Making a DIY Canvas Gallery

In the last few years we've have several sets of family pictures taken.  The first set was taken in our yard and it was not only our immediate family (Mike, I and the Kids) but we also included our Parents and our Grandparents.  The second set was just our immediate family and those were taken at Mesker Park Zoo during one of Josh and Taylor's visits home.  The third set was to be taken at Goebel Farms in the pumpkin patch, again, during one of Josh and Taylor's visits home.  Unfortunately we were not able to get our entire immediate group together at the same time for the last set of family pictures so it had to be done in different shoots.  The first shoot was done the day Josh and Taylor were leaving, we just took some pictures in our yard.  The second shoot was done at Burdette Park.  

Ever since that first family photo shoot in our yard back in 2012, I've wanted to create a canvas gallery for my wall.  I had looked and looked at them and laid out several, but just could not bring myself to pay the price for having the canvases printed.  If I were just doing a single canvas or maybe even just a couple, I could probably talk myself into paying the price but the galleries I was laying out were 10 pictures or more and I could just not bring myself to pay that much money.  Especially since people change through the years and I like changing things too much so the chance of canvases that I ordered staying on the wall for more than a few years wasn't very good.  

I had thought about trying to do it myself but I just wasn't sure - I had an idea in my head as to how it would work, but I'm more of a visual person, I have to see it.  So, one day I happened to be on Facebook and a photographer that I follow posted about creating her own canvas gallery!  That sealed the deal and I was ready to give it a shot!!  

It took me quite a while to decide on the lay out - there are lots of places you can look to come up with your lay out - Pinterest is a good one, the companies you can order canvas galleries through is another good resource and just a google search of "canvas gallery layouts" will give you a bunch of ideas! 

So, after a lot of changing lay outs, changing which year of photos I would use, etc. I finally decided to do my gallery using the pictures we just had taken last fall.  I used one of the online canvas companies to lay out my pictures and then I did a screen shot of the layout.  

It was then time to order my prints.  I've been using Nations Photo Lab for my recent print orders and I've been 100% pleased with every order!!  They run great sales and I believe that all the prints that I ordered for this gallery cost me about $50.  

Once my prints were ordered I started gathering my canvases - I knew that Michael's sells value packs of canvases so that is where I decided to start at.  I happened to luck into a half off sale at Michael's so I was able to get a really good deal on my canvases.  Had it not been for the sale I planned to use 40% off Michael's coupons that are in their ad each week.  You can also go to their website and print the coupons off.  They won't let you use more than one at a time but I've been known to make multiple trips to use as many as I could!  

Once my prints arrive and I had gathered all my canvases I was ready to start putting everything together!  I decided that I wanted the sides of my canvases to be black so using black craft paint (you can also buy canvases that are already black at a higher cost) I painted around the side of each canvas and one brush width on top around each side just so no white showed through.  I did two coats.  Craft paint usually dries pretty quick but I decided to give the canvases 24 hours before moving onto the next step which was adding my pictures.  

When the canvases were ready I painted a coat of Modge Podge on the top of the canvas and then pressed the picture onto the canvas using my hands to smooth out any Modge Podge that may be clumped up under the picture.  After I had everything smoothed out I began brushing Modge Podge across the top of the picture and using my brush to smooth any that had squished out on the sides of the canvas.  The more Modge Podge you paint on (after allowing a bit of time to dry in between coats) the more texture you will get on your pictures.  I only did two coats on top of mine so they just have a light texture.  

After that all you need is a little dry time then you are ready to prepare your canvases for hanging. We decided to use little hooks and wire but you could probably easily use the little hooks that you hammer on the back of frames too.  

We laid the gallery out on the floor and measured the width and height to determine the center and then started measuring for placement on the wall.  We would make tiny pencil marks on the wall as we measured.   

We also have a laser level which helped to keep the tops of the canvases in a straight line.  We built our home and although we've been here 13 years I still have a very hard time putting holes in the walls so I had decided to use the little 3-M hooks to hang the pictures.  I've used them before for Christmas decorations and haven't had any problems.  Using them to hang my canvases was not successful and the canvases began falling from the wall.  It could be that had we given the hooks 24 hours to set it would have gone better but by the time all the pictures fell I was done with using the hooks to hang them!  

Canvases are very light so I really figured they would be fine on the hooks.  We ended up hanging them with thumbtacks which worked out nicely.  There are now holes in my wall but they are tiny holes that would be easy to patch if ever we needed to patch them.  

I decided to do this canvas gallery in black and white (I love black and white any way) but since these pictures were taken at different locations I was worried about the different background colors so I opted to go with black and white.  I'm anxious to do a color one and I'm already planning my next gallery which will likely be color photos.  Another thing about this DIY gallery is that I really would not have a problem with changing out these photos in a year or so because I don't have much invested in the project, definitely far less than if I had ordered them.  In fact, in all honesty you could probably just put new pictures right over top of these when you are ready to change it up!  

It really was a fun project and I enjoy seeing the pictures on my wall every day!  If anyone decides to take on this project and has any questions, please let me know!  

More About Me - Legal Assistant by Day and Photographer In Training By Night and Weekend

For those that don't know, my "real" job is that I'm a Legal Assistant at a law firm in downtown Evansville.  I have been at my present place of employment just about a month shy of 25 years (yes, I'm old).  Up until about a year ago I did primarily real estate work as a part of our firm's title insurance operation.  However, the year before last our title insurance underwriter ceased operations and the attorney that I work for primarily opted not to pick up a new Underwriter and instead focus on Medicaid Planning.  The partners in the firm practice in pretty much every area of the law except for Bankruptcy and Criminal Law but specialize in Estate Planning, Estate and Trust Administration, Medicaid Planning, Corporate Work and some Real Estate.    

I truly believe that hobbies are a very good thing.  At least for me, a 100% true busy body, hobbies are for sure a good thing!!  I've been blessed to have enjoyed several different hobbies during my almost 45 years. 

One of my hobbies or interests I guess you could say, is that of old cars or Street Rods.  My husband and I have a 1948 Ford F-150 and we are members of E'ville Iron Street Rods, the host of the Frog Follies.  Being a member of E'ville Iron gives me quite a few opportunities to take pictures, not only at The Frog Follies, but our Spring Cruise-In at the Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center and at our other various monthly club events.  

A second hobby which could have almost have been considered a second, part-time job for a period of time, was that of cake decorating.  I decorated a lot of cakes, including wedding cakes, during the years of my cake decorating career.  My decorating these days is pretty much limited to occasionally baking for family members.  For the most part I enjoy decorating, but the time and cost involved with decorating combined with destroying your kitchen in just a short period of time caused me to take a step back from decorating cakes.  Back in my busy days of decorating cakes I took alot of pictures!!  Through the years I made quite a few wedding cakes!  I loved being a part of the Bride's big day until it came to delivery time, talk about stress!  I would ride in the back of the car and "take care" of my creation while my Mom, or occasionally my husband, would drive.  Thankfully in my many years of cake decorating I only had two cake "mishaps" (not wedding cakes).  I consider that a win as many cakes as I made!!  Quite a few years ago when I was doing more wedding cakes I would often hang around for the wedding and take pictures.  I love weddings!  I love the creativity involved with each one!  I recently took a look back at some of  my early days wedding cake delivery - some day I will have to go back and share them!  

A third hobby, which was recently acquired is that of gardening.  My early years (as a child) involved helping with a garden (a pretty huge garden I may add), canning and freezing.  And having "Daddy & Me Time" while helping my dad at his garden at his house one year (again, a very huge garden), but Mike and I have only attempted three gardens at our house.  The first we didn't plan at all, we got up one morning and decided to put out a garden - got the spot ready and went to the greenhouse for plants.  Came home and planted everything and the next morning everything had been eaten (except the cucumbers) by rabbits and they came back for the cucumbers the next night.  Fail.  The second garden was a few years later and although it went better than the first garden it didn't do great and ended up pretty much being weeds.  Now our garden last year was fabulous and we got so much stuff out of the year garden (can't say the same for our fall garden) so I'm anxious to get a garden out again this year and even try my hand at some canning and freezing!  

I guess you could say that a fourth hobby is that of training for half marathons!  My cousin and I spend a lot of time walking and talking and training for halfs!  I completed one with her last year - the Evansville Half Marathon (she did two last year).  The year before that we did three in one year - the Indianapolis Mini, the Monumental in Indianapolis and the Evansville Half Marathon.  Our plan this year is to try to get in two, back to back weekends (which is how she did her two last year) we plan to do the Kentucky Derby Half followed by the Indy Mini Marathon - I'm not so sure I can survive it but Jamie assures me that I can!  The only problem is that this crazy winter weather has been causing problems with our training schedule.  

This brings me to my current hobby!  Which is my love of photography!  I don't just love taking pictures I love looking at pictures - mine and other people's photos too - I just love it!  I love looking back through my external hard drive at pictures that I have saved on there for years and years!  I love digging through boxes of old family photos!!  I love looking at the pictures of my family on my fireplace mantle and my canvas gallery on the wall!  I just love it!  I can't get enough of it and I hope to get a lot of practice taking pictures while training for this "new" hobby!!    

So again, hobbies are good!  Find something that you love to do and do it!!  

Drake & Makinley

Drake and Makinley, my youngest niece and only nephew, were my first photo shoot at the Goebel Christmas Tree Farm!  Goebel Christmas Tree Farm is my favorite!  I've visited there many times during pumpkin season to get pumpkins and other fall holiday decor items!  I've taken many pictures there but the three photo shoots I did there late last year were my first "official" Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoots!

Goebel Farms is a farm in the Northern part of Vanderburgh County and if you've never been there, you really should check it out!  For more information about Goebel Farms visit the  Goebel Farms Website

We decided to take Drake and Makinley's photos at the tree farm and it was supposed to be them and their dad, my brother, Scott.  But last minute Scott got camera shy and said he would like pictures of him and the kids in his back yard with snow.  Well wouldn't you just know it that here it is almost mid-February and we still haven't gotten that snow to take those pictures.  I think my brother knew what he was doing when he said that!  But after some back and forth we did decide to press on with Drake and Makinley's photos!  When we got to the tree farm my brother was a bit worried about whether we were allowed to take pictures there.  I reassured him that I had called ahead and they said it was fine as long as we did not get in the way of the customers!  Drake and Makinley were excited about their photo shoot and we got alot of cute pictures as well as a few "fun" ones!! 

I hope you enjoy Drake and Makinley's Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot pictures!  I'm still planning on getting those pictures of them and their dad in their back yard in the snow!  I'm not a fan of snow at all but I'll take it if it is what allows me to get those pictures taken!

For More Pictures From Drake & Makinley's Tree Farm Photo Shoot Visit:

Drake & Makinley's Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot

Laura & Titan

Laura and Titan were my second photo shoot after I began my quest to learn how to use my new camera!  A few weeks prior to taking pictures of Laura and her dog, Titan, I had photographed my niece, Lexie and her boyfriend, Mike, who is Laura's nephew!  Laura contacted me about taking some photos of her with her dog, Titan after she saw the pictures of Lexie and Mike. 

Laura explained to me that Titan only had 3 legs, that one leg had been removed as a result of cancer being found in the leg.  Titan lives at Laura's mom and dad's house which is pretty much just a hop, skip and jump away from my house.  Laura said that Titan did fine getting around but that he tires easily so a location close to where he lives would probably be best!  Living in a subdivision in the Country with a field adjoining my back yard and a lake in our front yard and a tree line along the backside of our lake dam I have several spots in my yard that make nice picture taking spots!  After scouting out those spots and taking test shots I then hit the back roads of Posey County to find a few other spots for our photo shoot!  

The day of our photo shoot I was a bit concerned about rain but we managed to clear any rain drops that would prevent us from getting the pictures taken!  I met Laura and Titan at Laura's parents house.  Although I'd taken photos of my own pets in the past (not with much success as trying to get three labs to all stay still at the same time for a picture can be quite a challenge) this was my first "official" pet photo shoot.  I had done a little homework about photographing pets and had armed myself with dog treats and I was ready for the challenge! 

When I got there I had the thought that I'd take some photos of Titan in his normal surroundings, thinking we'd get him to play and I could take photos of him in his own yard.  But apparently Titan is more of a stay in the house dog and he was not one bit interested in playing in the yard to have his picture taken!  So we loaded him up and headed to new surroundings.  Once we got to my yard and started taking pictures he did great!  I think a new place to explore and all the new smells was just what we needed for a successful photo shoot!  

After we wrapped up in my yard we loaded Titan up one more time and drove to a spot that I had found on the backroads behind my house.  If you use your imagination and the weather cooperates you really can get a lot of great pictures outdoors if you just take the time to scout it out and take test shots before your photo shoot!  I hope you enjoy these pictures of Laura and Titan! 

To See More Pictures of Laura & Titan - Visit:  

Laura & Titan

Art Noir Art Exhibit

A few weeks ago the photography teacher posted in the photography group information about an art show and encouraged us to enter.  I thought about entering and even messaged the photography teacher for more information.  The day before the registration deadline I was messaging with the photography teacher asking more questions about the show since I'd never entered any of my pictures in anything before.  My biggest question was since most all of my recent pictures were of family members, if photos of people ever won anything.  The photography teacher replied that her friend had won third place with a picture of a person in 2014 so my decision was made that I'd give it a shot.  Since my decision was made on the very last possible day I had to hand deliver my application over to the Gallery, which happens to be just a few blocks away from my office.  I didn't even realize it was there!  

So now, came the hard part, picking what pictures to enter.  The entry fee was $35 and with that you could enter two items.  I first narrowed my pictures down to my very, very, most favorites ones - I manged to get it down to five, which was not an easy task at all!  I even contemplated paying an additional entry fee to be able to enter more than two, but later decided that it was silly to pay to be competing against myself, especially since this was my first time entering!  I really didn't know what to expect, so I just sucked it up and picked two of the five photos while keeping in the back of my mind that my other favorites would get their chance!

The show or exhibit I guess you would call it, is sponsored by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana - visit their website for more information:  Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana.  The title of the exhibit is "Art Noir - An All Black and White Exhibit" - you can visit the Facebook page for the exhibit at Art Noir Facebook Page.

After registration deadline came and went we received an email giving us all the important dates.  The email also informed us that they had an overwhelming response of entries with 80 artists entering over 130 pieces!  That in itself made me even more nervous than I already was but I realized that even if my photos didn't make it in the show it was still a great learning experience!  

My registration was now in and it was time to start putting everything together! Once I had picked my two favorites I then picked up frames and ordered the prints from Nations Photo Lab who I've used a few times now for ordering prints.  I have been pleased with the quality and price every time!  If you're not in a hurry to place an order and can watch for a while before you order, they run some great sales!  When the prints arrived Mike helped prepare my frames, I added the prints and they were ready for drop off day last week Friday!  Entries were to be dropped off Friday, judging was on Monday and we would receive an email by 4 pm on Tuesday notifying us if our pieces were accepted for the exhibit.  

Friday after everyone's pieces had been dropped off the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana posted these pictures which didn't help one bit to calm my nerves!  Although I was excited to see how many entries there were!   

So today was notification day and my photos didn't make it in but I'm still excited that I had the chance to enter them!  I'm especially excited to check out the pieces that did make it in the show!  If you have the chance stop by the gallery to check them out!  

Unfortunately I didn't take a good picture of my prints framed but these are the two "favorites" that I selected to enter! 

"The Prowl"

"Smile On A Cold Day"

Katelynn & Lily

These little cuties were the second of three photo shoots that I did at the Goebel Christmas Tree Farm!  I had been browsing Pinterest (I LOVE Pinterest!) for Christmas picture ideas and found pictures taken at a Christmas Tree Farm and I instantly fell in love with the idea!

Again, going back to the fact that I don't have a studio to take pictures in, I have to get creative with on-site photo shoots and hope for the best as far as the weather!  We set the date for Katelynn & Lily's Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot and of course it ended up being a very cold day.  I tried to work quickly to keep things moving so as not to freeze the poor girls while taking their pictures!

Katelynn & Lily are family, their Mom, Misty, is my husband's cousin and in fact, their Grandma Debbie, is one-half of the pair that set Mike and I up.  So of course, I was thrilled to get to take pictures of the girls and couldn't be more excited about our trip to the Christmas Tree Farm!  Even with it being so cold the girls were troopers, did fabulous, and we managed to get a lot of really great photos!

As I mentioned, I did three photo shoots at the Goebel Christmas Tree Farm and I will get them all posted on this blog!  One of the pictures from this photo shoot, I absolutely loved and recently had the opportunity to use it to enter it in a local Art Gallery Black and White Exhibit.  The results will be emailed today and I will post to let you know if my photo made it in the show or not!  

Katelynn and Lily are both just adorable and I'm looking forward to photographing them again in warmer temperatures!!

For More Pictures from Katelynn and Lily's Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot Please Visit:

Katelynn & Lily Christmas Tree Farm Photo Shoot

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

So where exactly did the name "Capturing Your Precious Moments Photography" come from?  For anyone that doesn't know, I've been a long time collector of Precious Moments Collectibles.  I haven't added to my collection for many years, but I do have a decent size collection.  When I first started collecting, I made frequent trips to the Hallmark Store to pick up almost every one of the newest releases.  As time went on my collecting slowed to only buying statues that had special meaning and then to eventually not adding any new statues at all.  I have a curio cabinet in my living room that houses my favorites and the rest are in boxes in the attic.  

My collection includes a complete Sugar Town set which occasionally makes it out of the attic for Christmas season decorating, but not very often because I worry about pieces getting broken.  The chapel in my Sugar Town collection even has the signature of Sam Butcher, the creator of Precious Moments, on the back.  Rose Marie's Hallmark store had a collectors event that Sam Butcher was present for and you could bring one piece with you to have him personally sign it.  

So, when I started brainstorming for a name for a photography sharing blog and photography sharing Facebook page, obviously this came to mind!  Especially since you are capturing "precious moments" when you take photos!

I felt like it was the perfect name and even reserved it with the Indiana Secretary of State!  But, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered if it was too long and I'm still brainstorming other ideas!  Recently I've also noticed a few other photographers use similar names.  I love it and if I do change the name that I post photos under "Capturing Your Precious Moments" will probably still be my tag line! 

 

MY VERY FIRST MATERNITY PHOTOGRAPHY SHOOT!

I'm very excited to say that I've now done my very first maternity photography shoot!!  I also have to say that thankfully the photo shoot was much easier than this blog post is going . . . . .enough venting! 

My very first maternity photo shoot was with family members, Billy and Melanie!  Melanie had her first baby shower coming up at the end of January and wanted maternity photos to display at the shower.  We picked a date and I kept a close eye on the weather.  Since I do not yet have a studio I use the outdoors for my photo shoots.  I don't consider this a bad thing at all since I love outdoor photos, except for when the weather is bad.  The day that we picked was to be very cold and I had picked an indoor location to use but still just wasn't excited about the location.  As we got a bit closer to the "date" we saw that the very next week the weather was going to break so we decided to postpone.  I am soooooooo glad that we did!!  Although the weather was a bit chilly it was nothing compared to the weekend before and the sun was shining brightly!  

We had decided on a little park in downtown.  I went a few days before our photo shoot and did some test shots.  I was so excited!!  You could not tell that it was January from this little park!  It had an astro turf type lawn and the plants were ones that were still green.  With the sun shining you would have almost thought it was a Spring or Summer day!!  

This is Billy and Melanie's first child and the fact that they asked me to take these photos for them means so much to me!  I can't wait for the little one to get here and sneak some photos of her but until then I hope you enjoy these pictures of the Mommy and Daddy To Be!  

If you know me you know this is not all of these pictures!  To See More Please Visit the Billy & Melanie's Maternity Photo Shoot In The Park album on Facebook!  

Billy & Melanie's Maternity Photo Shoot In The Park

My Camera Story

My very first post on my new photography sharing blog!  

Here we are in 2015 - last year my life was headed in a completely different direction when I got sidetracked or derailed I guess you could say and my direction was turned toward growing my knowledge of photography.  Particularly the new camera that I had just purchased.  

I guess I should back up a bit to give you the entire story . . . . . although I had always liked taking pictures occasionally, my husband is truly the person who created the picture taking "monster" that exists today!  He bought me my first "super cool digital camera," a Sony Mavica Cybershot that saved pictures to a cute little disc!  I took loads of pictures with that camera until the accident, a hard lesson learned, that although you always want to have your camera there to capture those precious moments, taking your "super cool digital camera" to your sister's bachelorette party, which happened to be at a beer garden, is not a super cool idea!  Beer and camera lenses do not mix at all.  I sent the camera off for repairs and it was still usable but would have problems at times.  

My second super cool digital camera was an 8 megapixel Sony Cybershot camera that I just retired last year, in fact, I actually still use it at times.  It had features that I hoped to find when replacing it that the newer cameras just didn't have and it was a good solid built camera.  When I pay a lot of money for something I want it to feel like it is worth the money I paid for it!  One of the features was that the camera had a memory card slot and a compact flash card slot.  This was great because when one card was full I just switched over to the second one and could continue taking pictures!  My experience has been that most people have never heard of a compact flash card, so in case you haven't, basically it was a card that held a whole lotta pictures before the new memory cards that we now have that hold thousands of photos on one card.  The compact flash card was not one of my first accessory purchases for my camera because brand new it cost $500. Thankfully, I didn't have to have the newest technology NOW and I waited and purchased mine later for much less than the original cost.  The two card slots was the feature that I most wanted in a new camera until I got my new camera, got a new 64 gig memory card and found that I can fit 8,000 24 megapixel pictures on it!  Once I discovered that, not having two card slots didn't seem likely nearly as big of an issue!  This camera was great, it took beautiful pictures but it sometimes struggled with action shots and almost always struggled with low light situations.  

I used that camera for 10 + years and got great pictures but I knew I wasn't using the camera to its full potential so I signed up for a one-day photography class to "learn how to use your camera".  After attending the class, which by the way, I was the only Sony user in class and the only person who knew what a compact flash card was besides the teacher.  After the class, heck, even during the class, I was completely lost.  I didn't know what the heck aperture, shutter speed or iso were and I was scared to move any settings on my camera for fear that I would mess it up and I would not be able to get it back to taking good pictures.  At this point, the camera had already started to fail some, again it was 10+ years old so I figured I had definitely gotten my monies worth from it.  I would get a card reader error occasionally and it just blurred more than it ever had.  I honestly think I wore it out.  Knowing that the camera was probably dying and I would probably be getting a new one soon, I had already been researching new ones and was having a difficult time.  I'd been using Sony for so many years and had always had very good luck with them.  Although I had learned that they don't stand up very well to beer. . .I researched them all and I just couldn't decided if Sony was ahead of the times or behind the times.  I decided to go ahead and take the one day class because I decided if nothing else if it helped me make up my mind on what camera to buy that was worth the money I spent for the class!  

So, as the teacher went through the class and asked "who has Canon, who has Nikon, who has . . ." I was the only one left that hadn't raised my hand.  When asked what I used I replied "I shoot with Sony and I'm not sure if they are ahead of the times or behind the times" to which the photography teacher replied "oh, they are definitely ahead of the times, alot of my professional photography friends shoot Sony and if I didn't have so much money already wrapped up in what I use I'd probably shoot Sony too."  Decision made, I was on the way to my next Sony camera purchase.  I may not have understood aperture, shutter speed or iso but I knew what my next camera was going to be! 

 After some urging and prompting from my husband, I am a huge tight wad and it usually takes quite a bit of prodding to get me to spend money.  I believe he pushed me so much to get a new camera because he was tired of hearing me complain about the pictures my old camera was taking.  He insisted that I get a new camera and that if I didn't he would order one for me.  For fear that he would in fact order a new camera, not knowing what I had decided, on I thought I'd better get moving.  I  had already decided it would be the Sony A77.  When I started trying to buy one I was actually having trouble finding one and after some inquiries I learned that a new model Sony A77 would be coming out soon.  So I decided to wait for the new camera announcement.  I even set my alarm to get up early on the day that Sony made the announcement!  The online commercial for the Sony A77II was fabulous and completely sold me on the camera but I still didn't order one yet because I didn't want to spend the money!  So I waited a while and eventually finally pre-ordered the new camera.  Of course it was a pre-order and by the time I ordered there was a waiting list but once I finally got the camera I decided it was well worth the wait!  It was my first dslr and I had no idea how to use it but I knew I was going to love it!  

I had messaged a few photography friends to ask a few questions here and there and honestly just really didn't use the camera much because I didn't know how!  I was lucky to be able to get the lens on the camera body and once I got it on I definitely couldn't figure out how to get it off the camera but I figured that was ok since it was the only lens I had at his point!  Google and Pinterest became my best friend at this point until I finally decided to take a look at the old printed off the internet manual!  

While attempting to slowly try to learn this camera the Photography Teacher from that Saturday Class posted in the photography Facebook group about a 4 week shooting workshop she would be offering.  After going back and forth on whether I had time to attend I decided to go for it!  At the first class I still had not used the camera much at all.  The class was small in numbers and we would meet at a location, she would tell us what we were working on that day and then we would go take pictures and the teacher would come around and help us one on one.  The first week was Aperture and F Stops which I still had no idea what that was and now had a camera that I had no idea how to work it and I was taking a class. . . . I decided I would go to the location, find out what the assignment was take a few pictures, go home and figure out how to do what we were supposed to do then go back and shoot pictures.  I forgot about the one on one part . . .the teacher came around and I had to tell her I had no idea how to make my camera do what she was asking us to do, she helped me and that I would say is what started this Capturing Your Precious Moments Journey that I'm on.  Once I started learning I wanted to learn more and I wanted to practice!  For years I had loved capturing my families precious moments.  And I have to say that Facebook has got to be the best tool for sharing photos with family and friends that I have ever found!  Back in the day when I started with that very first camera, I saved photos to a family group on MyFamily.com for my family to be able to see.  I've come a long way since then and I can't wait to see where I can go from here! 

I love my new camera, I'm sure it still does things that I have no idea how to make it do, but I'm working on that and I hopefully will master it before I wear it out!  One of my newest passions is the challenge of sports photography.  I am hoping to get a fast zoom lens next to get up close for action shots!  

I set up this blog to share photos that I take and information about those photos.  They say every photo tells a story and I think it's nice to hear the story behind the photo!  

So enjoy!  I promise that the blog posts from here on out will not be this long!  

Stacy