I Was Going To Talk About Homeschooling...But...

It's raining outside.  Pete left this morning.  The pool is still not open. And I feel like talking about something else today.  That's the type of gal I am ..  I change my mind ALL THE TIME!!!

But right now I know what I feel like writing so here I go...

About this time last year I started listening to a podcast called Faith and Family.  One of the shows I heard was about spending time on the computer.  The 3 hosts, all Catholic Moms,  shared what websites they like to play on.  One of the moms mentioned thepioneerwoman.com .  She said she liked her photography and her recipes.  The name of the website stuck in my head and later that day I  went to Pioneer Woman's website. It was love at first sight.  I loved her pictures, her stories and her recipes.  I was inspired!!  I spent a lot of time looking at her pictures and reading anything she wrote about photography.  She explained things clearly and I wanted to learn more.

Up until that moment I was a mom who took lots of pictures on Auto and never knew why all my pictures were AWFUL.  I  was not taking pictures that much anymore because after buying 3 cameras in 2 years not much had changed in my picture taking ability or quality.  It must be the cameras fault and I QUIT!!

Then I read about PW and how she used to be just like me...an awful photographer just 4 years before. And now look at her photos, amazing!!  I had hope.  I read about her first SLR camera a Nikon D80.  She has since upgraded..but that is what got her going.  So as you can imagine I now HAD TO HAVE A NIKON D-80!!

Fast forward a few minutes..we had the fire and we got some insurance money.  All of a sudden I have a chance to own this expensive camera that was a pipe dream just the week before.  It took a little sweet talk to convince Pete that the only way to heal my broken heart over all our burnt pictures and scrapbooks was to allow me a open ended amount in order to purchase this camera that I just knew would put me along side Anne Gedes in just a few short shutter clicks!!!

And Pete, being a guy who likes to mend a broken heart, agreed to this new idea of mine and said yes. I went to the local camera shop, after my photographer friend Jessica suggested it to me, and proudly asked to see the Nikon D-80!!!  Thinking I was pretty cool for be a woman who knows what she wants!!

And quickly feeling silly because the camera sales guy was like, "They don't make D-80's anymore "  I knew that!!!  He then sweetly explained that Nikon released another updated version of the D80 and it is now the.....D-90!!

I said, " Wrap it up!"  I knew nothing about why I was paying that amount of money for something that I really had no idea how to use.  All I knew was Pioneer Woman took nice pictures with her camera and I wanted to take nice pictures with mine.  I took it home, slapped on a fancy lens, put it on auto and began shooting anything that would stand still (not a lot of pictures of Lucy or Priscilla!)

I was thrilled for awhile. And then every now and again I would take my "Magical Camera" with me and I would not get the pictures I was dreaming of....you know the pictures like Pioneer Woman's.  And I began to do what happened after every honeymoon camera phase...I started taking less pictures.  This time it was a little harder for me to give up completely because I like to post pictures on my blog. 

But I just kept shooting on Auto never changing 1 single setting EVER.  Almost 1 year later my world changed  on one sunny Thursday morning when my dear friend Jessica said, "Don't you ever change your settings? You should try to adjust your shutter speed so you won't get all that shadow when you are taking pictures in the direct sun light."  Then the sweetest thing that anyone has ever done for me (being dramatic for the reader!!)

Jessica showed me how to adjust my shutter speed (luv u Jess!!)

And in that moment my world changed (not being dramatic here...that is the truth)

I began adjusting ALL my SETTINGS!!  I am shooting in Manual.  That means that I control everything that my sweet camera does.  I have not put the thing down in 2 weeks!!  I am not that good...but I am having the best time getting better.  It's all about the light!!

.....and a good friend with a beautiful piece of property that I invite myself to in order to take pictures with her!!  Oh yeah, and I  let he feed me while I am there too!!

Now all I need to do is learn how to take good pictures, buy an apple orchard in Eastern Washington, and keep my kids clean enough so I can take pictures of them!!

p.s i know there are a few more things I need to do...but these 3 are on my immediate to -do list...with the exception of buying an apple orchard....that may have to come later....