Time for Mom: Photography
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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about drawing, something I enjoy when I make Time for Mom. Since getting my new camera for my birthday, photography is my very favorite thing to experiment with when I make time for my hobbies. It’s also a great way to include the entire family, whether I’m dragging them on road trips so I can take pictures or making them the subject of my photos.
This weekend, I made lots of time for Mom. I went on a bit of a road trip to attend a photography workshop designed to teach attendees the ins and outs of using a DSLR camera. It was a toss up as to whether I really went to learn about my camera or if I went because it was hosted by Jamie, of See Jamie Blog, and her husband, Ken. Together, Jamie and Ken make up Worley Arts.
Either way, the trip was totally worth it! I learned tons about my camera (just ask Brian…I haven’t quit talking about all I learned yet!). The hands-on workshop was great and it was fun hanging out with other fledgling photographers who are just as excited as I am about their new cameras and learning to use them. The other attendees were really great people and it left me wishing I hadn’t had to travel so far to get there; I could see me enjoying hanging out with these folks.
Jamie is the first blog friend I’ve ever met in real life and it was a wonderful experience. Her personality is very consistent with the way she appears on her blog — sweet, kind, down-to-earth, friendly and giving. It was truly a pleasure to meet Jamie and her wonderful family…and her beautiful dog, Lacy, who I would have taken home with me in a heartbeat.
I don’t think Jamie knew that I’ve been searching for and drooling over camera funky camera straps for my camera, but she made my day when she gave me this beautiful strap from Trendy Camera Straps:
I love it! I can’t get over how comfortable it is. This was such a fun photo to take. See, as soon as Jamie gave me the strap, I put it on my camera, so I took the photo of the strap with my camera, while it was on my camera. I wasn’t sure it was going to work, but I think it turned out pretty good, all things considered.
I got to take some really fun shots in and around Jamie’s house and yard as I learned to work my camera’s settings.
When I came home, I spent Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon playing around practicing what I’d learned. Ken shared with us the fact that, with the right lens and focus, you could make something directly in front of your camera disappear.
I won’t say that I didn’t believe him (because I did), but I don’t think I quite expected it to work as well as it did. The picture below was taken with my camera directly in front of a chain-link fence, as in, my lens was probably about an inch away from the fence. I was amazed that you couldn’t see the fence at all.
I’ve seen tons of these yellow flowers (are they black-eyed Susans?) growing on the side of the road. I’ve taken a few pictures, but I had to take one more (okay, three or four more) when I saw these growing against the backdrop of this lovely old, wooden fence:
The fog started rolling in as we were leaving the park that we were visiting. It was so cool to watch the mist rising from the ground, especially with the canon in the foreground:
What hobbies are you pursuing as you make Time for Mom this week?
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
It was so, so fun to meet you, too! Your photos look great, and love the photo of the camera strap! (And yes, I think I'd read somewhere, maybe twitter, that you were wanting a cool camera strap, which is why I wanted to give you that one!)
Beautiful photographs Kris. I would love to take a photo class, right now I'm just finding different tutorials online. I'll be back to link up in a bit.
Your photos are fantastic! Glad you two gals had fun together…
Saw you two over on Jamie's blog and had to pop over here and tell you how great a photo you took together. Very nice.
I took 696 photos in the last ten days on our trip to Oregon and the CA redwoods. I so love capturing just the right memory and your photos are looking great!
Glad you were all able meet in real life. 🙂
Kris,
I'm glad you enjoyed the class and found it worth the drive. Remember to keep shooting and if you have questions feel free to email me.
Ken
How exciting! And what encouragement you are to all of us moms to keep on in our own talents and pursuits. I am so enjoying your photos. I also received the same camera as a gift at the holidays!
I hope to get to meet you if you do come to Jamie's blogographers unite in October. I'm a GA girl like her 🙂
I put a linky in to my post – a reminder to Just Step Outside and enjoy a gardening hobby.
excellent post, and great job on the photos! Maybe I missed it somewhere, but what kind of camera did you get? All of the how to things I run across online seem to be written for Canon, and I have a Nikon.