Aden - Newest Family Member

Introducing Aden Mark Potter.  This little fellow enter the world on March 25, 2012.  He is perfect and we are all greatful that he made it a little early without any problems.  He was supposed to be here around the the 5th or 6th of April but to mom's and our delight arrived a little early.

He is welcomed by a big sister Marlee, who is a little jeaulous of the attention he gets from momma, especially when she is sleepy.  Other than that all is well and good. 

Little man got tired of being photographed and has gotten hungry. 

Thanks Aunt Annie, you are the BEST.

A First (photographing someone not family)

Well I did it, I got the courage to ask someone other than family to allow me to photograph them.  Mrs. Glenda and her daughter Shelby met me at a park outside of town and let me practice  a little; it was great fun.  Glenda is a natural and quickly put me at ease.  I know the deal is for me to put the subject at ease to get the best pictures.  That is actually the hardest part of portrait photography for me, the ability to make everyone feel at ease.  I am naturally shy and quite so for me make small talk is hard, although giving directions comes naturally.  All and all it was a good shoot.  Yes there where things that I would have done different and poses I would have tried if I had not been so terrified. I will not beat myself up though and try them next time.  What's the old saying....with practice comes perfection.  Don't know if that is true or not but with practice comes comfort and that is what I want.  I so enjoy the art of photography and look forward to the next shoot.

Now for a few of the pics:

Can not wait for the next shoot.  I really had a great time, thanks again Glenda and Shelby.

To the Farm

Wednesday we went to my sister's to deliver a baby gift for her soon to be grandson and took a big sister gift for beautiful little Marlee.  Of course we had a great visit and I had an chance to take a couple of photos.  They have some beautiful horses and although it had just rained as Granny would say "cats and dogs", after the rain stopped I went out to see and photograph the horses.   

Molly, Aunt Annie and Marlee opening her big sister gift:

Cowgirl Marlee:

and now the horses:

One last note, I spooked the horses while taking pictures and they covered Marlee and Momma with mud and mirk, we all had a good laugh and went inside to clean everyone up.

Every one had a great time.

Disappointed

Well I bit the bullet and order a binder for my project life stuff.  I was following another blogger and she was using a binder from an scrapbook project.  It was too cute and thought one of my binders would work.  My luck follows me as always none of my binders fit.  I will just enjoy my binder from the collection, although I was trying to save money. 
Now the hard part waiting to the binder and other supplies arrive.  I was given a date of  between  March 22-24 it will seem like forever.  Any way I am starting the project and putting the completed pages back into the box till the binder arrives.  Will post pics soon.

They have arrived

Been waiting for at least 15 days for these supplies to get here.  I plan on doing a 52 week project live project.  I am going to start it in Feburary even  though it is March because I want to document the new phase of my life, starting a blog and an on-line photography class are pretty big deals for this country girl.  I will post pics as soon as I can and each week after. 

Another Pinterest inspired project

Just finished a series of scrap-book wall prints for my niece's baby shower Saturday.  Though they look pretty simple it took three different layouts to get one of them acceptable.   It actually is my favorite.  I hope she likes them.

Now my FAVORITE

Facing my Fears

I just do not like birds.  This began when I was expecting my daughter Connie.  My mother-in-law, Margaret, had bought a parrot for her children and named him Big Bird.  This bird hated me and proved it by latching on my arm while I was visiting.  I mean really latched on, Scottie my brother-in-law had to thump him on his beak to get him to release.  He was just hanging by his beak on my arm and it hurt.
I know everyone laughed but me, I was afraid Connie would be scared but she wasn't; me on the other hand has never forgot or come to grips with the attack. I think I have a good reason to fear and not like birds.  Any way, today at the farmer's market one of the vendors had her bird with her and I decided to take a few pictures of him.  He is a beautiful bird and very well behaved.  To make a long story short, she and her husband insisted that I hold him.  I did and below is the proof.

When he nibbed on my shirt I thought I have a heart attack but I survived.  Believe me the bird looks a lot better than I did.  When I look at this I still can't believe I held him.

The lady recycles the feathers he sheds into jewelry, which I think is pretty cool.

More pictures of Alfred

Alfred was playing in the yard and I was able to snap a couple more pictures of Him.  This little man has brought momma and I much enjoyment.  Connie has decided that her mother has lost her mind.  She says that I can't tell the difference between Alfred and the others here in the yard.  The thing is Alfred has a different personality, he is alot more friendly than the others and not quite as scared of us.   Besides he is a challenge to photograph.

Assignment #2 update

Got the remarks back from my instructor on Assignment #2, while they were not all bad I was a little disappointed even if I did score a 90.  I know that I still have a lot to learn and I am not complaining, it is I so want to get it right.  I have posted the comments here so that I will be able to have a record.  Guess all I can do is try try try again. 

Hi Latina, Thanks for you Lesson 4 submission.

DoF is a very powerful tool in photography as it allows you to isolate the subject completely from its environment. You can make great looking portraits even with un-attractive backgrounds. On the other hand it gives you perfectly sharp landscapes. The key is to learn how to control it.

Nice work making the aperture adjustments on both sides of the spectrum. Your shallow depth of field shot at f/4.5 was the stronger of the two, as it really worked well to isolate the flowers from the background of the frame. The direct light hitting the petals may be over-exposing a bit, but I do like the interesting shadows it made through the frame. Consider diffusing the light a bit.

The shot at f/16 did bring more of the middle and backgrounds into the field of focus. I recommend that you shoot more wide-open landscapes and architecture with these smaller aperture settings for that deeper depth of field.

! Important. When in Aperture priority (Av mode) and shooting at small apertures, make sure there is plenty of light available. If there isn't, camera might select too slow a shutter speed for a hand-held shot resulting in blurry photo (camera shake). So keep an eye on the shutter speed in this mode. If it's too slow, you can increase ISO, add additional light, use smaller focal length or simply - use a tripod.

Use shallow DoF for portraits and large DoF for landscapes and you'll see how greatly it'll improve your photos.

Shallow depth of field is also great for macro and detail shots. Of course, breaking the rules and being creative sometimes helps too!

Keep up the good work Latina, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your images!

Josh