With a little help from my friends. . .

. . .I went from auto to manual this past week - on my camera, that is! (Thanks Jaime and Meggan!) One of the biggest motivating factors when we got our Nikon last Christmas was that I could stop paying someone else to take all those "milestone" photographs every so often, and I could learn to take "portrait-worthy" pictures whenever and where ever the mood struck!

Come to find out, it wasn't quite that simple! I was (am still) more than a little intimidated by all the buttons, knobs and menu choices that my Nikon affords me, but Vaughn is fast approaching his 3rd birthday, and it is high time I stop talking about taking great pictures and start actually attemptig to take some!

Now, don't misunderstand me. . . I have a long way to go and a LOT to learn, but I am proud to say I have taken the first few baby steps and stopped letting my camera do all the thinking for me. (I was jst so sick of it thinking I needed the FLASH for EVERY SINGLE SHOT!)

Below are a few (too many!) of my favorite shots from our recent trip to Jason's mom and dad's house. My intent was to play around with the settings on my camera while making the most of a beautiful afternoon in their woods while they let V help them fill bird feeders, deer feeders and just be a little boy out in the woods, but some of these turned out so well, that I might actually have to print a couple.

Most of these images are SOOC, but I have cropped some and played with the color/exposure/shadows/fill light etc. in a couple.

Enjoy!

He is ALWAYS playing with one (or both!) of his ears!

Helping Pop hoist the deer feeder back into the tree.

Such a genuine smile!

Love how the light is filtering through his eyes!

Clearly, this isn't Vaughn, but Walker is another one of my favorite subjects to "shoot"!

LOVE the light in his hair!

His little ear is all lit up!

The wonder of a child. . .

LOVE the color in this one! (Jaime, why don't they all look this crisp and warm!?!)

Love that the eye is in sharp focus and his hand is just a bit blurry.

He's concentrating REALLY hard on not falling out of his tree!

Love how his face is highlighted, and you can see his ruddy little cheek. It was getting cool!

Don't you just love the froggy boots?!

One last picture. . .

Yeah right! Who am I kidding?!?! I can't wait to take a hundred more!