Birthday Girl

My neice at her 5th birthday party yesterday!

Bamboooooo

An old one for tonight. I'm off to bed now! YAY!!! It's the weekend!!!!

Might as well

Thought I'd give you another article since that's all I've done lately. I did dream about taking photos last night. They were good eye pictures and some portraits. But I guess they won't be there now, eh?

and again

At least this one has some photography on it! :)

Headline: New Project Takes up All Photog's Time!

This is all I've been working on today. The only photos I took were "clipart" for this project. This is one of my favorite pates, though!

Haha! Project Go-Ahead!

I've decided to go ahead with a project that will probably end up never being used. Still, I think it's a pretty cool idea. Prepare for a longer-than-normal entry!

So, here's the idea: a workbook that looks and reads like a magazine. In 7th grade, our kids write every time they read (at least at school). Usually, I put a prompt on the board, they whine a little, then they write the minimum and throw the notebooks on the counter. I would, too. Journals can be really boring.
But this one is better (I hope). The idea is that the whole journal looks like a magazine (only the words are missing). Instead of surveys about kissing, you get surveys about characters. Instead of ads for makeup, ads for books. Instead of articles of fashion advice from stars, articles of fashion advice from characters.
And it's all SOl-based (SOLs are the VA standards for education)
Conflict? "Uncovered Scandal"
Characterization? "Round or Flat: Our Experts Reveal All!"

I know I'm a dork. But, hey, Photoshop is fun! :)
Plus, how cool would it be to be 12 and writing "magazine articles" instead of journal entries?
Heck, how cool would it be at 24?

Nothing to show

This is just me playing with layers and masks. I don't have a photo for today.

Wouldn't it be fun?

I made this thinking of a student project. I wish I could think of a good purpose because I think it would be so fun to write something that someone actually wanted to read! :)

Cuddle Me

This is kinda how I feel today. Ugh...

pear collage

Collage

Tried something a little different. Not sure I like it...

Job Offer

I was offered a "job" the other day. A friend/coworker of my mother would like me to take

senior pictures of her older daughter. She'll be a senior in the fall. I am SO excited. Her other daughter is Ducky (the colored-pencil girl a couple of posts back). Both girls are beautiful and I'm sure the pictures will turn out nicely. But now I need to do some practicing with poses and locations and all of that. Oh, Emily!

Yearbook 2008

I've been working on getting set up for next year's yearbook. This year felt like one long disaster. I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea how to plan. I didn't have much help and the software was completely new to me.

Next year will be so much better!

This picture is done from a photo. It's a pretty cheesy/cheap trick - I just did a color pencil filter. But this kind of thing will be really exciting to a 13 year old and that's all that matters. My goal is to make a yearbook next year that we can enter into a competition.

I'm going to hate myself

The Story of the Tree

By now, I've had a little practice telling this story. In fact, on Thursday, it constituted about 1/2 of my lesson (we were learning about imagery).

So, here you go...Once upon a time, there stood a beautiful tree. She lived in the front yard of a home that was by no means a castle, but was well loved anyway. The tree reached as high as the roof of the modest 2-story house and spread her curved and much-adorned branches over most of the front yard. Her name was Bradford Pear.

Now, Bradford Pear was well known for being the first tree to bloom in the springtime. As soon as Winter tucked itself away and his child Spring began to stretch her fingers over the land of Gloucester County, Bradford Pear would bloom. And she didn't just peak out a blossom or two at a time, she exploded in tiny white flowers that fell like snow when the breeze blew through. So early did she bloom, that by the time other trees were getting their first hints of life, she had already let loose her tiny leaf buds and was a beautiful array of white flowers and bright green leaves. And Bradford Pear was very proud of this.

Well, one day the people who lived inside the house that Bradford Pear guarded decided to go to the town's annual festival. And not only were they going to go, they were going to participate. They spent long hours ordering supplies and cleaning off silver to sell at the festival. They spent much money preparing and stocking and readying themselves for the festival. And they were excited to go.

But then the day of the festival arrived. The house awoke before dawn and began the last-minute preparations for the event. They bathed and dressed and checked and rechecked plans and lists and chattered happily like birds on a beautiful morning. Only this morning there were no birds. And when they looked out of the window, they saw why.

Over everything, there was a thick layer of newly fallen snow. The white flakes still fell from the sky and looked like the petals of the Bradford Pear when the Spring's breezes blew just right.
So concerned were they with the cold in the air and the 4 inches of snow covering the ground that they didn't even notice Bradford Pear who was shivering under her own layer of snow. But Bradford didn't care. She was being brave and facing this new and unknown enemy with great strength. Still, she could feel her already-laden branches start to shake and tremble under the weight of all of this strange white coldness.

The family continued to prepare for the festival because she was important to them that they go. The man braved the falling flakes and went to Carly the Car to brush the snow off of her and warm her insides. He didn't think of attempting the same with Bradford Pear.

As Bradford watched, the weight became too much. With a heavy heart, but even heavier branches, Bradford Pear decided to let down her beautiful arms and release her beautiful petals and bid farewell to her beautiful leaves. This new snow enemy was too strong and Bradford Pear was meant for warmer weather.

The man and the women that lived in the house heard the last words of Bradford Pear in the form of "Pop. Pop. Pop. CRASH" as her branches tumbled towards the earth in a shower of snow and snow-like petals.

And so, the day ended prematurely, not only for the festival, but for Bradford Pear as well.

Grandmothers

Eater 2007: My Grandmothers

Grandma Louie

Grandma JoAnn

Mom

Easter 2007:
Mom prepares Easter dinner.

Michelle

Easter 2007:
She gave me permission to take photos to show off her hair. Elliott actually pushed the button on this once (hence the very low Michelle!)

Elliott

Easter 2007: Finally got him to put his chin in his hands after several (amusing) tries.

By the way, if you're wondering where all of the posts about the Daffodil Festival are... I have an amusing story about that coming in a few days.

Until then, enjoy this series of Easter...

Emily

Easter 2007:

Tweet!

Here's a little bird to wish you good morning! Does anyone know what kind of bird he is?

PS

I'm a little worried about tomorrow's entry. You may have to wait a couple of days for it. Tomorrow is the Daffodil Festival and I'm going to be VERY busy!

Pear again

Just a tree

I really liked the color of the sky behind it though. I'm trying to decide if it would make a neat print or if it's just too boring!

Pear, Pear Everywhere

One thing I didn't know about these trees is that they smell REALLY bad.

Shame

It's a shame. I took most of my Pear Pictures with the wrong white balance setting. They would have been (more) cool had they been taken correctly.

Spring!

This little guy wants me to know... Spring is here!