MomShots

That is goals for 2012. Not actually 2012 goals. That would be a lot of goals. I’m not that much of an over achiever!

Happy New Year!

This is an exciting time of year for me. I love to reflect on the goals I made last year and create new goals for this year. I did pretty well on my 2011 goals except I didn’t complete two of them. I did not run a 5K race and I started a 365 project but gave it up after a good few months. You can see my 102 days worth of effort here.

This year I have a good little list of goals with such standards as loose weight and make a conscious effort to be more cheerful. I just realized that I didn’t put any photography goals on my list. I believe that I need to add one on but I don’t want it to be another 365 project.

A few things I really enjoyed about that project was that I had my camera in hand all the time. I had a fun time thinking about photography so frequently and sometimes I felt like I was growing a little artistically and technically. However, I also found that I enjoy taking photos much more than I like uploading them, sorting through them, editing them and posting them online. That was my downfall. That whole editing and posting part really killed it for me.

I think I could do a photo project if I took a smaller bite. I’m thinking of doing a year long project for 2012 with weekly photos and month long themes. I still need to work out the details.

Are you planning any photography goals for 2012? Any big projects? Or just working on learning some technical information like how to shoot in Manual?

Here are just a few of my favorite MomShots from 2011. These were taken early in the year during my 365 project.

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What are your 2012 goals? Do you want to work on a goal together?

I remember the first camera I got; it was payment for a babysitting job when I was a kid. I don’t remember much about it or even if it worked. But I remember holding it in my hands and feeling deep inside me the possibility that was there. Holding a camera is like holding a whole new world in your fingertips. I could feel that.

Since that very first camera, I have had a small handful. I remember my first SLR, it was a camera I bought at a used camera shop. I didn’t know how to use it. I didn’t know anything about lenses, aperture, shutter speed. I took it to Europe with me in my backpack. It was some off brand and I broke it somewhere between Germany and Turkey. I have a few blurry pictures from that trip. It’s for the best.

I have been very interested in photography for quite a few years. As I know many other parents are. Our children are born and we suddenly have a REAL reason to pick up the camera and increase our knowledge and interest. No parent wants to be blamed for a lack of baby pictures!

I kind of got my hackles up this morning reading a blog post by a well known photographer. I have read the term “mom turned photographer” over and over for the past few years. There is a trend in photography where women, and this tends to be women more than men, decide to open up a photography studio in their home. It is often looked down on by the “professional photographers” who have been in the business for a long time.

These old school guys complain about many different aspects of why this is bad for business. I won’t go into the reasons. There are many and they are varied. I understand their concerns. They are trying to feed their family too.

However…

I want to be an advocate for being the best mom turned photographer you can be. Or dad turned photographer. I want to be an advocate for learning to use your camera and to develop a style that you are proud of. If you have a goal of opening up a home studio then I am completely behind you. I suggest that you practice, practice, practice. Then practice some more.

I have flirted with the idea of opening a home studio and I know that’s not the right choice for me. I do however, want to be good enough to open my own studio. That’s my goal.

What’s your photography goal?

I want you to have your cake and be able to eat it too.

Oh MomShots… you have been such a great place for me. I have a very special place in my heart for you and the readers. I have grown so much through the posts of this blog. I have learned so much about photography and Photoshop that I couldn’t even imagine I would learn. I have much more to learn but I feel like I have a pretty good knowledge base to continue on with my photographic journey.

I can’t decide what to do with this site. I love it. I truly do. I feel like there is such a need for basic information to help parents take better photos of their children. When I first began this site, I felt like I was a ship adrift at sea without a compass. I could find no information specifically about photographing children online that was helpful. I had a camera that was too big for my britches and a software suite that I had no clue how to operate.

Since then, there have been quite a few great sites that have popped up that help parents learn tricks to take better photos of their children. There have been some wonderful tutorials written and a lot of fantastic photographic knowledge spilled forth into the universe of the Internet.

My readers have been wonderful. Over the years, I have loved receiving emails with questions or comments and I have loved reading your comments on the posts. We have had some fantastic guest posts from amazing photographers and learned so much.

I have not been sure what to do with MomShots. I feel like I have lost interest. Well, maybe lost interest isn’t the right word. I have lost my motivation and feel like other things in my life have taken greater priority. I like to think that it has to do with having four children but then I read some of the craft blogs I follow and many of those women have as many children as I do and still manage to maintain fantastic, full, busy and lucrative blogs. When I write that, I think lost interest might be the best way to describe it.

With the birth of my fourth child and first daughter, I have spent much more of my free time working on art projects or sewing instead of writing posts about how to photograph children. I still use my camera ALL THE TIME!!! but I just don’t have the drive to write about it like I used to. Maybe I’m a little bit less narcissistic now. Probably not!

So what is the point of this post, anyway? I guess it is to tell you that I am officially backing off of MomShots. I may decide to work on it again in the future, but for now I am going to let you know this so I will avoid this guilt that has been following me around for the past year.

My current photographic journey is taking place in the form of a 365 Project where I take at least one photograph every day. I am documenting this journey here. I hope you will follow my progress and share your thoughts and comments with me. I can always be reached by email if you have questions or comments relating to photography or anything else that strikes your fancy. Facebook will probably be more active than this site so if you haven’t “Liked” MomShots on Facebook, you should!!! I will still ocassionally be active on Twitter as well. The MomShots Flickr pool is going strong and I hope you will continue to post your photos to that, I will.

Thanks for your support and friendship. You mean more to me than you could possibly know.

I get asked often what point and shoot cameras I recommend. I responded to that question from a friend on FaceBook and after I spent all that time looking at point and shoot cameras online, I thought I would share what I wrote with you.

This was her message:

Hey… I have a question for you….I really want to get a really good point and shoot camera. (not the small ones) Something that is realitivly easy to use but not so complex that I won’t ever use it. Thank you for you help!

So after looking at Nikon and Canon point and shoots online, I started thinking about what I would, as a mother, use a camera for. These are the features that I want: nice video, zoom, fast shutter speed and low light sensitivity. Those are the kinds of things that will make sure that I can take great shots of my kids whenever I need to.

A little compact camera is nice for being able to pull it out of your pocket and shooting a shot or two or being able to shoot a little bit of video, but I think as a mother, a camera that can zoom up very close and can click 120 shots in a minute would win my heart. Plus, I don’t need a camera that I can keep in my pocket. A lot of my pants don’t even have pockets. I do always have my purse with me though so the little larger size would not be an issue for me, as it is not an issue for my friend.

I am going to say right off the bat, that I am a little Nikon biased. I have loved each of my Nikons and have no reason to have any ill feelings toward the brand. That said, I do not have any ill feelings toward Canon or any other brand, I just am more familiar with Nikon. I don’t think I’m saying that Nikon is better, it is just what I am more familiar with.

Personally, I don’t want a teeny compact camera. They can’t keep up with my kids. They just don’t offer continuous shooting the way a larger camera does. You all know what I’m talking about. When you push the button and the camera clicks after your kid moves out of their cute pose. It’s annoying to say the least! Compact cameras are much better then they used to be but they still can’t keep up. It’s just not an option for me. I don’t recommend any of them. Their price is lower, but if you are shooting small children, I promise that you will never be fully happy with your purchase.

If you are still not convinced, this is the Nikon that I like. I think it would be a great camera for older kids who can slow down for a few seconds, it shoots nice video and it does fit in your pocket. If you like that kind of thing. I like pretty much all of the Coolpix line for this, but my favorite is the S4000. It has great low light capabilities and that is helpful when shooting indoors, as we often do.

If you want something that gives you more control, faster shutter speed and better zoom, check out the Nikon P100.

It’s a little slice of awesome. This would be the one for shooting fast moving kids as it can shoot up to 120 frames per second in continuous sports mode or 10 frames per second in other modes. Do you realize how fast that is? That’s insane!

The zoom capabilities on this are amazing. I would use the word insane again but I already used it to describe the shutter speed. It can zoom from 28mm (very wide angle to capture broad vistas or large groups of people) to 678mm (that’s a CRAZY amount of close up). A lens on a DSLR that would zoom that much is as long as my arm and cost $8000, literally. Like this:

Plus if you want to use manual controls you can do that too. But you don’t have to. If you are feeling adventurous or want to learn how to have the utmost control over your images, then go ahead. I love shooting in manual on my DSLR. If you want to you can. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. But there are TONS of auto programs available. It’s pretty exciting actually.

Another feature that is pretty nice is the ability to capture images in low light. The P100 has a really sensitive sensor and can use an ISO of 3200. That just means that its sensor is more sensitive to low light than another camera with a smaller number ISO. The higher the number, the more sensitive to light it will be.

One of the questions I get often is from people wanting to know how to take better photos in their home, under normal lighting situations without using their flash. A camera that is this sensitive to low light would most likely do the job very well. Birthday parties are no longer a challenge with the low light and fast shutter speeds available on this camera.

It also shoots HD video so that’s a bonus, if you’re into that kind of thing. My husband likes those kind of features. I, personally, never remember to shoot video. But I’m goofy like that.

I am so incredibly impressed with this camera. It’s amazing. Beyond amazing. If I wasn’t a DSLR snob, I’d get one. I might have to get one anyway. I want to get one for my mom. I think this is the perfect mom or grandma camera. It would eliminate the frustration of not being able to shoot those adorable grandkids.

So that’s kind of both ends of the spectrum. A nice compact camera that you can stick in your pocket or a way nicer camera that can capture all of your kids crazy antics and help you to see a fly on the nose of an elephant at the zoo. My vote is the P100, but I like bells and whistles.

If you are a Canon fan, they make a comparable camera. It is the Canon G12 and is an amazing camera with bells and whistles similar to the Nikon P100. There are some small differences. The G12 does not have as much low light sensitivity as the P100, as the G12’s ISO only goes to 1600. That’s not bad though. 1600 is still a great amount of low light sensitivity.

In English this means that you will be able to take pictures of your kids next to the Christmas tree more easier with the Nikon P100 than the Canon G12.

The brand new Canon G12 (that I see at Canon.com) has 4 more megapixels then the Nikon P100 (the older version G12 that I am finding on B&H’s site has the same amount). That wouldn’t be a deciding factor for me. 10 megapixels is a ton and the additional megapixels won’t make a difference unless you are going to blow up a photo to a gigantic billboard sized image, you will never, ever, ever know the difference. With 10 you will be able to blow things up to any size that you would normally use and have lovely images.

The biggest difference that I see between the Canon G12 and the Nikon P100 is their amazing zoom capabilities. I am super impressed with the Nikon P100’s abilities of zooming all the way to 670mm, but I’m even more impressed with the Canon G12’s abilities to zoom to 840mm. That’s just insane. Really insane. Certifiably insane. Awesomely insane.

The Canon G12 also has the ability to swivel and pivot the LCD screen in back. The Nikon P100 does not have that feature. Personally, that wouldn’t be a deciding factor for me. I would probably never use that. That’s just me though.

This is a lot of information and probably sounds confusing. In plain speak I will say that if I were going to buy a point and shoot camera today, I would buy the Nikon P100. It would do the job of capturing my kids really well. That is the reason why I have a camera.

If I were a Canon consumer, I would buy the G12.

There are lots of cameras on the market. Lots of great cameras. The options are endless. The options are confusing. If you have a specific question, shoot me an email or leave a comment and I’ll give you my opinion. This is after all, just my opinion.

Addendum:
After I wrote this up, a friend asked me about the Nikon S8100.

It is a nice medium between the Nikon Coolpix 4000 and the Nikon P100. It can shoot up to 10 frames per second, shoot 1080p video and has a really high ISO of 3200 so it can do well in low light situations. It only has a 10x zoom, but that is pretty standard for the compact point and shoots. It also has an interesting night portrait feature. It takes two really quick images and then merges them together to make one. One image is of the subject, using the flash and the other is of the background so the result would be an image where the background looks good and so does the subject. I would like to see how that works in real life, but it might be a fun feature to play around with!
It also comes in some great colors. I like the pretty colors.

Camera: Nikon D90, Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40), Aperture: f/3.2, Focal Length: 50 mm, ISO: 200. The White Balance was the auto setting for shade.

Halloween came and went in a whirlwind of costumes, sewing and candy. We had a blast. Do you want to see the photos I took?

So do I.

I didn’t take any. Not one. Not a single photo.

What my excuse? You can’t be Mrs. MomShots and not get any Halloween photos, right? OK, I’ll resign my title temporarily. My husband was out of town for the week and when he got home he was pretty much useless due to jet lag so I was busy getting everyone fed with real food prior to candy extravaganza, costumed with enough layers to stay warm for a little while in the pouring down rain, finding loot bags, etc. Thank goodness my husband got out the Flip and recorded the kids right before they left. I didn’t get a chance to breath, let alone take any photos. In past years I have brought my camera with me and shot them as we trick or treated but this year we were dealing with a major rain storm so there was no way I was going to take my camera outside.

They were cute. Trust me.

So I wanted to share a little video I took while trying to take a shot of my youngest two kids. This is a typical scene at our house. Sometimes there is more yelling on my part, often more tears from one of the kids. You get the picture. You are not alone.

This is on my bed with a grey fleece blanket under my kids. I am standing up, above them. We have natural light coming in through the large window on my left. Just an impromptu photo shoot. I got out my camera to snap a few photos of the baby because she was doing something cute but then everyone else came over to join in the fun. It quickly became a family affair.

This chaos is minimal compared to what frequently happens. I’ll try to take some video next time I’m shooting all four of my kids and you’ll get the picture. Craziness is a daily occurrence when trying to photograph children. It is part of the fun!

I have been playing with the soft light that filters in through my bedroom window. It is a southern exposure and has been really wonderful for photos. There are times of the day where the sun shines directly in, but that is only for a short period of time. We moved our bed under the window and I have taken nearly a million photos on that spot. Well, not a million literally. How about a couple hundred? That’s more accurate.

I have also been playing with my photos in Photoshop. I am kind of on a pink kick lately. Can you tell?

Utilizing depth of field is a great way to highlight certain features of the baby in a creative and inviting manner. To get this kind of look you have to use a large aperture. This will make the item you have bracketed in your viewfinder crisp while everything else will be fuzzy.

My family treats this weekend like Christmas. Growing up, Christmas and July 4th were my two favorite holidays. My parents live on an American Indian reservation in Washington State and so fireworks are extremely plentiful. This day gets so crazy that it is like a war zone, or what I imagine a war zone to be like. Thankfully I haven’t had to experience a real war zone! That’s one of the reasons I celebrate my freedom on this holiday.

We don’t get to go up to visit my family this year. I am quite sad about that. I didn’t realize I would be until this morning. I am going to try to make this weekend one full of fun for my kids anyway. Maybe create a tradition or two.

This is a very good holiday to practice taking photos of your kids. There are usually many community festivities that offer up wonderful photo opportunities; carnivals, parades, fireworks, the vibrant colors of our flag and the many other symbols of the wonderful freedom we enjoy here in the United States of America.

I hope on this holiday weekend that you are safe. I hope you get to enjoy it with the people you love. I also hope that you remember to grab your camera and shoot some photos of those symbols of freedom and your family enjoying them.

Here are a few photos that I have taken over the past few years that fit into that category to me.

Happy 4th of July weekend!!!

I’m not posting anything really photography related today. I need to sit down and write a post in response to a question I got the other day (Kelsey I am going to answer your question about collages/storyboards on my next post). I just have been letting my pregnancy induced laziness take over my life this week. I also need to figure out what to do for this week’s 52 Week Project. I’m thinking I might either photograph body parts, like feet, ears, noses, eyes, etc. or maybe I’ll have the boys pick a toy and we’ll photograph them playing. I don’t know. It’s Thursday already and I had better do something quick or it’ll be Saturday and have to race to figure something out!

So I just saw this cute GIF on a blog I follow. I love your comments so I thought I’d post the GIF and tell everyone how much I appreciate you who actually read what I have to say. I’m not quite sure why you keep coming back but I enjoy writing it so I’ll keep it up! Your comments always make me happy. This isn’t a plea for comments. I know you’re there. I love you even if you don’t comment!

I have to say that I even love my spam comments. They never fail to make me laugh. I don’t show those to you so they are kind of like my personal little joke.

This is from a 1943 book Stunts and Tumbling for Girls by Virginia Lee Horne. If you want to include this GIF on your site go to her blog post and grab it. She’s giving it away free.

Note from Jessica: Today I am very excited to announce that our guest DadShots post is by Brett Birdsong, of Birdsong Photography. Brett is an extremely talented photographer from Pensacola, Florida but travels all over the US shooting amazing photos. If you want some inspiration, spend a few minutes looking through Brett’s galleries on his site!
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did!

I have two little monkeys.

Jacob, who is 5, and Kylie, who is 4.

They are bundles of personality, independence, and insanity. Basically, small versions of me. This round of photos came about during a summer’s day about a year or so ago, in an honest attempt to get some “normal” portraits of the kids. I fall into that odd category of taking thousands of photos during a weekend in wedding season, but have virtually jack squat when it comes to photos of my own kids. I’m horrible I know, but I’m working on it.

So the scene before me was a big, fenced backyard, two freshly bathed kids under the age of 5 in clean clothes. Daddy, the professional photographer, with his fancy cameras and lenses, and the two perfect children to photograph. I could handle this right? I’ve dealt with crying mothers-of-the-bride, intoxicated wedding guests, and fainting officiants…I think I can handle normal photos of my own kids. Right?

In the time it took me to look down, adjust my camera settings, and fire off a few test shots of Jake, Kylie had found dirt, which had made it’s way on to her shirt and face. Jake found this worthy of a belly laugh, which encouraged Kylie, and within 5 minutes of walking outside with calm, clean kids, I had Goofballs 1 and 2 belly laughing at each other while I sat there watching, capturing the scene unfolding before me.

Lesson #1 learned - When I photograph kids, I now have no preconceived notions or ideas of what I’m walking away from that particular session with. There are no backdrops, no lights, no ” sit here and let’s give Sears some competition” photo sessions at all. To me, photographing kids, especially my own, is completely about working with the moment. Sit back, relax, let them be kids. You’ll end up with some really fun shots.

During the the course of the next 15 minutes or so, betwixt belly laughs and smudging dirt on each other, I had each of the kids stand in front of me and make a silly face. Anything silly, I said. I’d make a face at them, they’d make a face back. And out of the silly faces that were made, this collage of photos was born. Now granted, I didn’t get exactly what I had intended to that day. But what I did get was a few photographs of a brief moment in time where my two kids and I sat in the sunshine on a warm summer’s day and made silly faces at each other, and laughed together.

It simply brings back a really great memory of spending time with my kids. And I honestly couldn’t ask more than that from a photograph.

Focal Length: 35mm, Shutter Speed: 1/125, Aperture: f/2.0, ISO 800, No Flash.

Have I told you my news? I know I mention it on my family blog and on FaceBook all the time but I don’t think I have officially came out and said it here…

I am pregnant.

Again.

With my fourth child.

I’m exhausted and scatterbrained beyond belief but I know that this is the right thing to do for my family and I take comfort in that. Four kids… That’s a lot.

I think I need to go cry in a closet right now.

Not really, but I do get overwhelmed by the thought of having four kids if I think about it too much. Especially on a day like this when I spent a whole bunch of hours running around the house picking up, folding, washing, cleaning, wiping, spraying, sweeping, vacuuming and feeding and then I look around the house and it looks like nothing was done. I could have just watched TV all day and my house would look the same. Anyway, I digress.

I’m pregnant. Due at the end of April. I find out the gender on the 21st of this month (come on girl!!!!!!).

So MomShots has kind of taken a back seat for now. I think about posts and actually have a few written that just need some final touches. But it’s not high on my list for now. I’m just too dang tired.

Anyone want to help? Anyone have any shots they’d like to share? Anyone have any ideas they would like to get out to us camera yielding and wielding moms?

I would love to share your shots and ideas here. I would love to give you the podium and let you take as much or as little time as you’d like to pass along your thoughts.

Any takers? Really. Anyone of any experience level is welcome. All kinds of thoughts are welcome. All kinds of takes on photography is welcome. Even if you just want to share a few images and don’t want to write any text. It’s all welcome.

Just drop me an email at momshots@yahoo.com, leave me a comment or use the contact page here and we can get your thoughts and images up here for the world to see.

Doesn’t that sound like fun?!?