Early Morning Photos (and an Old Favorite)

I happened to be awake pretty early this morning and figured I'd take the opportunity to get some dewy first light shots. I took the tripod outside this time, but between its cumbersome operation and the fact that most of my subjects are low to the ground, I didn't use it a whole lot. Sadly, the empty lot next to us was just mowed and all the weeds I like to look at were cut down. But I did find a pretty little patch of buttercups:



Click for more pretty Monday Morning shots for Best Shot Monday at Mother May I.


(If you've clicked over for Best Shot Monday, I need your help! I'm looking to put together a collection of my photos to show a small artsy shop owner who sells local artist's work. I would like some fresh perspectives on my photos: I blogged about it here, and you can find my working portfolio set here, and my Flickr stream here.)

One of the best things about having photo bloggy friends is the incredible input I am getting on my photos. I am finding especially helpful any suggestions for editing. I think I'm going to go through and re-edit most, if not all, of the images since I know more about Photoshop now and I have some great suggestions to follow.

Couple of things:
1. I think I will print these 11 x 14 to show the shop owner. I plan to mat them and present them so that they are ready for sale the day I meet with him if he agrees to have them in his shop.
I think 8 x 10 is too small and besides, I don't like how 8 x 10 is almost square, but not. I like the more rectangle-y 11 x 14. If I were to buy a photo for my wall, I would probably buy at least 11 x 14, I think.
What do you guys think?

2. Right now I plan on printing from Shutterfly since I have always been happy with the way their color has come out. I've like my local Costco at times, but their color can be inconsistent. A quick Google search didn't turn up a whole lot in the way of professional labs in my area. A bunch of Ritz and a couple of small "1 hour" places. I may try one of the local places since it says they do wedding photos, so they must be able to do professional looking printing.
If you bought a gorgeous print from a small artsy shop would you be disappointed if you flipped the photo over and saw it was printed at Shutterfly? (Maybe I can turn off the backprinting, I'll have to see).

Also, here's the first of my go-back-and-edits:

NEW EDIT:
cropped to 11 x 14, unsharp mask, screen layer at 100% opacity


ORIGINAL EDIT:
photo ratio (like 4 x 6), probably a contrast bump

Sunshine!

Lots of full sun photos this week. the rain finally let up and we're back to spending hours a day outside. The kids play and I spend time fiddling around with my flower beds and snapping photos of every little thing that strikes my fancy.


Stacey has more sunshine-y photos at The Land of K.A.



I need your help:

I am looking to put together a collection of my work to print, mat and then show off for possible sale at a small store that features local artists. I would really, really like your input on what I could (or should) include (or not include). I hope to get some different eyes and perspectives looking at my photos.


For starters, I created a Portfolio set. This includes some of my favorite photos that I added after a quick flip-through of my Flickr photostream. These are just the ones that I really like, but don't neccesarily have to be included. From this set:



You also may want to think about photos from this Town set, as the shop is in this small town and perhaps these kinds of photos may have a market there. From this set:


Please pour through my Flickr stream and let me know what you like (or don't like). I'll certainly share with you the feedback I get and we can hash it out together.


You may want to check out:
Photos from my yard, flowers, my Photo 101 set, photos with stand-out color, or you could just pour through the whole darn Flickr stream.

Also, one more question: I put a black border around the dragonfly picture not thinking about printing it. Now the image has been flattened and the black border is part of it. I tried to edit it again, but am not sure if I got the colors to match or not. What do you think of printing a photo with a border like this? Do you ever do it? Is it more artsy? Does it show off my mad Photoshop skills because I can draw a straight black line?

My bloggy friend, Dawn, recently featured her work in an arts faire and asked for input. I really liked trolling thorugh her Flickr and picking out the photos that spoke to me. It was a really fun exercise and I think she got some very useful feedback. So, since I saw how much input she got, I'm trying the same thing here.

Inspiration on a Quiet Tuesday Morning

In all the everyday busyness I missed yesterday's Best Shot Monday. But, actually, I have a lot to report on the photography front. After being bored and blah with having to look at the same old subjects inside my same old house day in and day out, I have finally found some color around my neighborhood. And some interesting things to photograph!

There is this photo contest. It is a very small, local contest, and I am very excited to enter. The day for submissions is this Saturday and I have been pouring over my photos, analyzing and squinting and comparing and refreshing and enlarging and photoshopping and hemming and hawing. I have driven up and down streets, parking here, then moving up a little, then moving again, just so I can lean out my car window to try and get some shots. I have walked around in below freezing temperatures, a mitten on one hand and my camera in the other, looking for something to pop, something to call out to me to take its picture.

I am 90% decided on which photo I will enter. I will wait and share it here after I submit it. Then I won't have to second guess myself asking you all what you think. (It is one from this set, so have a look if you like)

:::

In other, very very exciting photo-internet-y news, the new site, Shutter Sisters launched today! Started by Tracey Clark (formerly of Picture This, and of Mother May I and Warmtone), it is a collaborative site of women photographers. There are some amazing women whose Flickr streams, I've been watching for a while as well as some new ones I've added to my reader. There is a Flickr pool where I have gasped and ooh'ed and ahh'ed over the incredible talent in these photos. (I've even added a few of my own modest photographs, hoping they will blend in and not stick out like they don't belong.)

:::

In non-photo events: I spent about an hour sitting in my car waiting for preschool registration this morning. Luckily, it went quickly, uneventful, I got the class I wanted for Jack, and the kids (yes, in the car with me) were good as gold. And this was the returning family registration, so at least I didn't have to be there before 5 am like last year. Isn't this ridiculous?

:::

Oh, and P.S.: Does anybody know why Blogger changes the spacing in my posts after I insert something like the "Shutter Sisters" button? Why is half of it one way and the other half another? I can't figure it out.

Wild Bunny

This is so much fun! Build your wild self!
I found this in Miss Zoot's flickr-stream.

Catching Up in a Nutshell

It always pleasantly surprises me when I have been absent from blogging and people notice. I get emails from dear, sweet bloggers who have noticed my lack of updates, or I run into someone in real life who has been wondering what we've been up to.

In the last few weeks, to tell you the truth, I've kind of retreated into myself for a bit. When my husband's grandmother passed away, it really shook us up. It's been taking us, and more specifically, me, a while to get back into the swing of things.

• I've been waking up around 5 o'clock in the morning for the last month or so. No alarm, just some restlessness. You would think I would be getting so much done, but really it just means I've reactivated my Warcraft account.
• I walk/ran for 24 minutes the other day. And by "slash-ran" I mean my legs moved in a running fashion while the top half of my body ached, bounced and cried. Oh and you know that soft, pooch of a mama belly that reminds you of just how enormously large your body can be? Yeah, do they make some kind of supportive garment that would keep it from reminding me quite so intensely?
• I thought that maybe I could try and walk/run by myself sometime before my husband leaves for work in the morning. I should have thought of this back when the sun was coming up before 7, which is, um, after my husband leaves.
• Jack is potty trained. Completely. All done. It only cost me an estimated $4 in prizes per successful number two for the last month, several future carpet cleaning bills and many, many tolls on my sanity.
• It was supposed to rain today and then turn into fall. Instead it's close to 90 degrees and I think I smell a little.
• I have new curtains, the first curtains I have ever bought. They are delightfully grown-up and elegant. They will soon have baby face print smears on them because Sarah finds them a hilarious place to hide.
• I have no Halloween costumes for the kids yet. I need ideas! Leave comments!

Flickr. Sigh. After reading Zoot's post I have decided to change the way I use Flickr. It seems that since it is such a large, public place for photos that there's a lot of picture stealing. I have read about several bloggers who have had problems with pictures of their children being used for other websites. Nothing completely creepy (that I've heard of), but enough to make me want to change things around. I like taking photos and sharing them on Flickr and on my blog(s), but I am going to change all pictures of my kids so that only family and friends can see them. I wouldn't like it if someone stole a pictures of a flower from my Flickr, but it would not. be. okay. if someone took a picture of my kids.

If you are a blogging/virtual friend: I would like you to be a "friend" in Flickr. Contact me either in Flickr, in my comments, or I will try and find you in Flickr.

If you are a real-life friend: Please sign in to Flickr and I will make you "family." I know it's another login/password thing to register, but I will feel better about knowing who can see pictures of my babies. (I think you can use your yahoo user name and password). Also, you will get to see the best pictures (shh, don't tell the blog friends).

Link to my Flickr; I am MotherBunny if you search for me.

(The links on pictures in my archives are going to be messed up for a while till I get the Flickr permissions straightened out, so, if you actually go back and read them, I'll fix them soon, or maybe never if it doesn't seem like a problem.)

Reading, But Not So Much the Writing

As the weather gets warmer around here I am finding myself out and about with the kids all over town, just about everyday of the week. And so, I haven't been doing much writing (and I'm sure you all were thrilled that I spent this week's writing energy on an analysis of Battlestar Galactica, whose season ended over two months ago).

But I am still reading. There is so much out there that is keeping my screen time occupied.

Swistle had her baby! Her FIFTH baby. He is sweet and dreamy looking and I can almost smell his head. Luckily she prepared by baking 12 dozen muffins for the freezer.

Jenny has declared the Final Meme. Don't worry, I'll be keeping my clothes on around here.

The theme today at Picture This is "spin." I love Tracey's take on it. I am still trying, however, to capture my little lamb in her hysterical head-tilt, drunken, wobbling turn of a spin. I haven't managed to catch it yet.

sweet | salty is the work of Kate, a mama and amazing and prolific writer who is sharing her
intense struggle with her twins in the NICU after an early birth due to a case of twin to twin transfusion. She is raw and bare and reading her is like being able to hear her and feel her as she tries to stand after being knocked flat by the prognosis of these boys. She has described God as a tinkerer, saying, "My argyle-sweater-wearing God is a tinkerer. Once sparks were sparked he stood back, secondary to the ebb and flow of the natural world. Sometimes things happen that surprise even him, causes and effects that seem to make no sense."



Go read something from somebody that actually has something to say. Unlike me, who will be on my way to the craft store to prepare for today's adventures with these two:

Friday Favorites

As some of you regular readers around here may know, the girls over at Shootin' the Poop are some of my best blogging friends. And they tagged me for a meme a long time ago. And now I can't find it or remember what it was. So in honor of MK, Nicole, Erin and Andrea I'm going to do my own Friday Favorites. I love to see what shows up on their favorites radar, many of which I already love myself, and others that I am excited to check out.

I love my new MomAgenda planner. I have a place where I can write down everything in our busy schedule, it can go with me when I need to plan things out and there is plenty of room for to-do lists and menu planning. The bound agenda books are a little more than I would want to spend, so I actually got the refill for the executive portfolio. It is spiral bound and has the same pages with w flexible plastic cover, and is half the price.


One of the toys that I LOVE, love and LURRVE is Geotrax by Fisher Price. It is the best train set for little boys (and their mamas). The tracks are easy for Jack to snap together and they are so sturdy, my brutus of a baby has to take at least two swings to get it knocked down and apart. We have quite a collection and I love to put together the elevation tracks and make ramps and spirals and bridges. My favorite part is that all the tracks pieces are just the right size to go together. I know this sounds odd, but if you have ever tried to arrange some Thomas track, either wooden or "Take Along" then you know what I'm talking about. If you build a length of track and curve it around to meet another section, Geos will line up just right and connect without any odd angles or pulling. And, course, Jack loves that the trains go by themselves. He gets to operate the remote control and make them stop and go and make train whooshing sounds.


I now carry a small, delicate, feminine purse instead of a giant, luggage-like diaper bag. It fits only the essentials, wallet, keys, camera, phone, and I get to step out of "mom mode" sometimes with it. The Vera Bradley bags are adorable and feminine.


My husband and I recently signed up for Amazon Prime and it is changing the way we shop. There is an upfront fee, but then all shipping is free two-day shipping. It makes it so easy to just click over to anything you want, but don't feel like leaving the house to buy. You need more mac and cheese or paper towels? Just click over and it's here in two days. Need some father's day presents but can't stand the thought of dragging the kids through stores? Just click and buy!



Click over to Shootin' the Poop today to see today's Favorites!



Thanks for being such good sports for Meme Week (er, uh, two weeks, whatever). Now that I'm caught up, feel free to tag me with new memes as they come through the blogosphere.

Up for next week: we finally finished the third season of BSG, I have a lot to say about this kind of lame season and who I think is and is not a cylon. Also, I think I may be ready for a digital SLR camera, I need some input.

My Hometown

I saw this post over at Hola, Isabel where she told us all what she loves about living in Seattle. I loved it and have changed it a little for myself.

I have lived in Maryland my whole life. In fact, I have lived within a 50 mile radius of where I grew up (give or take). And while I would love to see other places, this will always be home. I have roots here, family, friends. Perhaps in another life I would live somewhere else, but not this one.

My favorite places in Maryland:

My favorite restaurant: Schmankerl Stube
Be sure to order the pork shank, or the Kasse Schnitsel, or Sauerbraten. You have to have the spatzel and bread dumplings, and in-house made desserts. And drink a hefe-weisen for me.

Mt favorite vacation spot: Ocean City
For the last few years we have been taking family vacations to OC and it is a great place to watch the kids play and grow up right before my eyes. My husband and I have loved to stay for weekends in the off season when there aren't any crowds, but all our favorite places to eat are still open. We have stayed here and here and love to eat here and here and here and we drive up and shop here.

My favorite local vineyard: Linganore Winecellers
When the weather gets warm they have wine tastings on the weekends with live music, plenty of room to picnic and food vendors. It is a great place to set up for the day and enjoy all the wonderful wines and hang out with friends.

My favorite place to shop: Prime Outlets Hagerstown
I always find good bargains here, I especially love the Eddie Bauer outlet, Gap outlet and Carter's. You never know what kind of things you will find on sale.

My favorite place to take the kids: Catoctin Zoo
I took the kids here once and Jack has been asking to go back. It is a great alternative to going to one of the big metropolitan zoos in Baltimore or DC since I'm not yet ready to tackle such a long car ride, and a long day at one of those zoos. The Catoctin Zoo has a lot of exotic animals you wouldn't expect to see here, lions and tigers (and bears!).

May favorite places to go without the kids: Can I list ANYTHING AT ALL? I mean, I like just about anything without kids. But, seriously, I love to eat here, or shop here and here, or gosh, I actually can't think of anything else. We've got to get out more.

My favorite weekend getaway: Deep Creek Lake
We have stayed here once or twice before kids and one of these days we will go back, again, without kids. It is a great place to ski in the winter, but I'd be happy just to hang out and enjoy the quiet.

My favorite parks: Great for a family day trips: Cunningham Falls and Washington Monument State Park.

My favorite place to camp: Assateague Island
My husband swears he won't go back to camp there because of all the sand and we got stuck in a huge hurricane-like storm. But I loved it and would go back. You can build fires right on the beach! And have the beach to yourself!

Things You Don't Know About Me

Today's meme comes from frannie over at the t family syndicate. She tagged me for this meme ages ago and I hesitated with that one. It is a loong one with 70 questions to answer, and I'm pretty lazy, so I think it would take a long time. Plus, some questions are boring, some are too controversial and, you know, there's the laziness.

So, instead I will share with you things you don't know about me.

As a kid, I played soccer for many, many years, however, now I have no athletic ability whatsoever. It is even debatable as to whether I had any then.

My husband thought I was a snob the first time I met him. I do not recall this meeting at all (because I was so stuck up!), although I have heard him describe the encounter many times.

I LOVE calendars and planning and writing plans and scheduling things in advance. This may have been the part about being a teacher I liked the best. I really like planning units and lessons and penciling them into my plan book. (Now the following through with the plans? That is a different story).

I was a teacher in another life.

I don't know what I will be when I grow up. I want to do something fun and challenging and ideally something that involves writing and/or taking pictures of my kids. Cause those are the things I like to do most. If only I could get paid to blog, that would be a dream come true. Even easier would be if I got paid to read blogs. Anyone know where I can sign up for that?

Sarah is now sleeping through the night. That's not really something about me, but I wanted to brag a little by working it into the conversation.

I played World of Warcraft for a long time, but I don't have the time anymore to play. It was the perfect thing to occupy two parents of one child who needed something to do in the evenings after said child went to bed. But now, we just don't have the time. I miss it sometimes, we had a lot of real-life and in-game friends who played, but now it seems like a lot of people have moved on. (I am really looking forward to this, although it won't be out until at least next year.)


So, there you have it. You know me a little better now, and I have knocked out another meme! For my loyal readers (MK), there will be at least two more to come...one of which will be on Friday!

Why I Blog

I have a place to write.

I am keeping a journal of my children as they grow. And of myself as their mother.
I can keep in touch with people who live far away, so they can see what is going on in our lives and how the kids are growing.
I share adorable pictures of my angels.
I learn more about photography and I get inspiration for photographing my favortie subjects.
I can write about things I wouldn't normally share with people in a real-live conversation.
I have met, virtually, some amazing bloggers, writers, photographers, moms and women in the blogosphere.




Thanks for the meme, Colleen at Madison Mom, and Christina at Momology!

Real Moms

Real moms eat the mushy, drooly cracker rejected from the toddler because it's easier than finding a place to set it until you can get to a trash can.

Real moms find sippy cups with solidified milk in them. Or fuzzy juice. And we just throw them in the dishwasher so we can have another cup in the rotation. (Also, real moms just throw away a sippy cup if it has clearly been over 10 months since it was lost. And real moms know it has been 10 months because the cup was in a bag that hadn't been unpacked from the trip to the beach last year.)

Real moms have to hear the most dreaded sentence: "I put my poopies on your window," and then deal with it without hurting anyone. (Thank goodness it was only the window and some trim that is easily washed off!)

Real moms: doing the family's dirty work, so we only live in minimal filth.



I was tagged for this a long time ago by the beautiful bloggess Jenny over at Mama Drama. Her take on this meme was so good, she used pictures and fancy editing and everything. Take a look here. I have seen this one go around the blogosphere once or twice and there is even a Real Mom Truths blog now!