Capturing Kids

It's Christmas and I have 5 little nephews running around like crazy, giggling, wrestling, making funny faces and just being kids. There have been snow ball fights, bingo games, opening presents, a few tired tears, hugs, and a bunch of love. I brought the camera with the goal of trying to preserve some of those special moments. Before I started I equipped myself with a little knowledge to help make it a little smoother. One important lesson I learned was to capture the unexpected. Get away from "Posing" them the way you want, don't force the smiles and look for the special times when they are just being kids. So I waited and watched. At the park I took pictures of hands. Just hands making sand pizzas. At home my brother and my sister's two boys sat together in GrandDad's chair. One nephew on his own with hands behind is head and his feet crossed looked just like GrandDad.

As the day progressed I was able to see things about each child that I had never noticed before. The way one cocks his head to the side when he is trying to figure something out. The way one twirls his hair around and around with his little fingers while watching a movie. It was truly insightful.

Digital photography makes it possible to experiment. You can shoot and shoot and shoot and then sort through the photos to capture the ones that express what you want to express in your photo montages. Kids don't stay small for long so get busy captures those special moments.

Show me some or your favorites! Here are a few tips I found on Digital Photography School Its great to go prepared!

Having Some Fun with Word Art

So, I told you I was trying to learn to develop my own Word Art and its been a little bit of a slow process. Its much easier to buy it commercially because the cost is so low, but the only reason why buying it is easier is because my computer is so darn slow that I keep freezing and shutting down Photo shop every time I press the text button. I think if I am going to venture into the design side of photography I am going to need to invest in a better computer with more memory. Hhmmmm...another item to research! Oh well, its a continuous learning lesson this here life!

But I have something so fun to share with you! I found a site that allows you to type in your words and it randomly creates a word art picture for you. The site wordle is so much fun. I created my own story using words and I am going to print it out and frame it. Think of how much fun you could have with children! Ask them to tell you words that describe them as a person and help them spell and put the words in and the press the button and it creates a piece of art. You can play with the fonts, the colors and its so easy! I just love fun free activities. In addition you can create phrases for your photos, coffee mugs, stationary. The possibilities are endless, but I just loved the way it took my words about me and created art. Give it a try and please post a link to your art so we can learn more about you. To get started with this one, I used my blog profile. Once I got the hang of it, I copied the words before I pushed the button to create, just in case I got something wrong and wanted to try again. I wanted my name to be more prominent, so I finally figured out what words were bigger and swapped them with one another. I hope you have some fun with this!