Latest Obsession

So I am obsessed with photography right now. I've always LOVED photography. There is a picture in my parents' magnetic photo albums that I took when I was five. I was mesmerized at a very young age. I took photography classes in high school and served on the Yearbook staff. I loved burning and dodging in the darkroom. After high school I always had a camera handy, but exploring this art form was put on the back burner to study, and meet an awesome guy, and get married, and move, and teach, and then have children. The excitement for taking pics returned after having Abby and has compounded with each child.

Now that Evy is 16 months, I feel like I can start delving into past hobbies again. And so my love affair with pictures and capturing images is being reborn. I am pouring through material, attending a class once a week (thanks, Eric), and looking for other oppoturnities to educate myself because it's my goal to get off auto mode and stay in manual. This week I have stayed in manual. It has been a great learning experience. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know--kind of like motherhood. It has been way more rewarding to see an image and realize I, not the camera, figured that one out. There have been lots of yucky ones, too, but I'm learning from everything!

I think after "mastering" manual mode, I want to try more with off-axis lighting. For now, I will continue to LOVE, LOVE natural light. Here is a pic I took today exploring depth of field a little more. I really like how it turned out. Plus, I really like how Ezra is smiling. We haven't seen that too much around here lately!



f5.6 @ 1/80 sec ISO 800 to help with a faster shutter speed