Bradley in his Dirt Bike Gear . . .

Katie getting ready for the prom . . .

Last evening I grabbed a few shots of Katie in one of her dresses . . . not necessarily the one she'll wear to prom, but gorgeous all the same . . .

But THIS ONE is my absolute favorite. She was taking pics of me and like a TRUE PHOTOGRAPHER . . . in her fancy dress, she climbed up onto the brick wall to get a better angle . . . YOU GO GIRL!!

Katie took pictures of ME!

Tonight the boys and I went to Aunt Sabrina's so they could ride dirt bikes and I could photograph them. Katie used Sabrina's Nikon D40 to get some photos of me. It was so much fun playing photographer and model with her!!

The photos I took of her will be posted tomorrow, but here is a preview of some she took of me:

Nikon SB800 Speedlight

Because inquiring minds want to know . . . this past weekend I purchased the SB800 speedlight:

Coupled with my new lens, this makes my camera look like a serious, big-girl camera!!

This sweet thing will take a while to learn and to be honest, I'm a little intimidated (as I was when I first got the D200) ok A LOT intimidated. I put it on the camera this morning to see what it could do . . . you know how that is . . . I walked around the house taking pictures of stupid things like piles of boxes, the drapes and anything else that wasn't illuminated . . . testing before and after without flash, with flash pointed directly, bounced off the ceiling, and at various angles.

Here are the test shots with my morning cup of coffee (yes, I know they're fuzzy):

See the harsh shadows behind the first cup? Voila - knocked out in the second cup photo. Now, if I also had a front light (or had positioned it facing the window for natural light) it would knock out the front shadow too, I believe.

There is so much to learn about lighting, but I find it very exciting. I tend to work backwords . . . I find the photographs that I'm in love with and then figure out how to recreate the lighting. There is tons of info on the internet about this. Here are some of my favorite links:

Paul Buff Inc.

Planet Neil

How to Use your SB800 Flash

I'm still lusting after a basic, portable studio lighting set-up and hope to have it within another week or so.

MY Vote Counted - did yours?

Bradley and Jamie went with me to vote last evening. Bradley pushed the submit button on my ballot when I voted for Hillary Clinton. Did your vote count?

Ice Cream . . .

This evening Bradley and I went down to the local WhistleStop Ice Cream stand here in Enola for a treat. I got the new soft serve peanut butter and black raspberry ice cream twist . . . think PB&J . . . Bradley got a hard serve Cookie Dough cone. (photos taken with the new 28-75mm)

Yum!

I got a new lens!!

Yesterday morning I ordered a Tamron 28-75mm 2.8 lens from ephotocraft.com and it arrived via big brown truck TODAY!! Uh yeah, they are my new favorite place to order from since they clearly understand my impatience to to get new stuff! Plus they offer FREE SHIPPING!

So of course, I had to stop everything and run out back to test this puppy out . . .

I'm LOVING it!!

Rocket Dog Shoes

I'm absolutely in LOVE with this shoe brand! I now own two pair of Rocket Dog shoes - both plaid. This red pair is the newest, but I also have a pair of tan/olive green plaid mary janes by them. (This capture is straight out of the camera or SOOC.)

Oh my gosh . . . it finally happened!

The boys were BEGGING me to take their photos!!! Of course, that's only if they were posing on their dirtbikes, but I'll take it!

I stopped at their Aunt Sabrina's late Saturday afternoon to drop off a BIRTHDAY CAKE and gift, so they ran out back (where their dad keeps the dirtbikes) and brought them around and thought they were funny saying "please, please Mom . . . take our picture." Because my eyes instantly light up to these precious words . . .

I also grabbed some pictures of their cousin Ryan and a great truck in the woods that looks like it has been there forever!