20/365

A blurry camera phone shot of Haley at an after school thing tonight.

267/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/4, f/16, 18mm, M

Haley's school had some new playground equipment put in. They are basically little cups that spin REALLY FAST. I think they're called Puke-A-Trons.

That blur you see? It's Hay. I held the camera over her head and told her to smile.

242/365

Picture info: ISO 200, 1/80, f/5.60, 55mm, Av

I was going to go with a Daily Shoot topic (diagonals) but decided to go with the back to school shot today.

Riley has been fighting a bad, bad cold and you can see some of the results above his lip. He's been blowing his nose a ton and after seeing him tonight, this picture of his lip actually looks good.

Third grade for Hay, first for Riley. From what I heard, it was a great day!

105/365

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/4000, f/2.50, 50mm, Av

Riley is too young to be a crossing guard, but he finagled a flag from a volunteer at school today.

I would have liked him in a different position, like away from the cars, but it was hard enough to get him to stand where he stood. I was location scouting as well, and I think the school would be great for some shoots.

I've also been working with a book, trying to learn about Layers. I did an exercise today that showed how to create borders and drop shadows, etc. I'd like to say I did this all on my own, but alas, I had a book open next to me while I did it.

39/365

 

Picture info: ISO 100, 1/1250, f/2.80, 50mm, Av

Someone told me they liked the pictures with people or kids in them better than the ones without. Most times, I'd agree, but to me, it's too easy to simply follow my kids around and snap photos of them. Plus, I think you'd get bored of seeing Haley and Riley all the time.

Today, we walked to school to pick Haley up. What you don't see in this picture is my left arm stretched to the max, trying to hold Bella back and still, so I could snap this picture.

I love Riley in his badass Scooby-Doo sunglasses. I love Riley's classmate hiding behind his other classmate. And I love Marci, KC and Haley bringing up the rear with Layla in the stroller.

Plus, as an added bonus? Everything is in focus. Sweet!

28/365

 

ISO 100, 1/80, f/2.50, 50mm

Haley's class got to go to the Franz Bakery in Seattle today for a field trip. I got to chaperone. Tours are free (for groups of 10 or more) and it was actually pretty cool. Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow cameras on the bread floor as they have machinery and "secrets", so the only shots I could take were in the holding area, where we waited for tours to finish, and outside.

This paper truck was made by one of the kids in the class. They had crafts and snacks so it was easy to pass the time. I punched the color up a little in Elements for your viewing pleasure.

12/365

Picture info: ISO1600 1/40 f/4.0 70mm

Late last year, I volunteered to be my son's and daughter's class photographer. Basically, the task was to take candid shots of the kids to be put in the yearbook. I took some at Halloween and was there again today to shoot more.

You'd think that by spending 2 hours at a school taking pictures, you'd come up with something cool for Project 365.

Well, that remains to be seen.

I did take lots of kid pictures, but after my recent run in with the law, I'm not about to post any of those without permission (not that they're that post-worthy anyway). I did try to keep P365 in mind, though, so not all my snaps were of kids.

I did learn a few things today. For most of my shots, I did them truly as candids. I wanted the kids to be unaware of me shooting. When I examined Haley's yearbook from last year, I saw that probably 90% of the candids were all taken when the kids were looking into the lens. And you know what? The pictures were way better that way. With the amount of cropping that will be needed for the candids, there's only so many pictures of kids at desks you can look at. So, I think I'm going to see about coming back in and doing headshots or posed pix of the kids goofing around.

The picture I posted is from my daughter's classroom. I guess as the days of school go by, the kids mark off each day on a calendar. I thought that would work nicely with the calendar I'm working on with P365. It's not a very inspired picture. I bumped the clarity and vibrance up a little and warmed it in Lightroom, but I probably could've just left it alone as well.

On an aside, I got Joe McNally's Hot Shoe Diaries from the library yesterday. Pardon the pun, but it's enlightening. There is so much to learn about taking pictures. I'm just scratching (barely) the surface.