Photography Challenge Week 20: Self-Portrait

It's already the last week of Laura Beth's Photography Challenge at A Step in the Journey! The theme this week is self-portrait. I thought about using this photo of my shadow that I didn't notice until I looked at the picture:

but instead I played around with taking my picture in a Christmas ornament.

Thanks to Laura Beth for hosting the Photography Challenge. I've learned more about my camera, but have much more to learn. I may have to search for a new challenge to join!

Photography Challenge Week 19: From a Distance

Three weeks since my last blog post? Time to get back to it with a photography challenge post with photos taken from a distance. When I went Christmas shopping last weekend, I left the kids home with Barry. It's about an hour's drive to good shopping, and there are dozens of photographic opportunities between here and there. Like Minnesota landmark Split Rock Lighthouse:


We often see ore ships on Lake Superior. This ship was anchored by Duluth when I was heading back home again:


The sun was setting:


And the moon was out (love the color of the sky here!):


See more photographs taken from a distance at A Step in the Journey.

Photography Challenge Week 17: Someone You Love

I can't pick just one person I love for this week's photography challenge, so I have photos of all my kids this week. On Saturday, we went outside for a "photo shoot," so I have a bunch of pictures to pick from for creating Christmas cards. I snapped over 350 photos. As I'm typing this, there's snow on the ground, so I'm glad we were out last weekend when we could still play in the leaves!

Jackson, 12

Raina, 7

Remy, 4

Ollie, 2 (soon to be 3!)

See more photographs at A Step in the Journey.

Backyard Football

Who knew that Jackson could kick so high?

Photography Challenge Week 16: Something You Made

This week's photography challenge was something you made. My husband and I have been experimenting with making bread on the weekend, and this week we made Cinnamon Raisin Bread. It smelled heavenly while it was baking, and I was pleased with how it turned out. One loaf I put a glaze on top; the second I left plain.


See more things that people made at A Step in the Journey.

Busy Week

We had a busy week last week with Halloween, a choir concert and a band concert making for a few late nights.

When we got to Friday and went to Duluth to run a few errands, the little boys just couldn't stay awake.

They even missed the colorful sunset on the way down.

Photography Challenge Week 15: Your Shoes

I gotta say, I felt a little silly taking pictures of my shoes for the photography challenge this week! My thought process went something like this:
What would my shoes look like against the sidewalk? I better include these leaves, too.


Or maybe just on the grass would work.


Look, here's some purple clover--is that too distracting?


I don't have a lot of shoes, in fact I think my husband probably has more than I do. I look for shoes that are comfortable and easy to get on and off for running errands, dropping off and picking up kids from school or activities, bringing out trash or recycling, or taking a walk with the family.


See more pictures of SHOES at A Step in the Journey.

Halloween 2011

Four large pumpkins

Yield a lot of guts

And seeds

Pre-Trick or Treating healthy snack, trying to combat the sugar that was to come

Super Heroes Ms. Marvel, Thor and Captain America ready to go Trick or Treating

Photography Challenge Week 14: Sunset

This week's photography challenge theme is Sunset. I was trying to remember all week to be aware of when the sun was setting, but most days I didn't remember until it was already dark. The one day I did remember, it had rained earlier and the clouds were pink and orange as the sun was setting.


See more photos of sunsets at A Step in the Journey.

Corn Maze

We took the kids to a corn maze last weekend. They had fun finding each number (that had a corresponding clue to figure out which way to go) and making their way through the corn.

They worked up an appetite, so we went out for pizza. Winter is around the corner, so we then went to Target because Raina needed new boots and gloves. Jackson also needed new pants, as suddenly most of his were a couple inches too short.

Photography Challenge Week 13: Silhouette

This week's photography challenge was silhouette, where the subject is lit from behind so it appears dark. This was a tough challenge for me. The best time to get a good silhouette photograph is around sunrise or sunset, so there's a limited time to capture the perfect photo. It was also overcast much of the week, so the lighting wasn't great. I went out in the morning in the middle of getting kids ready for school, so I didn't spend a lot of time on it. Here's what I ended up getting:

I like the color of the sunrise, but not the power lines.

No flash and no tripod makes for a blurry photo.

More blur.

Again, I like the color in this one, but there's too much going on. There's not one thing to focus on.

See more silhouettes at A Step in the Journey.