Week 51-52 And done

     You may have noticed I didn't get a blog post up last week as I had a busy holiday.  I did get pictures taken though so I decided to just do one post for the two weeks, which will round out my Project 52.  I am excited to have made it through my project and definitely going to continue learning more.  In some super exciting camera news, I ordered a new Canon 6D!!!  I am trying to patiently wait for my camera to arrive so I can start playing! 

Week 51:

     I took more than one picture this week but I was trying to work on my black and white editing.  I hardly ever do black and white so I thought I would try something different.  It is a nice start but now I kinda want to play around with black and white some more since you can get some really dramatic images that way.  I will admit my model doesn't take direction very well (or at all) so sometimes it is hard to practice a specific technique when I want ;).

Week 52:

     We put up our Christmas tree this week!  Normally we have a giant tree that has about 100 pieces but we are leaving for vacation in January so I simplified with a smaller tree this year.  Amelia was very interested in helping put the tree up, she called it "pretty pretty".

     My helper took a lot of breaks for important things like more lippie.

     She was captivated by the lights once I plugged it in.  We haven't put on any ornaments yet but she loves the lights.  She went through touching each one but overall she has been very nice to the tree.  This week we will have to dig out all the ornaments to decorate it!

     I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who followed along my Project 52.  All the support has helped me keep going instead of quitting (though a couple times I thought about it).   I had started out the year with the goal of learning manual mode on my camera and I have definitely accomplished that.  While I have a lot more to learn this project has helped me come a long way, plus now I have lots of great memories captured!  

                      

Week 50/52 More Snow

     Are you ready to be surprised?  It snowed again this week.  Not surprised?  Me either :(.  I am afraid winter is here to stay in Minnesota and we are celebrating with lots of snow!  I did take Amelia out to see the snow falling, which she thought was pretty neat.  Most days the wind is way too cold but this particular day was fairly nice so she did alright (still didn't last very long but neither do I).  I will say photos in the snow can be a little tricky and I might need to practice a bit to get the exposure right.  Luckily I was shooting RAW so I was able to correct in post processing.  Now onto the photos, since thats what you are here to see!

She went running out of the garage and then threw me this look to see if I was coming ;).

Her cute new winter boots.

Must touch the snow.

She always takes her mittens off.  I need to find some that will stay on, any ideas?

Smile!

     Well that is week 50 for you!  I can't believe only two weeks left for the Project 52.  It is really fun to be able to look back and see what we were doing and the improvement in photos as well!  Once again I want to say thank you to the people who are following along :).

                           

49/52 Snow and Pajamas

     We had our first snow of the winter this week.  I was hoping for a little more snow free weather but it is Minnesota so at least we made it this long.  Amelia was pretty impressed with the snow, she kept saying "snow, snow, whoa!".  We had to go outside and check it out but she was pretty mad about having to wear mittens.  She was having a lot of fun exploring the snow until she took off her mittens and fell into the snow with bare hands.  That was the end of the snow for a bit.  I am sure she will have a lot more opportunities to play in the snow!  Since it is cold and snowy outside we decided to stay in and have a pajama day.

     It was a nice start to the winter, we even made it out to the library for story hour.  Amelia loves going to story hour at the library.  It also helps to know we will be getting a break from the cold in January when we take a trip to San Diego for the month!

     Only three weeks left for my Project 52 (formerly my Project 365).  It is hard to believe it has been a whole year since I started learning manual mode in the DSLR.  I have come a long way from the beginning and don't plan on stopping!  I really love taking photos of my little one and for others too.  Thanks for following along with my photography journey, see you next week!

                             

48/52 My Little Cowgirl

     Last week was Halloween, so I am sure it comes as no surprise that it is time for Halloween pictures!  This year Amelia went as a cowgirl.  I was going to have her go as Sheriff Callie but never got around to making the cat part of the costume (or a vest).  I think it turned out pretty cute, we were even able to borrow those adorable boots from a friend.  Amelia's favorite part of the costume was her hat.  We only went to one house trick or treating but we went to trunk or treating at our church and a Fall Festival at another church.  We had fun but I think next year she might get more of a kick out of trick or treating ;).

 

     My photos are far from technically perfect this week but I love them anyways.  It was way too cold outside so I tried to rush quickly and the direct sun was not my friend.  Only 4 more weeks and I will have made it to 52 weeks :).  Thanks for following along!

                          

47/52 Fall in the Park

     I have made it to week 47 in my Project 52 (formerly a project 365).  I am so happy to have stuck with it even though I didn't keep up with the original daily challenge.  Sometimes you have to adjust and continue on ;).  This last week has been beautiful fall weather so of course we had to go play in the leaves.  I love watching Amelia discover the world around her and she had a blast!

     We crunched through the leaves, threw them in the air, she inspected a few, and we also had to do a quick visit to the swings and the slide.  She had so much fun she did not want to leave (she may have thrown a little fit about leaving).   I am thrilled to be having such a nice fall and am really hoping it continues for a while (or at least through Halloween).  Thanks for following along and I will post more photos next week!

                       

Week 44/52 Campin Out

      Welcome back!  I can't believe we are already to week 44 out of 52, time flies by.  If this is your first visit I started a year long personal photography project to really improve my phototgraphy.  When I started I wanted to learn to use my camera in manual mode and now that is pretty much all I use.  It has done more than that though, I am really finding I love photography and I cant wait to learn even more.  If you have a camera and want to get more out of it or improve your skills I highly reccomend starting a project like this.

     For week 44, I was able to get my friend's help to try the teepee setup again with much better results.  While not exactly what I was going for (the sun didn't cooperate and decided to hide behind the clouds once I got there) they are still cute photos.  Once again the mosquitos were thick so we had to be super quick.  Most of the time I don't use a tons of props but I love the look of staged shoots as well so this was really fun!  Plus it puts the teepee I made to good use ;).  

     I am super pumped, this weekend I am taking engagement photos for my really good friend!  This will be my first engagement shoot and the colors in the park are gorgeous!  It has gotten chilly however it killed the mosquitos so it should be perfect.   I cannot wait, I have so many fun ideas and I will have models who can actually follow directions (as opposed to my one year old where I just chase her around for photos).  Wish me luck and stay tuned for next week!


                    

Week 43/52 First Attempt

     Week 43 was a great learning experience for me.  I almost didn't want to share these pictures since they didn't turn out, however this personal photography project is for learning and improving not being perfect.  Despite our best efforts, we got outside much later than I had anticipated so we missed the golden hour and didn't have much for light to work with.  Since I was shooting in RAW (best thing ever!) I was able to lighten the photo but my ISO was higher than ideal so there is a fair amount of noise in these pictures.  I also rushed too much and should have brought my teepee farther forward to get beautiful bokeh in the background.  I have plans to recreate this photo shoot this week because I think I can make it much better.   My friend is able to help as long as the weather holds up on Thursday so hope for no rain!  I am excited to give this another try because I think the idea is adorable.

     Once again, thank you for following along in my photography project 52.  Hopefully next week I will have amazing photos to share with you!

                           

Week 42/52 The Orchard

        We had a busy week last week and had lots of fun stops!  One of our trips was to the orchard and pumpkin patch and I took a LOT of pictures, so I am sorry for the picture overload this week.  Believe it or not I actually didn't post them all ;).  Anyways if you were reading my blog last year then you might remember Amelia did not want her picture taken at the orchard.  This year she was much more cooperative and even smiley!  It helped that I had a friend with to help occupy Miss Amelia so I could sneak in the photos, not like when we are in the yard by ourselves.

She was not sold on my vision of her walking down the orchard aisle so I only have this one shot, note the angry marching face...

She found the kid picnic tables and LOVED them!  

Just a couple of many big smiles from the kid tables. 

Picking up apples from under the tree.

Silly face!

Happy girl with her apples.

She was very suspicious of this lady ;).

Smelling the flowers...

…or tasting them.

After I asked her not to taste them.

Picked her pumpkin but she couldn't carry it!

She was a big fan of the corn next to the pumpkins too.

     Lots of fun pictures this week and I have more planned for next week!  I am loving all the outdoor pictures so I plan to soak it up before winter.  Some of the leaves are starting to change so soon we should have pretty fall colors, I love fall!  Thank you for following along with my photography project, only ten weeks left and it will have been a year!