I took this picture this morning out in my yard. I have been reading a lot about using light to create different photographic effects and I was really excited to see some "bokeh" in my pictures. Basically "bokeh" are those fuzzy, blurry spheres you sometimes see in the background. The cool thing is that you can manipulate the shape of the bokeh as it takes on the shape of the lense. As standard lenses are spherical, the bokeh is spherical. However you can make a heart shaped lense cover that will cause your bokeh to appear heart shaped. Read more about it here. Heart-shaped bokeh...that is going to be my next project

No bokeh here...but I just loved this. Its whimsical and delicate...makes you feel like fairies could really live at the bottom of the garden.

Go bulldogs!!!!

Bulldogs attack!

Sack - that - quarter - back!

Well I have that and a few other cheers stuck in my brain from the game yesterday. The girls did such a great job. Heaps of energy and enthusiasm.

It was fun to use them as my photography guinea pigs.

Nature is the Art of God

"Nature is the art of God. "
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Art is Cool

It must be exhausting to be a teacher but sometimes I think they have the best job ever. Our school offers an Art Enrichment program through Beaverton. It is run by volunteers..(including yours truly)...and today I went into my sons' classrooms ( 3rd and Kindergarten) to do the presentation on the latest instalment in the program. We give a background to the artist or style we are studying and then the kids get to create their own piece of art in that genre.

Every time I go into the classrooms..(this is my second year) I always find their boundless enthusiasm, curiosity and sense of wonder incredibly inspiring and refreshing. The whole idea behind the program is to develop in kids a love and appreciation for all different types of art and from the kindergarteners "ooh's" and "aah's" and the much cooler 3rd graders "awesome" and "wicked" I can only take that to mean that the program is paying off. Here is my 3rd grader working on his own masterpiece.

The "Not-So-Thoughtful" Wife

My lovely hubby has been wanting a digital SLR camera for ever and being the wonderfully thoughtful wife that I am, I decided to get him one for Christmas. After lots of research and opinions from friends, I finally settled on the Canon Rebel Xsi. Well, somewhere along the way I became really interested in the idea of taking photos as an art form as opposed to just taking some "happy snaps"!. I think I may have caught the photography bug and I ended up buying the camera..FOR MYSELF! OK..so maybe I'm NOT wonderfully thoughtful but I thought I'd share my very first photo with the new camera...(it arrived yesterday). Unfortunately, everyone was in bed at midnight last night so I didn't have much of a choice as far as subject matter...but here is a pic of my dog , Bart. On the upside... I can only get better from here.

OK...here we go!!!!!

So I thought I'd give this blogging business a go. Being a technological neanderthal this is quite a step for me but I am embracing my inner Bill Gates and going for it. I'm hoping it will be a fun way to keep in touch with my friends and family who are spread out across all four corners of the world. So feel free to leave your thoughts, comments and pearls of wisdom...we're bloggin' baby!