Assignment 3 - Portraits

I'm so behind posting these! Our third assignment was to attempt some portraits, and I focused on my favorite subjects. Again, these are all straight out of the camera. My favorite is the one of Claire running to Robert. I know that technically there are a lot of things that could be better, but I think it is such a great visual of their relationship.

Assignment 2 - Motion

Our second assignment for photography class was to play with the interaction between aperture and shutter speed while trying to maintain proper exposure. Our instructor wanted us to have some shots that captured a sense of motion. I struggled a little with this assignment but came up with a few shots I was happy with.

The first two involve my favorite subject. I liked that there was a little blur as she grabbed the crayon, while the second had her haphazard attempt at putting away the crayons, and they're surrounded by our doodles.

To get more variety, I went to the Japanese Gardens. I really wanted to get a photo of running water with a slow shutter speed and was happy with this one:

Slow motion. :)

Photography Class - First Assignment

When Claire was born, Robert gave me a gift certificate to use for a DSLR, and shortly thereafter I bought a Canon xTi. Automatically I felt like I was getting better pictures, but I knew I was no where close to utilizing the capabilities of the camera. I wanted to learn how to shoot in manual mode and have a better understanding of the technical side of photography, but it's hard to find time as a full-time working mother of a toddler.

I started searching for a good class to take several months ago and finally signed up for a class at the Southwest School of Arts and Craft with one of my friends from Junior League. Our first assignment was to take some abstract photos (lines, textures, design, balance, etc.) while shooting in manual and focusing on the proper white balance. We brought in 4 to 10 photos each for critique, and it was interesting to see everyone's choices. Here are a few of my favorites of the ones I brought in. The first one is the only one I edited (I thought it was more interesting in B&W), while the rest are straight out of the camera.

What the TiFaux is Watching - Fall '09

Once again inspired by Lindsay, I’m doing my version of her regular “What the Tivo is Watching” posts. Based on the Entertainment Weekly Fall TV Preview issue and what we already regularly watch, this is what is recording, including Robert's shows. I’ll do an update later on to show what I actually ended up watching.



Sunday
Meet the Press (Robert)
This Week with George Stephanopoulos (mostly R)
CBS Sunday Morning (mostly R, but I watch sometimes)
The Amazing Race
Mad Men


Monday
How I Met Your Mother
House
Gossip Girl – my guilty pleasure!
The Big Bang Theory


Tuesday
Biggest Loser
Flipping Out


Wednesday
Glee
Top Chef


Thursday
The Office
Flash Forward
Community
30 Rock
Grey's Anatomy
Project Runway


Friday
Nothing - catch up on shows we've recorded


Saturday
Football, if anything
Catch up on shows we've recorded


We also watch some of Good Morning America while we get ready in the morning, Robert watches ABC World News during dinner, and we catch parts of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report if we're up, although we only have the TiFaux set up to record the evening news.


It is a lot, but we rarely rent movies once the new television season starts - we don't go out very often, so we usually catch up on "our stories" on Friday and Saturday nights. Since I know I watch a lot and am trying to cut back, this season I've already dropped:


Heroes - This was a favorite the first season, and it's gone steadily downhill since then.
Dancing with the Stars & So You Think You Can Dance - I enjoy these shows, but each season is basically the same. Plus, each one is such a time commitment (3 hours of recording time). I'll catch some episodes here and there, but I'm not going to record them.


Anything else I should be considering?

New Blog

I've realized lately that there are a lot of topics I'd like to blog about, but I want to keep our main blog focused on our family. I was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Laura C, to create a separate blog for things of interest me - TV, books, photography, crafty projects, and other random thoughts. Cute pictures of Claire will still be found on our family blog, Robert and Amy Plus One.