I've been accepted

A friend of mine (Georgi) told me about a website where you could post your pics and possibly sell them. Someone from church told her about it and I thought it sounded like something I could really get into. So I contacted this woman from church (Linda) and she gave me a lot of great information about photography. She is a semi professional photographer and has taken some amazing shots. She really inspired me to do a lot more with my photography.

To have pictures posted on the website you first have to apply. You send in 5-10 pics and the editors review them and then either deny or accept your application. I sent in 7 pics, 5 nature and 2 of my kids. I was denied. :( They have strict guide lines when it comes to pics of people. I tried again, I sent in the same exact pics minus the 2 of the kids. I was accepted!! I was so happy. They accepted 3 of the 5 I sent in.

It's a photo stock website. That means that if someone needs a picture of something specific they can go to this website and search for it and buy it. The pictures can be used for anything from a picture in an office, a billboard, or even a commercial. Anywhere you find a still shot it might have come from a site like this. You get paid based on what the picture is going to be used for. More for a billboard or commercial less for a picture in an office.
I've sent in a lot more shots and I can't wait to see if they are accepted. The website has a lot of resources on it that help people to take better pictures. It has really opened my eyes to what makes a better picture. Thanks Linda!

Here are some pictures I took last night. I took the kids to Dream Park and they had a blast. There is a dragon on the outside of the park and Reese was scared of her. She kept saying that it was going to bite her. Then on the way home there was a beautiful sunset and I actually took the pictures while stopped at a red light. :)

Summer is definitely here, the heat, humidity, and mosquitoes are here to stay for a while. The kids and I have been going so many places, the zoo, Olbrich Gardens, and the Wednesday farmer's market.
I've been taking a lot of pictures lately and so has Alexis who is 10 years old. I have to take turns with her just to use my own camera. I gave her my old fuji finepix but she likes using the new one better. I can't blame her, the old one has maybe 3 different settings. She has a good eye for what makes a good picture. Alexis will pick a beautiful subject and will focus in on it but she doesn't take note of what is in the background. Like if a person is walking by or if there is something you just don't want in the picture.
This past Tuesday we went to Olbrich Gardens with Molly, Lucy, and Meg. We had a great time, that is until the mosquitoes hit us full force. We eventually ended up leaving because they were so bad, even with bug spray on. OG had their sprinklers on so I told the kids to go ahead and go run through them. This is very unlike me to do and the kids couldn't believe I was letting them do it without them even asking. The pictures aren't all that spectacular but I think the water looks really cool.
The two plant pictures were taken by Alexis. She is having so much fun taking pictures. She now says that she has the same goal as me, to become a professional photographer.

Door County

I have been having a lot of fun taking so many pictures. We just got back from spending a few days in Door County. I took some beautiful black and white shots at Cana Island Lighthouse. The kids love going there to play in the water and collecting sea shells. It had just finished raining and I found some pine branches with raind droplets hanging off the ends. I was able to try out the beach setting on my camera and I could really tell a difference. The only setting I used to use on my camera was auto and now I rarely use that.

While at the camp ground we went down by the lake and watched the sunset. Guess what, there is a setting for that too. :) It was amazingly beautiful. The kids had a blast throwing rocks in the water and looking for sea shells.

On our way out of town we stopped at the beach to play in the sand for a bit. It ended up being to cold and windy that we only stayed for a few minutes. Alex and Ry didn't care how cold the water was, they went in anyway. It was great to see them laughing and playing in the water.

Olbrich Gardens

Today was such a beautiful day. The kids and I went to Olbrich Gardens with our friends Meg, Molly, and Lucy. A lot of the flowers are blooming now and it is such a beautiful place to go. I wanted to take pictures of so many different things. I decided that I should start with the flower setting on my camera. I think I took some pretty good shots considering I have about 3 seconds to spend taking any one picture before the kids are running away from me. :)

I didn't take very many shots of the kids this time. We did find a cool little spot that reminded me of a tree fort. I took Reese and Haeven's pictures and I'm really happy with the way Reese's turned out. It's too bad she was having a bad hair day.

favorite things

The kids and I have been spending so much time outside lately. There is no way I could go back any kind of job where I would have to be inside all day long.

Today we went to the Towne of Burke Park, not sure if that is the right name of the park. It's on Reiner Road. Anyway, we were there for over 2 hours today hanging out with our friends Molly and Lucy.

I was able to get some beautiful shots of the kids. My favorite one is of Reese looking through the side of the red tunnel. Just the look in her eyes is priceless to me.

Yesterday my next door neighbor's granddaughter brought me over some lilacs. Lilac is my absolute favorite smell in the whole world. They have 2 lilac trees/bushes in their yard and they always bloom about 1 week before mine do. I tried messing around with the settings I talked about yesterday and was able to get some cool shots of the lilacs.

Change of direction

So I've decided to change the direction of my blog. Origionally I was going to post pictures of the daycare on here so that the kids' friends and families could all enjoy them. Then I reallized I could only put a few pictures on at a time. I take so many pictures of the kids that it is hard for me to pick just a few.

Now my blog will be more about my photography. My dream is to be a professional photographer. I am going to start taking classes hopefully in the near future that will help me to become a better photographer. Then when the kids are all in school I'll be able to focus on my photography. Eventually doing weddings, senior pictures, and families. It would be fun to even be able to work for a magazine or newspaper or to do some kind of freelance work.

I've had my new camera for about a year now and I've never really explored all of its capabilities. So last night I looked up the manual online, because I lost my copy, and read up on my camera. I learned a lot of things that I never knew about the camera. I have a Fuji Finepix s700. I've been telling Kirk that I want a nicer, more professional camera. Well, I think that I may find that my camera is perfect for me at this point in time.

While we were at the zoo this morning I tried out some of the newly discovered features on my camera. One of the settings that I am most excited about lets me set the camera for exactly what I am taking pictures of. For example museums, sunset, flowers, party, snow, and beach.

I used the museum setting to take pictures of the lions and alligators at the zoo. It worked great. I was able to get clear shots of the animals through the glass.

Hope you enjoy

What a beautiful day! I would love it if every day in Wisconsin was like this. We had a wonderful morning. We met our friends Molly and Lucy over at Warner Park to go walking. The kids had fun running up and down the paths. It was really nice just being outside and having to worry about anything. When we go to the mall or somewhere else I'm usually worried about losing a kid, them breaking something, or getting into something they shouldn't. Today all I had to worry about was making sure they left all of the goose poop alone. :) Bryce was quite interested with it. I keep forgetting to mention that the older girl that has been in the pictures lately is our friend Alainna. She will be with us for the next few Tuesdays and Thursdays.

There were a lot of goose families. Moms and dads with their babies. Reese and Bryce kept insisting that they were ducks and chicks. The two of them kept trying to run up to them so it was pretty hard for me to get a good picture of the babies.

At one point we just sat on a bench in the sun and let the kids run in a field full of dandelions. They were in heaven! :) There was also a dog park a little ways away and they liked seeing the dogs running around.

On our walk back to the van we ran into our friend Rick. He was just out walking on his lunch break.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and the weather. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

Melanie