Day 2: Rule of Thirds

Well, today was rather a boring topic for me because I've already learned and applied it to my photography ( I took photography for two years in HS, and if we didn't show rule of thirds, then we weren't graded). I had a hard time thinking of places to go, so finally around 1:20 I packed up my camera and Dad's tripod into our truck and drove off to Wrinkle Cove (which is probably between 5 and 7 minuets away). I got to wrinkle cove, and walked a little bit towards a nice area and set up the tripod and camera. After turning on my Camera, I had a "Clearly Something Stupid" moment...there was no memory card in my camera. Great, so I packed everything back up, got back to the truck, and drove back home, got my memory card and went back out to Wrinkle Cove (this time with Morgan). There was nothing interesting to take pictures of anymore (the first time I was there, I saw geese in the lake as well as up in the air), so we walked around and Morgan spotted some drift wood, and that became my target to shoot at.

For any of those, who don't understand what "Rule of Thirds" is, imagine a tic-tac-toe board or a number sign (#) across the picture. You don't want your focus to be right smack in the middle of your picture, you want it off to the side, or taking up almost the full screen.

As you can see, the drift wood isn't smack in the center, it is off centered, as well as curved almost out to the other side of the frame.

This picture was taken a little closer than the previous one, and fills the frame diagonally, filling in a little bit of each section on the invisible grid.

Sorry, today's pictures weren't as exciting as yesterday's (which took a lot more skill), but I hope you still in joyed it a little. Tomorrows topic is "Black and White", but I'm not sure if I will be able to upload my pictures, because (1) Morgan and I are babysitting from 8-5:30 and (2) We are heading up to Grandma and Grandpa's House after we get back, because one of our cousins are getting baptized on Saturday. So don't worry, I will be bringing my camera with me. Just in case I don't get anything up tomorrow, Saturday's Topic for Day 4 is Texture.

Oh, and don't forget (if you haven't already), check out Expert Photography to get help on "Rule of Thirds" if you decide you want to try out this 30 Day Photography Challenge as well.

Day 1: Self Portrait

As I mentioned Yesterday, I am going to celebrate August 1st by starting a 30 Day Photography Challenge. Today's Topic was a Self Portrait. In article thingy I read, it said to have the picture describe who you are and what your going through in life, or something that describes you. He gives different pointers, such as using a tripod or a mirror (you can read the article here). I had many ideas go through my head; college packing, reading a book, me looking in a mirror with past memories in the background...ect. I was in our room looking around for inspiration when I found the perfect thing...my Captain America Shield, Thor's Hammer, and his Shield and Dagger. The next challenge was finding where my masks went for these super heroes. Luckily I found them under our bed. Then the next step was finding out what to wear, so I looked up pictures of both Captain America and Thor.

Now the hard part came...setting up the camera. I set up Dad's tripod outside, and set my camera to a timer to 10 sec (took a while looking through my manual, but I found it), and then it was all trial and error until I found the perfect position and pose to capture the heroes.

Up first is The First Avenger: Captain America...

...Ooops...guess I can't do a stand up pose (at least not with the angle the camera was positioned in)...

...need to zoom a little closer...

...scoot up just a little bit...

...perfect, but I cut off a little bit of my helmet...

...nice, now just have to crop it and it will even better...

...and there you go, my final product.

That concludes the Captain America session, please enjoy the next couple of slides, that were taken while I was changing my outfit...

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaa...

...wwwwwwwwww....

...rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

,,,Did I scare you, tell me honestly" (Rex, Toy Story)

...Ok, I'm back. Hopefully you got a laugh with the above photos of Morgan's go with her self portraits.

Now back to me. There was still some trial and error involved in my second shoot, but the main factor was the cape.

Introducing, Thor: The God of Thunder...

...if this was my cape, I would have just cut off the tag, but because this belongs to Mom (it's her flash cape she got for the Mud Run, but probably won't wear it in the mud), and she is subbing right now, I had to make do with it by turning the cape inside out...

...in this one you cant really see the cape...

...too much cape, and you can see the Flash logo...

...finally a decent pic, and you can hardly make out the lightning bolt...

...just a little and crop and here you go

 Besides the final cropped pictures, these are all unedited, and done purely by myself (besides a couple of times when Morgan would tell me to move slightly over. Anyway, if I would edit the final pictures, I would make the reds more bolder, and maybe a slightly brighter background that would pop a little more than the plain dead grass you see now. Anyway, it was getting really hot, and I was sweating under the helmets, only if it was a little more cooler, I would have tried out Hawk Eye (Using Hunter's bow 'n arrow), Black Widdow (with Mom's "Laura Croft" BB Gun, *if I could find it), and maybe Iron Man and Hulk (if I could figure out a cool way to do them).

This concludes Day 1 of 30. Come back tomorrow for Rule of Thirds.

30 Day Photo Challenge

Ok, so starting the end of last week, I've been putting together a binder of photography stuff (challenges/tips on how to improve pictures). Beginning tomorrow, I will be on my way to improving my pictures as well as broadening the way I capture something ordinary. I will be posting the pictures I take each day *at least try to at least. The best part of this is that I will be finishing just in time to pack up the car and head up to Idaho, and it will help pass the time that is already going by quicker :)

Can't wait to start!! Some will be a bit challenging since there is really nothing exciting to photograph in the little town of VS. But I'll make the best of what I'm surrounded with. I may even be able to capture wild turkeys or some other Exotic Animal.

You can check out all the tutorials/help from Expert Photography's Challenge here (it's really helpful, but there are a couple of the challenges missing).

Well, see you all tomorrow with...Self Portrait.

Bon Appetite

Yesterday, I left off at Lunch. Morgan made smoothies and I made grilled cheese sandwiches.

The smoothy was really interesting...Morgan added the remaining fruit from the fruit cocktail that we put into the Jell-O, some of the drained juice from the can of fruit, Raspberry Lemonade, bananas and blueberries. Morgan says "It was like eating Barny". There was chunks in the smoothy (if you can even call it that, because it was more like fruit juice with fruit floaties. Yummy right) Oh well, at least my grilled cheese sandwiches came out, I even added some turkey in between the cheese.

 While eating our some what appetizing lunch, we watched the Olympics and then folded two baskets of laundry (including Madison and Hunters clothes, and the few shirts and shorts that belonged to mom and dad)

Anyway, as time was ticking closer and closer to the time Mom, Madison and Hunter were to arrive home from their first day at school, Morgan and I emptied a box from the garage, finishing the last of our boxes *yay*.

When everyone got home from school, and dad from work; Mom, Dad, Hunter, and Madison went off to Observation Point/Wrinkle Cove to run. (Hunter and Madison to train for Cross Country, and Mom and Dad for their Mud Run they are doing in Mid September *too bad Morgan and I wont be there to run it too, but we will be participating in a Temple to Temple relay up in Idaho about the same time)

When the rest of the family were out running, Morgan and I began dinner. I had the responsibility of cutting 2 green bell peppers and 1 red, as well as dicing 1 onion (WARNING they make your eyes sting and water). Morgan, prepared the meat; she sliced it in thin strips, and prepared the marinade.

We put the meat in first to get it browned, and then added in the bell pepers.

Here is a closer look at what the food looked like while it was cooking.

Lastly, this is what it looked like before it entered Morgan's stomach. She put sour cream on top, and then rolled it up like a burrito and then ate it.

 So, yeah...That was our dinner...Grilled Beef Fajitas! I think it was a success, the bell peppers and lime juice added a bit of sweetness to the meat.

Dinner was sooo good that mom said we could make this in ID, but we simply told her, "yeah, but we wont be able to afford the meat. :(

*Not looking forward to being a poor college student

After Dinner, we had Family Home Evening, which was on Father's Blessings (since it was the first day of school) and following the lesson, Madison and Hunter got a Father's Blessing. Morgan and I didn't get one yet, we are waiting till we get closer to leaving (which will be in about a month...WOW...time goes by fast. At least we get a little longer break than Madison and Hunter).

For dessert we had the pudding that I mentioned in yesterday's blog...Brown and Sticky. I think everyone liked it. I promised that I would take a picture of them when they got out of the fridge, but I kinda forgot. Luckily though, I have a crappy picture of them when they are in the fridge.

The two in the back, are the chocolate/lemon layered, followed by two lemons, and two chocolates in the front. Sorry I don't have a better picture.

Well, this is what a busy day home alone will get you. But still it was fun, making our first REAL meal WITHOUT parent supervision.

Brown and Sticky

 For the past couple of weeks, Hunter has been telling the same jokes over and over again ( it's bit annoying though, since we have heard each joke about 50 times). Well, I'll get back to the jokes later.

Today, July 30, marks the first day of school for Madison and Hunter, as well as Mom (since she got a sub job), and Dad is at work like any day. So Morgan and I are home alone, but Mom (and Dad, before he left for work) gave us a list of stuff to do...
1. Wash dishes in sink and put them in Dishwasher *My Job* (Check)
2. Put stuff in a box *Morgan's Job* (Check)
3. Make Dinner (in progress; defrosting meet, and the Jell-O and Pudding are setting up)
3. Empty a Box *Each Person* (Not done yet, but will do after Lunch)
5. Plan FHE *Both of us together (Check)

So...Everyone left around 7:45 this morning, and Morgan and I didn't feel like running, so we found other workouts (Legs and Abs). We chose one of Morgan's and one of mine to do.

Morgan's Choice: The  "Anywhere" Workout *Monday*

30 sec plank (right)

30 sec plank (left)

30 sec plank (center)

10 lunges each side (2 sets)

10 burpees

My Set: Tone up your Thighs!

20 Squats

20 Plie Squats

20 Curtsy Lunges

15 Bottom Leg Lifts (each leg/side)

20 Reverse Crunches

30 Booty Bridges

Anyway...that was a hard workout, my Buttom is sore :(
Tomorrow we will hopefully start running by 6:30.

After our work out we prepared Dinner Side Dish/Dessert...

For a side dish, we will be having Orange Jell-O with...

...Fruit Cocktail *yummy*

  Oh, Before I show you the Dessert, I almost forgot to tell you one of Hunter's Jokes...
"What's Brown and Sticky?"...Hopefully your mind isn't in the gutter, because the answer is A STICK!! HaHaHa...Told you they were dumb.

Dessert...

Chocolate and Lemon Pudding

I made the Lemon (Well more like mixed it together), and

Morgan made the Chocolate Pudding. (Looks like something Brown and Sticky *not a stick)

 We put the pudding in little bowls, we have 2 each of Lemon, Chocolate and a mix of Chocolate and Lemon. Can't wait to eat them. I'll make sure to take a pic of them when they are about to be eaten. Time for us to eat lunch.

Wrong Car

So, again on Thursday, Mom, Morgan and I had a good laugh. We were at our final stop, Winco. We already bought all the food we had on our list, and were out in the parking lot trying to open up the back of our car. Mom pushed the unlocked button, and the back still wouldn't open. Morgan kept repeating "I don't think this is our car" or "this isn't our car". Well, we looked to the left, and right next to the car we thought was ours, was our actual car. Good thing the alarm didn't go off, because Mom and I were really pulling up on the handle to open up the back.

The car on the left is ours, and the one on the right is some random person's car.

At least we tried to get into another White Suburban, instead of a different type of car. Next time we need to think twice before we try and get into our car.

Be Prepared

So on Thursday, July 19th, Mom, Morgan and I went shopping. We hit construction about 10-15 minutes out and were stopped for at least 20 minutes. I saw a "Be Prepared to Stop" sign up ahead, and told Mom and Morgan that I wanted to print off pictures of Scar (from The Lion King), and tape them over "to stop". And maybe under Scar's face it could say "For the Death of The King". So everyone driving by will have the song stuck in their head!!

So this is the picture I took of the "Be Prepared" sign as we were slowly driving past it...

...and this is what I want to do to the sign above. (Photo found on pinterest.com)

So, yeah. This is my plan, I don't know if I will ever do it, just thought it would put a smile on peoples faces as they drive past it. It also helped pass time while waiting, because Mom, Morgan and I were reciting/singing this scene from The Lion King.