Goal Being Reached

One of my goals a year ago was to become more proficient as a photographer. I certainly haven't reached the level I want to yet, but my skills have greatly increased. I have also learned how to use Photoshop to some degree thanks to Christian, Cheryl and the website Lynda.com.

This picture I took in Toarmino, Sicily in October.  It is presently hanging in a business venue as the Photographer of the Month for December.  I was very pleasantly surprised to be selected by my fellow Photo Club members especially since several of them are professional photographers.  I am learning a lot from them especially about composition and looking for that perfect and unusual shot.

When I was in Washington earlier this month, Cheryl wanted me to take some family pictures for her.  It was a gray, cold hazy day with the sunshine breaking through occasionally which made for some interesting camera adjustments.  I sure do like the digital camera though so I can take a lot of pictures and then sort through them.  I was reading a photographer's blog and he said you should take many photos and then through away about 80% of your pictures and only keep the really good ones.  I still have a hard time with that for some reason but I do delete about 50% now.

Courtney and Daniel came to our home in Goodyear for several days for Daniel's brother's wedding.  They slept at our house.  Courtney wanted some pictures taken of the two of them so we went to the clubhouse and lakes close by.  My challenge with this photo shoot was the bright sunshine.  They only time they were available for the shoot was about 10:00 in the morning, certainly not ideal for lighting with the sun and shadows. I discovered real soon that I need a difuser and/or reflector shade and an assistant to hold it. These are a few of my favorites.
 

I really love this one of my beautiful granddaughter, Courtney!

I enjoyed taking these pictures and certainly each time I have a photo shoot (doesn't that sound professional) I learn so much of what to do and what not to do!

Christmas In California

We made a quick decision to drive out to Maria and Stan's home in California for Christmas. Christmas Eve Maria had some challenging games for us including placing a cookie on our forehead and getting it into our mouth without using our hands. The winning time was 4 seconds.  Stan beat Christian by .3 second.  Then we had to stack bolts on top of each other using a candy cane. Stan was the obvious champion again.

Christmas morning saw all of us up at a reasonable hour.  The gift of the day was Callie's dwarf bunny!

Before we left to drive back to Arizona on Monday, we enjoyed playing croquet in teams of two.  Not bragging or anything, but guess who was on the winning team both times!

"What is that blue ball doing in my way again?"

"Help, I can't see the wicket.  The sun is too bright."

"Come on, you can do it, Courtney."

"Okay Christian, do you think we can win this game?"

It was a great weekend.  Besides being with family, the thing that made the trip worthwhile was a tremendous spiritual experience on Sunday at Church.  A narrated musical program was performed that was just outstanding.  Maria, Callie and Sierra were all involved.  Sierra played the organ for many of the musical numbers.  It is impossible to adequately describe what we heard and felt.  It was wonderful!  Thanks Maria and family for a great weekend.



Visit to the Gibsons in Washington

Early on December 12, I flew up to Seattle, Washington to visit Cheryl, Ben and family.  It is cold, wet, misty and foggy there with moments of brilliant sunshine shining through the clouds.  It is beautiful with the mist swirling among the pines and cedars.  We spent one day taking family photos at a park by Lake Stevens which was fun since I was able to learn and try some new things.  I'll share those photos later after I have had some time to do some photoshopping.

It was wonderful  to spent some quality time with Cheryl and the kids.  Ben was so busy with his work that we didn't see much of him except on the weekend.  I met the kids at the bus stop, played games with Brayden especially, made Christmas cookies with the kids, shopped with Cheryl, cuddled with Chase and just relaxed.   It touched my heart when Brayden asked why I had to go home and I told him Grandpa was alone so I had to go back.  His response was "instead of you flying to Phoenix just have Grandpa fly here."

Annual Call Christmas Gathering

The big events for this year included sailing lessons, then fun on the boats at Estrella Mountain Ranch.

The next big event was bowling. Everyone was challenged to beat grandma and I think most everyone did.

We finished the day with our traditional pizza and a short program.