MomShots

Do you know what movie that quote is from? I’m much good at remembering movie quotes but this is one of the few lines that I do remember and it totally dates me.

If you don’t know you can find out here.

Anyway, “greetings, my Excellent Friends…” I wanted to make a quick post to let you know that I want to get back into the swing of things here at MomShots. I have enjoyed my summer off but now it is time to get back into learning photography. Who is with me?!

So I have a small list of topics to discuss and experiment with. I want MomShots to be a site that helps you get the most satisfaction from your own camera and your own MomShots.

So the question is : Do you have any questions? Is there anything that you want to know about? Are there any buttons that you don’t know what they do or do you have any ideas but aren’t sure how to execute them? Whatever. Let me know if there is anything I can help you to learn and then we can learn together.

A few of the things on my list are:

All of these ideas are open to suggestion, participation, self-promotion… you name it. If anyone is interested in participating by writing posts for MomShots, writing tutorials or if you have any other way that you would like to share your knowledge of photography, especially when it comes to photographing children, I would love to hear from you. Send me an email if you are interested. It doesn’t have to be a major time commitment, it can be a one time thing, as detailed or as short as you’d like.

So don’t forget to leave a comment below with your questions or shoot me an email. Let’s start learning how to take great shots of our kids together!!!

Last night, I was watching my Twitter feed when I saw a post about a mini-clinic at the Salt Lake Library in an hour and a half. Ben was home and I asked him if he would mind watching the kids while I went to it. He agreed and I quickly got my stuff together and ran out the door.

The clinic was hosted by the Flickr group Photowalking Utah and was presented by Rich Legg who is an incredible knowledgeable and extremely talented photographer. The theme was studio lighting for under $250.

The class was great! I learned so much. Especially since I haven’t really delved into the world of studio lighting yet. I am what you would call a “Natural Light Photographer”. For me, that’s a hoity-toity name for someone who still has so much to learn that I just haven’t gone in that direction yet. Optimal word here is “yet”. One day I will. And now after what I learned last night I feel much more prepared for that day.

Courtesy Disclaimer: This is my personal definition. Not all Natural Light Photographers are in this boat. Just me.

I really had a fun time and ended up sitting next to an amazing photographer named Anne Torrence. I follow her on Twitter and have always been super impressed with her. It was such a surprise to realize that it was she I was sitting next to. I had a little moment of star-struckness but that passed and I introduced myself and talked with her for a few minutes about her current project. I’m excited to get to know her and the whole Photowalking Utah group better. I really hope I can swing getting to events more frequently.

MomShots is really is not a location specific blog even thought it may seem like that lately. If you don’t live in Utah I am sure you are getting sick of me mentioning Utah things all the time. I would strongly suggest that you look into your local area and see what kind of photographer groups are out there. I bet there are some good ones around. If you don’t find any, maybe you should think about starting a group. A photowalking group is a great way to start.

Speaking of location specific, once again I am going to plug PhotoCamp Utah. I found out last night that there are only about 75 more places available. If you are thinking about going be sure to sign up right away or you won’t be able to. It will be held in south Provo on March 14th, 2009. More information can be found on the website.

As you know, I am speaking. My theme is tips & tricks for photographing kids. I know you’re all surprised by that title… LOL… Anyway originality aside, I was wondering if anyone had any specific topics or questions that you would like to see addressed? I am trying to put together the outline for my discussion and I thought your input would be much appreciated. Even if you are not attending, I would love your input.

Also, I need to put together some prints to show as props. Do you have any favorite pictures that I have posted here or on Flickr? I am very excited about the opportunity to speak about and share my love of photographing kids but honestly, I am a teensy bit nervous. Especially after meeting all those incredible photographers last night! I am feeling a bit like an imposter since I really am so new to the art.

Insecurities begone! No more thoughts or words about that. That’s the last you’ll hear about that. It’s all about having fun and learning some new things. I would love your input and opinions on anything related to this.

Obligatory MomShot:

Thanks to Melinda & Trena, my button issue seems to be fixed. This button is the only one that is working at the moment.

I hope you will put it on your sidebar someplace special and spread the joy of MomShots to all!

Thanks!!!!!!!

to my pity party.

Thanks for all your comments.  You all really helped me not feel so much like I am talking to myself here. 

I’m not saying that talking to myself is all that bad.  I’m pretty good company.  

I’m just saying that somedays a person needs a little affirmation.

I’ve been making a mental list of themes for next year’s posts.  I’m kind of getting excited again.  Maybe it’s just hormonal and I need to go dose up on some Vitamin B!  Who knows, but either way, your comments helped.

Thanks!

I’m feeling a little down today.  I’m a big baby.   I hate writing about negative things but at the same time they have to be said sometimes.  

My question is this:  Does anyone read this blog?  

That’s my question.  One little tiny one.  I don’t seem to have any followers but at the same time my analytics say people do stop by on a regular basis.  I’m not sure what to believe.  I do know that I only rarely get a comment.  Those are usually from my mother.  Thanks mom.

Maybe I need to get back to basics and refocus on the things us regular mom’s need to know about taking better photos of our kids.  Probably.  Good thing it is the time for new resolutions.

Anyone have anything that they are wondering about?  Anyone wonder how someone did something in a photograph?  Anyone have questions about things they want to learn about?  

I resolve to make a list of new topics for 2009 and learn about them all.

Ok…  whining done.  Please leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts. 

Before you leave here is a virtual helping of really yummy peppermint bark.  Help yourselves and have a happy new year.

A fellow Momshot Flickr group member is missing her grandpa.  He went missing a few days ago and has not been found.  I encourage each of you to help spread the word about him in hopes that he will be found quickly and brought home safe and sound.

The link to this image is:  http://flickr.com/photos/ladyhawker/2744359968/

How do you print out your fabulous momshots?  There are so many options out there; your personal printer, Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, Kodak kiosk, Snapfish, Mpix…  the list goes on and on.

I don’t have a lot of experience printing photos.  I have done it only a handful of times in the past 10 years.  That is a trend I plan on breaking!  Immediately!

In my recent post about decorating with photos, I decided to build a little mural of beach photos from our recent trip.  Well this evening I spent some time and edited the ones I want to use in Photoshop and cropped them all to the size I want.  I’m going with the 5″x7″ prints.  I think those will be a good size.  Big but not too big.

Now to the printing…  I don’t think that my printer will give me the quality that I want so I am going to use a service.  Of all my options, I decided to upload the files to Snapfish.  I have used them once in the very long distant past.  I was pretty happy with my results.  I don’t have any complaints.  So because of familiarity and the fact that I don’t have to leave my home, I decided to use them again.

I’ll for sure let you know what I think of the results once I receive them.

While I was weighing my options, I found an interesting photo printing comparison website.  Check it out and let me know your thoughts.  It doesn’t include everywhere but it does include many places.  In fact, quite a few that I hadn’t heard of before.

My walls are bare.  They are also painted in lovely rental white.  When I came home from my trip to my parent’s house, I was struck by the total bareness of my house.  Not stark in a good “modern minimalist” kind of way, but in a bad “I don’t care about this rental dump” kind of way.  I have decided I need to change that attitude.  It’s boring.  It doesn’t reflect me or my family.  

Baby Steps:

I am thinking of a few photo collage ideas.  

• I would like to put together some images from our recent trip to the beach at my parent’s house and hang them in my boys’ bathroom.
• I would like to get three photos of each boy and make a collage to hang on the wall up the stairs.  Maybe not three, that would be nine frames hanging and that might be too many.

So this brings me to my line of thought:

What do you do with your momshots?  Do you put them in a brag book?  Do you scrap book them?  Do you print them out and thumb tack them to a cork board?  Do you have 100’s of family photos in frames on all available flat surfaces?  What do you like to do?

I am looking through my tons of Momshots and see that most of my photos have less than desirable backgrounds.  I mean garbage cans, car tyres, the list goes on…

Does anyone else have this problem?

Obviously the problem has to do with how I compose my photos.  However, 98% of my photos are of the snapshot variety.  The kind where you grab the camera and capture that silly smile or the goofy look.  This one is when my husband Ben was working on his car.  Gar wanted to help.  He grabbed his toy wrench and the longest screw driver in the tool box.

There are tons of things not technically correct about this photo.  Awful trash can background, strange framing, Ben’s leg in the shot, I should have crouched down a bit, etc…  I’m sure the list can go on.  I do like the lighting.  It was around the “Magic Hour” of the evening - that hour or so before the sun sets and the shadows are more muted, less harsh.  Plus the subject matter is just adorable.  Gar and tools are always a good mix.

So the question I pose is this:  How do you take snapshots or Momshots and capture the spontaneity of the situation but still have an appealing background?  

This is one of the BIG questions that Momshots aims to answer as we develop our photographic skills.  But since we are just learning, does anyone who reads this, have any tips?  Or alternatively; What is your favorite background to shoot in front of?  Are there backgrounds that you enjoy shooting in front of more than others?

I would love to hear any thoughts on this.  Please feel free to share.