Photography Class

This Saturday, Nick and I took a Photography class taught by Bruce Cole of Natural Horizons Photography. As you can see from his web-site Bruce does some amazing nature photography and also some beautiful weddings and portraits. Nick  and I have been interested in photography for sometime now, and were very excited when we found out Bruce was having a class. We met at Bruce’s house Saturday morning and started out with a presentation about photography basics. Nick and I got so much out of this session. Bruce made everyone take there camera out of “Auto” and showed us how to use all the manual settings. We learned how to set the aperture on our cameras and the shutter speed both of which together effect the exposure of the picture you take. Basically, Aperture + Shutter Speed= Exposure

We also learned about the Rule of Thirds, which concerns the composition of your  photography. The concept behind the Rule of Thirds says that an image should be divided into 9 equal parts by two horizontal lines and two vertical lines, the subject of your picture should be aligned at one of the intersecting points on the grid. In April Term’s it means that you are not supposed to center your subject in a photograph.

For the 2nd half of the class we went out to Warriors Path State Park to practice everything we had learned. I was using a camera I had borrowed from a friend, a Canon PowerShot SX10IS, which is an advanced point and shot camera. Here are some of my pictures.

Duck with a leading edge.

Trying to practice the Rule of Thirds. It is hard to fight that centering feeling.

Working on “Framing”

Just a really cool tree.

 

The next few are some I took laying underneath a dogwood tree.

 

A really cool knot on a tree. It kinda looks like a heart.

Took this one laying in patch of dandelions.

 

Here are some that Nick took, they are AWESOME! He was using the Canon XS 120IS, it is also a very advanced point and shot.

Using the Rule of Thirds

Great squirrel pic. Also Rule of Thirds.

Just a cool shoot.

Really cool spicket and another cool use of the Rule of Thirds.

We had a blast going out and taking pictures and practicing. Afterwards we went back to Bruce’s house and he gave us some feedback on the pictures we took, which was very helpful. All in all, it was a great experience and I would highly recommend take a class from Bruce. He did a great job helping really learn how to use our cameras and teaching all the terminology.

Nick and I were the only ones at the class that had digital point and shot cameras everyone else had an SLR. Now that the class is over Nick and I are considering buying one especially since my little point and shoot will not let you do anything with the manual settings. Unfortunately, SLR cameras are a bit expensive and we have some other things that are much higher are the priority list. Maybe by the time we make our trip to Italy we will be able to get one. By the way, check out the “Italy Trip Countdown” on the right hand side of my blog! It will be here before we know it.

CALLING ALL MODELS- I really enjoyed the nature photography but I am really anxious to try some people photography, kids, families, couples, etc. I could use a few test models if anyone would be interested :)

I shall leave you with a picture of my favorite person

Isn’t he cute?! I certainly think so!!

Carrot Cakes Woes & Bays Mountain Fun

I love Saturday! I especially love Saturday when I do not have to do any home improvement projects and those have been few and far between recently. This Saturday was one of our 1st Home Improvement free Saturday’s in months and we really enjoyed it!

Carrot Cake Woes

In order to get things started off right I decided to do a little Saturday baking. So I decided to make my 2nd attempt at a simple Carrot Cake recipe my grandmother found in Guidepost. Here is the recipe if you are interested. I had made this Carrot Cake one time before and it is FABULOUS! It does not have raisins or coconut, two of my least favorite things. I also found that you could buy the pre-sliced and peeled carrots which really speeds up the process! I made the “stack cake” version of this cake the 1st time I made it and everything went beautifully! The cake dumped out of the little round pans perfectly. Given my past experience with “stack cakes” this was truly a magical moment for me. This time I was not so lucky. Unfortunately, neither of the pans of cake got quite done enough in the center. I am going to blame this on my oven, given its age and the fact that I want a new one. The 1st pan dumped out perfectly and began to put the homemade (yummy) cream cheese icing on it. Then came the 2nd pan, I dumped it out and it broke into about 10 pieces! I actually took the whole thing pretty well and went ahead and iced it just as it was. Then we renamed the whole thing Carrot Pile and you can see why below:

Though it may not look so pretty it taste delicious! Despite all my woes I would highly recommend this recipe. It is truly FABULOUS!

Bays Mountain Photography

Now for the rest of Saturday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend a little time at Bays Mountain. Nick and I are both trying to get into photography and took our cameras with us to get in a little practice. Full disclosure: A good friend of mine from worked loaned me her Canon Digital SLR.  Well words can not describe how nice it is. Really the pictures say it all!

Let me share one with you, it is not actually from Bays Mountain, but it is one of the best ones I took this weekend:

This is a butterfly on the lilac bush in our backyard. This moment could not have been captured without the wonderful camera!

 

Okay, now back to Bays Mountain . . .

We also took some great pics at Bays Mountain.  Here are a few of the good ones we took at the lake:

 

We also got to see some pretty interesting stuff at the Wolf Pen. They were being feed a deer carcass (GROSS!) when we got there and we got some really great shots.  Just the wolves not the deer, no worries . . .

 

All in all, it was a wonderful Home Improvement Free Saturday!!!  May there be many more to come!

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Guess who sleep in the Master Bedroom this weekend?

Drum roll please . . .we moved into our MASTER BEDROOM this weekend. Yes, that is right people almost 3 years later we are finally using our entire house. It is truly a wonderful FEELING! As I explained in my post about finishing the Master Bathroom, we put the bedroom on hold until the bath got done. Full disclosure: Our bedroom is not completely finished. We still need to paint and put up closet doors (one of my least favorite chores). But it was at a point where we could move in so we did.

When we first bought our home the Master Bedroom was one of the major selling points for me. It has 2 count them 2 walk in closets and also a linen closest for the attached bath. Being a confessed clothing addicted having my own walk in closet is a dream come true. Sadly, I did not have full use of it for a long time and had to use the closet in Nick’s office. In truth when we first moved into our house the primary residents of our Master Bedroom were our 2 cats. They had there own kitty play land in there and were quite upset when we made them move to start the actual remodel.

The worst part of this particular project was having to live with all the junk that had been in the room. I had to take junk from 3 closets and store them in our dinning room. I felt like I was living in an episode of Clean House! It was horrible!  Don’t believe me take a look for yourself

  Now this picture does not even capture what was on the kitchen table. We literally had a strategic path for walking through the junk. However, on the bright side being forced to live with your junk did force me to really look at what we absolutely needed and GET RID OF STUFF! So I was able to go through this pile and donate a lot of stuff to an organization that was having a charitable yard sale.

I would like to think my dearly beloved Nick for all his hard work on this room. He ripped out carpet, laid a laminate floor, painted, hung lights, etc. He truly put a lot of work into creating a beautiful space. I am so luck to have a husband that is so handy! Thank you sweetie! The room is beautiful!

 

Now for you to see for yourself here are the BEFORE & AFTERS!

 

Master Bedroom BEFORE

Icky stained carpet!

 

 

Vertical Blinds Over French Door

Closets with gray trim

 

Master Bedroom AFTER

New lighting

New laminate floors

Window Treatments over French Door

New Bedding! I love it!

Another view

The room is truly FABULOUS! Nick and I lived crammed in a spare room forever and we were truly shocked to have so much space! We just feel BLESSED! All our furniture is finally where it is suppose to be and we are using our entire house. It is just an exciting time all around!

Now to get the closet doors painted. A home owners work is never done!

HE’S ALIVE!!!

Happy Easter to all! Praise the Lord we serve a RISEN SAVIOR! Today is not just about bunnies, eggs, and candy but is about the Resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. Without the Resurrections we would not have redemption and forgiveness for our sins.

A good friends of mine found this great video that goes along with Dolly Parton’s song He’s Alive. One of my personal favorites!

 

 

So REJOICE . . .HE IS ALIVE and our sins are forgiven! Better than anything the Easter Bunny could ever leave in your basket!

 

 

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  Matthew 28:6

 

Happy Easter from our house to yours!