The Joys of New Equipment

I have been in such a photography slump, its really sad.  Last month I ordered reflectors to add to my portrait photography equipment.  I have never used them, and was super excited to give them a try.  I got a simple round 5 in 1 kit.  Sadly, I have not had a chance to try them out due to moving until today.

I braved the wind and chilly air to see the wonders of reflectors.  And boy, am I in love!  Down fall is that the type and size I have is fairly hard to use by myself in fairly strong winds with a never sitting still toddler as a subject.

The photo above is my very first attempt.  The only editing I did was cleaning up some dirt from her face - yeah, I know! I'm a bad mom, I didn't wipe her face from the meal she had just had.  And I increased the contrast just a little bit.  Even though her face is not fully visible, I still think its a great photo.

I was just amazed when I took the above photo, along with all the others I was able to take during this short shooting period.  I took her across the street from our house, sat on the concrete, and asked her to sit right in front of the tree - and she actually did!  Even stayed there long enough for me to get a few frames.  For a 2 year old that is a miracle!  Her treat was ice cream before dinner, shhh don't tell her dad!

These were taken in the late afternoon and the sun was directly behind her and right in my eyes.  I used the reflector to bounce that light back into her face to avoid having her face in total shadow.  And it worked beautifully!

A little more progress....

Well, we have been in this house long enough now that we should be all settled and everything in its place.  Sadly, that is just not our reality.  I have been a total slacker..... again.

However, over the weekend we picked up a few needed items to get more settled and worked to get that accomplished.  Piece by piece we will get there.  I am no longer in a rush and am enjoying the slow progress.  It makes it so much more fun for some reason.

One area we conquered was my craft storage closet.  Since we lost a bedroom when we moved into this place from where we were, I had to get create with my office/craft area.  Luckily we had a large enough area for my desk.  And a big walk in closet under the stairs for all my stuff to be stored.

This would be the before.  I had most of my stuff still in boxes in the dining room with no where to put them.

Then we turned it into this:

It's not perfect but it will get the job done and I can actually access everything fairly easy enough.

And there is still room to store our new Band Hero equipment :)

And here is an update photo of my desk.  Still a work in progress and not too much has changed since my first posting.  I added my file cabinet and printer.  The printer I do plan on moving to on top of the file cabinet if it will fit.  And some more decor items are needed.

First Peak into Our New Home

Being military, we move a lot!  Since November 2005, we have moved 5 times.  We should be in this new place for at least 18 months, if not the next 4 years.  Of course, this is the military and that all could change at any point.

Since I am thinking we will actually be here for longer then a year, I am finally trying to set up a home the correct way.  I must enjoy this place, my husband will deploy in September for 14 months and in order to keep happy and sane, I must love my home.  Here are some pictures of the first stage of some areas.  Majority of the house is still in ruins and boxes.  Hey, I haven't even been in this place a week yet!

My new office/craft space.  I finally got a beautiful big desk and a working table.  I am totally in love. And have a lot more work to do on the area, but here is a start.

Its in the back area of our living room, hence that couch.  Its a perfect little corner for me, though.  

I glued decorative paper from K&C Company onto the back board of those two areas. I plan to cork the large back board area and possibly cover that with fabric.

The next area is our 2nd bathroom upstairs.  This is our daughter/guest bathroom.  I went with a bubbles/water theme in white and red.  I based it off this photo that I won in a giveaway on LilacPop's Blog.  It is a photo by Andrea Despot.  Her work is amazing.  You can find her work for sale here: Etsy shop.

I still need to get a few more photos of this room.  I am also waiting for another photo to arrive that I ordered from another amazing photographer on Etsy.  I am really loving how the red just makes the room pop.

Homesick for DC

I spent so many years living in or near Washington DC that I feel its my home.  Yes, I am a Jersey Girl and always will be.  But DC is where I'm at peace.  I've probably said this a few times on here.  Sorry for any repeats!

I have been going through some old photos this past month and had these new edits sitting in my software, just unsure what to do with them.  I figured why not share them with you all.  These were all shot in Washington DC in 2009.  How I miss it there.... Course I was glad I avoided the harsh winter conditions DC has been having the past few weeks.

The next few are different effects of similar shots of the Korean War Memorial.

One shot of the Lincoln Monument:

One shot of the Vietnam Memorial: