Let it snow, let it snow, let is snow!!!

Yipee, I think winter is finally here!!! The leaves have changed and mostly fell to the ground. Today is chilly (but not cold)...about 50 degrees. Our low tonight is supposed to be in the 20s! And it is raining!!! I'm really hoping that means snow for our local surrounding mountains and Dave and I will be on our skis in no time! Sweet! I love winter!!! I honestly wish it would always be either fall or winter. I'm really not big on summer at all.

One More Cute Photo

Don't jugde me ...

Okay So I'm taking off part of this post I wrote earlier. I mean maybe it came across in a mean way that it was not intended. But please don't judge me unless you actually know my situation and circumstances. Which unless you are a member or my family or my husband you just don't know because I don't share them with anyone else. So without knowing any background or more information I don't think it is fair to judge me, so pleaes don't. And that is all I have to say on that matter.

Thanksgiving and more

Ah, yeah I said I wasn’t posting Photoshoot photos on this blog anymore, but I just have to share this one. I love it! It’s just so cute how Tyler and Jaime are standing in the background watching their son. I love taking photos like this. I love being creative with my focus points. It just makes such an impact on the photo. So did every one have a great thanksgiving? We did we ate at the Stinking Rose in Beverly Hills since our kitchen wasn’t quite ready for cooking. Then we headed home, took a nap, had chocolate fondue and wine, and just hung out the rest of the evening. Friday I went shopping with my mom while my dad worked on hooking up our sink and dishwasher so we could actually wash dishes again. Then it was off to Catalina Island for an overnight stay.

Catalina Island

So my parents came out for thanksgiving and we decided to go somewhere neither of us have been...Catalina Island. While we were there we walked around, took a night semi-submarine tour and a 2 hour bus tour of the island. Here are a few photos I took. I was really wishing I would have brought the tripod.

Finalist again!

So I'm a finalist again in this online photo contest. This time I'm a finalist twice...once in two different categories.

Flower Photo (Lily)

City Photo (Eiffel Tower)View Blog

Now If I could just win! I'd love the prize money. Of course it would just go to my new camera!

So Here's a before and after from a photo I took a couple of years ago in venice.

Original Photo

With about 30 seconds of editing in Lightroom

Kinda cool photos

I keep playing around with lightroom presets to get a better feel for them. Here's a photo I took at Brenda's wedding. I love the vignetting. It's so funny that for a year now I've been wanting to do this, but didn't know how. Stupid me! It's so simple! The coloring is much brighter than the original photo. Is it over the top? Look at his kilt and the grass.
Well if not, this one is over the top. But kinda cool. The pool is aqua!

More Photography Stuff

So I ended up staying up late last night, because I was so excited about some new photography stuff. A while back I had emailed this photographer that took photos of Dave and I about a year ago. I wanted some advice as to how to improve my photography and I figured who better to ask than someone I have actually met before and totally admire. Her work is just awesome! So anyway I got some great advice from her, mostly about post production stuff. I was so excited to try some things out and downloaded some presets for adobe lightroom and started playing around. Yeah, what an improvement over the original file! So I went back through Tracy and Jakes photos since I haven't given them to them yet. Wow, I have so much to learn still. But baby steps right. I' getting there.

So lately I've been reading rumors of a new 5D! I also read a rumor of 16MP! What an upgrade that would be from my XT. I think Dave and I have decided that were going to suck it up and get a new camera. So I'm waiting for the announcement to see what this new camera offers. Meanwhile the original 5D is really coming down in price.

Anyway I'll be taking more photos this weekend. This time for my cousin and his family. Then I get a couple weekend off before I do the birthday party and some engagement photos.

Weekend Recap

So this weekend was very low key and kind of relaxing (we don't get to many of these, since I usually have us going somewhere). Friday I played my first game of softball in 1.5 years. I had a good time, although I was very rusty. I did have a nice hit into the outfield though. I do miss softball, but I wont play in the winter since it just gets to cold out here. Saturday morning I got up early to do a photo shoot in Santa Clarita. I started my own separate blog for photoshoots, so I won't be posting that stuff here anymore. But you can view them at micheleschanker.blogspot.com
Then I came home to clean up some with Dave. Our friends Arielle and John came up to visit in the evening. We went to dinner, played Taboo, and had drinks by the fire pit on the patio. Sunday morning I got up first and decided to go downstairs and wait for everyone to get up. One my way down I slipped and fell down about 5 of the stairs. The crazy thing is no one even heard me. Dave thinks it hilarious and hasn't let me live it down yet. I have a huge nasty bruise on my hip. I spent the rest of the day photo editing, cleaning, shopping for stuff for the house, and waiting for the big event of the day...the very first University of Maryland College Basketball game of the 07-08 season. They won of course...55-79 ( I think). I'm so glad its bball time. I live for college bball...I even modify my schedule just to watch the games and we have the full court package again.

Costa Rica Slideshows

Here is the our Costa Rica sideshow. I had to break it up into two sideshows because the file was to big for blogger. It's not the best quality, but you'll get a good overview of the trip. Enjoy!

Part 1



Part 2

Yeah, I'm totally a photo geek...

My new cards came today and the first thing I did (besides look at them) was to photograph them. So yes I'm definately a photography geek!

New Angels and Airwaves!

I love this album! The new Angels and Airwaves album rocks, I've been listening to it all day! Dave and already bought tickets to see them in LA in January for a concert and drum off! I can't wait! If you don't know this band, totally check them out! It's Tom Delange from Blink 182. Although I've always loved Blink, so I'm biased.

Just had to post this...

Next weekend I'm taking photos of a mom and her 6 year old. I'm pretty excited becuase I love photographing kids. I dragged Dave with me over to a small park this afternoon to try out some ideas. I even had him on the swings! Since it's turning to fall out here in Southern Cali we decided to try a photo of throwing the leaves in the air. Here's what we got, I just thought it was too cute. He's such a kid at heart!


Thanks for being my guinea pig Dave!

Running as a 30 year old

So today was my first official race as a 30 year old. I've always heard the competition if much more fierce once you hit 30. For the last few years, I've pretty much showed up at all my races (except for the huge ones) expecting that I would win an award, and most of the time I knew I would place 1st. This year I ran in the palmdale run that I do every year. I did the 5K and the age group was 30-39! Since I haven't been training to hard, I wasn't sure what to expect out of myself. This is the same race that I did my personal best in last year (23:12), but I knew I wouldn't be able to beat that. I ran the first mile in 7:48, and ended up with a final time of 24:17. This was good, but not great for me. I was happy it was still under the 8 min/mile pace, and Dave said there weren't to may girls ahead for me. I ended up 31st overall and 2nd in my age group. So I still placed, even though there is more competition. There is another race in December, so we'll see if I can improve in the next month. I love that my husband supports me so much in my running. He comes to my races, sits around, waits for me, when he sees in the homestretch he starts running next to me and yelling at me to go faster. It's just to cute. You should see how excited he gets when he knows I am doing really well. Thanks Dave for being so incredibly supportive.

Second Blog

I have started a second Blog. This one is to focus on my photography only. I plan to post photos from portrait sessions on here along with the slideshows. It's a long website name, so you may just want to bookmark it. I'll add it to the links list too.

http://micheleschanker.blogspot.com/

My 1st Photography Card

In light of the flurry of photography activity I've been getting lately, I decided to make up some cards with my info. I seem to be sparking a lot of interest for children/family photos. Which is something I'm very interested in doing more regularly.

The cards should be here in a day or two. I'm pretty excited. Now I won't have to write things down anymore. Usually when we travel and meet people that want to see my photos, I end up having to write the website down and stuff. But now I'll be able to just hand them a trusty little card. I hope they turn out good. Here's what it looks like:

Fall in Napa

It seems that Dave and I making a yearly tradition of going to Napa Valley in the fall. This year, Dave had training in Sacramento. So I took a late afternoon flight to northern Cali to meet up with Dave. On Saturday we met our friends, Janis and Joe for a day of wine tasting in Napa. The first place we went to was a appointment only place. But the wines were good and the place was very off the beaten path. We even got to taste straight out of the barrels and some fresh grape juice from a vat of grapes. Then it was off for a few more places. We ended the day at Nicholson Ranch, with great sunset lighting on the hills. Then it was off to dinner in Sonoma and back to our hotel, where we enjoyed another bottle of wine. The next day Dave and I totally slept in. I don’t usually sleep past 8am on a weekend, but this time I did. We decided to check out the Jelly Belly factory and buy some Belly Flops (disfigured jelly bellies). Before heading home we stopped off in the Livermore Valley for a few more wine tastings. Then it was off for our 4.5 hour drive home. We had a really good weekend and the wine fridge is now full again!