Shooting On Manual

Okay, so I got to borrow another lens.  And I must say, it is awesome!  It is a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 zoom lens.  I am so jealous, and I want one.  But I am so thankful to have someone nice enough to just allow me to borrow Lenses like this.

So anyways, I spent a little time outside this afternoon.  After an emergency heart this A.M. I got home to take some pictures.  I am loving my camera!  I am now beginning to feel more comfortable with it, and I shot in Manual Mode today.  Which is exciting to me, only because I thought I would never be able to understand enough to do this.  But I think I did pretty well.

 I never thought I would enjoy taking pictures, but I really do like it.  I think what I like so much about it, is that if I mess up a picture, I just hit the delete button.  (Thank goodness for digital photography)  And if no one else likes my pictures well that's okay, they are just for me anyways.  I am not the greatest at composing a good picture, but every once in a while I get a lucky shot in there.  I almost feel like an artist, and I really don't have an artistic bone in my body.

I really am enjoying playing around with Manual.  I have complete control over the shot.  Today I was playing around with exposing the shot for the light and then re-composing the shot to include a lot of the shadowed area.    The effect was pretty cool!  I was also just shooting, just to shoot.  I actually got off a shot of the stairs leading up to our apartment.  It actually turned out to be a pretty cool picture.

Lots of Park Time

Okay, so I stink at this blogging thing, but that is nothing new.  I actually have some free time this evening, as Nona is in Nashville, and Aaron and I are in Birmingham.  So I figured my blog could use some attention.


So what have the Griffith's been up to?  So glad you asked.  Nona and I found a local dog park.  So on Saturdays we usually load ourselves, and Miss Dixie into the car and head over there.  Dixie loves it.  She doesn't have to be on a leash, she gets to sniff to her hearts content, and doesn't get yelled at to behave.  Nona loves it because she gets to see all the dogs.  Because of course Miss Dixie is not a dog, at least as far as Nona is concerned.


Then usually on Sundays Aaron, Nona, and I all head to Veteran's Park to play.  Nona loves the playground.  There are a certain set of swings that she loves.  She also loves to walk up the steps and go down the slide, all by herself.  I think the all by herself is the part she loves the most!  

Nona is also becoming such a big girl.  Thursday her toddler rails came in so I put them on her bed.  And Thursday night was the first night she slept in a big girl bed.  She did really well.  She didn't get up until 6:30 on Friday morning.  Of course aaron and I are very lucky in the fact that she pretty much puts herself to bed.  We will ask if it is time for night night kisses.  If it is, she will give her kisses and walk to her crib and wait to be put in.  Last night she walked to her "big girl bed", and climbed right in.  I was so proud!

So this weekend she is up in nashville staying with my parents.  And she is going to sleep in a toddler bed up there as well.  I think this weekend is going to be harder for Mommy and Daddy, then it is for Ladybug!  Of course a weekend to ourselves is nice, the only problem is that I am on call.  

Fourth of July Weekend

So we went to my Mom and Dad's for the weekend of the Fourth.  It was so nice to get away and have a mini vacation.  And of course I had to take a few pictures.  I am so loving this new hobby.  Especially since one of my coworkers let me borrow one of his lenses! A Nikon 105mm f2.8 ED-IF AF-S VR micro-nikkor lens. It was awesome, and now I want one!!!!!  But alas it will have to wait until I hit the lotto!  So here are a few of the pics.

The first on I love, it is Nona and Frazier, checking each other out.  And if you actually know what Frazier looks like now days, this photo does wonders for him!  Poor guy has bad arthritis and doesn't look so great anymore.  But here he almost looks like a spring chicken.

Normally I can't stand spiders, but I just had to test out this lens.  Now it is not the greatest picture, but considering I am still a novice and learning, I don't think it is terrible.  It looks better in full screen on my computer.  But you can still get the gist of it.  I really wan't even standing that close.  It looks like the lens is almost touching the little guy.  And he was pretty little.  When I got home from work the other night there was a huge garden spider building a web under the steps up to the apartment.  I wish I had gone in and gotten my camera, but alas I was just way too tired!

This little guy is one of the flowers sitting on my Mom's front porch.  If you can actually zoom in on it a little bit you can see the center of the flower.  It is a shame that to post pictures on a blog you have to compress them to jpegs.  The RAW file is beautiful, you can even see the fine hairs on the green leaves.  Again this lens is amazing, and I would love to have one!  I am so jealous, but at least I do have someone who is willing to let me borrow it!

I guess that is all for now.  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July Weekend and didn't have too much trouble going back to work!

What's Goin' On

That's the Question.  Not much has changed since my last post.  Nona has gotten bigger, of course.  And she has learned a few new things.  Including telling us yes or no, when she does or doesn't want something.  Which has been helpful, most of the time.  As Aaron learned today, just because she says she doesn't want to eat doesn't mean she isn't hungry.  She has also learned to say thank you, and is doing very well at realizing when she needs to say it.  She has also learned to sign please.

She has become a very independent little person.  I don't know where she got that from, well okay, she got it from me.  She is also a real girly girl.  She loves to wear bracelets and necklaces.  She also wants to put on makeup when I am doing mine.  That doesn't happen very often, but she still wants to wear it.    Now I really don't know where she got this girly thing from, I am so not girly!!

So that is pretty much it, I think.  It's late and my noggin isn't working all that well right now.  It is so neat though, to look at her and see a little lady standing there instead of a baby.  Kind-of makes me sad, but not really.  I love the way she interacts now and can communicate better.

Nona's Closeup

So here we are and it is almost Mother's Day.  And for Mother's Day Nona, Aaron, and I are going to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a picture taking morning.  I am so excited!  I can't wait to go.  We have only been there once with Aaron's parents and it has been about two years.  I am trying to decide what dress to put her in and I think I have the perfect one picked out.  But you will just have to wait till I post the pictures!

I did take some pictures the other day, while Aaron and I took Dixie outside.  They turned out really well if you ask me.  Of course my camera takes such beautiful pictures, and of course having a beautiful subject doesn't hurt either.  Also I have started using Aperture to edit my pictures and it is so easy to use,  So here are a few pictures to wet you palate.  If you would like to see the rest they are in my Mobile Me Gallery.

 

Had to Share

I was playing with a editing program the other night and I figured out how to selectively single out a color.  I was so excited.  I love it when professional photographers do this and I figured it out!  Anyways that is all I have to say and here is the picture that I took.  I turned it into a black and white all except for Nona's eyes as you can see.  I just love the way it turned out.  I thought I wouldn't have time to play around with editing software.  But I have been using Aperture and it is so easy.  It has been really easy to figure out.  I have only trialed it for a month and I love it. 

Well that is all of the update for right now, not much of an update, but I just had to share!

A Trip to the Zoo and Easter

There's a what behind me?

Okay so I haven't updated this blog in a while.  So here is my attempt at an update.

We finally made it to The Birmingham Zoo.  I'm pretty sure that Nona had a good time.  She learned what a lion says and got to see them.  We also got to see an elephant fairly close up.  You can see in the picture to the right.

DO NOT PUT ME DOWN!!

We also went to the petting zoo while we were there.  Nona did not like that part of the zoo at all.  She did not want to touch the animals and she wouldn't let Daddy put her down.  So all in all I think the zoo was a success.  

Nona has now learned what a dog says... woof woof. I would download a video but blogger is being difficult today. And apparently almost all animals say woof woof, except for the cow and the lion.  Nona can also now point out her nose, mouth, and feet.  We are working on eyes.  She says MaMa and DaDa, sometimes.  Whenever she says a new word she usually just says it once, and then figures I proved I know how to say it, why do I have to say it again.  She is definitely keeping us on our toes, and laughing all the time.

So I tried to take some easter pics of her with my new camera.  And I got a few good ones. 

 

The picture in the middle was taken in my "studio."  Okay I don't have a studio, but I tried to make one.  I think it was okay for a first try.  The ones outside turned out much better!!  Thank goodness the Easter Bunny didn't go all out with the candy, Mommy and Daddy would have been in trouble if he had.  But the Easter Bunny did bring some Mega Blocks.  She has loved playing with them and they keep her entertained for about 15 minutes at a time.  This week at daycare she is having her picture taken on Wednesday, or tomorrow.  I am really hoping that we get a few good pictures this time.  We will see as soon as they come back in.

So that is all that is going on right now.  Life is going by way too fast and I really wish I could slow it down just a little bit!  But at least I'll always have the pictures to remember it by.  There are more pics of the Zoo and Easter.  Go check them out.