Seriously professional

I am so glad that I chose to focus on photography this month, AND that I remembered that I chose to focus on photography this month! I'm excited about these photos! I took my new zoom lens to the park on holiday Monday (during the 90 minutes of warm weather - blah!) and got some great shots that I can use in the family calendar for 2011. My in-laws were in town for the week so I'm happy that I got some photos of them and the children. Now I've spent 2 hours fixing up a handful of photos. I'm a little bitter that I have to address each photo that I want to use but must credit Pioneer Woman and Rita at CoffeeShop (see banner on side) for their rocking actions that they give for FREE. Okay, I just visited The Pioneer Woman's website and she's starting to upload her photos SOOC (straight out of camera) to save time...hmmm.

Here I go:

[DH gave me these orchids for Mother's Day, along with a wonderful Greek meal and other kindnesses. I used CoffeShop's Orton action. All I can say is that you have to try it!]

[S + E love it when Grandpa and Grandma visit because they bring Lady! This is CoffeeShop's Johnna's Memories of Sunshine action, contrast on.]

[Now we're into the park pics. Geese, geese and more geese. I used Pioneer Woman's Lovely action.]

[Seriously. Don't you wish that you had a picture with your grandma that was this awesome?]

[Yaaaaaaay! Middle Boy got a perfect picture feeding the geese. Phew. That should save me a few dollars in therapy costs.]

[Ya. Oldest brother didn't get a goose picture, but at least it's a flattering picture... after I cropped his BF out... and whitened his teeth a bit. tee hee. Good looking boy.]

[Don't jump to conclusions: I think that he's just adjusting his athletic protector. He did wear one to Gr.1 last week and told the kids that if they didn't believe he was wearing a "steel diaper" that they could tap on it... NOW you can try to draw a conclusion.]

[I think he's yelling at geese. But look at the super cool composition and how I framed them in the reflected light. If he'd been "adjusting his athletic protector" again, I'd STILL have included this photo.]

[The father and mother of my DH, relaxing with their dog. Perfect with a boost from Pioneer Woman's action "Boost".]

[Grandpa's little baby]

[I'm loving situating people in the bottom of the frame. This one could have used a little more tree up above. Next time. That's a joke. What are the chances of my husband and his father playing croquet on my lawn while the mock crabapple is in bloom? I'm thinking April or May for the 2011 calendar.]

One cleft closed

To conclude my "cultivating" profession for April I just donated the amount that Operation Smile says will cover a cleft palate surgery. And even with my sore back, I was able to rally the troops and get our vegetable garden planted yesterday. It was sunny after a week of rain and COLD. It worked pretty slick: we split the kids into pairs and every 10 minutes the timer would go off and they would swap from jumping on the trampoline to working in the garden. They got so involved in gardening that a couple gave up their trampoline time to keep at the task they were on. So everything is in except for the cucumbers (but the hills are waiting, thanks to the shoveling talents of GG) and the tomato plants. So the gardening actually got done.

As far as cultivating self-discipline, I definitely took some baby steps in the right direction. I even IRONED! I slept in until 7:50 two of the mornings, but I'm going to keep up with my goal of 7:45 and maybe even try 7:30!! one morning. My DH says that all the action is between 7:30 and 7:45. I don't wanna miss the "action"!

So I'm a professional photographer for May. EXCITING! I still haven't taken my new zoom lens on a true test drive so I'm looking forward to doing that! With baseball and soccer starting tomorrow, I should have LOTS of opportunities.