I Clicked It Up A Notch - September

I solemnly swear that this will be the absolute LAST time I share this photo!!

But I really did 'Click it up a Notch' with this one :)

xxx

Quarterly Top 5!

How can we possibly be up to the 3rd quarterly link up already?! Holy moly where has the year gone?!

Anyhoo...Here are my Top 5 for July, August and September:

William showing off his tummy ;)

Charlotte with her face painted as a Dolphin Princess at William's Caillou Party

William turns 2!

My beautiful grown up almost 5 year old :)

And finally my little man in the last days of nursing, I'm going to be so sad when he stops for good :(

I can't wait to see everyone's Top 5 for the quarter!

Link up with Click it up a Notch, Amber's Articles and NapTime MomTog :)

xxx

I Learned...

I learned a few things this week:

1. I love shooting in the lane behind our house!

2. Don't try and do a shoot with a 2 year old where they can still see the trampoline "I jump Mummy, I jump!"

3. Be patient and wait for the light to be perfect! I tried taking some photos mid morning because I was worried the balloons would go down (they were from William's Caillou party the day before) (FYI they're still going strong 6 days later haha!) but the light was too harsh so we tried again as the sun was going down, bingo!

I adore this photo of my little man! The light, the look on his face, his crazy wavy hair, his little outfit (free from the red jelly he got all over it at his party!) the weird red fireball looking sun flare near his toes , I just love it :) 

I'll be sharing the rest of these balloon photos soon, along with the photos from his actual birthday, I'm just swamped!
Also linking up with:
  

I learned..

I learned that our driveway makes a great background for photos :)

Well, photos of William, Charlotte likes to be awkward and move around and do weird faces, lol.

1/100, ISO100, f/5.0 with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 (focal length 28mm) - Fire away if you have a critique! 

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Isn't this little man handsome? We were about to head off to a birthday party :)
And that shirt he's wearing? $1 at Kmart! ONE DOLLAR! haha

I can't believe that he's going to be 2 in less than 2 weeks *sniff*

I've also learnt that it's incredibly hard to find time for photos and blogging at the moment, so my blog has been a little neglected lately :( BUT I had a newborn shoot with my beautiful niece last week that I will share very soon!

(Also linking up with these lovelies, my favourite/fabulous photo of the week :D)
  

I clicked It Up A Notch - July

This was an easy choice this month, because I've barely had a chance to pick up the camera!

The weather has been miserable, so the kids have been a bit feral and making ten times as much mess, lol plus there's all the extra washing you get in winter!

I did get this shot of William that I love though, he was watching a video on YouTube of Thomas mashed up with Transformers and every time "megatrain" came on the screen he'd put his little hands over his mouth, gasp and say 'oh no!'

I love how engrossed he is hehe. I used my canon 50mm f/1.8 and processed it with My Four Hens 'Superb' B&W action :)

Now back to the mountain of washing!! William was up all night vomiting, poor little guy, so I have plenty of blankets to wash :/

You wouldn't know he's been sick though, he's tearing around the house like a crazy person, lol

I've also started a Facebook Page for my blog, I'd love it if you could come and join me :)
xxx

I Clicked It Up A Notch - June

It was actually easy to pick this month's photo!

I took this on Saturday after Charlotte's swimming lesson and I love it :) I told her to do a nice smile for Grandma so naturally she screams "GRANDMA!" instead, lol

I was using my Canon 50mm f/1.8 and sometimes I have trouble with the focus with that lens but I think I got it spot on with this shot for once! I love the colours  and DOF and how crisp it is, especially for an indoor shot (though there were windows behind me)

So there you have my favourite for June :) Now to narrow my photos down for tomorrows Top Five!!

xxx

Scavenger Hunt Sunday!

Another Sunday, time for the Scavenger Hunt!

1. Classic Still Life

I'm guessing classic still life was meant to be something more along the lines of a fruit bowl or vase of flowers, lol but I ran out of time so you get this instead :D My friend asked me to get a nice picture of her two boys 'special' toys, the ones they take everywhere with them, so that she'll always have a little reminder of them incase they become a little too well loved ;)

2. Self Portrait

Ugh I hate self portraits, lol. I took this while on holidays at a butterfly house...I was aiming for the butterfly on my shoulder but got half my face instead! I kinda like it but think I should start wearing makeup :P

3. On The Floor

Another from our holiday, we had a huge spa bath in our room which the kids decided to take advantage of every night! Somebody went a little overboard when squirting the bubble bath in and as a result the bubbles spilled over onto the floor!

I won't tell you about the nice little "gift" William left in there on the last night for me to scoop out...oh wait I just did ;D

4. Lines

We've had a beautiful sunset every night this week. So when I decided to go outside and take a picture of the power lines for the scavenger hunt, of course there were great big rain clouds sweeping in :/ 

5. Fresh

There are no words for how fresh and zesty this lime shower gel is. It.smells.SO.GOOD!

I love it :D





And some exciting news (well, exciting to me haha!) my muddy puddle photos of Charlotte won the 'Outdoors' Challenge for Perceptive Perspective, yay!

AND
one of my coloured pencil shots made the Top 10 for this months 'I Clicked It Up A Notch' challenge!If you'd like to vote for me just click on Photography by Michelle in the poll HERE :)

Thank you!
xxx

I Clicked it up A Notch - May

I've been umming and ahhing over what photo to use for this challenge
but I'm going to go with this one:

These were such cute little wooden pencils I had to photograph them before Charlotte destroyed them, lol. And it was good practice focusing my 50mm f1.8 :)
Also I want to thank everyone for their lovely comments on my last post, I don't think I've ever received so many comments before and each and every one was beautiful :)
xx

I Clicked It Up A Notch - Muddy Princess

So I totally pinched this idea from HERE but I knew I would have no trouble getting Charlotte to help me with this!

It took a lot of convincing to get her to stop actually! 

I'll be posting the rest when I'm finished editing them but for now here is a sneak peek at one of my favourites :D

I'm submitting this one for the I Clicked It Up A Notch Photography Challenge

It's not perfect but I've definitely "clicked it up a notch" lately in becoming more comfortable shooting in full manual, it really does make a huge difference if you're brave enough!!
Ps. No dresses were harmed in the making of this shot =D 

Quarterly Top 5!

So the lovely ladies behind Click It Up A Notch, Amber's Articles and NapTime MomTog are hosting a

Top 5 Link Up and Giveaway! We have to share our Top 5 photos of our children (or pets) taken during January - March :) 

Firstly, it was REALLY hard to just pick 5 photos! I could have easily picked 5 of EACH child, lol but I've narrowed it down like a good girl :D

William and his best mate Hoot :) Hoot is one half of Giggle and Hoot, they host ABC for Kids here in Australia and William loves Hoot, he snuggles up to him every night in his cot :)

A big smooch from my little princess. I was trying out my 50mm f1.8 lens when I took this shot and love how sharp the focus on her eyes is :)

The Willy Man at the beach :D I love this shot, he looks like SUCH a handsome little man hehe.

The kids were all dressed up for their Aunty's baby shower so I took advantage and got some quick snaps of them on this super cool vintage rocking horse I scored off a friends Mum!

I love my little Cowboy, yee-ha!

Link up your Top 5 and you could even win a super cool prize, WOO!

   
xx