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If this doesn't make you want to go have a baby girl right now, then I don't know what will.

(Please ignore my crazy broken thumb. It needs surgery. Bad.)

PBR

This is my sister. I know she's cute. And we went to the Professional Bull Riding competition together last weekend. But this is the ONLY good photo that came out of that night. Does anyone have any advice for me on shooting good photos in really bad lighting? I think using a flash kills a photo, so I need some help please.

Thank you!!

Confessions and a little action, baby!

Confession #1: I'm pretty much obsessed. With Pioneer Woman, that is.

How did she get so cool?!?! I mean seriously, people. How can ONE person have that many talents all to herself? Share the love here, please! Of course I want to be her. And live in her lodge. And eat her food. And ride her horses. C'mon, who doesn't?

Confession #2: I love The Biggest Loser reality show. I'm totally into it. Just in case you didn't know, I am really NOT the type of person to follow a bunch of shows with crazy intense drama queens with "reality" that is so staged it's stupid. But I admit I do make a few exceptions. One of which is The Biggest Loser (maybe you'll find out my other exceptions on a later post...). There are several reasons why I like this show. Without going into every single one, I'll let you in on one biggie: Jillian Michaels.

Yeah, she's tough. Yeah, she's mean. Yeah, she's BUFF. And I love it. I kind of want to be her (minus the profanity, of course). Actually, I think I could be her if I ever figure out how to get rid of my insecurities. I think there is a little Jillian lurking beneath this skin of mine...

So moral of the story, I want to be PW + JM. Is that even possible?

But that's totally a random tangent. Back to PW. Did I happen to mention she's an AWESOME self taught photographer. I know, really. It makes me sick too. :) She posts really cool photography tutorials, giveaways, etc. on her blog all the time. I love browsing and playing with the cool stuff I learn over yonder (just working on my country drawl here). Here is one of PW's actions in ACTION! I use Photoshop Elements which doesn't exactly support actions, but it does let me play around with things to create the same effect. Thanks to PW, again, I was able to work it on these two photos here. Check out the befores and afters.

Before

After (using PW's Fresh and Colorful Action)

Before

After

Oh yeah. And I love babies.

Cute apron giveaway

No. I'm not doing a cute apron giveaway.

That wouldn't make sense on a photography blog!

But someone else is!

And you can win it if you go HERE.

If you like to eat, then you will like their blog. And I like to eat.

Enjoy!

So what do you think about these photos WITH the textures?

(See below for the befores of the photos)

I think it's kind of cool. Gives it even MORE of that by-gone era feeling.

I had a bad day

So I was all excited to have time to play with textures tonight, right? Right. But guess what I did instead? I got locked out of my house with two cranky kids until way past their bedtimes (or so it felt...). I took about 200 trips to Lowe's and made about 500 phone calls. My headache went from bad to worse, I missed Enrichment night and my makeup smeared.

But fortunately I met some helpful people and eventually made it back into my sweet abode only about $5 poorer.

So, I'll probably burn some night oil and play around with those cool textures now. Either that or neglect my kids tomorrow and do it then. We'll see how I'm feeling. :)

Enjoy the new playlist.

Texture. Who knew.

Oh man. I could play around with Photoshop ALL DAY if I wanted to. Well, I do want to, but I don't think Gabe would be down with sleeping all day either. Oh well. :)

Here is something I just tried out for the first time! Texture! Who knew it was so cool and so easy? Not me! Thanks to Pioneer Woman, I get free little photo tutorials whenever I want 'em. :) Ain't she a peach? Today's assignment was to play around with textures. I'm just using the textures she provided here, but I'm going to go hunting for some more around the house today to play with tonight. Ooohh, I'm already getting excited about this!

So check it:

Very basic. I could do way more with it. But I think I just like it the way it is there. Look forward to more textures tomorrow from my hunt tonight!!

Before and After

Editing programs are really amazing. I work on a Mac and use Adobe Elements. However, iPhoto has its own editing program that does some pretty awesome stuff. I've been playing around with it for a while and am happy with the results.

Here is a little taste of iPhoto doing its thang:

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

And I didn't mean to download this, but I did. :)

As you can see, I like the "antiquey" look. Maybe a little too yellow for some, but not for me. It takes me back to an era in which I never lived. :) Hmm...

What I use:

Canon Rebel XSi

This is an awesome camera for the budding photographer.

iPhone

Believe it or not, some of my photos are taken with my phone! This tiny and extremely portable device actually has quite the skills. Check out the photo below taken with my phone.

And a little editing goes a long way.

Ever since high school I've had a fasination with photography. It was one of those things that I always wanted to explore yet never found the time or courage to do it. I am finally making time and discovering courage to pursue that dream.

I am still discovering my style of picture-taking, but I know I really love the photojournalist's approach. Catching a unique moment as it happens is a skill. Portraying a personality within that moment is an art. I'm trying to do both.

I also love colors. Nature's palette is the most beautiful.

Welcome to my blog.