There were assignments every weekend and I was able to complete them. Some of them took a while. I had to do them multiple times until I felt that I had understood the concept involved and was able to turn in my assignment. One of the more difficult assignments for was was using exposure compensation and dealing with back lighting. Back lighting is when the light is behind your subject causing your subject to be underexposed (or darker). I have struggled with that many times and yesterday when I took the kids to DQ for their reward I was able to apply what I had learned. Yahoo!!!! Now I know that there are technically other things wrong with the photos but it is coming along.
Why are the kids getting a reward? Well, I bribed them. I would have them pose for me over and over again so that I could master a technique. Some times they were quite willing and other times they just didn't want to. Buying them their own blizzard at the end of class was the perfect reward. And I had a little reward too. They were eating their blizzards and I was drinking my diet Pepsi. We were talking, laughing, listening too each other. There was an older gentlemen behind us, and I noticed him watching us. When he was done he came over and complimented the kids on their behavior. I almost started crying. Now I know my kids. And we sin just like everyone else and we have our good days of behavior and our not so good days. It just feels good when someone says something positive. I think that the kids enjoy it too. We all need encouragement sometimes and I appreciate it when it does come. Am I bragging, maybe but just want to share that rewards come in many different forms and hope to pass on to others what one little phrase can do for someone. So if there is anything you can compliment another for do it. You just never know how that can affect another person.

(This is one of my favorite photos of these two. There are catch lights in their eyes, reflection of light from the windows. When they looked up at me facing the window they had catch lights, but with their backs to the windows they didn't have catch lights. )


It seems like I get this question a lot. Are they twins? No they are not twins, they are little less than 2 years apart. Job is older. Sometimes though they just seem like twins.


(They can be so goofy with each other - very spontaneous.)


They just have a special kind of relationship. Actually Job is the cement that binds both Isaac and Lona together. He relates well to Lona and he also relates well to Isaac. Every night Job or Lona ask if they can sleep with each other. Lona doesn't like being alone and Job is afraid of nightmares.

(I absolutely love this photo of Job. He seems mysterious and thoughtful. Lona unfortunately is out of focus. I may change this to black and white and have it more grainy)

So they cuddle and we move them. I had a photo assignment to finish up and had Job and Lona pose for me. I was exploring direct light, indirect light and indoor light. I was looking for catch lights and how the direction of light affects photos. I am sad that my class is over. 10 week flew by and I just love all the information that I've been able to have access to. Slowly but surely I'll improve.


(Perspective photography is fun to do. I had the white balance wrong. Every light has a shade, some are warmer than others, our eyes automatically adjust to it but our cameras don't. Changing the white balance on our cameras allow us to counter act some shade of light so they seem more natural to us. The cool color in this photo though adds to the creepiness of the photo.)

(More goofiness - they were just cracking up the whole time. It was hard to get them to look at me so I could complete my assignment but these photos just show their relationship better than when they are looking at me.)

(I really like how grainy this photo is too. )




(These last two are just fun)

that there are days I HATE diabetes. Yesterday was one of those days. Isaac's been having high numbers the last few weeks with soccer. The other day he complained about his set not feeling good, but we were going to be changing it out the next day so we'd take care of it then. At 3:00 he checked his blood sugar and his blood sugar was high so we bolused him (gave him some insulin). At 5:00 he was over 500. He should have gone down but didn't. So we pulled off the set and puss came oozing out. Gross. I squeezed and even more came out. I squeezed again and more came out. I was planning on just soaking it in salt water to draw out the infection, but since he's diabetic I had him check his ketones and he was moderately high. Called the after hours doctor and then a not so quick trip to the ER. John had soccer practice for Isaac's team. I dropped off the kids at a friend's house and took Isaac in. We checked in and immediately Isaac's vitals were taken and he was given a room. Then we waited, then paper work, then we waited, then a nurse asked us questions. We had already answered the questions but it is always good to double check. Then we saw a doctor. Then we had an ultra sound. Yup, there was more icky puss under there. No, you can't use salt water because an infection sends his sugars up too high. So, we treated it. They numbed him up and cut him open and squeezed blood out of him. John won't have done well. Next they packed the wound they made with a cloth strip and put a gaze pad over it and sent him home (after 3 1/2 hours). We stopped at McD's for dinner. Thank goodness we had brought a book with us. I think that helped our sanity. John said that he had a hard time caring about soccer practice which I can understand, but it would not have been a good place for him. The needle that they numbed Isaac with was quite long and to watch someone slice into your boy is hard and watch them squeeze blood out is hard. Isaac is sore today and we will be giving him some tylenol for the pain. I need to look at his dressing and place a band-aid over the incision. Tomorrow I think we're having a short version of school. Isaac is off to a birthday party and needs to have the packing taken out before the party.


The blessings of this ordeal, we were able to be positive about diabetes to a nurse whose friend's son was just diagnosed. We were able to tell about the blessings of meeting some great people, about learning responsibility and eating healthy, and that he still plays sports and eats ice cream from time to time. Another blessing was that Isaac and I were able to spend some time together (not in the best place) but we were still able to talk and pray. There are always positive things in each situation. One of our favorite verses during times like this is "Be content with what you have, because God said, "Never will I leave you, Never will I forsake you." This may have become our family motto.

(not the best focused picture but the best of all the kids)

Yesterday was our last day to go ice skating. It was bitter sweet. Sweet because it is another thing I can let go of during a busy soccer season. Bitter because I think that yesterday was the funnest day and the kids are finally getting the hang of it. Each child had a friend along and that was so nice. It freed me up to help the ones that needed help. One child had never been skating before and it took time before he got the hang of it. I think if he went a couple more times, he'd be right with all the others. When I started in January all the kids had problems and hugged the wall. It is easier to work with just one than three at the same time. Thank you Marie for inviting us to ice skate that first time. We became addicted quick. We've all improved in skating. Isaac is much more comfortable and is able to skate quite a bit faster. Job no longer skates with his feet on the side and Lona can keep up with her friend. I even learned a new trick. I can skate backwards. I want to go again just to keep up with these new skills but think that it is almost impossible with what is before us. Also I was going to take tons of pictures to celebrate our last skate outing but after five pictures my battery died. Bummer and I forgot to put the other battery in the bag. It was being charged. Oh well.

I had Karen critique this. First he is too close to the back wall and it is a distraction. Also the light isn't right. Part of his face is shadowed.

I think that there is too much wall in front of him. And he looks uncomfortable. OK, there was rain and wind when we did this.

I think this one is much better. The brick wall in front is smaller but still leads the eye to Isaac. The face has more light on it, but still no catch lights. I'm even with him. Maybe a reflector would work. I think maybe the ball should be held in his other hand. I'm wondering about the knees. I kind of cut them off. Should I have stepped back another inch to include his knees. Maybe. (Afternoon light - 4:00)

Lona, I like how the evening sun (all of 5 minutes of it) is illuminating her. This is right after dance practice and at the same wall. Again I cut off her knees but with all the tutu I don't think it is very noticeable. Her face is well lit and there is light reflecting off the wall. Kind of glows. Hair is distracting.

The wall isn't straight. I should make the lines very vertical and horizontal. I should have shot with a little higher view point, not much but her head and the back ground are too much at the same height. Light is hitting her lower on her body. Close to 6:15 pm at night. Hair is out of her eyes. Definitely deserves a blizzard at DQ for helping me with my class.

Say this staircase at the Grange on the corner of Hannegan and Smith. Stopped to take a photo. My ISO is too high. Forgot to change it. I think it would look really cute in black and white with just the tutu in color. I like the angle of the railing and her arms. I would love to take two to three girls in tutus around Bellingham and Fairhaven someday for a photo shoot. There are a couple of grungy buildings that I think would be fun backgrounds for girls with tutus. Have to do this soon or they would be too old to do it.

Today was a different kind of day. There were intermittent periods of sunshine and heavy rains. I thought great I can kick out one part of a photo assignment that has to do with sun. I might not have this opportunity for a long time. The objective: Find some shade (you can't have shade unless there is sun) and take pictures with catch lights in his eyes. Well we haven't seen that large glowing orb in the sky for quite some time so I brought out my daughter and all she could do was squint. I don't want squinting I want catch lights. We tried four times with Lona to no avail. Then after Job's friend went home I hauled him outside, still to no avail. So I worked on the indoor part of the assignment. Lona told me that taking pictures was boring and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. UUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!!!

I've been taking a candid photography class for the last 7 weeks. Yes it has been 7 weeks. I can't believe it. I want to take it again or want more of it. I am hooked. There has been some stuff that has taxed me. Some assignments that I'm trying to wrap my head around. I only have two more weeks before class is over. I am missing parts to all my assignments that have yet to be turned in. I've been thinking about them, studying the material and just trying different things. One part of my assignment is shutter speeds. I've done the first part of the assignment and want to redo it, but there is another part to the assignment that I haven't even tried. So I talked to John and he agreed to drive me to the nearest overpass so that I can take pictures of the overpass. I shot the whole thing in manual. I didn't put it on auto, or on any of the creative zones. I was excited. These pictures are extremely grainy but I'm OK with that this time. I see the pictures in the magazines of the blurred lights on a street and everything else is crystal clear, but this was my first time.