project 26 | post 11 | me and mine

I've been trying to be really proactive and planning with all of my photography project posts.  I knew I'd need some Me & Mine photos again soon, so when Shawn suggested we go out for some family tball practice at 2:00pm on April 29th, I figured I might as well go with it.  I really meant to get these edited before now and this post done and checked off the list.  I did.  Really mean do, that is.

I didn't, however.

So then, when I went to edit them (way too late on the night before they are due), they were just a mess.  Of course the crazy dichotomy of shade and then bright full sun.  That's 2pm for you.  But the white balance on my camera has just been won-KAY of late.  I don't know what on earth changed.  I've changed nothing.  But it has taken it upon itself to be all whacked up.  (My personal theory is that he feels sorry for me and wants me to have  D700 and he's trying to prepare me for his final breakdown... I don't think Mr. Pace will take the $2200 plus tax price tag very well).

And then, lastly, you know those comparison pics you've seen on Pinterest?  Those "this is what I feel like running, but this is what I really look like?"  Yeah... that's how I felt when I saw these photos.  Starting the running program has really increased my positive outlook on my appearance, even though I've lost no pounds whatsoever (yes, I know muscle weighs more than fat.  Still I was hoping for a LITTLE bit of weight loss encouragement), and even though my pants and shorts are fit just as tight as they always have.  At any rate, I suppose I have this mental image of what I look like.  When put face to face with reality in a photo... let's just say it is humbling.  So I was tempted to trash these out of the potential me and mine camp.  I had trouble getting the remote to register from being too far away.  Little Buddy wasn't in the mood for the tball play (until he got to hit the ball).  The cards were stacked against me.

But forget that.  This is me.  The real me.  Reality.  The real us.  All of us.  Playing tball for fun as a family.  There ya go.  Nothing spectacular photographically.  But capturing a memory that included me.  And that's the point.  I need to remember that.

My friend, Celeste Jones, is up next in our group.  Check out what she did with her iPhone for this week's Me and Mine.

I shot these with my D90 Sigma 30mm f1.4

Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet.

I didn't have time for it. Not in the slightest.  I'm so behind in everything. Absolutely everything.  Trying to manage it all (and failing at it) is weighing on me heavily and my chin has erupted into something that reminds me of a kid activity book connect the dots page.  [I'm not exaggerating.]  Stress is oozing out of me.

But one aspect of this week's assignment for the Finding the Light photography workshop I'm taking is to photograph involving rain. It has looked like rain for days now, but has yet to rain here at our house.  So I've been stuck in this stage of in between light.  Not full sun, like I need for part 1 of the assignment.  Not any rain, like I need for part 2.  This is just tagging along with my general state of overwhelment, lately.

Yet this afternoon.  I suddenly heard the background noise change, and peeked out the window.  I saw rain. Hard, hard rain.  I debated internally for just a moment.

You don't have time for that.
You don't have time not to, Carey.  Just go do it.

I asked the kids if they wanted to go out and play with their umbrellas in the rain. Enthusiastic yeses. We went. I held my umbrella in my left hand and the camera in my right, with my neck strap on. Somehow I did it. My back was wet, but the camera was safe.

I know we were out for more than an hour. We all had a ball. An absolute ball.  But more than the photos I got, I got some reprieve.  I always underestimate how much *I* need to play, too. I feel like a burden has been lifted, though not one thing off my list was accomplished.  I need to have more fun.  A lot more fun.  To just let go, more often.

As I lead the kids upstairs to the bathtub (with Little Buddy shivering his bony little self to death), I said "guys, thanks SO much for playing with me this afternoon in the rain. I had so much fun!" Little Buddy replies, "but mama. you didn't play. you just took pictures."

Oh Buddy. Little, Little Buddy.  It may not have looked like play to you, but it sure was play to me.  And I needed it.  Badly.

[Though, I did tell him that next time it rains, I'll leave my camera inside and just play his way.]

I found this quote:  "Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. " -Roger Miller.  May I always remember to walk in the rain and never merely become wet by it.  May I pass this on to my children.

I'm seriously dying to edit these photos right now.  Dying.  But the list is long and the hour is late.  For now, I'll share the first four that caught my eye as I quickly ran through the first memory card I filled up.

I shot these with my D90  Nikon 85mm f1.8

food challenge | may | magazine recreation

I've joined with several other ladies across the country to improve our food photography skills.  Each month, we've challenged ourselves to a different theme.  For May, our theme was to recreate a magazine cover.

I didn't think I was going to be able to participate in this one. With everything my family and I have going on these days, something had to give.  But at the last minute, Allison Jacobs inspired me and I realized I could get this done.

My inspiration was this July 1981 cover of Bon Appetit magazine.  Just simple.  Just a bowl of the fruit.  Not a lot of fuss about the magazine contents crowding the cover.  The cover is about the image.

I decided to use our group name (The Inspired Plate) as my magazine title, and then made up a name for the issue and then a teaser for the contents.  All in all, this was actually really fun.  I had dreaded it big time for the last several months.  As usual, nothing is as bad as I, Anxiety Girl, expect it to be.

Take a few moments to visit the other ladies in the group and how they were inspired to create a magazine cover.  Next up is my friend,  Stacey Siegal | Bradenton-Sarasota Food Photographer.

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D