week 11: your daily environment

wrapping up these basic photog classes.  I can't believe how much I have learned and how much better I am with my camera.  thanks for following along too!

this week, your daily environment, is a great way to practice all we have learned and to also remind us that as we seek great things to photograph, the best may actually be right in front of us.  something we overlook everyday as ordinary but holds a special sentimental value and is memory should be preserved.

ok, so check out today's content here and I have an awesome mommy-ographer her today to offer some tips!  when I read today's lesson, I knew right away who I wanted to guest blog for us.  she is a master at at capturing her daily environment, and guess what? she started out just like us.  with these basic 12 week lessons.  so inspired by her photography!  ok, ok, friends.

introducing, zoe...  tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am a wife to a wonderful husband, a mommy to two awesome littles, and a working-stay at home mom. (That means I work 8 hours a week, as a nurse, taking care of other mommies and their babies.) I have the best of both worlds! 

how did your relationship with photography get started? how do you use photography in your everyday life??
My actual relationship with photography started when my son was born.  I wanted to capture every little detail from his wrinkly piggies to the way his little mouth curled down when he slept. How he slept through all those flashes I will never know!  As adorable as those pictures were, they weren't the quality of pictures I wanted, so I purchased my first DSLR and then the obsession/hobby really started!

 
I love the way pictures tell stories. That's why I don't take one picture of my daughter playing in the sand, I take about 40.  I could take one really great, perfectly exposed, perfectly composed shot of her by the sandbox, but it doesn't show how she crinkles her nose when she buries her hands in the sand or how she giggles when the sand falls through her tiny fingers, or the pile of sand she leaves on the ground.  I want the whole story! 

 .

any advice to those of us who are just using a dslr camera for the first time?
Take pictures of everything!  Carry your camera everywhere to get comfortable with it.  

A couple of years ago I started doing the Project 365. I still do it instead of a scrapbook for my littles.  I will take a picture of anything! A favorite chair, their left over sandwich with a little bite mark out of it (love), a pile of train tracks dumped on the floor.  Whatever is symbolic of them, even if they're not in it. To me, those are the precious little memories I don't want to forget. It also is a great way to get used to the camera because you have to use it at least once a day

any insights to today's lesson?

how as a mom, nurse, wife do you find time to take such great pictures of your family and have such adorable pics on your bloggie?
I'm in love with candid shots. I prefer my kids not look at me too much when I'm taking pictures of them. I don't want the "Cheese" smile, I want the little smirks they give when they don't know I'm watching. So that being said, I don't often pose pictures. It just takes a few seconds to snap a couple of pictures while playing with your kids.  And of course, it helps that they are adorable!

 and then any other advice you may want to add!!!
 Be sure to get in front of the camera every now and then.

 
and there you have it, great advice, great pictures!  stop by and check out zoe's blog where you will find some cute little kiddo's and great humor!  make sure and say hi!

I L.O.V.E. today's lesson! I love the candid shots,especially of kids.