Happy Fourth of July

This fourth of July, we had a little bit of this:



And a little bit of this:

And some of that:

Of course, it wouldn't be a holiday until Ben gave me one of these! ;) Haha! Happy Fourth of July!

poor bored kid..and a self-portrait

:)

Please stand still for a picture...I'll take you to Dunkin Donuts...

I'm so pathetic to resort to bribery like that, lol. I let her wear Kurt's sunglasses because the bright light hurts her blue eyes. Just trying to get a little more practice in with the digital calibration target. I would like my "procedure" with the target to be ingrained before trying to use it for my portfolio building clients. I was very happy with what I learned from this one photo in regard to exposure and white balance. So, it was definitely worth the donut (and chocolate milk).

Trish, you'll be interested to know that I ordered the Spyder 2 monitor calibration system and the Thunder Gray seamless backdrop today. I'll let you know how it goes. It could be here as early as Friday, but I'm expecting probably not until next Tuesday.

Today was the first day of Annie's week long musical theatre workshop with our community theatre. She's been singing "Doe, a deer, a female deer..." and "the sun'll come out tomorrow..." all day. :D She's too stinking cute. She'll find out tomorrow if she has a solo and which one. Her performance and graduation are on Saturday.

After we got back from that, we spent the day trying to find a place for all this photography equipment to live in this little bitty house. Seriously...backdrops, backdrop stand, umbrella, softbox, AB800, props, reflectors, fill lights, tripod...if you've seen my house, you can imagine how crowded it's getting. :p

Then, Annie and I went to get our hair trimmed. We were both in need. Then, a short trip to the grocery store, dinner made (total comfort food...twice baked potatoes). Now, I have a migraine coming on and a sore throat. I hope I'm not coming down with something!

Ben, if you're reading this, we're still missing you. Annie and Megan miss you, too!
Love you, Buddy!

Til next time,
Angelina

Great weekend

We had a wonderful weekend back at my mom's. We took the kids to DelGrosso Amusement Park to celebrate my nephew's sixth birthday. The kids and Kurt had a fantastic time. Kurt looked a little like a kid, himself. :) I felt fine, as long as I kept a little pain medication in my system. My mom, Kurt and my cousins made very sure that I didn't have to do anything but sit on a bench and chat with my aunt. It was very nice. After I saw some pics Trish took of me, I realized why everyone was treating me like I was so delicate, lol. I looked horrible. Very, very pale with extremely dark circles under my eyes. I promise that I did not feel as bad as I looked. ;) Everyday I feel a little better, too.

The Photovision Target was waiting for me when I arrived home today. LOVE it! Wish that my girls weren't so "photo'd out". They're fed up with me aiming the camera at them. Anyway, thought I'd throw another couple shots at you. Megan, my sister and my grandmother. Enjoy! :)

A few more, cause, hey, I have cookies... ;)

By request...

I got the new Canon 40d yesterday. ((Luv ya, UPS guy!!! :) )
These images haven't had much done to them. I literally threw a black sheet over my bed, turned on the lights and asked Meg to sit for some pics. I couldn't get far enough away or anything in my room, but really I just wanted to play...so don't expect anything extraordinary from these. I'm learning how to use the raw processor that comes with the camera. It's very different from the adobe raw converter, and I'm not exactly comfortable yet. I'll also feel more comfortable with color photos, once I get my Photovision Target and my monitor calibrated. Until then, though, here ya go...the first shots with the d40. I heart it! :)






This last pic here, I'm pretty sure is Meg saying "I've had it with the camera...where's that cookie you promised me?!!" hehehe!

New shoot with the softbox and news on my surgery

So, the above pics were taken Sunday, using the AB800 with the giant softbox. I also had a homemade rigged up worklight on the right to try to fill in some shadows, but I couldn't go any larger than a fifty watt bulb without melting my diffuser, so that didn't quite work out. I'll try it again without a diffuser and see if that helps, but I suspect I'll just end up with a big hot spot. Soooo, I'll try a bigger worklamp with a 100 to 150 Reveal bulb...if that doesn't cut it, then I'll have to go ahead and order another "real" light, but I'd like to see if I can get this to work first. It's just a filler light. As you can see in the pics, though, the filler didn't really fill in the shadows on the left. I don't mind them at all on photos of a single person, but when you get more than one person in there, it's just not enough light for the two or three.

Courtney, if you're reading this, your girls' photos are all processed. I had some problems with Zenfolio and would like to offer you a less expensive option, so I had the proofs printed. I'll get them to you when they arrive and we can order what you want then. :)

Anywho, the endometrial ablation and d&c went fine yesterday. Til it was all over, that was. The doctor had already left the hospital, and it turns out I was allergic to the pain killer they were going to give me. So, I had to leave the hospital with nothing but Advil. UUUgh...so Kurt runs to the office to get the new script and it takes about a half hour for it to be filled. He brings it home and lo and behold, but I'm allergic to IT, too. So, he calls the doc back and gets a script for Darvocet, which is not strong enough, but takes a little of the edge off, anyway. At this point, it had been about four hours without any pain meds. I was ready to take the stuff I was allergic to, at that point, I was so desperate. But, I feel better today. The doc said I could double up on the Darvocet for an initial dose and that helped a lot, except for leaving me feeling pretty well drunk and cranky. I'm not allowed to do any housework for four days. You have got to be kidding me. I have three kids. I average at least two loads of laundry and at least one full dishwasher a day. Not to mention the daily vacuuming. This is never going to work. Maybe, I'll be able to do more tomorrow. :p Today, it is killing me, sitting here, watching it pile up. But, not quite as bad as it hurts to move or make the kids clean up after themselves. ;) I think I should have taken Kurt up on his offer to stay home today, too. But, I felt okay, lying flat in bed, in total silence, with some pain meds in me. Different story when I'm trying to keep after the kids. Or even sitting up to type on the computer. In fact, I better get going now.

Hey, thanks for stopping by!
Ange

Best Fan made trailer ever....

If you love the books, this'll give you goosebumps! :)