Droplets and daffodils

Friends, it's been a while. I guess sometimes I just need to take a break. But tonight my sweet boy handed me these:

When I put them in a vase, there was something about those sparkly petals and little drops of water that made me run to get my big camera and the macro lens. I'm so glad I did. It was fun. Happy spring.

Up close

I had a little fun with my macro lens today. I'm still figuring out how to use it, but I think I got some good captures. We have a handful of irises around the yard that gave me some nice results in the sunshine. Keeping them still in the wind was the real challenge. I tried to get the chickens to cooperate too, but you can imagine how well that went.
A couple of wide shots of the irises:


And a few up close:





And, from the garden, a strawberry in the making. It won't be long before we are enjoying these!

A comparison

Nate wanted to see the difference in photos between the macro lens and a "regular" lens. In this case a "regular" lens is my 50mm - the lens I use most often. I snapped a few more photos of the seedlings while I was cooking dinner tonight so I could have a little comparison to show.
Macro lens:

50mm lens:

Macro, tomato, just popping out:

50mm, pumpkins, just popping out:

So there you have it, macro vs. "regular." 
Those brand new pumpkin plants remind me of little Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. I've got my eye on you, pumpkins.

Because I had the camera out during dinner prep, you get to see my pizza too. Just minutes before being baked all golden and bubbly.

Sorry there are no after photos. We were hungry.

Feet, camera, actions!

The boy and the dog, both with their paws dangling over the edges of their chairs. A perfect opportunity for me to crawl around on the floor and take some pictures, right? It was night time, low light, and I wasn't super excited about what I was getting out of the camera. So I did a little playing in Photoshop and used some of The Pioneer Woman's actions to give them a little extra somethin'. If you've got Photoshop and a little time on your hands, actions are fun to play around with. Check them out, search for others, create your own! 

The new family photographer

Walter wanted to carve the pumpkin. Nate was nowhere to be found. This exciting event just HAD to be photographed, obviously. But what to do? Hand the sharp knife over to Walter so I could take photos? Of course not. I found our old point and shoot camera and put Walter to work. I snapped a few before my hands got messy, but Walter gets the credit for telling the photographic story of our 2011 pumpkin carving.





And I had to include us taking photos of us taking photos. :)

Vintage goodies

Several years ago, I bought a Holga – a cheap, toy camera that takes terrible photos – and I absolutely loved it. The photos the Holga takes come out blurry, vignetted, or with light leaks... You never know what you're going to get. Some of my favorite photos have come out of that camera:

Sacré Coeur, Paris, 2005

But once I got my digital camera, I stopped going to the trouble of buying film and processing it. It was too much of a hassle. So the Holga went into a drawer, never to be seen again. I've been settling for high quality for years. But no more! Nate got me a Diana (a plastic lens for my digital camera) for Christmas. The blur is back!

I love the soft focus and the vintage look. It's not quite Holga quality, but it's a good film-free replacement. And what better lens to use when photographing this adorable, vintage sweater! This sweater was hand-knit by Auntie (Nate's great aunt) for Nate when he was about Walter's age. I'm so envious of her knitting. The patterns are so intricate and there's not a flaw to be found. Auntie put so much time and effort into the sweaters she made for Nate and I'm so excited that Walter can wear them too.

Road trip

We're home! And we're glad to be back. It will be nice to have Walter back on a regular eating and sleeping schedule again. He did great on the road, but we're ready to have things back to normal.

I gave myself a little photo project for our vacation. I wanted to put together a photographic alphabet, and that's just what I did:

It was fun searching for and collecting letters everywhere we went. I'm really happy with the results. And so, from A to Z, here's our vacation, with a few extras photos thrown in too.

A - The tram that took us to the top of the Gateway Arch, St. Louis

B - The Babe Ruth Exhibit at the Louisville Slugger Museum

C - Neon lights at Fourth Street Live, Louisville

D - The desert creatures exhibit at the Nashville Zoo

E - Yes, it's backwards. A letterpress printing block at Hatch Show Print, Nashville

F - Neon lights at Fourth Street Live, Louisville

G - The tiger exhibit at the Nashville Zoo

H - The Galt House, historic hotel, Louisville

I - The Steinway piano in RCA's Studio B, Nashville

J - Jimi Hendrix star on the walk of fame, Nashville

K - Ticket window at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

L - Louisville Slugger Field

M - Nameplate for Imperator, a champion horse at the the Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington

N - Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville

O - The Grand Old Opry, Nashville

P - Parking garage, Louisville

Q - Nashville Zoo

R - Red Rocks at the St. Louis Zoo

S - Dinosaur exhibit at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

T - Hatch Show Print, Nashville

U - Tiger exhibit, Louisville Zoo

V - Louisville Zoo

W - Gateway Arch, St. Louis

X - Seat letter at the Ryman Auditorium, Nashville

Y - Indy Race Car at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

Z - The Cosley Zoo, Wheaton, IL

Click on any photo to get to Flickr, where you can see more photos from the trip.