blah, blah, blah

I'll be honest. I had a really "blah" week. Just blah. Didn't want to do what I had to do (homeschool and housework), and felt relatively uninspired by the fun outlets in my life. I guess some weeks are like that. I've always got ideas of projects I'd like to accomplish though...but not enough energy or capacity to accomplish them all. Yesterday, my friend Lisa asked me what they were, and I had a hard time listing them, so here goes in no particular order.

1. Sew a fun apron. (I already picked out the material.)
2. Finish printing photos from 2008.
3. Begin printing photos from 2009.
4. Paint the girls' bathroom.
5. Re-decorate my living room. (A gradual process, I'm sure)
6. Collect funky frames for my family room.
7. Fill those funky frames with photographs.
8. Keep learning about exercise/physiology.
8. Scout out new locations for photo shoots.
9. Learn how to use my flash.

What's on your list?

new glasses

I got new glasses :) Do you like 'em? I think they're fun. If only I could see a little better through them, they'd be perfect. My saga of getting the right prescription continues... I think I'm just a difficult eye patient. But, I do find it strange that every time I've gotten my eyes checked in Asian countries, I have gotten a PERFECT prescription every time! And, the last four in America? No dice. Go figure.

A little story about me: I memorized the eye chart in grade school. I can still recite it to you: "E, FP, TOZ, FELOPZD." Every year from first grade on, I recited it perfectly. Until 5th grade when they changed the eye chart. And, the truth became clear (or unclear in this case): I needed glasses.

ballet day

It's ballet day at our house. Every week from 3pm-5pm I'm committed to it. Both girls love it, but A, in particular, is in love with dancing. Like mother like daughter. She takes any chance she can to do her moves. Turning on classical music in our home is an invitation to begin twirling around. But, apparently, cold days at the beach bring it out too. Buckets sitting around on the beach? An invitation to practice leaps.

black and white, baby!

Sometimes you take a photo of something cool, and it's just blah. Look at these below. Nothing special, right?




But, then, when you convert them to black and white, all of a sudden, you've got an eye-grabber.




These are coquina (shell walls) in St. Augustine, the oldest city in all of America. It was founded in 1565! We were lucky to have a chance to go there last week while we were at the beach. If you love history, this is one cool city! We only had a few hours in the afternoon, so it's on my list of places to get back to. And, of couse, I have more pics to share later! :)

blustery

I can't seem to get my head on straight these days!

In the process of cleaning out the fridge, I lost my dishcloth.
Then I found it: it was inside the fridge!

After starting the washing machine to finish up my Christmas tablecloths, I went to check on the laundry only to realize that the entire cycle had finished without the laundry. I had left the tablecloths on top of the washing machine!

Finally, the same day, I was leaving Jazzercise to drive home (in our new-to-us car--pics later) with my friend, Shannon. When we got to the car, I realized that I had lost my keys. Then, I remembered they were in my backpack. I told Shannon to wait right there, I'd go get my bag. But, as I was turning to leave, I noticed that I was wearing my backpack! At that moment, Shannon tried the door of the car, and we both realized that I hadn't ever locked it in the first place. Sheesh, you'd think I was pregnant! (But, I am NOT!)

here we go!

It's Monday morning at our house, and generally this is what the mood feels like:

Back to school, back to books, back to M's perplexed looks.



The good thing? The torture is over by 10:30am.


Happy Monday!

reflect

Sometimes it's good to stop and reflect and just sit still. I admit, I have a hard time sitting still most of the time. There are just too many things I want to do. So, recently I've forced myself to do a bit more reflecting. It's been refreshing. Here are some of my new goals this year (in no particular order):

1. Go "green" in my household cleaning. (Or at least mostly green!)
2. Make scrapbooking a priority!
3. Stay off the computer after 9pm. (This one's going to be hard!)
4. Give myself more grace.
5. Try some new recipes. ('m bored with my cooking.)
6. Simplify.

the arctic, really! {Ice! at Gaylord Palms}

Ever since we've moved to Florida, I've been dying to go to the Ice exhibit at the Gaylord Palms Resort. Yes, there's an ice exhibit in Orlando. A bit ironic and extravagant, but nonetheless, fascinating! Ice sculptors from Harbin, China are brought in to create some amazingly detailed work.


Upon entering, everyone receives a beautiful blue parka to keep warm. It's a balmy 9 degrees inside the exhibit.








The most exciting part of the exhibit: ice slides! A and I had so much fun going down these. By that point, M (who refused to wear her down coat), was freezing cold, and had to leave.






My favorite part of the day? Seeing everyone dressed in hats and scarves! (And the free hot chocolate afterwards!)

I was a bit concerned about taking my camera into and out of such extreme temperatures. (The danger is that condensation can form inside the camera and cause damage.) Apparently putting your camera and lenses into a Ziploc bag during the transitions can help. That way the air temperature around the camera has time to adjust, and if condensation forms, it will form on the bag, not on the camera. It worked for me!

jump!

I'm home! We went to the beach for 4 days for work. Well, David was working and I was tagging along for the fun of it. Rough life, huh? All I can say is that my dreams of sunbathing and playing at the beach all day were waylaid by *freezing cold* temperatures. (Yes, for Florida, it was freezing cold!) I know, you feel soooo sorry for me ;)

an apple a day...

keeps the doctor away! Who knew that apples would make such great props and become the theme of our shoot? These are my dear friends, John and Cindy and their adorable kiddos. We had a great time yesterday afternoon. It was a beau-ti-ful day, and the weather was perfect! Thanks for a fun time, guys!

look what I found!

I found this sweet, sweet note from my hubby inside my camera bag. It was attached to this:













Do you see? It's not my trusty Rebel XT (which I LOVE!) It's the 40D!!
I can not tell you how incredibly shocked, surprised, delighted, thrilled, and amazed I was. Ok you get the picture! WOW! What a totally unexpected, lavish gift. I'm so excited. I must have the best husband ever, don't you think?

just for you

I'll try to answer some questions I've gotten recently:

1. What do you use to process your photos? Lightroom2 and Photoshop CS3

2. What's your secret to getting your photos looking so cool? Ginnie's Actions. They're the first and only set I've ever purchased, and at $20 for the set, they're a STEAL! Seriously. The girl could charge two or three times as much and be totally justified. They are THAT good.

3. What camera do you shoot with? Up until yesterday, everything you see here was taken using my Rebel XT. Now I am the proud owner of a 40D! (So exciting!!)

4. What lens do you use? my Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 is on my camera 90% of the time. Most people compare it to Cannon's 24-70L glass, which is 4x the price. Someday, I'd love to own it, but for now, my Tamron suits me just fine! I also own the 50mm f/1.8, and of course my new fishy (15mm f/2.8)

5. How did you format your blog to get that nice wide body? (Did you edit HTML?) Yes, I did. (I'm lucky it worked, because I haven't a clue when it comes to that stuff). But, I found Blogger Buster and it taught me how to do it. Click on tutorials. I'd recommend creating a test blog to play around on while you're learning.

6. How do you get your photos looking so clear on your banner? I'm not really sure, but I think the trick is to make sure its formatted to the right width. My banner, for example, is 960 pixels wide, so when I make banners, I save them at that width.

7. I've noticed that you've grown a lot over the last year in your photography skills. Can you share your journey? I'm not totally sure what to say! My goal from early on has always been to nail the exposure in camera. If you're not sure how the "exposure triangle" works, check out Bryan Peterson's book called Understanding Exposure. That's where I started. It'll teach you how aperture, shutter speed and ISO work together. Then you, not the camera, are in charge of making the creatively correct exposure.

In order to improve nailing the focus, I started selecting the focus point manually, rather than letting the camera choose where to focus. I noticed this made a big difference too.

The only other thing I'd say is that I've also worked at learning how to use Photoshop. I'm no expert, but it can make a good photo great. My favorite thing to do is to "paint with light." It's also called "burning and dodging." It's an old darkroom trick that you can use to focus the light exactly where you want it to be.

My new goal is to try to master using my external flash. My advice? Set a little short-term goal for yourself and work at that for a few months. Do it with other people. It's more fun that way.

let's get it started

I promised the girls that if they'd do a mini-shoot for me, they'd get some Pez candy. And, it worked! It's a good way to start the year.

toothless

If you look real closely, you can see that M is missing her two bottom teeth. What you can't see are her two new front teeth behind them. The new ones had come in almost completely bypassing her baby teeth. Thank goodness for modern dentistry! Otherwise the poor girl would have had 4 bottom teeth forever.

it's all in the name....

Happy New Year!

I've got a new name: kwpix.com
What do you think? Short and sweet, right?
Maybe one day it will lead to a fabulous website, but for now, it's linked here, to my dearly beloved blog, Life in Orlando.

And you'll be seeing it more on my watermarks too. It's short for Kristina Wood Photography which can be a mouthful, really. So, don't forget, kwpix.com

Check out my new "Session Info" button on the right. It will lead you to my new place for information on sessions, including availability for January and February.

And, I know you want to know! I frequently get questions from you. I'm happy to share my journey, so be watching for an FAQ post, coming soon!

(Oh, and by the way, I am totally flattered by your comments, and am soooo not thinking that I've "arrived" in any way shape or form!) I just think photography is fun, and am happy to share my journey.