Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Photography

I "won" (I'll put won in quotes there..I still don't think I actually deserved it) an award last September. Part of the prize (other than sideline seats at a Seahawks game-BEST DAY EVER, we got to see the interceptouchdown vs. the Packers) was $400 to Office Max.

What in the world was I going to buy at Office Max? I pictured 400 reams of paper sitting around my house until I went online. They had cameras! Who knew. I have been wanting a "fancy" camera for a while. Since, at the time, I was 12 weeks pregnant (and puking my guts out daily over the smell of banana) I figured now was just as good of a time as any to get a new camera for the munchkin who was about to take over our lives.

When I went online to buy the camera the Office Max website "ate" my gift card. No joke. Ate the balance of the card and said I had zero dollars. Talk about a heart attack. The nice people at Office Max fixed it for me right away, but I had to wait 48 hours. When I finally got my money back I went to buy the camera. It had gone on sale for $550 (I love sales ALMOST as much as I love coffee.)

Winning!

So, I was the proud owner of a Canon Rebel 3i (or something like that...I'm too lazy to walk across the room and actually look at the camera. I'm a winner hu?)

I have always LOVED photography, and have been jealous of my friends (yes, you Ms. Molly!) who take and post amazing photos. I wanted to take amazing photos. Some that I have taken are not bad, most ended up on our Christmas card. I love that I have so may photos of Bug and that they look so nice.

I bought a book over the summer, but who was I kidding. I had a 4 month old. If I 'could' read, I was sleeping, or showering, but most likely sleeping. There has been no reading since the arrival of Bug. I am in a "group" on Facebook for Fairbanks. A photographer posted an AMAZING photo of the Northern Lights. I commented on it, and she told me that she was teaching a class. I was super excited.

Friday night I was to meet my husband downtown and switch cars and kid when he got out of work. There was some ice, and I didn't want to take Bug out, so I waited at home and figured I would just be late. My sweet hubby (best hubby ever) came home a little early, and I was to leave when he pulled in. About 10 minutes before I was suppose to leave I realized that my clothes were in the bedroom....Bug was napping in the bedroom...I had no clothes.

Yes. I could have gone in the room BUT then Mr. McCranky-fuss would have gotten up, and since he has been on Nap Strike 2013 for weeks, there was NO way that was happening. I walked through the house and pieced together an outfit.

I WAS HOT.

Talk about embarrassing. I had on dirty jeans (only worn once, but Bug spit up on them) and a shirt out of the dryer that somehow didn't get folded and was wrinkled. Opps. YES. I could have gotten dressed out of my mom-suit earlier in the day, but I just didn't think about it.

Got to class late (it was on base, and holy crap, base is about a bazillion times bigger than I expected.) Ran into the room and sat down. Sitting across from me was a girl that I met a few weeks ago when she was making me my food without washing her hands or wearing gloves, and after coming back from the bathroom...needless I had a slight public meltdown (which I still feel bad about, but EWW) and got different food.

ANYWAY...

She was sitting right across from me AND I had the same shirt on as I had worn the day I got my dirty food. Sigh. I felt bad.

Oh, the class...the point of this post. It was good! I learned how to take photos in manual, and what I need to do to take photos of the Northern Lights. I've been practicing my new 'skills' since then (to add to my numchuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills.)

 Now for some random photos (to prove that my class was not in vain.)


This is our little Christmas Tree. Remember the one I got at the transfer station? I named him Chuck (because everything needs a name, and we already have a tree out front that I named Charlie.) I think it's pretty cool that you can turn a few dials, and it ends up looking like this! Oh, side note: I've read a few blogs who talk about putting your tree up on something so you can fit more presents under it. Ours is up so our son does not get killed trying to pull it over on himself.



Then my husband and I decided to go play outside. We live outside of town, so the light you see is the because of the exposure on the camera. Without the exposure it was dark (If that makes ANY sense.)





There were some other ones, but I try to keep this blog PG-13

AND Mr. Bug and his Bumcheek protector (weirdos on the internet scare me. I know that I'm one of them...just not THAT kind.) Got to protect the bumcheeks from weirdos.



7 comments:

  1. You should know that while I can compose a decent photo (thanks to my mom and my one semester of high school photography), I cannot recall anything I learned about manual settings (beyond how to manually focus). Seriously. I need perfect lighting to take a decent photo. The other day I wanted to take some cool photos of jars of jelly sitting in the sunlight, but I couldn't figure out how to get the camera to let less light in. I even broke out the manual for THE FIRST TIME EVER. It didn't help. Maybe because I was too impatient to actually read it. Anyway, I ended up ditching the SLR camera and getting a decent photo on my iPhone. Sigh.

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    1. If you want I will see if A. can copy the stuff I learned and I can mail it to you!

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  2. Congratulations on winning! I can't take a picture to save my life - I look forward to your northern lights shots. ;)

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    1. Lol. Thanks!! It will probably be black sky.I guess I should mention the award was for teaching.

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  3. Base? If its the base I am thinking of, there is a stables somewhere....you might find someone who might share for help in care...:)

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