This week’s word is “simplicity.”  Sometimes we need to stop and notice the beauty in the more simple things in life.  I was at Morton Grove Florist ordering a wrist corsage for my daughter for this weekend’s Daddy Daughter Dance when I just paused to notice all of the gorgeous flowers in the cooler case.  I decided to buy this one and see if I could do something neat with it for my 52-week project.

Check out some of the great images from last week’s theme, imperfection.

This week’s word is imperfection. Imperfection is one of the most beautiful parts of growing up.  I will always treasure my son’s ranbo.

Check out some of the great images from last week, “inspiration.”

This week’s word is “inspiration.”

My kids inspire me to be a better person, a better mom, a better role model. It’s hard to remember any decision I have made in the past 9 years that didn’t take them into account.  Oh yeah, that’s because there aren’t any. They are in my every thought.  Through their own unique personalities and behaviors, my kids inspire me in different ways.  My son inspires me to be silly, to be more loving, to forgive.  My daughter inspires me to be creative, to think about the needs of others, and to take time to relax.

In keeping with my resolution of trying to use available light, I did not use flash here. I shot this in a challenging lighting situation – dark outside, just an overhead hallway light.  I think processing via the CM FIlm Art Presets helped make it look a little more artsy, even with the awkward lighting.

“My momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” ~Forrest Gump

Week 2′s theme/word for the 52 week project is “Life.” It was fun to try to come up with something creative for this week’s word. That’s my son’s Annoying Orange in there. He also has an Annoying Orange backpack tag that makes really annoying voices. Too bad I can’t have audio to accompany this photo. Imagine opening a candy box and having an annoying squeal scare the heck out of you. LOL!

Side note:  After buying a box of candy specifically to take a picture of it, I have a whole new level of respect for my friend Monica Wilkinson.  Monica did am amazing personal photo project in 2011 all about candy. I think it would be really hard not to eat all of those props!

Personal photo projects – so much fun!  I try to do one every year because it keeps me creative and lets me experiment with some different things photographically.  This year I have decided to participate in the My 4 Hens 52-week challenge.  A new word will be posted each week and it’s up to each participant to take a photo to represent that word.  This week’s word is resolutions.

I have lots of the usual resolutions, things I resolve to do every year – eat healthier, exercise more, relax more.  I am not even going to bother going on too much about those things because those are a given.

One of my photographic resolutions this year is to open my eyes more to natural light.  I have become so used to controlling the light in my studio or via my flashes that sometimes I forget to actually see the light around me.  So while I am sure you will see a lot of flash and strobe shots in this 52 week project, I am going to strive to incorporate more natural light.

Wishing you health, peace, and happiness in 2012!

Here is the final installment of my 2011 personal photo project. 4 people for 12 months – complete!  Even though a lot of my 4 For 12 pictures are snapshots, at least my kids will have twelve fun family portraits from this year with all four of us in them.  (I know, except for last March.  But let’s not go there!)

I have not fully decided on my 2012 personal project. Since I have become so used to shooting in studio, I am considering taking on a natural light project. I am so accustomed to being in total control of my lighting that sometimes I need to remind mysel to stop and “see” the natural light around me.

I still have a week to decide, right?

“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”

I really wanted to add my own addendum to that quote that said “Even my kids.”  LOL!

Merry Christmas everyone!

If you have not seen this year’s craze of overzealous “Elf on the Shelf” mommies, you must google it to see what I am talking about.  For those who feel in the dark on the topic, Elf on the Shelf is a combination children’s book and doll.  The story explains how Santa keeps an eye on who is being naughty or nice via his helper elves, ie: the dolls that are packaged with the books.  The story is that the elf watches over the kids during the day, then flies back to the North Pole at night to report back to Santa.  When the elf returns from the North Pole each day, he perches himself somewhere different in the house.  And so begins the daily game of hide and seek to see where the elf has ended up.  The kids can give their elf doll a special name; ours has been named Chris.

This year it seems that some mommies have gotten extra creative with their elves.  Children are waking up to find that the elves have gotten into all kinds of crazy situations overnight.  For a few really great examples of what I mean, look here.  Last year my elf just moved around from the bookcase to the counter to the entertainment center but this year the bar has been raised.  This year, my kids expect Chris to be doing cannonballs into the kitchen sink.  Chris has humored them with a few silly escapades.  He has gotten into their art books and blocks, taken Barbie out for a spin around the family room, helped MacGyver install a new igniter in the oven, and had a midnight game of chess.

In the spirit of religious diversity within our family and friends, Chris is not exclusively just a Christmas elf.  It seemed only fitting that Chris would be hanging out with the menorah on the first night of Hanukkah.

May whatever lights you light this season shine bright.  Peace to all!

I have sooooo many more pictures to share from this trip, but that will all have to wait until I finish some more pressing client work this week.

I took my new point-and-shoot Canon S95 on the trip, so here is my informal review of the S95.  The jury is still out on this camera for me.  I am the type of person who would rather enjoy Disney with my family than worry about $3000 worth of camera gear at an amusement park.  Because of this, I have always traveled with a small camera for personal non-business related trips.  Since my kids have outgrown strollers, it’s not like I have a lot of spare cargo space.  Whatever I need for the day needs to be carried by me, and I honestly really prefer to throw a small inexpensive camera into my bag before jumping on a water ride versus stressing out about protecting my D700.  Of course small cameras have their limitations and that is why I was so excited about this new S95.  It has manual mode so in theory I can shoot it the same way I shoot my SLRs.  My old Olympus point-and-shoot (which had recently developed some focusing issues, hence the replacement) did not shoot in manual but it had some different scene modes that worked quite well.  For example, “night portrait” on the Olympus would have produced stunning night images of my kids in front of Cinderella’s lit castle.  This Canon?  Not so much.  It has a low light mode and of course I could use manual settings to emulate a night portrait mode.  Neither of those two options was giving me the results I wanted though.  I am finding that the flash on this S95 just kind of does its own thing regardless of how much I dial flash compensation up or down.  There is no rhyme or reason to it.  Also, pretty much everything I shot with this camera is grainy regardless of ISO.  I know lots of professional photographers have this S95 as their “pocket camera” so maybe I just need a little more time to learn to love it.