jlr Photography: July 2012

7.31.2012

SELF PORTRAIT - 30 Day Challenge

I think most photographers would agree that they are more comfortable behind the lens, rather than in front of the lens, this is true in my case. I love taking pictures of my children, my husband, my friends, and pretty much every subject on the 30 day challenge; but myself...not so much! So, get a good look, cause it's going to be the one and only self portrait your going to see on this gals blog!

I have really enjoyed this 30 day challenge and I appreciate that two of my fellow classmates participated in the challenge with me, please take some time to check their blogs out as well.

http://andersonkat.blogspot.ca/

http://ljbphotos.blogspot.ca/

DRINK - 30 Day Challenge

While I am in the Okanagan I will end most of my evenings with a nice glass of wine, I tuck my kiddos into bed and sit on my patio with a good book and usually a glass of Chardonnay, by rather that show you another image that includes a glass of wine (if you follow my blog you'll know that there are more than a few images that include my favorite drink); I am going to show you what I drink to start my day.

I love a cup of coffee in the morning, I actually can't function without it, I like good, strong coffee and recently have started drinking a cup of espresso to get me going! Below is an image of my morning drink, I've also included my morning view that goes along with my coffee.

GREEN - 30 Day Challenge

The images below are a sneak peek at the triathlon that my two boys participated in, they also happen to have lots of green in them so it's a win, win for today's challenge. As a parent watching my kids cross the finish line was a very proud moment. It was a great day!

WATER - 30 Day Challenge

Since I am at the lake for the summer today's subject is easily found, water is literally right out my front door. I find being so near the water peaceful and calming; oh and it makes parenting my two younger kids a breeze, they love the lake and all it has to offer!

7.27.2012

SUNSET - 30 Day Challenge

I am a Saskatchewan girl through and through so I have seen many breathtaking sunsets; Saskatchewan is after all "the land of living skies". If you haven't experienced a Sask sunset put it on your to-do list, if you get the right night you'll be in for a real treat, they are nothing short of amazing. This summer BC has had a few sunsets that come close to our home province, below is one example.

I'm curious to hear what my fellow Sask friends think of this sunset, could it compete with one of our sunsets back home?

TECHNOLOGY - 30 Day Challenge

My family rates technology pretty highly among the things that would be very difficult to live without, it's actually a bit embarrassing to think that we spend our whole summer at an amazing lake in BC and we have to lug all of our techie gadgets along with us! But, we do make a practice of "unplugging" ourselves from our gadgets while we're here, so at least we're making an effort not to have our eyes constantly glued to our phones, iPads, or Playstation!

Below are a few samples of our must haves!

7.24.2012

SOMEONE YOU LOVE - 30 Day Challenge

I've posted images of my children, who of course I love wholeheartedly; but I've not yet introduced you to my wonderful husband. He is my partner in every sense of the word, he loves me, encourages me and supports me in all of my decisions. In fact, this whole photography journey that I have started has a lot to do with a gift he gave me two Mother's Days ago.

I think the definition of a good partner is someone who listens to your hopes and dreams and quietly supports them, this is true in the case of my photography. I mentioned once in passing to my husband how I think I could really immerse myself in photography, I've always loved the art of photography and I think it may just be "my thing"; my husband being the good partner that he is took this as a sign. You see I had dedicated the last 4 years of my life to our children, I had quit a fantastic job working for a great company so that I could be at home full time with our children, it was important to both myself and my husband that I was there on a full time basis for our children. I'm not going to lie, this was a tough transition for me, but over the years I have learned to love being a full time mom, and my husband has always appreciated the decision that I made, but he recognized that something was missing (even when I didn't realize I was missing something).

So without my knowledge my husband bought me a DSLR camera, and so my photography journey began. He has encouraged me in my classes, helped me study, in fact he may actually know just as much about F-stops, shutter speeds and ISO than most experienced photographers.

This to me is what a true partner is, my husband has no real interest in photography, but he will silently listen to me ramble on and on about what lens I desire next, about a shot that I couldn't quite master, he'll drive me down abandoned dirt roads in Saskatchewan and he'll bite his tongue when instead of taking the time to enjoy a peaceful moment I run for my camera. Below are two images of SOMEONE I LOVE....with my whole heart!

SILHOUETTE - 30 Day Challenge

A silhouette can be a powerful image, I think the two images below are a great example of this. I choose to shoot our dock posts with the sun setting behind them, this is an image that will awaken memories in many people, I know when I am in the throws of a cold February back in Saskatchewan this is what I see when I close my eyes and dream of my warm Okanagan summers.

7.22.2012

EYES - 30 Day Challenge

I love to look into my kids eyes, their true feelings are always on display whether it's love, joy, excitement, sadness or anger a little ones eyes tell no lies. Below are two of my children's eyes, the third and youngest of my kids is too busy to sit still enough for me to properly focus on his eyes!

7.21.2012

LONG EXPOSURE - 30 Day Challenge

I love the concept of long exposure shots, they are very interesting when done correctly, I especially like long exposure shots of water, either a waterfall or a slow moving creek. I tried to capture the waves hitting the shore today, but it was too bright outside so it caused my image to be way overexposed. Long exposure is when you set your shutter speed to stay open for a long amount of time, so the brighter it is outside the more light that your camera lets in so that is why my water shots were overexposed so I opted for a little camera magic with my long exposure! In the image below my shutter speed is set to 30 seconds (meaning my shutter stayed open for 30 long seconds), I stood behind my camera for about 15 seconds and then left the scene for the remaining 15 seconds, this causes a ghost like effect in the image, you can see me, but just barely. Pretty neat, right?!

FEET - 30 Day Challenge

Apparently I am so relaxed out here at the lake that I have lost an entire day, so today you will get two blog posts! The first is a picture of my pretty, painted toes taken from my favourite spot on our patio. I love laying out on the lounger overlooking the lake and keeping an eye on my kids while they play on the beach or in the lake. Life is good out here!

7.20.2012

BOKEH - 30 Day Challenge

I had great intentions for this Bokeh challenge, it is a form of photography that I find really beautiful. Bokeh is when you take a picture of an object that is placed in front of small glowing lights, you see a lot of bokeh images around Christmas time, usually an ornament on a tree with the tree lights in the background. I have minimal supplies here in Kelowna so instead of using a strand of small lights I used a lamp that has a design etched into it. This really isn't a great example of bokeh, but it's the best I could do with what I had on hand. I'll have to continue to work on my bokeh picture taking skills!

7.18.2012

WHERE YOU SLEEP - 30 Day Challenge

If you know me well you know that where I lay my head down at the end of my day is serious business! I love nice sheets, I have several bedding sets at our home in Saskatchewan and even have a nice little collection at our home in BC. My bedroom is my sanctuary, I fill my days with my children and their activities so once bedtime hits I insist on my bedroom being in perfect order. This drives my husband crazy because he tends to fall asleep the moment his head hits the pillow, but not me, bedtime is where I decompress after a long day, with the lights out I reflect on the day I had and think of the tomorrow I will have, it's the closest I get to meditation and I require a very zen place for this little ritual of mine. Not only have I included pictures of where I sleep, but also the view that I wake up to every summer morning, I think it's pretty spectacular!

7.17.2012

BLACK & WHITE - 30 Day Challenge

For today's challenge I shot a few images of the posts on our dock. I have shot these posts in the past but never in black and white, I like these images much better than the colour images. I think I may even be able to find a spot on my wall for these shots!

7.16.2012

CLOSE UP & FROM A DISTANCE - 30 Day Challenge

My close up shot was taken with my 50mm lens, I love this lens! It's great for taking portraits and is capable of some macro (close up shots), but when I want to get in really close to a subject I add my close up filters to my nifty fifty lens. These filters are a great, inexpensive way to convert your lens to a macro, you just screw them onto your lens, it's sort of like adding a magnifying glass to the end of your camera.

My from a distance shot was taken with my telephoto lens, this is a great lens for anyone who has kids in sports or if you have aspirations of becoming a paparazzi, because you can shoot from such a far distance without your subject being aware that you are photographing them.

The shot below is of my oldest son out on the lake on our paddle board. Paddle boarding is huge here, the kids love it! The board itself is like an oversized surf board, you balance yourself on the board and then paddle yourself around the lake. I've managed to get myself up on the paddle board this year, it is not easy, it takes a tremendous amount of concentration and core strength is key. My son makes this look so easy, I do not look like him when I get up on this thing!

7.14.2012

ANIMAL - 30 Day Challege

Once upon a time there was a little boy who wanted a puppy more than anything. The little boy had dreams of playing fetch, running in wide open spaces and curling up on the couch with his puppy by his side. This little boy was unable to have his own puppy because his big brother was allergic to dogs, very, very allergic to dogs! Luckily the little boy discovered a pet dog left by the former owners of his family's summer home so for the first time ever the little boy felt like he had a puppy of his own.

This is the story of my youngest son and his desire to have a puppy, the dog left by the former owners of our summer home is a statue of a dog! My youngest son is obsessed with this dog, he has named it (Diesel in case you're wondering), he talks to it, he PETS it and if we allowed him to he would tie a leash around it's neck and walk it on the beach, actually he would have to drag it, the thing weighs a tonne. This is probably the closest thing to a dog that he will ever have, so my animal shot is of my little boy with his puppy.

7.13.2012

FACELESS SELF PORTRAIT - 30 Day Challenge

My faceless self portrait pretty much sums up how I spend my evenings while on vacation here in the Okanagan. I love sitting on our patio enjoying a nice glass of wine while watching the sun set, a big floppy hat is also a must!

7.12.2012

SUN FLARE - 30 Day Challenge

Sun flares are not easy to capture! I had this image in my head of one of my kids with the setting sun behind them and hopefully getting a sun flare in there, but our sun is MIA this evening. Luckily I've been keeping this subject in mind knowing that it would be a tough one. I took this picture one evening when the sun was setting behind a cloud therefore creating this really cool effect in the sky, it may not be a true sun flare, but it's all I could manage, this is something I'll have to keep working at.

7.11.2012

HANDS - 30 Day Challenge

Hands at the beach are busy digging, building, pouring, and dumping, that's right we are in full sandcastle making mode! My kids can spend hours on the beach each creating their own masterpieces, this is the stuff summer's are made of!

7.10.2012

FRUIT - 30 Day Challenge

Every summer myself and the kids head up the road to our favourite Cherry orchard and pick our own cherries. The kids each get their own bucket to carry their pickings, they run deep into the orchard to find the perfect cherry tree, then they each get to climb ladders in order to reach the very best cherries. I take my camera along every year to capture the kids in their cherry picking glory, I would love to share those pictures with you, but our favourite orchard doesn't open for two days! So, today instead of sharing pictures of my adorable children picking the very best BC cherries, I share this very exciting image of....fruit in a bowl.

Now that I've got all of you craving cherries (and pictures of my kids picking cherries), I promise to post pictures of the kids cherry picking adventure, as soon as the orchard opens!

7.09.2012

LOW ANGLE - 30 Day Photography Challenge

If you are a parent to a boy, I'm sure you have fond memories of watching your little guy play with his toy cars, trucks or in my son's case motorcycles! My youngest son can keep himself entertained for hours by pushing, driving or riding anything with wheels.

As parents we are always photographing our kids milestones, accomplishments or birthdays, but photographing this simple act of a child playing with his toys is an image that will conjure up memories for any parent.

7.08.2012

HIGH ANGLE - 30 Day Challenge

It's hot, hot, hot here in the Okanagan which means the cool lake is the perfect place to cool off! I snapped these pics of my daughter while I stood on the dock she loves to play on the beach and cool herself off by taking a quick dip in the lake.

FLOWERS - 30 Day Challenge

Lavender is what I chose to photograph for my flower subject, this isn't something I have seen much of in Saskatchewan. I love the lavender bushes we have growing on our patio in BC they look fantastic and smell even better!

7.06.2012

SMILE - 30 Day Photography Challenge

I had hoped to capture my oldest son with one of his "light up the room" smiles, but anyone who has teenagers will understand that getting your teen to smile on command and capture it in a photograph is about as difficult as trying to capture a glimpse of the elusive ogopogo here in the Okanagan! So I will post pictures of my teenager trying not to smile, I've also included a picture of my daughter who for the record is not even remotely stingy with her smiles!

7.05.2012

BOOKS - 30 Day Challenge

I was looking forward to photographing today's subject because I always find it easier to photograph something (or someone) that I love and I love books. I am an avid reader, I even packed all of the books I wanted to read this summer in their very own suitcase and brought them to Kelowna with me. I also included my iPad in this shot because I read a lot of books on there as well. What books are on your summer reading list?

7.04.2012

FAVORITE FOOD - 30 Day Challenge

I could have shot any number of things for this subject because food IS my favorite subject; I love to cook and I love to eat! What I choose to photograph is something I really enjoy munching on while we are vacationing in BC, in fact two of the cheeses are local. I have three nice pieces of cheese a local camembert, a local goat cheese and a piece of gouda, there are also some kalamata olives, a fig balsamic spread and some Raincrisp Coasts, delicious! Oh, and you'll also notice the freshly poured glass of wine, that's another local treat, Cedar Creek Chardonnay! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't eating this special treat at this very moment while blogging, yummy! Can't wait to see your favorite foods.