Dance Dance

Lulu is taking a dance class.  She had mixed emotions about going the first time, I think she was just nervous but once she was there she was just fine.  One of the little girls in her class is super friendly and came up to her right off the bat, said hi and gave her a big hug.  It was so cute!  I think she looks adorable in her little ballerina leotard and slippers.  I got the stink-eye from her instructor when I peeked in to take a picture so I think I'll wait until the end of her session when the parents are invited and take some better pics.

Motivation

I gotta get rid of these love handles, chunky booty, and muffin top thanks to Geneil!

Here's my motivation to get in shape:

It's a 5K mud run on June 1 with various obstacles and challenges like crawling through mud, sliding down mud, climbing up mud....well, you get the idea: lots of mud!  I've recruited quite a large team to do it with me including my family!  We are all going to take part in getting healthy and in shape (and muddy).  I'm doing the 5K and Charlie will escort Dallin and Kenzie on the 2K challenge.

We are all really excited about it and looking forward to getting dirty!!   

Gymnastics

Kenzie didn't want to play soccer, or continue with swimming, or dance, but when she saw the Olympics over the summer she decided that maybe gymnastics would be her thing.  I took her to the local gym for her to see all the equipment and mats.  She got to watch a group of older girls practice and got very excited at the possibility of jumping on the one of the many trampolines, sliding down the slide into a vat of square foamy things, hanging from the bars, walking on the balance beam, and running around on the big mat.  We signed her up and she was able to participate in an 8 week session in which she was able to do all of those things.  I think she had a really fun time and learned quite a bit. However, I think we are going to take a break from gymnastics at this time.

USA Rangers

Dallin's soccer team has stayed together (more or less) for the past 3 seasons.  They are a great bunch of kids and have a lot of fun together.  This season their team name was USA Rangers...that was the name the kids came up with.  The parents all agreed it sounds like they are forest or park rangers or something.  But it works!  They started out the season really strong, then kinda hit a lull in the middle, but finished out strong. Dallin still dominates in the height category but his little buddies can sure run quick and are just as good out on the field.  It was a fun season and fun to watch them learn and grow as they added goalies and played on a bigger field this year.

Coach Chris
Luke, Scoot (Spencer), Dallin, Nano (Adrien), Jackson
Mikayla, Jaylee, Morgan, Ella

Pueblo Mountain Park Photo Shoot

The city of Pueblo runs and operates a mountain park up in Beulah, a small town 25 minutes south of here in the San Isabel mountains.  Its a nice park with lots of trails to hike, playground, bathrooms, pond, and more.  I thought it would be a fun idea to invite some friends and their kids up there for a "play date photo shoot" with the hopes that I could take a bunch of pictures of people other than my own family who pretty much moan and groan when I take my camera out.  I put the word out and got a great response.  I didn't charge anything and I didn't make any promises nor did I put any expectations on myself other than to have a good time.  I ended up with 3 rowdy boys (the Aguirre's...Mom was there but not pictured), an expectant mom and her little boy (the Martin's), a mother and her 5 daughters (the Lofley's), and a family of four (the Phelps'). I wanted to share with you some of the shots I got that day.  Enjoy!

Little Swimmers

The kids have been taking swimming lessons since the end of January.  It's been a really positive experience for them.  Kenzie is so much more comfortable in the water and she's a pro with the kick board.  She'll jump in the water without help and does her bobs like a champ.  She's even started to learn some strokes.  Dallin has really caught onto swimming and is doing really well.  They just bumped him up two classes and started learning to dive into the water!!  I think I was more nervous about watching him than he was doing it!  He kinda belly flopped and decided he didn't want to that again!  He'll get it though.  His strokes are really good and he's really enjoying it.

Silhouette

We were all in the car driving home from dinner last Friday night when the sky was a perfect color for silhouette pictures.  Trying to implement what I'm learning, I had previously thought in my mind where I could take a great silhouette shot.  So I told everyone to keep their coats and shoes on and head out beyond the fence so I can take some pictures.  Of course I had a few "do we have to?" and "you better make it fast" comments.  The sun was setting fast so I told them we had to hurry.

What I like about this shot:

I love the look of silhouettes.  I like this location because there is a raised cement slab out there that they can stand on allowing them to be a bit raised so that I didn't have to lay in the mud in order to get down low enough to avoid some telephone poles.  This also allowed me to get even little shorty with the sky as a backdrop.  I also love the little itty bitty pony tail sticking straight up in the air!

What I don't like about this shot:

If I took the picture about 10 minutes earlier I think I would have gotten even better color.  I don't like that Charlie and Dallin look like they have one giant leg.  I would have liked to see more separation between each person and perhaps spread out a little more.  I think I might like it more if they were facing straight into the camera as well.

Much to their dismay I told them we were going to have to try this shot again another time.

Wrestling Match

Bryan invited me to go with him to a wrestling match over at CSU-Pueblo.  I'll take any chance to learn more about my camera and how to take better pictures so I said SURE!

What Bryan taught me (or at least what I remember):
1. It's OK to use my flash.  I'm so afraid to use it, mostly because I haven't a clue what I'm doing.  When I have used it in the past the pictures always look horrible to me.  I'm learning how to better use it and the importance of someday getting a remote strobe.

2. How to turn my flash on and off.  Sounds silly but I never use it so I had to learn how to even turn the darn thing on!

3. It's important to consider and think about the backgrounds in my photos.  Perhaps if I take three steps to the left I'll eliminate the ugly white truck in the background.  Or if I kneel down I'll get rid of the cluttered kitchen counter top slicing right through the subject's head.  Make the backgrounds as simple as possible.

4. Use the right lens.  If I'm taking outdoor shots use the longer lens.  When I'm taking indoor shots I'll usually use the shorter lens.  The longer lens will enable me to have softer backgrounds especially outdoors.

5.  Try to capture interaction.  It's hard for me to do this on the fly.  So I'll try to set this up and get some practice at it.  For instance, a photo of the kids tackling Charlie is much more endearing than a photo of them just staring into the camera smiling.

6. Consider where the light is coming from.  In one of my pictures the light from the window was reflecting off the floor and casting an upward shadow onto Dallin's face.  Although it was subtle Bryan's trained eye noticed right away how unnatural it looked.  To look scary you put the flashlight under your chin and have the light shine up your face casting odd shadows on your face.  Natural light is always coming from above so try to create that or compensate for it if it's not given.

7.  Think about photo compositions all the time.  Have ideas in my head of what type of photos I'd like to take.  Look for ideas and inspiration all around me.  As I'm driving in my car look around at different locations and consider what type of picture would work there.  Think about different times of the day/season and how the light and colors change.  Instead of being 2 seconds too late on a great photo opportunity, start creating my own opportunities.

I'll Never Get Enough

I swear I'll never get enough of the beautiful sunsets.  They take my breath away.  In my mind this is the most beautiful thing about Pueblo.  I can overlook the brown, dry, bareness when I can see a stunning sight like this at least once a week or more.  Our Heavenly Father is truly the master artist.

Picture Time

I took a photography class from one of the newspaper photographers (Bryan Kelsen) about a month ago.  It was a very informative class and I was so glad I took it but I could only learn so much by listening.  What I really needed was hands on teaching.  So I approached Bryan after the class and asked him if he wouldn't mind if I tagged along and observed him in action.  He was excited about the idea and so last week (once I finally got my camera back and working again) he invited me to shoot a high school basketball game with him.  I got to see what he does and how he does it and then we went back to the paper and we picked the right photo and sure enough the next morning there it was in the paper!

After we fiddled around with his pictures, he took my camera and scrolled through all the pictures I had on my camera (which weren't that many since I just put in a new SD card).  I felt so exposed!  I've never had a professional critique anything I've ever done.  I'll admit I was nervous handing over my camera for him to see, especially since I didn't know he was going to do that!  I had a lot of crappy pictures on there, hardly anything to really show off.  But I think that was the best thing.  I probably would have deleted a lot of the ones that he said weren't too bad (none of them being great).  I had taken some pictures of the kids at the park and I was just snapping away not really paying attention to much.  As Bryan scrolled through them we had to laugh because a lot of them, because of their angles and positons, made it look like the kids had poles or swing chains coming out of their heads.  And most of the pictures of Alayna only showed one of her hands making it look like she only had one!  I had never really thought of things like that before which seems so obvious now.  He also gave me suggestions on using a reflector to bounce the light and to try different angles.  But most importantly to practice, practice, practice.

Today I decided to forget about the messy kitchen, cluttered toy-infested living room and take some pictures of the kids.  My main focus was Alayna but I ended up shooting the other two as well.  I didn't do their hair, I didn't coordinate backgrounds with clothes, I just shot some pictures.  And you know what, I really like how they turned out!  These were all taken in Alayna's room with the window curtains wide open, no other light.  I tried a makeshift reflector but it wasn't working (I really needed another adult to help me with that one and since he was at work I bagged it).  So here we go, let me know what you think.