CameraShy Challenge Week 4: Creamy

When I think of creamy I think of food, and one of my favorite creamy food items is mashed potatoes. I love mashed potatoes!! Creamy, buttery, homemade mashed potatoes.
One of my favorite things to pair with potatoes is meatloaf, so this challenge gave me a good excuse to make some yummy comfort food this week.

Here's some pictures of the process:

Photo Challenge 2014: Week 3

I had fun with the themes this week. The first picture I attempted was "Still Life - Fruit." This is really the first time I've ever set up a "photo shoot" environment. I wanted to use berries, I thought the colors would be so nice.

I ended up using this as the official submission for the week.

Overall feedback was good, but some people mentioned that that they found the bowl distracting. I posted this second picture as an alternate, and some like it better, but I don't. I like the bowl... which makes sense since that's the one I choose originally.

It's hard for me to hear that someone isn't in love with the picture I like the best, but photography is personal and not everyone has the same likes and dislikes. And constructive criticism is good, right? Right??...


The CameraShy theme this week is "Routine." Unlike the first theme, where I knew right away what I wanted to do, I had a lot of ideas for this one. I took pictures of my running shoes (a new thing I'm trying to add to my routine), of baby bottles (a theme that will be around for awhile longer), and while I was in the garage, just because I had my camera in hand, I took a few shots of my washer and dryer. Once I loaded everything on my computer I ended up liking the shots of my dryer the most. One had the clothes I had hanging up to dry reflected in the knob which I thought gave it some extra interest.

Photo Challenge 2014: Week 2

Another week, 2 more pictures.

I lucked out with an easy answer to the "Crisp" theme this week for the Camera Shy challenge. I was making fresh green beans on Wednesday night for dinner, and I knew it was the perfect subject. I took a few different angles and decided to submit the close up, with the just the beans showing. I love how shiny they are!

The second theme this week is "Lighting." This is more of a technical challenge, to submit a picture that uses lighting in an interesting way. I took a lot of different pictures through the week, including some of a fire from our fire pit (that couldn't quite get lit enough to be worth it), and some of the moon, which were cool to take, but pretty uninteresting to look at.

I finally decided on this picture of my wine glass with backlighting from the street lamp in the neighbors backyard shining through the window. If you look closely, you can actually see my living room fan reflected in the front of the glass.

Photo Challenge 2014: Week 1

So, this is week one of my 2014 photo challenges. I've joined two different challenges this year, one is at photochallenge.org and the other is for the blog http://beginnersphotographyblog.com. I'm really excited about making sure I stick with it and take all 104 pictures. I participated in a photo challenge in 2012 and only made it through July, so I really want to finish the entire year this time around.

Of course, each week will have a different theme, and each challenge will be different each week too, so I don't know yet how I'll end up blogging each week, as one post, or two. Maybe I'll change it up if I have a bigger story behind one picture that week. Who knows - I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

This week, I'll be posting both together.

My first picture that I took this week was for photochallege.org. The theme this week was Landscape, with a focus on trees. I went down to Lake Hollingsworth to take some pictures of the trees around the lake. I actually got a few different pictures that I liked, but I finally chose this one and my submission for the week:

The second theme this week was "Revitalize." Since I've been addicted to coffee from the third trimester of Rylie's pregancy, that only seemed fitting. I need that extra boost in the mornings right now with a 3-month old waking me up during the night.

I'm excited to share my pictures here each week. I haven't blogged in quite awhile, and I really do miss it. A caption under a photo just isn't always enough to convey what you were going for.

Starting the Year Off Right

As 2013 comes to a close I can look back and say that this year was not the easiest I've ever had. While some amazing things took place, like gaining a new daughter and making some great new friends, there were also some very hard moments to get through. One thing I have learned this year is that trusting that God has a plan that is bigger than the one you have for yourself is hard, but worth it in the end. I also learned that having family you can lean on when you need them is one of the greatest gifts in life.

I'm not making any "resolutions" for 2014 but I am making some decisions in my life moving forward that I hope will have a positive impact on this upcoming year.

1. To trust God with my heart and my head, not just my words.
2. To not focus on a number on a scale or a size on a tag, but on making choices that benefit my health, not take away from it. A healthy body = a healthy mind.
3. To remember that the most important things in life can't be purchased, but do require my attention and time to be the best they can be.

In addition to an attitude change, I'm also going to be doing some things for just me this year, including running a 5K for the first time in May and joining two photo challenges that require me to take a picture a week that complies with a specific theme. That's primarily what I'll be blogging about this year, the theme of the week for each challenge and my thought process behind what I chose to submit as my picture for the week.

Maybe I'll share my blog - maybe I won't... I guess we'll see as the year progresses. Right now, I just want to do it for me so I can look back in 2015 and see that I kept up with my promises to myself this year.