Miscellaneous End of Year Fun

The school year is winding down so we are full of end of year celebrations.  

Emily FINALLY got to be Star of the Week last week (since her birthday falls during a holiday week).  She made her "about me" poster, got to be line leader and bring a show and tell every day.  It was glorious to be in the spotlight (for a change) and she was sad when it ended.  Even sadder when she got the memo that it wouldn't end with a flourish.  She wanted me to host a party in school on the last day of her stardom :|

The Hickam Hurricanes are also close to the end of another not so winning season.  To their credit, they seem to have a good time.  Pool party to follow

Em is a little sad about school ending but it means more time with her peeps in the hood.  Meilin had a birthday party and the kiddos went pottery painting!

Serious hair, serious business.

Last Friday was the last Friday of school. Not the last DAY of school but it was worth a celebration anyway.  Every day is a good day for ice cream right?

Thankfully we are also winding down the time till daddy gets home.  It hasn't been long by Navy standards but it's certainly long by child standards.  Shortly after that, the Grandparents are coming!!  Lots to look forward to.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful Memorial Day.  We are hanging with pals, cooking burgers.  Take a moment to reflect and remember; some gave all!

Kaena Point - the sequel!

Remember this map?  Last time I hiked via the Southern route to the Point, yesterday I did it via the North Shore.  Little bit longer and bumpier terrain but beautiful, yes.  

Salt deposits.  We should have scooped it up, sea salt is expensive :)

Black and white is sometimes a miracle fix for that photo where you just can't get the color right.  Not so much for ocean photos.  Weird effect.

These little guys were everywhere.  Some sort of starfish but we lacked the courage to pick one up and investigate further.

No monk seal sightings this time, and the shore birds kept their distance.  Still a great hike, climb, picnic and all around lovely day.

More Homework!

Photography class was cancelled today which is good since I hadn't finished my homework (don't tell Olivia)

Gave me a free day to play around with my friends at the beach and take a few shots...

All the shots above were taken late in the day, with the sun setting and to my back.  Creates beautiful blue skies and vibrant colors.  Thankfully, that was my goal for these shots so it worked :)


The shots below were taken in full midday sun (which is not ideal) but the goal here was to capture water in motion. That part worked ok, but my images were overexposed.  Have to work on that next time

Not quite ready to open my own studio but I did learn a few tricks.  Mostly, it opened my eyes to how much I don't know.  That's what intermediate classes are for right?

Photo Shoot

It's not everyday I get my big girl to play with me and my camera!  Hey, these days it's not everyday that she and I are even speaking :)

We called a truce long enough to get her all dressed up for the end of year banquet

I must admit, she shines up nicely!

Truce over

Manual Setting!

In the interest of full disclosure, my fancy new camera has been set on AUTO since the day I opened the box.  And while I'll admit it does a pretty good job, I do a lot of editing to get my pictures to look the way I want.

Nothing to do but drag yourself and a couple of your buds to a photography class!  Turns out all those little numbers you see when you look in the viewfinder really do mean something - who knew?  Well, I suspected but it made me feel dumb so I ignored it.

I won't bore you with all my hits and misses but these were my homework shots.  I should also point out we weren't allowed to edit in any way.  No cropping, adjusting color, saturation, nada.

Flower

Water

Person

Animal (had to borrow Drew from a neighbor).  Ok, still in full disclosure mode, I never asked.  We just had a photo shoot when they weren't home one day.  

Building or statue

I was pretty happy with the unedited results.  My teacher was less impressed but really it's you folks that I'm working for :)

This one is for next week.  I wish I could edit out the stick on the right side but no cheating!  I'm really impressed with it for one reason...I took it in the bright sunlight with tons of "noise" in the background.  Somehow it ended up with a black background!  I'll have to see if I can re-create that but I might pretend it was on purpose.