So you saw Maddie last week – the rampage three year old that has no problem telling me that I am cheating at the memory card game .  She’s cute and all but she’s not the only reason I visited.  Her new baby sister, Ally, is perfect.  She didn’t even cry when I held her, that’s how perfect she is.  Thank you, child.  And look at those little lips – adorable.

This is what I love about visiting friends – people that are already comfortable around me – because they completely ignore me when I have the camera.  Granted, Maddie didn’t ignore me but she’s three, loves having her picture taken and wants to to see the image after the fact.  But mom and dad are just doing their thing and I’m the fly on the wall.  I love it.

My favorites are the two larger shots up there.  The light worked well, the scene was set for me and all I had to do was focus and push the button.  Too easy.  But they’re my favorites.

Babies, babies, babies – the talk of shutterboo this summer.  It isn’t over yet either because I met up with Michelle and Maddox just last Friday.  I wasn’t lying when I said everyone and their sister was having a baby.  It’s in the water, folks.  (And I ain’t drinking it.)

I haven’t been around very many three year olds but I am certain of one thing.  They are balls of hyper-energy escaping in the form of skipping and giggling and spit bubbles.  This particular three year old moved so much that not even the continuous setting on the kahuna kept up with her.  Hell, I couldn’t even keep up with her.  I don’t know how her mother does it.  Probably super powers.  No – definitely super powers.

I visited yet another friend with a new baby last week.  And I’m taking my sweet time sorting through the shots I got of said friend with new baby.  (More on that later.  Like when I actually get on the computer at home to do something productive.)

But her three year old?  Maddie?  In a word: whoa.

This child is a whirlwind, constantly on the go, giggling and being funny, talking and talking and talking and… I’m sure you get the point.  But she loves her new baby sister.  A lot.  I lost count of how many kisses she planted on her little sister.

But even with this little tornado swirling around us, I was able to get her to sit in her rocking chair and to look at me.  And I snagged a photo.  One that wasn’t blurry.  Because she was still for zero point two seconds.  *high five*

Maddie is such a cute little girl.  At three, she has so much personality and you can see the little person she’s becoming.  The thing you (“you” being the fine people of the interweb) don’t know is that she looks just like her daddy.   Everyone that knows the family has known that Maddie looks like her daddy since she was six months old.  The spitting image, people.  It’s a really good thing Charlie looks good in a skirt.

After searching the web to get an idea of how others had handled challenges, the list of 52 came to be.  A few friends signed on.  Then a couple internet friends.  And then some people I didn’t know.  OK, a lot of people I didn’t know.  Some have stayed along for the entire ride; others have fallen off the bandwagon [some hopped back on... and maybe fell back off...].  But this was only a challenge, a personal challenge to push yourself and see what you could create with your camera.  Not a contest – no contest at all – only a challenge.

For me, this challenge was about going out into the world, finding the subject or color and seeing it differently.  Not digging back through my archives but actually hunting and relishing in the find.  There were times I panicked and shot the first pink thing I could find.  Other times I had several shots but nothing seemed special.  And of course the times when planning helped and a stellar shot was born.  (Thank you anonymous model.)

But my favorites were when an idea struck like lightening – and in an instance I had something I was really proud of when one minute before it didn’t exist.  There were only a few of those but I still remember how I felt when I took every photo.

Isn’t that the point of photography?  Not only looking at the image and remembering the moment but the feeling you also felt when you looked through the viewfinder?  That’s what I believe.  But little ol’ me is just a little ol’ blogger that’s a little ol’ hobbyist… but I do believe it’s more than just the pixels you freeze in time.

I wanted to include a post that would reference to my personal journey through The Weekly Photo Challenge.  That post would be really, really long.  And possibly really, really boring.  So instead I created a mosaic of my favorites over the past year.  And some fun facts about my challenge photos:

• 4 photos include my doggins.
• 4 include friends and 2 include family.
• 8 photos include my fantastic co-workers (including Edward)
• 4 are self-portraits
• Taken at home: 15
• Taken at work: 21
• Taken in a bathroom: 3

All 52 are D-O-N-E done.  All of my challenge photos can be viewed in my Flickr set.  Below, I’ve linked every blog post if you feel like doing a little reading.

It’s a sweet feeling of satisfaction, that’s for sure.

1.Chair 2.Cocktail 3.Window 4.Red 5.Medicine 6.Books 7.Map 8.Speed 9.White 10. Time 11.Candy 12.Zipper 13.Water 14.Green 15.Fork 16.Cold 17.Road 18.Feet 19.Brown 20.Fire 21.Toilet 22.Eyes 23.Lingerie 24.Yellow 25.Cards 26.Up 27.Puzzle 28.Suitcase 29.Blue 30.Doorknob 31.Reflection 32.Shoe 33.Smell 34.Orange 35.Smile 36.Change 37.Hands 38.Music 39.Black 40.Skyline 41.Hot 42.Bridge 43.Button 44.Purple 45.Hat 46.Down 47.Fruit 48.Grass 49.Pink 50.Bicycle 51.Pencil 52.Mail

We walked through this area at least a couple times everyday.  If not during our daytime treks, then we’d pass by at night after dinner.  I think it’s so pretty.  And full of history.  And I like it.

I had no idea the oldest cathedral in the United States was in New Orleans.  We walked through the place, following the stories of the stained glass windows and painted ceilings.  My first cathedral experience ever was in Kohl, Germany in 2008.  I visited St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City in 2009.  And though, St. Paul’s and St. Louis’s houses aren’t as extravagant as Europe’s, they were still awesome to explore.

Shoo people!  Can’t you see I’m trying to work here!

If I could stand in a seashell at work, that would be awesome.

And I’d most likely sing tunes from The Little Mermaid all day.

And truth be told, I have a lot of fun walking around, trying to set up interesting shots.  Like the cherub holding the Holy water.  I dig.  Speaking of Holy water…

I found it amusing.

Jackson Square, located directly in front of the cathedral, is picturesque.  If it was cooler outside, I think I would have loved it a little bit more.  Just saying.

I think it’s so cool the horse is only on two legs.  Abby said it was the first of it’s kind – you know, the horse being on two legs part.

“I’m ready for my close up!”

Sure, I like this area because of the pretty sights and the history but that’s not only why I like it.  We had some fun times venturing through this part of the French Quarter.  Yes… yes we did.

One night [after a few cocktails] we walked down Pirate’s Alley – Little Skipper straddled the storm gutter and walked quite a stretch of it.  I was in stitches.  Thank you, voodoo drink, for making silly stuff absolutely hilarious.  Another night we stopped to get some nighttime shots of the cathedral – I proceeded to make an ass out of myself which proceeded to make some gentleman passing by laugh at me which then caused me to snort with laughter to which then the gentlemen laughed even more.  I’m comedy relief, what can I say.

And then on yet another night we had our palms read.  It was fun thing to do and tease one another with.  I shared this with my DAd who quickly told me that he did not believe in that stuff.  (Guess what?  Neither do I.)  But as soon as I said the palm reader saw me having two girls and one boy, DAd asked if it was triplets.  My life, folks… my life.

So yes, good times were had at the Square.  Full of smiles and laughs and pictures and stories.  And cocktails.  Because everybody has to go cups.

After eating the candies for two days [and taking in the fumes of bourbon], I thought maybe my taste buds were just a bit off.  So I had a taste test at work and it confirmed my original belief: my balls are weak.  Tasters said my balls still tasted good… but not as strong as they usually are.  That, my friends, grinds my beans.  But I still submitted them [as there was no way on God's green Earth I was going to remake my balls.  And they looked pretty too.  Really pretty.  Can't redo pretty, my friends.]

So yeah, weak balls.  And yes, I’ve been saying “balls” for days and I just get a kick out of it.  I’m not the only one.  Friends have been wishing me good luck with my balls and saying they can’t wait to see my balls at the Fair.  The level of maturity has dropped way low for the week.  It’s amusing.  I’m taking le blog with me.

But anywho, my balls.  Bourbon balls.  Since they’re State Fair bound I decided to have a photo shoot with my balls.  To really show how yummy and delicious and chocolate-coated they are.  What can I say?  I dig my balls.

Bourbon Ball recipe <here>.

Our plan was to park the car and not drive it until we left.  We succeeded.  And walked our happy asses all over this place.  I’m serious.  From one end to the next – from north to south, from east to west, from Deanie’s to Port of Call, from the Cathedral to Hustler’s – I don’t think we missed a square block.

And we of course took part in some of the history.  We stopped in a couple voodoo shops.  We peeked in the windows of the Laurie Mansion.  You saw that we hit up Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.  We dined at Margaritaville.  OK, so that might not be historical but I can tell you we made history there.  A lot of funny things were said.  And done.  I blame the Incommunicados.

These hitching posts were everywhere – this is the only painted one I saw.

It rained.  For 30 minutes.  That was all.

Huge Ass Beer indeed.  I kept my cup.  Because it’s huge.

One of my favorite things about the Quarter was the carriage tours.  We didn’t take one but each carriage was pulled by a mule.  Not a horse.  A mule.  I think that’s awesome.  The night-duty police officers had horses.  HUGE horses (almost as big as my huge ass beer).  They were a sight to see.  But for some reason they just let them crap all over the street, I didn’t get it.  But I’ll admit I enjoyed seeing the ladies tramp their expensive shoes through horse dung… yeah, the memories of Bourbon Street.

]]> http://shutterboo.com/2010/08/12/nola-the-french-quarter/feed/ 7 http://shutterboo.com/2010/08/10/nola-the-garden-district/ http://shutterboo.com/2010/08/10/nola-the-garden-district/#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:47:21 +0000 Brooke http://shutterboo.com/?p=2167 One of the things we wanted to do while in New Orleans was take the St. Charles streetcar up to the Garden District.  Having heard it was one of the most beautiful spots in the city [and was a walking tour meaning it was free and we like free] we set out early in the morning.  By 10am my eyelashes were sweating.  But the houses we saw were gorgeous and some offered history lessons.  I didn’t expect to see homes like we did.  I also didn’t expect my shorts to stick to places I’ve never known about either but that’s neither here nor there.

My only pet peeve about my NOLA photos is the light.  It was bright as all get out.  Everyday.  Except for those 30 minutes it rained but even then there was still sunlight peeking through the clouds.  Blaring sun is not my friend because we all know that I dig a wide aperture – that didn’t happen very often [in other words at all].  So I don’t feel like I got to experiment that much.  I really believe that if we had overcast skies, these shots would have faired much better.

The story behind this one is that this iron fence looks like stalks of corn and was commissioned in Cincinnati.  Of course, I thought the ears of corn were quite boring and honed in on the flower on the corner of the fence.

Ignore that powerline – they kept getting in the way.

Part of the Garden District tour was the Lafayette Cemetery.  I knew the city housed above ground tombs and was hoping to get some stellar shots.  I don’t consider these stellar.  That sun… I know I keep telling myself to look into neutral density filters but I haven’t yet and who knows if they would helped at all.  But I say boo to you sun, boo – not only do you take the fun out of a photowalk but you make my pores cry salt water.  Again, boo.

That’s all I have for now.  Later this week I’ll show you what I captured of the French Quarter – don’t get too excited though because it was really sunny on those days too.  Boo.

Dawn of From the Mind of Dawnie was the second comment on the blogiversary post – congrats Dawn!  I’ll be emailing you shortly and we’ll get you set up for another year of Flickr Pro!

Thanks to all that participated – if I could give all you the Gift of Pro I would.  But sadly, I’m like most of you and work for the weekend.  Boo.

For those of you who are like me and don’t really “get” the whole baby thing or maybe “just aren’t ready” to start a family, I apologize.  It’s been all about that four-lettered word this summer.  But I like to share what I photograph.  And as we all know, they [read babies] are topping the list at the moment.  Some very cute and soft and sleepy babies.  I like sleepy babies.

A couple week’s back, I met up with yet another friend who happened to have a baby the day before Bebita Evita.  This little whipper snapper is named Reece.  I had the pleasure of meeting Reece at a shower beforehand and we instantly became buddies.  Well, he mostly curled up in a ball on my chest and proceeded to nap for what may have felt like an eternity but like I said before, I like sleepy babies.  Snooze on, little man.

I had several good shots of Reece with his adorable parents but these are my favorites.  No posing, just real life unfolding in front of my lens.  I tried to oblige with some posed shots… that involved a University of Louisville football helmet… and we can classify that as a fail.  But I promise, Malana, once little Reece can sit up on his own, we’ll try it again.  That whole not having any neck muscle control is a bitch.

I have one more baby that I know I’ll be photographing.  But you never can tell – I may just have to visit some other pals with new babies.  Which isn’t hard to do.  Because they’re everywhere.

I squeezed off a few rounds of this pooch here while I was visiting friends with a new baby.  *shocker*  And even though he was nuts (I mean, bat-shit-crazy-nuts) when I first arrived, when I pulled out the kahuna, he was all “Look at me!  I’m a good dog!  I’m ready for my close up!”

Can we say bi-polar?  Maybe.  Definitely maybe.  But I’m not one to judge.

Of course when a dog is staring at me, I’m going to try for some photos.  And if doesn’t, I’ll still try for some photos.  I’m a sucker for doggins.  We know this.  It isn’t a deep dark secret of any kind.  I love doggins.

But the best thing about Marlow?  His coat.  So soft.  So so so so so soft.  I want him as a pillow.  But I fear I’d be plagued with wet beard if I tried to take a nap on him.  And nobody likes a Captain Wet Beard.