The Paper Mama Challenge : Black & White

I think I am on a roll with the photo challenges :) Either that or I am just inspired right now. My plans are to try my best to enter one photo challenge or at least post one photo that I have taken a week. Can you all - if there is anyone out there actually reading this blog - try to hold me to this? Hopefully, I will be able to keep this up through 2011 and my photography and composition skills will grow.

So this post is dedicated to The Paper Mama's Weekly Challenge. Her theme for the week is "Black and White." I don't know if I have already said this, but I love turning photos into black and white. I think it makes a good photo really stand out and it can disguise things in a photo that you didn't necessarily like.

This picture is one of my favorites of that I took of Little Ladybug while we were at the Christmas parade. She didn't keep her Minnie Mouse hat on for very long, but she looked so cute while she kept it on!

Be sure to sure head on over The Paper Mama and check out some other stunning Black and White shots from a lot of talented photographers!

November Photo Hunt Challenge

There is a monthly photo hunt challenge that I found thanks to Miss Sisk. She mixes in some of the prompts into her Sunday Scavenger Hunts.

There were 10 different things to photograph for November. I think I got all of them. They may not be my best works, but I accomplished them and that is what I wanted to do. It is an accomplishment, none the less....

1. Home Sweet Home

Okay, so I don't have a picture for this one. I really wanted to put a picture of my husband's feet up. But I never got around to taking one :(

2. Thankful

I am thankful for family. Even if they won't sit still long enough to give me a decent picture. This is a picture of Miss A, my cousin and my sister. They are all goof balls and no matter how many pictures I snapped of them, I could not get one with all of them looking at the me with smiles on their faces! So much for a "Family" picture!

3. Family

Here is some of my family - The family that is that came down for Thanksgiving that is. And really the only way I could get a picture of all of them is when they were sitting down eating. The only other member that was missing was my Aunt Nina who was also taking a picture of the group of us :)

4. I Ate This - Thanksgiving Edition

This is our spread for Thanksgiving. We are not a formal family. We are more a "Come and get it!" family.

5. A Turkey

Here is our turkey on Thanksgiving. This wasn't pretty, but man it was yummy. I almost didn't get a picture because my dad was in a rush to cut it up.

6. Something Hand-Made

This dress was made by Cakelady for Little Ladybug to wear on her 1st birthday. I swear there isn't much that Cakelady can't do! She is super talented!

7. Something Hot

What isn't hotter than some Dunkin Donuts coffee on a cold fall day? And it was yummy too! This is one of camera phone pictures :)

8. Something Cold

This is the infamous Little Ladybug. We were all a bit cold on the morning of the Christmas parade, hence her super cute Minnie Mouse hat! I actually entered this photo into The Paper Mama's Black and White Challenge and she picked it as one of her favorite photos! This is the first pictures I have ever taken that has ever been awarded anything, so I am really happy about that!

9. Something Orange

My "Something Orange" was an orange car featured in the Raleigh Christmas Parade.

10. Anything Goes (Any photo you take in November!)

One of my favorite pictures from this November... Miss A and my grandma playing with some legos during her visit here to NC. It a special moment that am glad I was able to capture on "film."

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I am not quite sure how I stumbled upon Ashley Sisk's site called Ramblings and Photos, but if you haven't ever seen her photos she is AWESOME! I wish I was as dedicated a photographer as she is... maybe in 2011?!? Each week she puts up a new list of items for people to look for and photograph each week and each week I tell myself I am going to find all the items and photograph them. I have been doing this for over a month now, and you can see how many times I have posted on Sunday with my items... ZERO!!! So this Sunday, even though I am short one item, I am going to post my photos. I blame the fact that my family is down...

1. Black and White

I love turning photos black and white. This photo, however, I must admit I ended up taking with the "black and white" setting on my camera photo. I find that lately, since my phone comes with a "8 mega pixel camera" on it, there are times when I can get away with taking pictures with it and do a bit of minor editing in PhotoShop and actually be pleased with how things turn out. Don't get me wrong, I won't be turning in my DSLR anytime soon, but when I need to snap a quick picture and my phone is handy, I find that it will do the trick.

2. I Ate This


This is another picture from my phone :) Something I ate this week... SUSHI :)

3. Historic

Okay, this is the picture that stumpled me. Let's just pretent that I had picture up here of historic car, which I thought I might of taken at the Christmas Parade (but, obviously I didn't). Or some lovely historic landmark that we took my family by while they were visiting us here in wonderful NC.

4. Off Center



I took this picture of Miss A while we were at her Girl Scout adventure at Umstead State Park. My cousin joined us for the afternoon of cabin clean up and turtle hunting. It was wonderful having her along and Miss A loved being able to spend the extra time with her older cousin.

5. The End



So I had two different pictures lined up for this prompt. One was the end of the Christmas Parade (a.k.a. Santa) and the other, as you can see above, is my chihuahua's bum. Honestly, this one makes me smile more, so this is the one I choose.


Be sure to visit Ashley's site and see what creative picture's others came up with this week :) Oh and she is also hosting a give away for one of her beautiful pictures, so enter for that too!

Love That Shot - Link-Up - Nov 11th

There are so many shots from Little Ladybug's first birthday party that could choose from for this week's Link-Up over at Love That Shot! I took almost 200 pictures that day :) I cannot wait to make some series photos out of her smash cake!

I ended up choosing this picture because of how fascinated Ladybug became with her new teddy bear after she pulled it from the bag. Just look at her face. She has not let anyone near that bear since. She loves her new pal and I LOVE THIS SHOT :)


For more great pictures from talent photographers, head on over to Love That Shot.

The Paper Mama Challenge: Food

Little Miss Ladybug turned one last week. It is a bittersweet event thinking about it. How can she possibly be getting this big this quickly?!? On Sunday, we celebrated with an Owl themed birthday party (Look WHOOO's Turning 1). There were so many pictures for me to choose from for The Paper Mama's Food Challenge. Should I go with a picture of when we placed the cake in front of her? Should I go with a picture when she was first just getting into the cake? Or should I go with a picture where she was all into it - you know the one, where the cake is smeared all over, but it is still cute, because well, Little Miss Ladybug is one?

In the end, I decided to go with the picture below, because she has this sweet little smile on her face that I feel in love with. I hope you like it.

I Heart Faces - Fix-It Friday #77

Happy Friday everyone. I am multi-tasking this Friday night :) As I am watching the Carolina Hurricanes take on the Florida Panthers (LET'S GO CANES!), I am working on my Fix-It Friday photo. Can I tell you it it is a wonderful way for me to unwind!

Here is the before photo of Michelle's lovely daughter


To get my edit, I started by cropping in to the 5" x 7" size. I then removed some of the blemishes I noticed by her chin area. Now I am ready to play with the picture.

My first edit involves sharping the image and saturating the color some.


I then decided, I would try something I have never tried before, but have been meaning to try... textures... I started by giving the image a semi-vintage look and then applied a light floral texture in the background.


These were my two fixes for the week. Be sure you check out what the other talented people have done over at I Heart Faces. They will be sure to inspire you!

Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Over at About A Boy, Katrina hosted a Halloween scavenger hunt. Well, I was a bit late with my posting my pictures. But with all things, better late than never right? So here are the pictures that I meant to submit, but never got around to posting.

A black cat

Striped

Orange

A treat -OR- Teeth

Cute

You Are Beautiful

The new book The Beauty of Different is available from Bright Sky Press and Amazon. This book has such a beautiful and powerful message. I CANNOT wait to pick up a copy for myself. From what I have seen of it, Miss A and I will be reading and looking through it together.

Also, if you haven't already checked out Karen's blog chookooloonks you should. She inspires me on a weekly basis.