Review - Favs and Outtakes

[I started this post the day I got called into my boss' office and let go. . so, I'm just getting back to finish and post it.]

My first round of 26 things just wrapped up and the next one has already begun! I'm not feeling as inspired, but hopefully, it will come, because I did enjoy it very much - the first weekend I took pictures for 15 of the 26 categories! I was so obsessed. .it did, thankfully? dwindle a bit and I had to pace myself. I'm glad I did hold off on some, becuase I got better shots, but it was also nice to have some to fall back on when I didn't come up with anything different.

Anyway, I felt I needed a bit more closure, so I compiled my own Favorites List from everyone else's and a few tidbits on my own collection. Ones marked with ** are ones I consider the best of the group overall; that stand out in my mind the most.

Ashley -- "Movement" watch parts**. "Flat" butterfly**. "Metallic" coins. "Historic" St. Louis arch. "Moody" Spanish moss laden tree. "Ahh" coke, because it speaks to me more than beer pictures as I am not a beer drinker, but definitely a dietcherrycokeaholic. "Effort" spider web, great picture and really fits the category.

Kristian - "DYST?" fantastic shot and thought for the category - it's one I really remember**. "Flat" butterfly**. "Priorities" napping on the hike. "This Magic Moment" changing leaves - love commentary, too. "Sparkle" light fixture. "Aahh!" coffee mixer. "Accessory" tattoo.

Amy - "Color My World" umbrella - LOVE the composition and how the umbrellas are not centered, it really captures the vastness of the sky when you are at the beach**. "On the Road" hopscotch**. "Movement" with the pelican and waves in seamless opposition. "This Magic Moment" because I can really relate to the joy of having your little one play in the sand for the first time after it being a struggle. "Historic" Uga VII entering first game. "Juicy" strawberries; impressive color and composition.

Sarah - "Accessory" TV in car tailgating. "On the road" cars, great focus, movement, composition and creativity**. "Metallic" skiier sculpture, just love the find. "Effort" doing homework. "Flat" balloons, great interpretation. "Game on" layout/setup of UGA paraphenalia. "Splish splash" no one is wet, so I'm impressed you got it on the first try. "Aahh!" again, not a beer drinker, but love the foaming, freshness and the local plug.

Myra - "effort" dog half off bed. .could have even been half and half, very cute. "This magic moment" love the interpretation with the clock. "Fun in the sun" train water fountain is so unique! "Relief" wet leaves, great shot. "Flat" exploding tire, on a cool car no less, what a dramatic find!

Michelle - "game on" cheerleader, good angle, cute shot. "metallic" pool, interesting interpretation. "effort" blow bubble gum, makes me laugh. "flat" stuffed animal, love the sentiment. "tiny" tooth! "DYST?" you really had to be paying attention not to get distracted with what they were looking at!

Susan - "sparkle" eyes, excellent thinking and love the angle. "accessory" rocking chair, creative! "tiny" horse, so sweet. "juicy" oranges - color! layout. "on the road" rain. "color my world" harder to find a more appropriate subject than sunset on the beach. "priorities" good night shot and application. "splish splash" slinging water from hair, awesome. "effort" piano. "aahh!" gas prices! "yummy" KK doughnuts. "this magic moment" is professional quality and just priceless for you to have captured I'm sure. "fun in the sun"** love the sheer bliss and excitement jumping together out of the water. I remember being really intimidated by your first several photos.

Jennifer - "metallic" bridge, "Aahh!" leaking ink machine. "spiral" peel, great composition - self holding peel and shooting picture?! "historic" tree.

My own - LOVE "Spiral", "Flat" and "Way to Go" for their personal significance. Proud of "Way to Go" as a picture, too; learning the blurring background trick. Love "Effort" because it was a happy accident trying to capture "juicy" but think it really shows the effort involved. "Yummy" was a fun find, too. "Tiny" got the most comments! "Relief" took so many shots to get it just right. . but I love the result! "Accessory" and "Priorities" are more out-of-the-box creative.

Here are a few outtakes (ok, a lot of outtakes):

Moody

our hound dog, Hank, can be pretty moody at times, too.

Movement

faster than a speeding bullet. . espeically when she doesn't want her picture taken!

Effort

there was definitely a struggle to hold up the blooms.

learning to walk takes a lot of effort. .even from those around you to keep you from falling and getting hurt.

Tiny

you'll need to click to enlarge to see my little friend scaling the flower pot.

trust me, these evil (who makes kid's toys with red eyes?!) little guys are TINY. They fit much too easily in my son's mouth.

more from our adventures with the tiny frogs. . .

cand you find the little guy? again, it may take a click to make things bigger.

Spiral

This picture attempt at spiral inspired the half and half idea.





ugh, enough, mama! Stop taking pictures of my hair! Pick one already!

Flat

Way to go

Framed

stained glass window in our powder room. Love the sun, but not seeing the house next door or the frame of the window itself. Never got a chance to retake.

frame Dellaina made for day care.

Family pictures in the stairwell.

A page from a book with pop-outs. I liked the frame/outline of the animals.

Color my world

loved the vibrancy and contrast of the bright spring green and the dark, wet wood. The flash washed some of it out, but in person it was really dramatic.

On the Road

Half and Half

(or just one half)

Another self-portrait, this time with Wyatt.

Greg & Dellaina - good color, but the sun was a little too direct and caused squinting.

after many, many attempts, I even tried something I thought I might be able to control better to get the shot. But even inanimate objects proved difficult to split.

this was the closest I got with the two kiddos. .*sigh. But, I did end up with this picture during the process, that I just treasure

7. Flat

Baby feet are pretty flat (and adorable!), but Greg's are still so flat, they suction to the floor. He has no arch, whatsoever! It's another one I've known I wanted to use for a while, but had to find the right shot. I'm happy to end on something so personal.

As the final submission for my 26 Things, I'd like to reiterate how much I've enjoyed playing the game and seeing things in a different way - it's enabled me to really focus and capture some very important parts of my world. Hope you enjoyed your little glimpse. . .

8. Framed

I received this set as a gift when my son was born and I LOVED it. It took me several months before I was able to print out the tiny 2x2 pictures to put in it and figure out where to hang it (finally decided on the kids' bathroom; formerly the "guest" bathroom), but I think the little FRAMES for each month (with magnetic labels) are great and it makes me happy.

11. Half and Half

I've had this idea since the first week or so, but trying to capture it has been the bane of my family's existence for the past 3 months. I wanted half of Dellaina and half of Wyatt. But, trying to get an 8-month, 9-month and now very active 10-month old and a 2 1/2 year old to sit still and be sweet to each other with the right angle and clean faces and smiles is quite a feat! So, I had to try to incorporate myself and Greg into the pictures, which still proved difficult. Another self-portrait wins out, though. Because it's that tricky to get all lined up and still click the button! My arms aren't that long.

9. Fun in the Sun

I have put this one off for so long, figuring it would be easy to come up with something for it. . .then I started to panic a little when I didn't have a plan or specific idea. I think it all worked out. . .

4. Color My World

This self-portrait was harder than it may look to capture. I spent the 25 minutes you're supposed to let the hair dye set, snapping pictures. Red is not the best color for pictures - I ended up with a lot looking like dramatic head wounds! And the gloppiness is not very pretty either. And the kids' bathroom had a lot of extra toys and things that ended up in a lot of shots, especially with me not being able to really see the picture before I took it - angles were very difficult! But, I had it in my head this would be my Color My World shot and knew I'd be doing it again within the 3 months time frame of the game.

14. Metallic

The Georgia Power building in downtown Atlanta. Through the window of my car. Um, while I was driving on the Interstate. I know I probably shouldn't reveal that, but we were going slower with some traffic to deal with and I just held the camera up, without looking through it, so while both hands might not have been on the wheel, my eyes were on the road. . mostly. Perhaps I should have gone back at a time I could be downtown and carefully take a thought out picture, but I kind of liked the angle (it's a funky-shaped building anyway) and how it turned out. The buildings are so reflective and this one, especially is really dark and metallic looking (even though, as my husband so kindly pointed out, it's actually glass, I suppose - it looks metallic to me and there are metallic parts to it). I attempted to get the Capital with it's gold dome on the way home, but it really needed more attention and time.

3. Believe

Do you believe in magic?

20. Sparkle

It might not be quite the sparkle the ocean can provide on a sunny day, but I grew up on the lake and love a dock view. It makes me happy and feel at home.