Photography Site

Guess what I finally managed to do? I managed to create a photography website! Er, blog :) But it does have all my info on it! Pricing and everything. Boy, that took time.

I still am working on the design, and I'm trying to get more pictures up there.

Either way, follow my photography blog if you would like to keep up on pictures, information, and resources.

Also, let me know ways that I could improve it to be more clear.

Let me know if you have any Q's!

Photography 101

I haven't said much to you all about my art 138 class (aka photography 101), because there's really not much to say. 

I'll admit it. 

I dread going that class. 

Partly because it's 9 in the morning.

But mostly because it is BOOORING. 

I would never say I know everything about photography, because I don't. 

I know very little about photography. 

BUT, everything that my teacher (who is very monotone) is teaching are things I have already learned. 

AKA: how to get correct exposure. 

Anyway, here are a couple pictures I had to take for my assignment this week. 

I had to do some panning to capture some motion. Thankfully David was around to help me out. 

Saturdays...

Do you know what makes a good Saturday? Actually... a good day in general? A good day is a day where I have no plans. I don't have to be up at a certain time, and I don't have to be anywhere. I love the days where I decide what I would like to do. Sometimes those days are super productive. Other times those days are laaazzzzyyyy days. Either way I love them!

Today was a lazy day for me :)

I hope you all had a happy Saturday :)

this kid has missed you...

ok. 

he hasn't really missed YOU per say....

but YOU have missed him :) 

and his bright blue eyes. 

asher is 18 months now

and i love this stage of his life

i love all the new words he's saying

and all the new things he does. 

Pretty in Pink

This was taken at the beach a few weeks ago. I LOVED the flowers there, but I really wish I had a macro lens. Who would like to get me one? I think they're on Amazon for about $500 ;)

Also, I finally got around to making a watermark (since I lost them all when my computer dropped), what do you think?

The BEACH!

So we're back from the beach and I leave TOMORROW to go home. Woaaah. I have to admit that it will be nice to get home. It will be nice to get back into the routine of things, and see the sweet boys that I nanny. I missed them. I'm excited to see my friends, and I have a feeling this semester will be a pretty good semester. I have only early childhood education classes and a photography class. I would consider those "fun" classes. I'm glad I don't have to take another general education class. Those are usually some of my least favorite.

This is not to say I won't miss my family. I know I will. I will miss having my sisters to talk to, vent to, and confide in. And I will miss watching my little brothers grow into young men. I will miss having my parents around to talk to, ask for wisdom and guidance and play games with.

As I said when I wrote about arriving in Ecuador, no matter where I go, or what I do, I will  always miss someone. But, I've realized that this just means that I have been blessed immensely. This means that I have people who love me all around the world. I have people who love me in Colorado Springs, Chicago, Quito... and many other places.

Anyway, the beach was great! It always is. This is the first time that I saw my parent's condo that they bought last spring. Before we moved to Colorado in 2006 my parents had bought a condo with 5 other families at the same resort that this condo is at.

I realized as I took pictures that there really is no way to capture how relaxing, wondrous, and beautiful the beach in Ecuador is. It has to be one of my favorite places to go!

The sunsets at the beach are AMAZING. 

So gorgeous

Thankfully my sister Julianna was very willing to be my model pretty much whenever I asked. That's her silhouette.  

view from our apartment

The girls looking at the pictures they took

None of us did this, but there were a lot of people on the beach who did

this is a strange crab like creature my siblings found

We lounged around on the beach 

and we tanned by the pools

these are a couple of the pools at the resort, and you can see my family swimming in one of them :) 

There were some GORGEOUS flowers there

And everything was so brightly colored

This guys is really starting to lose his teeth. 

We played lots of keepaway

It's a good way to let out any aggression you have towards any of your siblings ;) 

I miss you

I wrote "I love you" in the sand and Micah automatically goes: I'll write David for you. That was not my plan, but thank you, Micah ;) 

Best friends

I also did a photo shoot of my parents, since they don't have very many pictures of themselves together. 

Once I edit them I'll probably put more up, and I'll crop the guy in the speedo out of this ;) 

boogie boarding

One of the few pictures of me. Like my tan line?

The family in front of our apartment building. This was the second picture, and right before it was taken my mom said to do something different. So I thought she meant to make a funny face. I think Katelyn thought that too. 

This is my first blog post that I have done on my own computer since I arrived in Ecuador... YES! my computer is fixed :) They had told me that they retrieved 100% off of my computer (I was only really worried about my pictures) but I have only been able to find pictures from 2011, and it looks like some of them have been corrupted and so they won't open. So it looks like I only have a little bit from my old hard drive. Everything is really disorganized, so maybe I'll still be able to find it.... Things could be worse though. I got some of my old photos, music, and documents off of my old hard drive, and my computer was fixed for free.

I've learned my lesson though... I NEED to buy an external hard drive. No more excuses.

I also hope I can figure out how to get lightroom back on this computer, because I miss it!

So, enjoy my unedited photos :)

Carrying your Camera

You know what can be really frustrating? Carrying a camera around. I've always thought that, but today it hit hard. My family decided it would be a (insert sarcasm here) blast to climb a 15,600 foot mountain. I decided that if I was going to go, I might as well bring my camera to record the fact that I climbed a mountain. The downside of that was it was raining. So, I had to find a ziplock bag that could fit my camera, and I then put my camera into the bag, found my camera case, and put it in the case. Let's just say it was a very snug fit. When we got to the point where we would start climbing, it was raining harder. So, I put my camera case over my shoulder under my rain jacket. I then stuff my case between my body and the rain jacket. This makes me look like I have this weird squarish growth protruding from the side of my stomach. We start walking. and walking. and walking. Every time that I saw something cool, I automatically wanted to take a picture of it. And every time that I took a picture I had to tug it out of the case, take it out of the ziplock bag, and then I was able to use it. Once I finished taking pictures, I had to open the now damp bag, stuff the camera in, and try to fit it back in the case.

I'm not saying this to complain. I'm saying this to be honest. The con of bringing a camera everywhere, is that you have to bring it everywhere and it can be such a nuisance.

Would you all like to know the pro of bringing a camera everywhere? You get some really great shots and memories.

And so, I encourage you to take your camera everywhere. It's not easy, especially if you have a big heavy camera, but it really helps you capture the little things in life.

Happy Wednesday, ya'll!

Day 365!!!!!

It's weird to think that I'm ending this project in similar ways that I started it. First, I was in Ecuador when I began this project. A couple days before I left for Ecuador, I decided to take a picture a day while I was there. Before I left I decided to do the 365 photography project.

It was a tough project. In a sense it was very tedious. The thought of having to take and then edit a picture every day is overwhelming. Especially if I ended up taking hundreds of pictures in one day. It took a lot of organization, motivation, and patience.

For now, I am happy to be done with this project. I believe in the future I will attempt it again, or something like it, but for now I will continue to take pictures and post them when I decide to.

I hope to further my knowledge about photography, and I hope to get a few more clients. I have a few families that use me, but I hope that I can began to spread the word a little bit more.

Playing hand and foot waiting for midnight.

Day 364

I can't believe that  2011 is almost done! That means my project is almost done! I can't believe it's been a year since I've started! I have no pictures from today, but here is my first post I did for my 365 day photography project. Day 16, first official photo. Before that I had been taking pictures daily, and posting them, but I hadn't decided to do the project yet.

Thanks to my friend, Karin, who encouraged me to start this project, and also encouraged me throughout the year!

I'm so glad that I started - and finished- this project. I've learned so much, and I definitely am a much better photographer than I was a year ago.

This next semester I hope to get a photography website up, and set some rates. I also am taking my first photography class! It's film photography I, but it's a pre requisite for almost any other class I might want to take, so hopefully I learn about more than just film photography.

Day 363

The last day that my sister's friends parents were here we went to a little town called Mindo and did 13 ziplines. They have it set up where you only have to hike a short while and you go from zipline to zipline until you get back to where you started. So fun!

We love doing lunges. 

We had to wait about an hour to get a couple of guides to take us on the ziplines. So my little friendsies pushed me on the swing there. 

Surfing! 

Que cargoso

My dad and I

All ready to go on the ziplines! 

The group. There were 9 of us.

Julianna coming in

My dad ziplining

The last zipline we rode through the jungle. 

Day 362

Another busy day showing visitors around Ecuador.

There is a famous indian market a couple hours away from Quito. It is so fun to go and shop, and bargain there.

There are many different colors, and cultures.

After shopping at Otavalo, we headed over to a waterfall. The last time that I went to this waterfall I was pretty young. 

This little boy was with the girl charging for the bathrooms (it was 25 cents for two people) and he was SO adorable. 

Later that night we went downtown and looked at all the lights, and buildings. It was pretty cool. As we were catching the trolly to head back home, we saw the president of Ecuador drive by. His window was down, and he stared right at me and frowned.... Yeah, he's not a big fan of Americans.