Adventures in photography

My interest in photography began in France in 2002. My friend/roommate during our study abroad had just completed a photography course and was a fountain of newly-acquired knowledge. I had an old point-and-shoot film camera, so while her tips didn't improve the quality of my pictures I was able to play with perspective and motion. Paris was a fabulous subject to practice on but my pictures were nowhere near what I hoped they would be.

That year I bought a low-end film SLR and started attempting some more serious photo shooting. It was slow going since there was often weeks between taking a picture and getting it developed. There was no way of knowing (without writing down every detail) why my some pictures turned out horrible and others were amazing. Before Hannah was born, we were given a digital point-and-shoot camera and I never used my SLR again. I swore I would take up photography again one day, but maybe not with a newborn to care for.

Last May, two days before Ginny was born, I got my digital SLR thanks to a nice tax return. The newborn problem presented itself again and I didn't venture outside automatic mode for months. Finally, in November I took the plunge. I still use automatic for some indoor flash photography, but a greater percentage of the manual pictures are turning out and I am starting to get some "cool" shots too. It's fun and I'm getting so much better pictures of the kids now!

Here's some photos from today's trip to the park: (you'll have to click on the first few to see the whole picture)

























Today I learned that even if the light is good, you still have to keep the kids out of the shadows. I ended up with blue shadows all over Ginny's face in quite a few pictures, like this:



But it looks cute as a B&W:







This one I just edited the blue out in Photoshop.