Napa Valley

On my recent trip to San Francisco we also ventured outside the city and up to Napa Valley. We went antique shopping, ate an incredible meal, and took in all the sights of the gorgeous vineyards. No wine tasting ... just admiring the view ... but it was truly splendid.

Brilliant.

Driving home from a photo shoot. Unbelievable sky. Grabbed my camera while waiting for the light to turn green and rolled down the window. Who knew colors could be that brilliant?



Just for fun, I was curious what one of these pictures would look like in black and white. So fascinating how completely different elements come out when stripped of all that brilliant color. Maybe I do have a little hidden Ansel Adams in me just wanting to sneak out every now and then ...

Walking Seattle: Waterfront

My last photos in my "Walking Seattle" series. I just love the Seattle waterfront!

Walking Seattle: Experimenting with HDR

My first attempt at an HDR image, which combines multiple exposures into one shot. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, but I'm definitely an amateur when it comes to HDR editing!

Walking Seattle: Fountain at Pike Street Hill Climb

Shutter Speed: 0.6
Aperture: f/20
ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 1/320
Aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 1250

The water in these two photos look different for a reason. In the first I shot with a very slow shutter speed, so I could capture the water looking silky smooth. In the second I wanted to capture the feeling of movement, so I shot faster. I love how just adjusting your shutter speed can give you such a different look!

Walking Seattle: Space Needle

I thought it would be fun to do a week-long series of different photos I shot this summer while in Seattle one evening. I just recently found these again when going through some folders of unedited images. They took me back to a warm summer night when I was able to shoot just for me, something I don't do nearly enough. Of course if we are going to do a series of photos of Seattle, we most definitely have to start with ...

I literally snapped this out the window while at a stop light ... and yes, it screamed "make me black & white. and vintage-y" to me. Well, if photos could scream, anyway.

Fog

One morning last week.
Driving my son to preschool.
Fog.
Lots of fog.
Road construction and delays.

Pulled out my point and shoot, a Canon G11, and started snapping pictures out my window while I waited for the traffic to clear up.

Fog {and slowing down} can really be so beautiful.

Tiptoeing through the Tulips {Washington Photographer}

One of the things I love about living in the Pacific Northwest is the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival that happens every April. And it had been far too many years since I had been. So last week my friend (also named Heidi) and I ventured up with a few of our kids to enjoy the tulips ... and the masses of people with their cameras. It really is a beautiful sight.

When we first started planning our little outing, I created a wonderful vision in my head of how it would all play out:

*happy smiling children.
*perfect skies ~ overcast, diffused light, yet just the right tint of blue.
*nice warm weather.
*a three-year-old boy who would think there is nothing better in the entire world than looking at flowers for hours.
*beautiful, frameable portraits of my little ones.
*not wanting to leave because I was having so much fun, yet reluctantly heading home after drinking in all that gorgeousness.

Here's the reality:

*freezing cold wind.
*grey, yucky yuck skies.
*a three-year-old boy who cried and cried and cried because he wanted to go to the car. And because he didn't like mud on his boots. And because we had to walk out to the tulip fields and it was too far.
*a baby who absolutely and completely no way wanted her picture taken. Did not want to sit on the little chair mom lugged all the way out to the fields. Did not want to take her coat off to show off her pretty dress. Did not want to be strapped into the stroller.
*having an entire group of tulip-pickers laughing hysterically at the mom with a fancy camera ... and a chair ... and a big giant reflector ... obviously trying to get pictures of children who obviously did not want their picture taken.
*and then the baby ate dirt.
*finally calling it quits, going inside where it was warm to have a snack and have the little lady decide at that moment to be super smiley.
*somehow still managing to stay for over two hours and then realizing I was going to MISS THE BUS when my two older boys got home. Frantically calling everyone I could think of, finally finding the bestest friend ever to go and pick my kids up.
*bringing home the most beautiful tulips in the world to prove that something truly great came out of the whole adventure!

With that giant story told, here are how I combined my *vision* with reality. I may or may not have added in some blue skies. And photoshopped the tears out. I'll never truly confess. Ha ha ha.

It may look like he is enjoying playing in the mud. Don't be deceived. He is really doing his best to find a way to get away from it!

Here's my friend's daughter, Madeline ~ a much more willing model than the two I brought along! You might recognize seeing her before. Click {here} to see her shoot from about 6 months ago.


Just look at that sweet smile when she finally got inside and all bundled up back in her coat ...

Happy Easter!

Tulips.

And that is the end of Spring Break.
Back to school ... and real life ... and blog posts with people in them ... on Monday.

Growing.

Plants are miracles. The way you can put a little seed in some dirt, give it some water, set it in the sunshine and then ...


Amazing. Love showing off these "signs of Spring" on my blog this week in honor of SPRING BREAK! Woo hoo!

Want a great tutorial on macro photography? I loved this one on D-Town TV. Now to actually follow all their tips ...

One flower.

One flower with water droplets on the stems.
One flower that is growing in my yard right now.
Actually, just one flower of MANY.

I'm not much of a gardener ... but the person who lived in my house before we bought it sure was, and thankfully planted perennials everywhere. Now I get to sit back and enjoy the fruits of all her labor. I love it.

Spring Break.

Planning on playing with the kids, relaxing, and enjoying the little signs of spring popping up around my yard. Probably throw in some lego-building and wii-playing and {maybe} some spring cleaning and lots-of-snacks-eating as well. If the weather cooperates ... and realizes it is SPRING ... I certainly plan on being outside as much as possible. Soaking up sunshine. Do you hear that Sun? I want to soak you up! So you better put in an appearance this week!

Hopefully we will have a fabulous time.

So in honor of the break and all it represents, I thought I would show off some Spring-y pictures on the blog all week :). Enjoy!

(Oh and yes, I am completely in love with Florabella actions now. Bought her "color and haze" set a few weeks ago and I'm smitten. All of this week's edits have a little Florabella magic to them!)

More.

Have I mentioned how much I love these trees by my house? And sunsets? And silhouettes? And all three combined? 'Cause I really, really do.

You know what I love even more? When my boys come running in the house shouting, "MOM! Get your camera! You're going to love this!"

And they're right. I do.

In my front yard ...

... I can really get inspired.

I just love taking pictures for the pure joy of playing with my camera.






I would love to hear which of all of these any readers love the best. Leave me a comment and let me know!

Rain, Rain

Lots of rain.

On my window: Wow that looks dark and menacing outside ...

On the bushes:

And waaaaaayyyyy up close. FUN.

Oooo .... Pretty.

I went out to lunch with some friends today and they were lamenting the fact that we may have a winter without snow. I have to say, I absolutely don't mind :). In fact, I would love to live in Hawaii and have gorgeous weather year-round. I can do without the white stuff. Probably because I grew up in Utah and saw it for months on end. However, I do have to say, snow makes for a pretty picture :). Here's a few I took while on my recent trip. All of these were taken with my new 60mm 2.8 macro lens. I love that with that one lens I can get beautiful landscape views ...



or close-ups of an isolated icicle ...


... or a few snow-covered berries:

I can tell I'm going to have some fun with this lens. Next up? Macro raindrops. Captured a few weeks ago just outside my front door. Cause THAT's what we get a LOT of around here!