Just Keep Shooting

There are times as a photographer when it will all seem to go wrong and a good shot seems so elusive.  I had such a day today trying to get family Easter pictures.  Since I am the 'photographer' of the family, I am always pushing everyone to take family photos.  The pressure gets to me though sometimes, and I cannot get a good picture for anything.  It is easy to want to hang up the camera and give it up after such a day.  But I believe these are the moments that may make me a great photographer one day.  I did not shoot well today, but maybe tomorrow I will.

 If you have a bad day shooting, do not give up and keep on trying.  That is how you get better and become the photographer you want to be!

Keep trying, keep shooting, and keep capturing moments.

God Bless

03 11 2010 - Oops I missed a day, but time to move!

I hate that I missed a day, but the 11th slipped by without a picture.  This was perfect time though because I am going to move my blog over to my fun site wwww.achievdreamsdaily.blogspot.com, so keep following there! 

03 10 2010

How do you juggle it all? With balls of course. I attended a training course a few years ago and the teacher would juggle during the breaks. He taught me how to do it and I keep the juggling balls on my desk at home as a reminder of how to get everything done - just take each thing one at a time.

03 09 200 - Ready for Bed!

I was ready to go to bed and i took this picture. It captures that end of the day, settle in. I had my computer ready to go, that is the best way to wrap up the day.

3 8 2010 - A Lazy Cat

This is another one of my pets. The is Seymore and he was laying on my husband's legs.

03 07 2010

This is such a great sign of spring to come. This little bird was sitting on a fence at Cooters Pond. He was modeling and acting like he wanted his picture taken. What a little ham!

03 06 2010 - A Barn

Headed to Santuck (the best flea market around) we were stuck in traffic. I asked my Mom to crawl into the back of her Explorer to grab my camera because I loved this barn, especially the star. She did as I asked and I rolled down the window and starting snapping. Thank goodness for traffic!

03 05 2010 Sida...again

Okay, we have a year. Sida is my most common subject. I have to take her picture all the time because she is always with me.

03 04 2010 - Playing with light

This photo was taken in my bed room. I put my SB600 flash on the ground pointing up at the vase to give it a kick of light and to emphasize the bottom side of the flowers. The vase is sitting on a stool with a plain wall behind it.

03 03 2010 - Callie

Big yawn from Callie at my house. I had a reflector on the white side and I bounced a flash off it into her mouth.

03 02 2010 - Sida again

So when I am at a loss of what to shoot or just laying around, my pets are always around and they end up being my subjects. Here is SidaLeigh again, wrapped up in my snuggie!

03 01 2010 - The Cross

This cross hangs on my cross wall in my home office. I have a collection of ornate crosses that are all grouped together and my collection started with this one. This was the first one that I got from my Grandma in Mississippi. I love it.

The picture was just a quick snap. I think I had the on camera flash on, but I jazzed it up with Elements to make it look at little different.

02 28 2010 - Baby Joseph

Meet my nephew Joseph! He was born in November and all ready he has taken the camera. This picture was taken while be was being help in his Granddad's arms. I cropped it up and played with it to make it look a little more like a portrait. The colored version may be cuter, but I like to play with black and whites.

02 27 2010 - Making Potatoes

I decided to take a picture while I was trying my hand at cooking. I am not a cook and to be honest, this was probably my first try at cooking potatoes. It went pretty well, but I am not sure if they make a good picture!

02 26 2010 - A Perfect Day

This was the perfect sunrise this morning. The sun was coming up and it was so pretty reflecting light. I was shooting in fairly low light, but it was perfect to focus on the light that was coming up and reflecting off the clouds.

02 25 2010 - Seymore and slow shutter

This is Seymore, my model cat. I took this photo while resting my camera on the coffee table in my living room so I could drag my shutter speed. I took this at f5.6 and 1.00 second for the shutter which is longer than I could ever hold still. This could have been a sharper image if I had set up on a tripod and used a remote. Even the press of a shutter can give a little blur to the image when you go slower than .60 seconds. The cute light flare is another Elements trick.

2/24/2010 - My sidekick

This is my baby, SidaLeigh, and she is my constant companion - she is my sidekick. I took this photo early in the morning while she was sitting with me on the couch in my house. I gave the background a grain treatment with Elements and I softened her fur my lowering the sharpness.

02/23/2010 My last year in my twenties - A photo 365

Well, I have finally reached the last year of my 20's. I am officially 29 years old, and I am oddly excited about it. For some reason I am looking forward to my 30's. I think it must be because I have seen so much changed and happen in the last 10 years that I am excited to see what 30 will bring. I do however want to remember and cherish this last year though so I am going to try to do a Photo 365 Blog. I have tried this once before and I failed misserably, but maybe this one will be better and I will make it more than a month!

So here is photo number 1 - it was my birthday cake at my party thrown by my parents. It was yummy, and the busyness of it made it kind of crazy cool looking. I shot it with my SB600 flash at f/3.8, 1/100 of a second, at ISO 200. 

2010 Snow Storm in Alabama

Today we got a rare treat in Alabama, we got SNOW!  If we get snow it  is usually just a dusting that does not stick, but this winter storm did good and it impressed.  Snow Storm of 2010!

By Amanda Griffin Smith

Cool Cat Callie