Twelve Days of Christmas...

Wow! It's been a long time since my last update. I'm still working at the farm office and keeping really busy. I am an auntie again! But you should already know that if you read my mom and sisters' xangas.

I am taking the Twelve Days of Christmas Photo Challenge and thought I'd share the pictures here. I have to take pictures of the twelve days of Christmas. Since it would be really hard to get a picture of a partridge in a pear tree, the instructors took artistic license with just a few things. So without further ado days 1-6:

Day 1: Christmas Tree
Shutterspeed: 6.0s
Aperture: f8.0
ISO: 100
120mm
Filter: Snow Cross

Christmas trees are definitely a Christmas favorite of mine, so this was a fun image to create.And also my first time really using my filter. I really had to get creative with this one. Not having a tripod was a little difficult, but with a stool and two Christmas gifts for the right angle... viola!

 

 

Day 2: Presents & Packages
Shutterspeed: 1/15s
Aperture: f3.5
ISO: 800
19mm

I was going to shoot the presents under our Christmas tree, but then decided that my niece, God's special gift, is better than all of the packages under our tree. It's a great reminder of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

 

 

Day 3: Christmas Cookies
Shutterspeed: 1/20s
Aperture: f3.5
ISO: 800
19mm

These are the delicious cookies my sister made for a Mom's Meeting at our house tonight. I wasn't feeling creative and decided that I was not going to take the challenge, but my mom and sisters encouraged me to anyway. With their help I was able to have it uploaded at 11:57.

 

 

 

Day 4: Wonder
Shutterspeed: 4.0s
Aperture: f8.0
ISO: 100
20mm

As my brother lies beneath the tree, one can only wonder what he is thinking.

This one was a fun one image to create. Both Benjamin and I were lying on the floor, except he wasn't battling branches with his hair. :) His difficulty was trying to keep still for 4 seconds.

 

 

Day 5: Glittery & Gold
Shutterspeed: 1/200s
Aperture: f8.0
ISO: 200
200mm

Since the "Five Golden Rings" in the song represent the Pentateuch, I really wanted to incorporate it into the picture.

The picture frame represents Genesis: the framework of the Bible. The ribbon is Exodus: showing the journey of the Israelites. My ruby ring shows the purity God requires from us in Leviticus. Since there are two earrings, they represent Numbers. Deuteronomy is the heart: our love for God.

Although I never use a flash, I did use my speedlite to make the gold really shine.

 

 

Day 6: Warm
Shutterspeed: 1.5s
Aperture: f6.7
ISO: 400
19mm

My niece was getting sleepy, so I thought it would be a perfect time for a picture by the wood stove (we heat our house with wood). In the morning, you can always see all of us warming up in front of the stove! It's a favorite place in our home.

~ Luka... again ~

I've been waiting to post the rest of the pictures of Luka because I didn't have my watermark on the wedding pictures and I wanted to post those first. But I have made up my mind and have come to the conclusion that I am going to post whatever, whenever. I always post in chronological order, but things are about to change! So without further explanations, here are some of the highlights from my time with Luka....

I must say, he has the cutest little nursery!

The little tag kept making its way from under his hat!

And for all of those who are wondering what it's like to shoot a baby, this is what the poor little guy had to go through...

~ Luka ~

I just found this post among my private posts. I posted it quite some time ago, but forgot to change it to public. I've decided not to update it, I'll just leave it as it is.

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Last week I photographed the cutest baby! His name is Luka. He is only two months old, yet he can sit fairly well against a chair. Nearly the entire time I photographed him he kept his eyes on my camera. His parents were amazing and let me try anything I wanted with Him. The result: fun times and great pictures!

I know you are waiting for the wedding pictures, but I can't resist, Luka is just too cute! Here is a picture from our time together.

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Well, much has been going on around here. I started working at a local farm. I work in the office and also out in the stand selling corn and vegetables. I started a few weeks ago and really enjoy working there! There is only one thing I found to be disagreeable - the lack of air conditioning in the open tent on the weekends. =) Other than that, I love my job! I enjoy the people there. I enjoy that it's not in a city. I enjoy that I can look out the windows of the office and see the fields. I enjoy the coolers and trailers full of vegetables. I enjoy broccoli man that Noreen made today. I enjoy looking at the rows of vegetables in the tent. Yes, I enjoy working at the farm... and I enjoy that Harold gets to go with me!

Oh, big news! I got a new laptop! His name is Harold. =) I am now able to do all of my editing on here. The only thing I need now is a card reader. I got used to using the one on the printer and can't live without it. It goes so much faster than from a USB. Anyway, my amazing brother in law took me to Best Buy and picked this one out for me. I would have been in there for hours and still wouldn't have been able to decide if I went alone. Jeff looked at every laptop and compared them. I looked at every laptop, but had no idea what I needed to look for, so I spent my time standing behind Jeff, looking over his shoulder, admiring the different laptops. Jeff looked through all of them and I was going to get a toshiba, but then he found one laptop he didn't look at - ONE - out of the entire store. I kid you not! Well, that ended up being the perfect laptop and Harold came home with me. =)

I am going to put up pictures from Julia and Matt's wedding, I just haven't had time to get my watermark on them. I am completely finished with Luka's. I'll get those up here too.

The days are going by so quickly. It seems as if it should still be June. I can't believe we're almost to the middle of August. The other night while I was writing in my journal I wrote 2003 rather than 2009. Yes, time flies. Well, at least it seems that way. Caleb once asked, "Where is yesterday?" Really, when you think about it, where is it? It passed, but what happened to it? You can't go back and get it, it's gone forever. What you did in it is the only thing that counts. One of my favorite quotes is: "Just one life will soon be passed, only what's done for Christ will last." It causes me to think back and see what I did throughout my day. Sometimes I feel guilty because there are so many things I could be doing and places I could be serving, but then when I really think about it, I am in God's will. If He wanted me somewhere different, He would've put me there. And right now He has me here. Jim Elliott said, "Wherever you are, be all there". So right now, I am giving 100% into what I am doing. And I must say, it is a struggle at times, but the Lord is with me and gives His grace abundantly.

Well, I was only planning on re-posting, not writing. But, I guess I am way overdue for an update. I am unbelievably tired so I shall sign out.

Sneak Peek!

Here is a sneak peek of Julia and Matt's wedding today!

This is my favorite of the day! I have yet to edit the pictures, I just wanted to share this one!

~ Talitha and Todor ~

In May I had the honor of shooting an Orthodox wedding.

A Bulgarian groom + an American bride = a fun couple!

Shooting time: 24 minutes for the guys, 11 minutes for the girls, 15 minutes for the wedding party and family, and two 15 minute sessions for the bride and groom! If you don't know what that means, I'll tell you.... that is definitely NOT enough time for shooting!!! But I must say, it was a good exercise for instant creativity!

The difference between boys and girls: this little guy had a hard time standing still...
(He was really cute by the way!)

While this little girl stood for nearly an hour without moving! (She has the cutest smile!)

They used Coke for their toasts!
This is one of my favorite pictures from the entire day!

This guy was an amazing dancer! I don't know how he kept this up!

We were out shooting when a guy handed Todor an American flag. He posed with it and then took off running!

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I have another wedding at the end of the month. It's going to be fun! There will be two receptions, one in the morning and the other at 7:00 PM. The bride is guessing that the first reception will be over around 2:30, so we have at least three hours to shoot whatever we want!