I knew this week would be tough, for getting this week’s theme of “catchlights”, having eye contact usually helps. Catchlights are the lights that you “catch” in the eyes of your subject. And Ben is still pretty anti-camera, so I had to settle for capturing them while he was distracted ;) He’s growing up so fast!

I’m still hanging in there with the “52 week challenge” and I actually LOVE challenging myself to do something new each week. Next year, even if I don’t do a “challenge” I’ll still aim for finding different subjects each week!

(Ben is 3 years 3 months 2 weeks and 1 day old)

I’ve been brainstorming all week for this week’s “white” theme… and then I decided to try and capture it during my trek down to the cherry blossoms this morning. Even though it called for rain all week, I kept hoping that miraculously I’d get a few dry hours in the morning. And I woke up to NO RAIN!! :) I rushed down to the Tidal Basin, and even though the rain had knocked out the majority of the trees, I still found a few blooming :)

I’ll dedicate another post to the cherry blossom photos, I’m really REALLY happy with how they came out, murky skies and all. I have some serious lens envy now, too, after using the wide angle lens and getting such great results. I’m going to be so sad to give it back!

Happy Sunday!

(Ben is 3 years 3 months 1 week 3 days old)

It’s been in the high 70′s (even low 80′s!) this week, and with daylight savings time giving us an extra hour of daylight at night, we finally got a chance to spend some time outside :) Perfect time for this week’s “motion” theme:

And then Ben had some fun breaking in his old sandbox and I captured some motion “outtakes”:

Really looking forward to spring! :)

(Ben is 3 years and 3 months old)

I had a fun meetup yesterday with a group of girls from ClickinMoms, and we met up at the nearby Oxon Hills Farm. I’ll post another update with all my photos from there, but this one was appropriate for this weeks “round” theme :)

I had a few tractor wheels, but the sun was so high and the shadows so harsh, they really didn’t come out that well. But I had fun with sun flares! I need to invest in a lens hood!

(Ben is 3 years 2 months 3 weeks 4 days old)

This morning we were all cooped up due to the rain, but after Ben’s nap, the sun came out and we decided to venture out of the house. We hopped on metro (Ben of course LOVED the train ride!!) and decided to hop off at the Navy Yard to visit the new park. We walked down to the bridge, and I saw the perfect inspiration for this week’s theme “leading lines”. Leading lines are lines through a photograph that either draw your attention to a subject, or pull you through a photograph, or out of the image.

And of course, a few others that I thought fit the theme :)

And believe it or not, I purposely left my main camera at home, not wanting to lug it around today, and cursed myself for not bringing it when we got to the park, and saw the beautiful sunset. So these were all taken with my iPhone! LOVE my phone! :)

(Ben is 3 years 2 months 2 weeks and 3 days old)

I used to love taking self portraits. Maybe it was the 20-something version of myself… the only responsibilities I had were my animals. No husband, no boyfriend, no children… just me, my camera, and my computer. I was in shape, went out with friends, and tried to fill my days with adventures.

Now, I still fill my days with adventures, but they revolve around my family. I’m not in my mid-20′s anymore, and my body is a little worse for the wear. I fill my nights worrying about how to fix up our house, where my kid is going to school, how we are going to save to help our kid(s) in college some day.

This week’s assignment was “self portrait”. The light kept changing as the sun ducked behind clouds, so it made it tough to keep the exposure correct. My remote also doesn’t focus the camera, just fires the shutter, so my focus was a little bit of luck. But I liked the end result… matched my mood this morning :)

I definitely need to jump in front of the camera more… even despite my not-20-anymore-self. I have very few photos of Ben and I together. My aim going forward this year is to at least ONCE a month get in front of the camera with my family! In focus, bad lighting, bad hair… no matter. At least I’ll know I was there! ;)

Here are the “outtakes” for this week:

And kudos to anyone who recognizes that mug ;) It’s my old “carrie.cc” coffee mug… who else is a dork enough to have their website on a mug (and then pose with it)?? :) Happy Saturday!

(Ben is 3 years 2 months 1 week and 3 days old)

We were so busy this week that I had to wait until we arrived up north for some down time to think about this week’s theme. “Red Hot” evokes a lot of images, and thankfully with the help of Joe’s mom, I was able to dig up some red hot items from around the house :)

The first two are more “red hot” and the last one is more “red”… but I still had fun arranging these! The second image was my submission for a contest for February (with the same “red hot” theme)… the others were my “outtakes” :) Red is so pretty! Next week’s theme is “self portrait” which is probably the HARDEST thing for me, getting in front of the lens. Should be interesting though!

(Ben is 3 years 2 months 4 days old)

This week’s entry is a little late, but we had a busy weekend :) This week’s theme was “culture”, and you’d think that working at an agency that deals with international cultures I would have found a million ideas for this theme. I had grand ideas… but chickened out when it came to whipping my camera out at work. My coworkers understand my hobby, but random employees throughout the building, probably not so much ;) So I stuck with my own house, which is overflowing with “DC” culture: politics!

This 52 week challenge has really had me stepping out if my normal “spray and pray” mode, and attempting to create my “vision” each week. Even if the photos don’t turn out great or technically correct, I definitely feel like I’m learning a lot! :)

(Ben is 3 years 1 month 4 weeks and 1 day old)