Nothing is Better than…

• Madeleine copying animal sounds.
• Waking up not remembering any dreams. Means I slept really well.
• Getting a compliment from a stranger on one of our pictures in flickr.
• Getting everything checked off my to-do list.
• Clean bathrooms.
• A good hair day.
• Getting an $80 jacket for $8.
• Nate using his imagination.
• Kissing Rob when he’s freshly shaven. Doesn’t happen that often since he leaves for work right before I get up.
• Getting money in the mail.
• Having a bowl of ice cream and watching The Office.
• Coming up with a plan.
• Being invited to dinner with friends.
• Getting a nap.
• The curls in the back of Madeleine’s hair.
• Having 2 hours to shop by myself.
• Clean kids, including hair.
• Good music.
• A bad hard drive still under warranty (except not having a bad hard drive).
• Getting a little sun.
• A little rain.
• Watching teenage boys box all in good fun in the backyard.
• Cuddling and being lazy with Rob.
• Nate being attentive during scripture study last night.

And all these great things happened in the last 2 days.  I’m SO blessed and feel GREAT!!

Foto Friday – reliable

Taken with the Nikon D40 in Boise, Idaho on April 4, 2009. Aperture-Priority Exposure Mode, 55mm, 1/60sec at f/5.6 ISO 200, +0.67 exposure compensation, Nikon Raw Format converted to Adobe DNG format. Edited in Lightroom 2.3

While visiting my sister and her family in Boise a few weeks ago, Julie and I managed to sneak away for a couple hours for lunch (yummy Greek food) and a photowalk downtown.  I was very surprised to see how cute downtown Boise can be and by how many people ride bikes! Bikes everywhere! I give credit to the residents and city policy to engender such a community (very cool). I had no problem finding a bike with a fair amount of character to photograph and almost immediately came across this gem of a rusty red bike. I tried a lot of different angles to shoot the bike some wide, some close like this one, some of the sweet basket etc. I liked this one the best by a long shot (it took about 5-6 minutes for me explore and finally make this image). 

I shot this at f/5.6 (best our lens can do at 55mm) but still maintained a nice shallow depth of field because I was so close to the subject (you can see just enough of the back ground for it to be interesting).  The curved lines of the wheel are very successful at drawing the eye of the viewer into the image (whether one starts on the bottom or the top). Obviously, I am a big fan of the texture.

The image received a small crop of about 10 percent from the top right corner and I hit the image with my homegrown Urban Grunge preset. I adjusted the black and white points to keep my blacks from clipping and to add some controlled contrast. After the black point adjustment (which was pretty minor because I didn’t want to wreck the contrast I had going for me) I used the adjustment brush to further control the black point in two locations (just below the fender at the bottom of the image and curb on the upper left side). 

 

After painting in the areas where I had clipped blacks I resolved that problem.  I hope that tip helps.   :)

I had a lot of fun editing this image and I hope you enjoy the image I made and also learned something about photography and lightroom.  Remember to make images and not just take them.  Spend some time getting to know your subject; think, explore, and learn.  :)

Yes, a Little Obsessive Compulsive

At least with one thing…travel planning (this is Julie). I love planning the PERFECT trip. I really do believe that it’s an art.

Take, par example, this weekend trip Rob and I will be taking to Southern Utah. Do I just plan where we will be camping and decide on a few hikes? No way. I memorize entire maps of the area. I research every single hike and decide which are perfect for us. I look into any special events or celebrations that may be taking place around the area we’ll be staying. I look at pictures online of where we’ll be visiting to help decide if they’re up to my expectations, I talk to people I know who have been there and get recommendations, study transportation options, and so, so much more. And this is just a two-nighter camping trip! You should see me on a weeklong trip out of the country….INSANE.

I know what you’re thinking, where is my sense of adventure? Of exploring and finding things on my own? Well, don’t worry, I plan time for that into my trip, too! I don’t plan every minute, I leave breathing room to adjust plans, explore, and just relax. What about flexibility? I find it much easier to be flexible with my plans when I know my alternatives. I also make sure to plan something special for each person in the traveling party, something that they’d just really have a lot of fun doing.

I enjoy going somewhere and never getting lost and not wasting time. I know where everything is and the best way to get there. I enjoy knowing the history behind what we’re seeing. I like being the “guide.”

So, yes, it takes me hours and hours to plan a 3-day trip, but I really enjoy the process and the results are phenomenal. Aren’t some of your most cherished memories from vacations?? It sure seems that way with most people. That’s why I put so much effort into planning great vacations. If it is planned well (meaning right location, time of year, accommodations, and activities), if it goes smoothly, if everyone has a chance do to something that really interests them, if there is relaxation time, and it’s planned for the specific family and budget, you’ll have magical lifetime memories.    

You can call me crazy, but I’m not. The payoff is well worth it!!

Sleep, Love, Bronze, and Grass

I (Rob) feel sort of lazy today so don’t expect too many sly remarks and witty quips. I just feel like posting some photos and catching up on some photo back log. First a couple pictures of sleep. Sleep is really nice, it feels so good but I just wish it didn’t take so much time! Can I just say that I’m really glad that I wasn’t drooling in these photos? The first image is fun but pretty blah; however, the second photo is pretty dang cute. Thank you Julie for taking these!

 

Now for some pictures of love.  Here are a few more pictures from the photos we took last year around Thanksgiving.  We have sort of posted photos from this night all over (here, here, here) but these last three finish them off. It is great to be in love with such a great woman!

     

Julie is such a cute and sexy girl. 

Now for some bronze.  I enjoy photographing sculptures in bronze.  I find something interesting and alive in the reflective quality of bronze (another bronze).  This image was taken in Washington City next to an old school house.  I call it the teacher (Samuel Adams).

 

simple things

6 More

Here are 6 new desktop backgrounds that I (Julie) took. To get them as your background:

1-Click the image you want.

2-Click “All Sizes” above the picture.

3-Click “Large”.

4-Click “Download the Large Size”.

5-Click “Open”.

6-Right click on the image and select “Set as Desktop Background”.

Foto Friday – More Love

I went way back to November of last year and pulled this picture from a shoot we still haven’t finished editing (ugh). This is not the most perfectly shot picture, but that’s to be expected when I’m running back and forth from the camera and into position (this was before we had a remote). Anyway, it’s not the perfect shot technically, but it’s the perfect shot in what it represents.

Rob and I were fast friends when we met. We quickly began doing everything together and still do. There’s no one else we’d rather be with…ever.

We have always loved staying up late in the night conversing. We love discussing, debating, dissecting, delineating, and deliberating with each other. Our minds and hearts expand when we do this. 

Our personalities compliment each other insanely well. We each have qualities that the other may lack. We understand each other’s limits and potential.

We really do try to put the others’ needs above our own.

I love this man with more love than I thought a person could love.

Julie’s Wednesday Wonderings

What picture should I post for Foto Friday? I’m not feeling as inspired as I’d like to be by the photos I have to choose from. I want to explore my design and creative side of photography. I think a lot more about lighting, positioning, mood, etc. than I used to. Not just when looking at other photographs, but in nature, too. I feel my perspective broadening. Yesterday while driving in the rain I was picturing in my head a photoshoot I’d love Rob and I to set up and shoot sometime. It would involve a camera with very high ISO, natural-looking lighting (that we had set up), a large, empty parking lot with street lights, pouring rain, and a male model in a tux, soaking wet and serious. Then contrast that with a female model dressed up in a gown, soaking wet and having the time of her life. I’d like to explore that side of photography more. The creating side, not just the capture side. Anyone interested in being our pawn?

Today is the kind of day where I wish I could just work on a project from start to finish, all day long. That NEVER happens anymore. In fact, it hasn’t for over 3 years now.

As you’ve probably guessed, I love the rain. Love, love, love it. It makes me feel human and connected somehow. It now also reminds me of San Francisco. It was so romantic and lovely.

I have 3 wipes left in the house. Wonder how long I can go before I have to make the trip to Walmart…

I like my new hairstyle…short a-line and blonde. It’s been a while since I’ve been blonde and I feel like it’s given me a little pick-me-up. The style is shorter than I was intending, but it’s good.

I’m really tired of snot running out of Madeleine’s nose. It’s been weeks. I constantly have dried snot stains on my shoulders from her rubbing her face on me.

I’m super excited for the weekender Rob and I are going on in May. Byway 12, here we come! We’re going to enjoy some adult hiking (non-paved trail required), camping, photography, and good ‘ole-fashioned nature. At the same time, I wonder when we’ll ever be able to go on a big trip again. We used to go on a grand vacation to somewhere somewhat exotic and far away. But with two kids and more bills, it seems impossible to do now. But we’ll make it happen sometime. That reminds me…

I found an old journal entry from June 27, 2001 (I was 19). 

  “Oh, what a long day it’s been! I was up at 7am to finish packing and was at the bus station at 8:30am. Three hours later I was at the London Heathrow Airport where my flight was again delayed 45 minutes. I arrived in Paris at 5pm and caught the RER at 6pm. Then I walked around the 5th and 6th arrondisements for 2 hours trying to find the foyer (hostel) I was supposed to stay at for the night. There I was, dragging around my big, heavy suitcase, my heavy backpack, and my purse with a map of Paris in my back pocket. I don’t think I was very inconspicuous… I kept going in circles. I finally found the place and by then they were closed. So I sat in the stairwell trying to figure out what to do. I decided to spend extra money and stay in a hotel just for tonight until I get everything figured out. I went to 6 different hotels and they were all booked! It was 9pm and I was still out on the streets homeless. I finally found one, went up to the room and cried. I was tired, frustrated, confused, and lonely.”

Ahhhh, good times…….

Monday Annoyances

Where the heck did all the blogs go??? Rob and I (and a few others we know) have had blogs for years, then all-of-a-sudden the masses discovered personal blogging and the world flourished last year. Now, just a few months later, I can count on one hand my friends (both personal and blogging) that update their blog more than once a month. I know exactly where the blame lies. That’s right. The culprit is the horrible, ugly, annoying FACEBOOK. I could literally go on for paragraphs on all the reasons I can’t stand Facebook. In fact, I’ve considered an entire blog entry regarding the nuisance. Alas, I’ve decided I would actually lose friends by doing so. I don’t really like offending people, so I’ll keep the details to myself. But just know that it’s the ENEMY.  ‘Nuff said; otherwise, I’ll get on my soapbox and will have a hard time climbing back down. Sure is lonely up there…high above everyone else…

Beautiful outside. Wish my kid would put clothes on over his “peek-a-boo” underwear so we can go out and enjoy it. He’s totally not in the mood to listen to anything I say (again). Even when it’s something he ultimately wants to do.

Want to get planning our romantic roadtrip to southern Utah. But too many other things keep popping up that need to be done first…like this blog, for example.

So, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so TIRED of irresponsible people. Very selfish. Makes me boil inside. Can’t they ever look at the picture beyond the minute immediately in front of them? There is a whole lifetime of happiness waiting for them to GROW UP.

I hate cereal boxes that are so skinny now that they can hardly stand without tipping over.

Last week I ran to Eagle Eye Produce to pick up some last minute things for dinner. When I pulled in the parking lot, they were open. By the time I unbuckled my kids and dragged them to the door, the sign was turned to Closed and the door locked. As I was standing there reading the sign that stated they were closing early at 3:00 (it was 3:02) for Easter (which was still 2 days away) a lady actually came to the door, unlocked it, and told me “Yes. We are closed”. There was even another person still in there checking out. Rude! I made up for it, though, by being the VERY last customer out of Target that night. Yeah, that produce lady got served!!

I’m sure I’ll come up with more annoyances, but my son FINALLY got dressed and we’re going to play in the sunshine and re-hide Easter eggs. The day is looking up!

Here are some cute pics Rob and Nate took the other day.

Breanna’s Recital at Boise State

Last weekend we packed into our car and made our way north to visit my sister (Breanna) and her family.  Breanna and her husband Gene are attending school at Boise State.  Breanna is finishing up this semester (well done Breanna!) and had her final piano recital.  We had a blast hanging out with them and visiting some fun parts of Boise.  It really is a fairly cool place (more on this forthcoming). 

We spent a ton of time with family (my parents and my mom’s parents came up too).  Gene’s dad lives in Boise and his mom also came into town so that was really nice.  Nate and Mad had a great time playing with their cousin Joseph!  It was so cute to see them all playing together. 

Breanna asked us to take some portraits for her before her recital.  Of course we were thrilled to do so and have complied a few for you to enjoy on Flickr (set and slideshow).  Family and friends have access to a few more shots here on our website.  She did an amazing job!  Absolutely amazing!  She played a few pieces; some of which I am very familiar and others I am not.  I’m very proud of her for developing this talent so much.  For those of you that know Breanna, she’ll be in town during the month of May and is planning on holding a recital in SLC.  It will be the social event of the year!  I’ll post the recital information here when it is finalized. 

We are so proud of Breanna for working so hard and completing her degree!  Gene has also been working like crazy and is just a semester behind Breanna.  Well done both of you! 

Foto Friday – “new cellhouse”

Taken with the Nikon D40 in Boise, Idaho on April 4, 2009. Aperture-Priority Exposure Mode, 28mm, multiple exposures at f/5.6, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format converted to Adobe DNG format. Edited in Lightroom 2.3.

We went up to Boise over the weekend to visit my (Rob) sister Breanna and her family.  She is finishing her degree at Boise State and held her final piano recital (pictures forthcoming).  Julie and I took the kids to the Old Idaho Penitentiary that sits just outside of downtown.  It only took us 4 minutes to get there!  It was not very crowded and the access to various parts of the penitentiary was wonderful.  It was amazing to be there.  A very moody place to be sure!

The photo above is a composite of 7 images with varied exposures also known as high dynamic range (HDR) photography.  I wish I had time to say more about this image and the place.  After the compositing I worked through about 5 different concepts for this image and liked this one the best.  Convert to black and white, tone curve adjustments, sharpening, black level, and advanced vignetting.  That’s all for today.  See you tomorrow at the photowalk!