blue decorations or food and link up!

Show us your life link ups

Today I am linking up with Kelly for show us your life. This week's topic is link ups other bloggers can join.

I co host a photography link up on Thursdays. It is called click chicks.


We pick themes monthly and every Thursday post pictures that go along with the themes. You don't have to have a fancy camera or have any clue what you are doing. We like to challenge ourselves and be inspired by each other. We hope you join us!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this challenge.

This is from close up week.

This was black and white week.

This was happiness week.

Just looking back through the pictures from this challenge I can tell my photography has improved. I hope you join us!

The themes for July are:
4th- red, white, and blue
11th- fireworks
18th- food
25th- sports

click chicks upside down

Click chicks upside down!

I turned my camera upside down to take this picture.

We have to talk about what the themes for July will be. We will let you know!

improvement

When I upload pictures to my 2013 album I always see pictures I took at the beginning of the year when I first got my camera.

It just amazes me how much better the pictures are now that I am taking them in manual.

Click chicks Dad

This week's click chicks theme is Dad. I just thought to myself today that I need to clear my memory card. I'm glad I didn't because I thought the pictures I got the other day of Chase and his dad would be perfect for today. We were out front watering like we often do and Chase very slyly grabbed the hose from Dada. I love Hubby's expression. He is such an awesome Dad and Chase just cracks us up and is the light of our world.  

Mom week in May was one of my favorites. Can't wait to see all the pictures of Dads! link up!

eyes

It is no secret that my little man has stunning blue eyes. I always tell people that he gets them from his daddy. What do you think? I think Chase and Hubby just have the most beautiful clear blue eyes. I think mine are more teal/green blue.

Who loves this little selfie too?

Click chicks: close up

I once again surprised myself by having fun with the challenge this week. We were hanging out in our backyard this weekend and I noticed a huge spider web. The spider must have been busy and fast. We are always in our backyard so I don't know how the web got so big. Before I cleaned it up I had to try and get a picture of it.

Getting a picture of a spider web is tough! I didn't think I got any shots of the web but was pleasantly surprised by this shot.

I also got my 58mm lens out to play around with for this challenge. I love these shots I got of my handsome boys. How lucky am I?

Next week's challenge is Dad!

Looking forward to seeing your pictures! Link up!

click chicks: rule of thirds

I have never taken a photography class. My fellow co host Jessica recently had one of her photos critiqued on a photography blog. People mentioned "the rule of thirds" and I had to google it. My goal with this link up is for all participants to learn as much about photography and practice with their camera as much as possible.

I definitely wanted to have "the rule of thirds" as a theme for the link up since I thought there might be others that didn't know the rule. This is what I found about the rule, "The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image. The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the center of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it. Read more: http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds#ixzz2VRnbw6Nm"

I am obsessed with the day lilies in our garden. I keep telling people we are going to be on the mother's day garden tour soon. I love being able to just step outside and get great pictures.

I think I cropped this picture 20 times and I'm still not sure if I got it right!

Next week is close up. Link up!

Click Chicks- weather

Time for another wonderful click chicks pic. It is Tuesday 5/28. I was emailing the other girls about topics for June and browsing photography stuff on pinterest and I looked outside and saw the most beautiful clouds. I thought I should run outside and take pictures of them for this week's challenge. Then as I was taking pictures of the clouds I took a picture with the sun peeking through and thought it turned out really cool so I tried to get a picture of just the sun. What is better than a picture of the blazing sun to represent the warm summer weather?

I'm kind of obsessed with this picture! No editing. So fun!

The schedule for June is:

June 6th- rule of thirds

June 13th- close up

June 20th- dad

June 27th- upside down

July 4th- red, white, and blue

Link up!

Click Chicks: celebrate!

I had a hard time trying to figure out what picture I wanted to use this week. This weekend I co hosted my sister-in-love's baby shower for my niece (posted pictures yesterday). After the shower I asked her if she wanted me to take pictures of her with her mom and me and our mother-in-law. I had bought her a dry erase board I found at hobby lobby with the colors of her nursery. We were writing different things for each picture she took. When she and my brother-in-law got ready to take a picture together I said they could write my niece's name on the board. She has had a name for awhile but they weren't planning on telling anyone until she was born. I guess they had talked about announcing it at the shower. So they agreed to write her name on the board for the picture. I was so excited. Literally jumping up and down!

They haven't made her name public yet and I can't wait! So I'll keep the name secret today. I took a few pictures. This one if my favorite because they look so happy! It was such an honor to take these pictures for them!

click chicks- Mom

This week's theme is mom. I was hoping to get some great pictures of my cousins and their mom on our annual mother's day garden tour or maybe one of my mom but no luck. So I remembered Wednesday that I still needed to take or find a picture so I decided to see if we could get a good selfie. So much easier to get a selfie now that I understand manual settings better. I got some cute pictures but I think this one says mom the best.

I'm writing this Wednesday night outside while Chase has his feet in the pool with a hose so I don't have time to check what is next week's theme. Check with my other co hosts and see if they had time to post it. I'm sure they have great pictures too. Can't wait to see all the link ups!

Bridges! Click chicks

Confession time: The themes we pick aren't totally random. I knew I would be going to Yosemite this week and the girls wouldn't let me pick waterfalls for the theme so we compromised on bridges. It was so hard to pick just one bridge picture. So here are my three favorite!

Love this rock bridge. Do you see my people?

This is Swinging Bridge. No clue why it is named that.

This rock and wood bridge might be my favorite bridge but probably not my favorite shot. The sun came out right as I took the picture.

I can't do a post with just pictures of bridges after going to Yosemite. I'll leave you with a special treat of my favorite waterfall picture!

Can't wait to see everyone's bridge pictures! Link up!

click chicks animal!!

This week's click chick's theme is insect or animal. I really wanted to capture a lady bug but we went to a Spring festival at our local museum and I had to share this picture!

Here's what coming up:
may 9th- bridge (I know I say this every week but so excited!)
may 16th- mom
may 23rd- celebrate
may 30th- weather

Click Chicks: black and white

I wasn't sure what I wanted to photograph in black and white this week. We had a busy birthday weekend for my dad wine tasting and bbqing. I also had a relaxing Wednesday afternoon by the pool with Chase. I thought about using the pictures from by the pool today but my white legs looked REALLY white in black and white.

I love this picture of my dad blowing out his candles on his birthday. I love it even more in black and white!

Click Chicks schedule:

may 2nd- insect or animal (looking forward to this one!)

may 9th- bridge

may 16th- mom

may 23rd- celebrate
may 30th- weather

Happiness- click chicks

This week's challenge was happiness. I'm pretty lucky that my toddler is a happy kiddo most of the time and of course when his daddy gets home and tickles him.
 

Heart melted.

Can't wait to see everyone else's pictures!

Next week is black and white!

Here is the schedule for May! We are so excited and inspired!

2nd- insect or animal

9th- bridge

16th- mom

23rd- celebrate

30th- weather

Photography

I hope you have been enjoying our click chicks link ups on Thursdays. I'm having so much fun doing it. We just picked the topics for May! I think we are all addicted.

The night I went out to do my silhouette picture, I started playing around with my camera in manual and finally figured out how to change the aperture setting in manual. So ever since I have been shooting in manual. Makes me so proud to say that. I love playing around with the different settings in the different light to get the right shot.

So I'm really proud of myself and of my pictures and I thought my facebook friends would be oh so impressed and at least one of them would volunteer to let me take their picture. I love my son and he is gorgeous and adorable but shooting a toddler is like the hardest thing ever! So I really would like to shoot other people.

Anyways, I decided I should post some of the pictures I have taken recently that I love that I won't be using for the click chicks link up and let you all tell me I'm amazing :) Any advice on how to get people to let me take their picture?