52 Wednesdays :: Laughter

It's week 11 for 52 Wednesdays and our theme this week was "laughter."  I was really happy to see the theme this week because I have a little giggle monster at home. =)

As a work-from-home mother, Eva spends a little more time entertaining herself than I'd like.  However, I do try really hard to be intentionally present with her when she gets home from school and preferably until she goes to bed.  It's not always possible if a deadline is pressing... but I try.  One thing that I am most consistent about is taking time from the moment she comes home from school that is completely focused on her.  I found that if she sits on my bed and I sit on my floor I can get a lot more information about her day than if I ask her in the car or even standing around in the kitchen.  Somehow, the bed is like a stage and she tells me all her little secrets and interesting tid-bits from her goings-on of the school day.... or even what she's thinking about outside of school .... and day dreaming about for her present and future.  It's a really special time for us and she's always so disappointed when we have to miss out due to schedule.  It usually only lasts about 5-10 minutes, but I love connecting with her this way.  I'm hoping these are setting a precedent for when she's a teenager and she'll still want to talk to me.  One day, I hope she'll look back on these little chats as very dear times between us. =)

This is from today's after school chat.

So as I mentioned above, Eva is Miss Giggle Monster -- as in this could be her second name actually.  Everything is funny to her, which usually sweet and cute and humorous.  One would think I wouldn't have trouble photographically documenting this character trait, but usually the giggling goes away the second the camera comes out.  Today though, I thought I would have it with me while we did our chat to see what I could get.  So I started talking to our dog Dash (who was sitting nearby) about his day and how easy his life is.  Somehow me talking to the dog like he's a person is the FUNNIEST thing Eva has ever heard of.  It is usually a sure bet for a great giggle and here it is:  sweet laughter from my sweet girl.

Now you have the pleasure to continue with this circle via Ms. Amy Grace of A Beautiful Life Photo in San Diego, CA.  She's super amazing at lifestyle photography and I'm sure her blog post this week is a stunner.  Find it here!

52 Wednesdays :: Green

It's Wednesday again and this week my theme for 52 Wednesdays is GREEN.  St. Patrick's Day is Saturday, which is likely the reason.... but I didn't feel like going the obvious super green route.  Instead, I chose subtle green with a red jacket on my girl.  Red and green are complimentary colors by the way (AKA, not just for Christmas), which is something people learn in Design 102 if you go to school for art like I did.  Of course, these days one can save thousands of dollars and learn this on my blog... or a book, or Pinterest.  

Amidst my rambling about red and green, I'd like to point out that it is 3am (yikes, must get better about this).  I actually did not put this week's theme off; I worked on it twice earlier in the week and didn't like either outcome.  So today after school I asked Miss Eva if she would be my model and this is was my answer.  

 
Seriously.  Scary, right?!

Pretty sure, girl hates being my model.

I remember when she used to actually enjoy having her picture taken... but not now.  Not since her mom has been a working photographer for 3 years and a practicing one for several years before that.  Now she makes fists in the air and squished faces and whiny noises that all articulate, "No thank you."

Really all she wanted was for me to observe her scheduled free time for pbs kids; however, I won her over for about 10 minutes with the coercion method of Eva = Mary Poppins with her green umbrella.

The Mary Poppins persona was able to morph into nice model girl.  With a little bit of dancing of course.

So by this point I was pushing my luck time-wise, but she let me capture this last one, which I LOVE.  And think it's one of my new favorites. =)

After which, she skipped back into the house to do exactly what she had wanted to do since the moment I grabbed my camera.  Oh Eva, when did pbskids.com become more fun than your mom???

Next up for 52 Wednesdays is Traca Miller!  Be sure to continue in the circle to see everyone's interpretation of green.

52 Wednesdays :: Close Up

It's week 9 for 52 Wednesdays and this week's theme is Close Up.  I was kind of excited for this week, but kind of dreading it at the same time because I actually love close up/macro photography (that might seem like a hugely contradicting sentence, but I'll explain).  I LOVE investigating the world and all it's intricacies from a highly magnified vantage point.  However, I've been seriously missing my previous ownership of a macro lens lately, and this assignment only strengthened those feelings.

I actually fell in love with my camera and photography because of macro photography.  Before Simply Splendid existed in my life I was a jewelry designer (I still am technically).  I created custom jewelry pieces with gemstones and fine metals and hated that the photographers I hired to photograph my art couldn't seem to catch my vision of what I wanted.  So, I invested in a DSLR so that I could learn to do it myself.  Along the way, I found how much I loved photographing people and developed my capabilities  over time to where they are now.

I own a 50mm lens and an 85mm lens, which are fantastic focal lengths for photographing people; but unfortunately, I must remain at least 1.5 feet away from my subject for my camera to focus.  This means macro photography isn't in my cards these days.  I managed this week's project with a special magnifying filter and this is what I came up with:

I'm so thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce Ms. Amy as the next photographer in this photo circle!  She is an amazing photographer from Southern California and is the owner of A Beautiful Life Photo.  She has such a brilliant photojournalistic style, I can't wait to see what she's come up with this week.  You can find her here.   http://www.abeautifullifephoto.com/blog