24/365 & 25/365

**yes, i skipped day 23.  it was umbrellas.  i didn't even take a photo that day** 

day 24:

Fresh Air.

i wanted to take a photo of my breath...

then i realized that's not fresh air but recycled air.

how do i take a photo of fresh air?

i can't take a photo of the air exactly, 

but where do i go to feel, breathe, the fresh air?

into the bush, away from buildings, cars...

the trees give us oxygen 

(unless science has discovered something else since i was in school - - 

i mean, pluto isn't a planet anymore...but i'm pretty sure about this.)

that's as fresh as we can get.

so here's some of the trees...

couldn't get oxygen filled leaf trees since they're sleeping right now.

day 25.

Caring

*this prompt is to be done as a Portraiture.  for me to practice.*

i told the fam. at the beginning of the day that i would be needing to do this one.

so they weren't too surprised when i would say 

'I want a photo of you doing that.'

so.

out we went.

to our back hill to snowboard.

our boy is learning, and daddy is teaching him.

he straps on his board, gets some advice and heads down the hill.

daddy comes to the bottom and gives him a piggyback up the hill (with snowboard still strapped on)

and away he goes again.

usually they repeat that a few times before his dad wants to do some snowboarding of his own.

they call it 'Daddy chairlift'

*all  photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

and edited in Photoshop Elements.

See where my challenge began : Here 

22-365

day 22:

Eight

one of the repeated monthly themes - a number.

i had this amazing idea in my head for how i'd capture it.

buy sparklers.

go into a dark room.

set shutter speed to hold the formation of whole number.

don't burn anything in room.

maybe do it outside when i got home tonight.

i bought sparklers today at our local Dollarama...

where they were dollarquarterama.

got home tonight.

tired.

going to go to bed...besides it's not dark enough outside 

thank you factory down the road.

got pjs on.

ran back downstairs.

grabbed tripod.

sparklers.

lighter.

camera.

headed to the basement.

i was lighting one and only one sparkler.

one attempt.

if it doesn't work i'll do 'late eight' tomorrow.

i got 2 eights out of that one sparkler.

attempt one.

i dropped the sparkler before the shutter closed.  

this is eight on a stick.

there's my eight.

i like them both.

next time i'll wear all black.

*all photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

edited/cropped with Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here 

20/365 & 21/365

day 20:

Upset.

i didn't take a photo of this.

instead i chose to take a picture of my daughter.

i had promised her that we'd do rags in our hair on the weekend.

we didn't.

so she asked if i could do them after dinner.

while she watched tv i put hers in.

(i put mine in after she went to bed)

so my theme yesterday became:

Promise Kept

this morning after we took out all the rags.  

don't the curls suit my little one.

she is so bouncy.

i don't know if today she was more bouncy because of the curls or if the curls revealed how bouncy she really is...

but she bounces everywhere - i should have named her Tigger. 

day 21:

In a Bowl

I thought about this one...

i thought about taking a pic of the kids cereal this morn.

or my cream of wheat.

i thought about putting things in a bowl to make it how i wanted.

i decided to take our reflection in a bowl instead.

my mixing bowls.

the best one to take a reflection in.

just hanging out on the counter.

and finally, my girl.  look at her smile... 

can you see it? 

she needs her bangs cut - thats the hair hanging.

*all photos taken with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here 

19/365

day 19.

Abandoned

i was trying to think of a place in the area i could go capture some photographs.

there had to be a place somewhere.

on our way home from church this morning we were driving in a snowstorm.

i made the decision that i'd stay home, not go driving around looking for somewhere abandoned.

at lunch i said to my husband 

"i wish i could get to the old robin's nest, by the shed,"

he said, 

"if you really want to photograph to you'll get to it."

i looked at the mess by the shed and saw no way to do it.

then the more i looked at it and thought about what he said, 

i realized he was right.

i began seeing a way to climb up to get a good view of the next instead of a hinderance.

I did want to photograph it.

i would find a way.

i put on my boots.

and headed out, with Gertie, to see the nest.

shovelling the path on our way.

this nest has been abandoned by our beloved robin for a year and a half now.  

she didn't go back to it this past summer.

i don't actually know if robins go back to the same nest or not.

i still think it's because i scared her babes one year and they flew out dropped out of the nest.

they couldn't actually fly yet.  

the momma bird rounded them up...

i don't know what happened to them.

but this nest was theirs.

we watched them hatch, grow.

and then i sent them to their deaths!

aren't birds' nests amazing.

*all photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

edited with Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

17/365 & 18/365

day 17.

Knobby

about 5 years ago we moved into a nice old house.

it has lots of character, 

as most 100 year old homes have.

one of the things i love are the doorknobs on our kids bedrooms.

one day i know we'll change them, 

but for now i will continue to love these old things.

day 18:

Pose

easy peasy.

the kids told their dad they had their boots on.

we went down and there they were in our boots.

too cute.

i asked if i could get a picture of them.

our boy loved the idea, 

our girl took off my boots and got hers on and joined her brother.

they posed for me without any problem.

love these crazy kids. 

*all photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

edited with Photoshop Elements.

See where my challenge began : Here

16/365

day 16.

Reserved.

that's right.

i said reserved.

yeah, my thought exactly.

how do i photograph that?

i got out my thesaurus this morn 

(i woke up thinking about it-don't worry, i didn't dream about it...that's obsessed. )

and checked out some other words for reserved.

Reserved 1. booked, engaged, held, kept, retained, taken.

i've got it!

i'll call Kirsten.

i'll get a photo of her and her engagement ring!

she's 'reserved'... 'engaged', 'taken'.

or maybe i won't.

so i didn't.

instead i got my daughter to hold the thesaurus open.

i took off my lens, turned it around and got a nice close shot of reserved.

***

then i checked out another photography site i get emails from.

and saw their week's challenge: Bicycles.

*HERE is the challenge.*

we have bikes!

i'll go photograph them. 

waiting for spring...or for most of the snow to leave.

i love my husband's BMX.  

we won't get rid of it..

it's reserved for our son one day!

*all photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

edited with Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

15/365

day 15

In The Air

it's a bird.

it's a plane.

its...

more snow!

*photo taken by me,

with Gertie

edited with Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

14/365

day 14

YUMMY

i don't really care for pictures of food.

but that's what i took today.

didn't set up the shot,

just took it right there in the pan.

Fried Rice.

love it.

YUMMY!!!

*photo taken by me with Gertie.

no editing.

See where my challenge began : Here

12/365 & 13/365

that's right...

12 & 13.

i didn't do 11.

i skipped it.

not intentionally.

but at least i did take a photo or two that day, 

so it's not like Gertie just sat alone all day never being taken out to play.

check out HERE for the photos taken on the 11th

as for number 12 & 13...

day 12:

Footprints

this is my daughter's footprint.

she's 4.

when she got home from a friend's birthday party i asked if she would help me with my photo.

she giggled and squirmed a lot as i painted her feet.

day 13:

Word of Encouragement

i took a picture of wordS or encouragement.

in the mornings, while the kids eat breakfast, we read the Bible and memorize our verses.

on friday i began recording our prayer items.

my boy wanted to thank God for the 4th point under Thanks.

my girl wanted to Thank God for the 5th one under Thanks.

the coolest thing today:

as we were writing down the three things today my boy asked if he could have the list so he could be the one to pray for them.

of course.

*all photos taken by me..

with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements.

See where my challenge began : Here

9&10/365

day 9: 

Thursday.

the kids were home from school and i was standing in the dining room watching them and their creativity.

i remembered then that i hadn't taken the challenge for the day.

Where I Stand.

this is my view from where i was standing.

day 10:

i took Gertie, 

my beloved camera, 

out for an adventure today.

when i got home i checked the challenge for the day.

Doorway.

i looked through my photos from the excursion and found this beauty.

it fit well enough.

*all photos taken by me, 

with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements.

See where my challenge began : Here

8/365

day 8:

Blue

i thought about this on my run.

didn't come up with my blue ideas until i got home.

mmmm...a Jones Soda.

say 'Blue Bubblegum' 10 times fast. 

the kids love this tongue twister.

bottom of previous bottle

and of course my babies blues.

 

*all photos taken by me, with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements 

See where my challenge began : Here

7/365

day 7.

todays challenge:

Natural Treasure

no, not National Treasure...

i honestly had to read it twice, and now i want to sit and watch that movie.

anyway...

i went with the easiest accessible natural treasure we had today.

the snow.

and aspects of it.

i love the trees when the snow covers them.

 

frost.

itself is a treasure.  

always different.

these, here, are a natural treasure to me...

this is part of our property, and i cherish these large trees, and the beautiful bush behind them.

a blizzard hit - look at the difference in just a couple hours.

what a natural treasure snow is.

winter is my least favorite season - it gets too cold for me - but i can never ignore the beauty it has.

so... day 7 natural treasure.

done.

or is it natural?

"oh elsa... at it again i see"

*all photos taken by me.

with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements.

Elsa (my daughter's doll- used with her permission) from Disney's Frozen.

See where my challenge began : Here

6/365

day 6:

Unique

a Macro photo

There are about 5 that will be repeated each month.

but with a new theme for it each month.  

portrait (see day 4).

macro, see today.

where i stand (to come on day 9)

a number (to come on day 22)

practicing portraiture (to come on day 25)

i'm looking forward to improving on each of these.

for macro i wasn't so unique..i instead practiced my macro photography, 

using a tip that i was given by the CY365 facebook page.
*see HERE for tip*

i turned my lens around.

yep.

focusing isn't as easy, 

believe me i tried at first, forgetting that my lens wasn't actually attached.

but this way i could get closer than i would have been able to otherwise.

i took down my kids' globe and focused on an area of the world that is close to my  heart.

the green shamrock is my focus..

northern Ireland, my dad was born there.  

*** 

then my boy's LEGO guys.

(this was macro mode with lens on normally)

this is his mirror reflection.

(with lens reversed)

*all photos taken by me, with Gertie.

edited with Photoshop Elements.

See where my challenge began : Here

4/365 & 5/365

4: A Little Bit

a self-portrait.

after my run.

here's 'a little bit' of me. 

5: With a Fork

Have you ever eaten popcorn with a fork?

what about grapes? 

*photos  taken by me, with Gertie.

edited with Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

3/365

day 3:

 Winter Sports

it was a chilly -30*C.

i stayed in unless i needed to go out.

but here's the photos i was able to get.

*all photos taken by me.

with Gertie.

edited in Photoshop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

2/365

day 2.  

mission, should you choose to accept it:

GOALS.

about half way through the day i panicked.

what am i taking a photo of for goals.

my goals this year are to run a 10K race, do Tough Mudder again, and 10K Terry Fox run.

how do i photograph that?

i went upstairs to my sick husband and dropped onto the bed.

"how do i take a photo of my goals?" i sighed.

it's only the second day, i can't forfeit it already.

*or i could take a photo of the kids shooting on their new hockey net..

but, it's cold outside and i don't want to go out there.*

He asked me what my goals were.

i told him.

"what about with me..with the kids."  

i was slightly confused...

ok, quite confused.

he proceeded to ask me what were some of my goals of life..not just this new year.

i want to be a better photographer.

i want to be a wife who encourages, loves her husband.

i want to be a mom who loves my kids unconditionally, and they know it.

i want to raise kids that love God, others, and life.

this was my photo to capture it.

*photo taken by me.

without flash.

with Gertie.

edited with PhotoShop Elements

See where my challenge began : Here

1/365

day 1.

364 to go.

i'm on another challenge.

i'm hoping to 'Capture my 365'

at least one photo a day for the year.

i'll try to post once a day..

try i said.

i may even edit the photo(s)...

may i said.

i'm following this January List

day one:

aka 1/365

Celebrate.

celebrate?

yep.

it's Jan 1st.

let's celebrate the new year.

it was a beautiful sunshiny morning.

i went for my first run of the year.

(see my goals for the year: Here)

that was my celebrate photo and why.

stay tuned for the next one...

*photo taken by me

with Gertie.

edited with Adobe Photoshop Elements

(for more info about capturing your 365 check out: www.captureyour365.com)