New Beginnings

My husband started a new job this past week.  It has been an answer to prayers and he is like a new man.  My sweet and gentle husband is back and his family is LOVING it!!  We have missed him the past few years.  Too much time working, too much work related stress, and too many promises not kept had left him kind of grumpy.  We are so thankful for all the blessings God has graciously given us.  We are undeserving and yet He continues to bless us.  I feel humbled and so very thankful.

So, to celebrate, we had a little get together with friends.  Here is a picture of sweet little Reilly and Sveinn with the cake I surprised him with.  He was so excited about this cake.  LOL  Like a little boy who was surprised on Christmas morning with an amazing toy he just opened.  He's not a lover of sweets, but the symbolism the cake represented meant a great deal to him.  I am glad I went ahead and got the cake even though the budget didn't really have room for it.  Well worth every penny spent.

Studio Lighting 101 Lesson 1 Assignment

I started my new photography workshop this week. I know I say this about every workshop, but really, I am SO excited to take this one. I received my studio set up; lights, softlighter, backdrop stand, reflector, etc., etc., almost 5 years ago for Mother's Day. I haven't every really figured out how to use it all, even after purchasing a couple different ebooks on the subject. So this workshop is LONG overdue.
So here are two shoots from my first assignment. Miss Reilly is such a ham! I love these. We haven't learned about background lighting or anything really technical yet. This first lesson was just to get us comfortable firing our main light and taking readings with our hand held meter. I can't wait for next week's lesson!

I am so thankful that my husband allows me to indulge in all these crazy hobbies.  Thanks honey!  You kind of spoil me sweetie.  ;)

Danielle Storm

An AMAZING Holiday Giveaway

Wow.  This is a huge holiday giveaway.  My boys would be way too excited if I won this for them.  LOL

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme
TodaysMama and GameStop  are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?
That they each will know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  In the end, nothing else matters.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?
To be woken way too early by 6 eager children.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?
A huge new sewing studio, complete with all new sewing and cutting tables.  And a natural light photography space in said studio.  Oh, man, life would seem complete then.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?
Baking, decorating the house, and singing Christmas caroles with the family.

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
Lots of board and card games.  We do the same with our kids today when we make the time.  Fun times!

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?
All of the cookie and candy recipes we use are the same cookies and candies my mom always made.  Yummy!

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?
South, where it is warm.  I would seriously like to take the family to Mexico for Christmas.  Love the snow, but I could give it up for a week or two for some sunshine and warmth.

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?
Here are my top 3.
Xbox 360 250GB with Kinect
Kinect Joy Ride Game
Kinect Sports Game
Do I have to stop??  LOL  Lots more on the site we would love to own. 
 
Now, go check out TodaysMama so you can have a chance to win.

Danielle

Free Kitties For Sale

Three weeks ago we came home to three new beautiful kitties. Our 16 month old cat had her kittens while we were out of town. She had them in the corner of our bedroom. Yes, we now need to replace our carpet. Gracie has turned out to be an amazing mommy. She loves her kitties and is very devoted to them.

Today I put the kitties through their first photo shoot. They were NOT very cooperative. LOL I don't know what I was expecting. They can't really walk well yet. They are so shaky on their legs. But still, they moved around quicker than I could snap them. It was a stressful photo shoot to say the least.

If anyone would like a free Christmas kitty, please let us know. You must promise to love it and take very good care of it. These little guys are our babies. We love them so much. It is going to be so hard to give them away. :( Sniff sniff.

From left to right:
Hope, King George, and Mau.

Hope

Hope is our only girl and my favorite. She is so mellow and laid back, she sort of marches to her own drum. She looks just like her momma, only a little lighter in color.

George

George was the biggest and the most aggressive of the siblings when he was born. He loves to nurse and will push everyone else out of his way. He must look just like his daddy because he looks nothing like Gracie. Our boys love George.

Mau

This little guy is the loudest of the bunch. He is always making noise. We named him Mau because we think his momma has Egyptian Mau in her and he also Meows all the time. He is a mamma's boy. Oh, how we love him.

 

Hope you enjoyed seeing our babies. And if you would like a Christmas kitty and promise to love it as much as we do, please let us know. We would love to find good homes for these babies.

Thanks for looking,
Danielle



Rock Your Camera 201: Lesson 1

I started a new photography workshop a few weeks ago.  I am loving it.  It is very challenging, but so full of amazing information.  I thought I would share a few of the pictures from the first lesson.

Here is what you get when trying to get a tired 12 month old to look at the camera.  She threw a huge fit!

And here is what you get when you give said 12 month old a Twinkie.

Mr. TurtleB  Yup, he is missing his two front teeth.

Dinty Moore swimming. 

And yes, I know I have blowouts along the pool edge.  Ack!  Guess I need to work on my composition.  My subjects were not very willing to help or hold still.

Wile E. Coyote pouting because she did not want her picture taken.  It cut into her swimming time.  ;)

Thanks for looking.

Danielle

Oh, The Shame........

Well, after promising myself that I was going to blog regularly this year and keep my New Year resolutions, I have failed at both. Life just seems to get in the way and I get so easily distracted. What is that about me? I used to be so organized. Now I seem to spend more of my brain power trying to stay organized and yet it just doesn't ever come together. Hmmmm? Maybe the 6 children have something to do with it.

Anyway, I was thinking about my Project365 (failing there too) and my resolutions last night and I decided that I am not going to lie down and just fail. Whatever I get done towards them this year is going to be considered a success in my book. And I have gotten farther on all of them then if I hadn't made the resolutions. So, I will be proud of that.

From now on I am just going to jot down random things on this blog and not worry about it making sense. Really, who reads it besides me? And this is for my own record and memory anyway (which is quickly fading). So if you are reading this and are not me, hopefully it won't offend or bore you too much.

Today I have two goals. The first is to plan my weekend so that I get something accomplished. The second is to find and purchase an electric kettle. I am sick of almost getting burned by boiling water in the microwave to make tea or coffee while in the basement kitchen.  We don't have a stove down here, just upstairs in the main kitchen.  So I have to rely on the microwave while in the basement.  Since our home school room and my studio are in the basement, I spend quite a bit of time down here. This morning I pulled out the electric coffee maker and quickly remembered why I put it up in the high cupboard years ago. Yuck! I just can't live without my French press and for that I need boiling water. So I am off to find a safe, reliable, and not too ugly electric kettle for my basement kitchen.

First, here is my To Do List for the weekend.

1. Do all laundry. This is a daunting task as I have neglected it lately.
2. Iron, fold and stack fabric in my studio. Another daunting task, but I am slowing working through my huge stash and it will be so nice when it is all done!!  Luckily I washed it all already.
3. Finish cleaning off my embroidery and sewing desks.
4. Work on making a small garden spot in the brush area of our yard for Babs and I.
If I get even half of this done I will consider it a successful weekend. All of it would be AMAZING!

Chat later,
Danielle

Composition

I finished the last week of my photography workshop. It feels great, and yet sad, all at the same time. I am going to really miss the other ladies in the workshop. We built a bond over the past month. I am also going to miss all the amazing information and constructive criticism that was given to me.

The workshop was an awesome experience. As I lay in bed the night I turned in my last assignment, I realized that this dream of learning to shoot in manual was over 18 years old. I couldn't believe it when I did the math. It started before I even had my first digital camera. My husband's sister, Sola, inspired me the first summer I met her. She shot beautiful pictures in manual.  That started a seed of desire in me back then. I had forgotten how it all started until I lay there in bed. It's weird to think back and realized that it has been 18 years almost. I guess it really was time I finally learned how to shoot in manual.

Anyway, the following pictures are from my last assignment. This last lesson was all about composition and the "Rule of Thirds" (RoT). These are all of CC. I was trying to recreate a photo shoot done at a studio when she was 3 months old. I wanted to see if I could do as good of a job. I am pretty happy with the results and plan on having a canvas of at least one of these printed for our wall.

CC - 8 months old.

I think the one below is my favorite!

Thanks for taking a look.

Danielle