class week 4.

here are my highlights from today's class.

i think it's more like "lows",

but whatever.

the plants at wsu like me, at least.

i blame the photographer.

she and i are gonna have a serious talk.

if you're tired of looking at my boring photos,

go check out some of the photographers that i just listed today(side column).

alec vanderboom, alex crowder, erin sunday and will vastine.

or my personal faves,

marianne taylor, wildflowers photo, under the sycamore, grey likes weddings and grey likes baby.

if you want a local list,

hop over to whyte house photography,

scroll down and there's a list of area photographers.

i am constantly looking for more to help promote,

so send me a link if you have one that you really enjoy.

nearing the end.

end of the month, that is.

our sad attempt at "ET phone home". haha.

we have a mimosa tree in the back.

i love the pink.

i was about to hold a branch still that was blowing around

and saw a bee.

yikes.

glad i didn't grab it.

caught the bee in the shot, too.

working on a project for justin

while he's away for his 2 weeks.

more "wet" moments on the photo blog.

maybe i should update more often....

I have no idea who visits my blog.  And sometimes I forget to add updates to things.  My mom called me last night saying my step bro had read my blog and didn't know my parents were moving.  My bad.  And I hadn't updated my page either....my parents had another meeting with the board at church and they really want my parents to stay at the church.  Really, really bad.
SOOOO for the time being, they are staying put.  Sorry, Greg for the confusion!!!  I didn't find out til the next day after I'd posted that, and I have been a little preoccupied and keep forgetting to update with that news! :)

antonio's 1st birthday.

this is antonio.

he just celebrated his first birthday yesterday.

his mom is an old youth group friend of mine

and asked if i'd take photos for his birthday.

thanks for having me out, krista!!

here's shots from his big day.

less than wonderful.

working with a new lens.

a rental.

28-135mm f/3.5-5.6.

i don't like it.

i'm doing something wrong.

i can tell.

i don't know if it's cause the f/stop isn't as low

as what i'm use to.

the shutter is really slow and i've adjusted everything.

ergh.

i don't think i want to use it...

which upsets me tremendously since i have a shoot

at 2 pm today.

deep breath.

my "model" was playing outside last night,

so i tried some shots on him.

he's so good with the camera now.

he always smiles when i bring it out.

the girl,

not so much.

it's like pulling teeth.

out of 10 shots,

there were only a couple that i would have confidently had blown up

and mounted on the wall.

the others just weren't as crisp.

i'm going to just have to work with my 50mm tomorrow

and deal with it.

deep breath.

glad i wasted money on a rental.

oh, and the wound by his nose was from pop.

aiden was pushing his truck on the floor upstairs,

pop stuck his foot out as a road block,

aiden crashed into it,

and flew over pop's foot,

face first into the carpet.

cried forever.

suck it up, boy.

tis but a flesh wound.

not even close to matching his scar on his forehead.

spanish wk. 2

spanish class this week.

i really wish i had my photo class before spanish that day.

i finally resolved my f/stop issue on manual.

oh, well.

the kids covered colors again, counting and body parts.

no that's not a yoga move...just talking about el pie--feet.

limber pregnant girl, though.

she held that stance for like 3 minutes.

the kids love aunt ashley,

but my goodness they freeze up so bad in class.

i don't know if justin whispers in their ears

about stranger danger while they sleep or what.

they see those other kids and they won't do anything.

i sometimes wonder if this class is for them or for me.

i think i've picked up more spanish than i did

in the 2 years i took at east.

that may fall back on that a.d.d. bit.

ashley's teaching is geared to catching my attention.

haha.

thanks, "aunt" ashley!!

photo class: wk 3

week 3 of photography class.

we learned what happens when we raise and lower our f/stop.

played with some water and lighting.

i was in the splash zone,

which i was grateful for since it was a tad warm in class.

used a preset to define the water that was being poured outside

of the container.

awesome aim, eric.

eric would count to 3 and have us start clicking away.

the rocks falling were way cool,

but i enjoyed the itty bitty droplets more.

so i clicked them, too.

not what i was suppose to do.

i promise i was listening in class, eric.

sort of.

as much as i am learning in this class

(believe me, it was a lot this week!)

i feel like a complete failure.

reminds me why i cleared out of college so fast.

the 18-55mm lens i own doesn't have IS on it(image stabilization),

so things don't come out the best.

and i opted not to bring my bag with my telephoto lens this week.

the lens i actually needed to use.

 all i had was my 50mm.

no zoom.

ergh.

i couldn't get close enough to shoot the proper way.

there was a lot of improvising.

to add to it,

i swear i have a.d.d.

i hear bits and pieces of what's being said,

 only comprehending about 3/4 of the info

until it's played out on the camera.

i thought i only did that when my husband talked to me

and the kids were around distracting me.

apparently it applies to everyone.

outstanding.

however, i've asked more questions out loud in this

class than i EVER asked in all the years i was in school.

i don't like to look dumb.

huge accomplishment for me to say anything

other than a sarcastic remark in class.

there's still plenty of those, though.

sorry to everyone in my class.

still,

i'm glad i had this opportunity for a summer class.

justin starts school again in the fall,

so there's no room for me to take a class.

there's also a very strong possibility of a year deployment

for him.

it won't be for another year,

as his unit just came home this spring from one.

i'd rather not add a photo class in the fall to our list

of projects that keep us out of the house and away

from each other all day.

next week we hit the great outdoors again.

wsu campus.

at 4 in the afternoon.

praying for a cold front.

and bringing the pepper spray.

father's day.

justin had drill today,

so no father's day plans with him.

he had the truck,

so we were going to have to skip spending father's day

with my stepdad.

however,

my sister is out of town,

and though i didn't really want to,

i used her minivan and drove up to be with jack on father's day.

jack is nearing the end of his time working in canton

and i know he won't always be around.

i refuse to miss out on holidays with him.

my parents plan on leaving the position at the church by sept. 1st,

since jack is no longer able to preach.

pop can't communicate like he wants,

but he can ride.

he zooms.

in his small town,

i'm pretty sure he hits the speed limit.

haha.

the ride is what they look forward to the most.

since they live across the street from the grain elevator,

they've had a lot of traffic on their street.

we went on a walk to "downtown".

which brought on the red cheeks.

it was hot.

jack's daughter, jacquie, called from colorado while we were there.

he always has a great time talking to her.

his conversations, though, get a little tricky for him.

this is his usual frustrated and annoyed face when he's

trying to think of the words to say.

though he stumbles on his words,

he physically looks so much better than he did last summer.

he's put on 20 lbs since then.

the kids playing with gra.

happy father's day to you, pop.