Mortimer's Mom

First Assignment

My photo class has started. The first time I read it over last week, I was all "whaaaaaa?????" I just couldn't make any sense out of it. Aperture, White Balance, Shutter Speed, it was all Greek to me. But I read it over and over, and finally just skipped over all the technical stuff and read the assignment. I'm very much a hands-on, teach myself kind of girl. So I read the actual assignment instructions and just started taking pictures. Eventually, I figured it out. Originally, I was going to submit 2 versions of this photo:

I thought it was pretty good, but the teacher had made a point of mentioning good lighting, so I decided to leave my basement (NEWS BULLETIN: MM leaves her basement and goes OUTSIDE!!!) and grab my camera and go shoot some pictures. Can I tell you something? I had a great time! I went to a park across from the movie theater and took over 100 pictures (well, divide that by 3, becasue I took each picture on 3 different settings) before seing my movie (Un traceable, pretty good)

I ended up going back out again today, after seing what some of the other students had submitted. I just really wanted to give it my best effort. Here is my final assignment:

I'll spare you the different versions with diffent F-stop! But I'm pretty happy. I got a really good critique, apparantly my white is perfectly balanced... yeah me! And the teacher actually made a comment about the nice red. So I'm pretty happy. And I had a good time doing it. For your enjoyement (and virtual achiving of my life!) here are some of the other pictures I took....

Because you asked....

So, since you asked (well, Grumpy Mama asked!), here are the pictures of some of the purchases....

The elusive Coach flats:  60$!!! Can you believe it?

The Navy Wedges I found, also very very inexpensive.

These are the shoes that broke my heart on Bleeker Street.... I found them online, I just have to wait a bit to justify them.... (except mine were teal, not black)

The bag.......

Most definitely my signature color.... I always fall back on the burnt orange.....

I also got some adorable things at Anthropologie, but I can't grab their pictures, so if you really care, there is a super cute top, that could have looked very maternity-like, but actually is more artsy-french. Something Audrey Tautou would wear.... And the killer spring coat that I fell in love with the second I saw it.

I will spare you pictures of my underwear..... some things are just better left unsaid!

photoblog: learning to play with the new toy

I have decided to learn to use my new Rebel. First, I read the manual! Shocking! I did figure out how to make the histogram go away from my photo-reviewing, because I don't know how to read it, so it's pointless for now.

But just because I read the manual doesn't mean I understood much! I know all the buttons and stuff, but I don't understand the basics of speed, lighting and all those fancy other words..... So I am signing up for a photography class online. My buddy Debberoo is going to take the Learn your Rebel class with me, but the timing of the classes is conflicting with the arrival of her new baby (the nerve!) so we might have to put it off for now. Either way, I am signing up for a class that starts on February 6th. So if you have ever wanted to take such a class, let me know, I'm looking for a buddy! (or two)

In the mean time, I had some fun on the weekend. playing with the different automatic settings, trying to figure out ligthing while playing outside in the snow, and just plain shooting until i felt I got some good pictures.

I've put them in an album for your perusal.....