Love That Shot - Beautiful Bokeh

Love that Shot's photo challenge for today is Beautiful bokeh.  For those that aren't familiar with photography terms, bokeh is (to quote from Wikepedia) "is the blur,or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or 'the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.' "


I immediately thought of the floral pictures I took the other day when I saw this challenge, I tried my best to get good bokeh with them.  I can't decide which one I like best, so I'm putting them all here.  Hope you enjoy!

Love That Shot - Story Time

I've been completely swamped lately and haven't been able to participate in the photo challenges.  While I was going through some pictures today though that I printed out for my Mother In Law, I came across one that jogged my memory, it's one of my favorite series of photos to date, and I thought it would be a perfect entry.

This is my son's new best friend.  Every night we read a book before bed, and I usually carry him with me when I go to the bookshelf to pick out a book.  This bear was sitting on one of the shelves and he reached for it two nights in a row, so we started reading the book with him on one knee, and Mr Bear on the other.  He certainly loves his bear, he sleeps with it every night, and loves to play with it.

In The Garden

This photo challenge came at the perfect time - here in Alberta things are just starting to bloom, especially my favorites - the lilac trees.  I love seeing how beautiful they are at all the stages of their growth.

Love That Shot - Walk in my shoes

I'm loving these photo challenges, they're really forcing me to try and get creative.

My favorite shoes in the world are any of LM's shoes.  There's something so sweet about shoes that are so tiny.

More Flowers

I'm on a bit of a flower kick - I guess because they stay still (provided the wind has died down) and I don't have to worry about them falling over or getting distracted and only wanting to look at the cat.

I took LM for a walk this morning and brought my camera with me, with great intentions to practice some more with the magnification filters. I was in a hurry to get to my destination as I was meeting a friend, so I motored there as fast as possible, figuring that I'd get a chance to snap some pictures on the way home - the added bonus was that after a morning of playing hard, LM would be tired and would probably nap in the stroller, giving me the opportunity to snap pictures at my leisure without hearing complaints. This was a great plan, and would have actually worked, if it weren't for one tiny little detail I overlooked - my memory card was still plugged into the side of my laptop.

Sigh...

So, while I did not manage to get pictures of the amazing flowers I saw on our way home, I did notice a few popping up in my own garden, so while LM was napping, I popped outside and snapped a couple. These are the only onse that I liked. Hope you enjoy!

Fresh and New

One thing about living in Canada is that our blooming season starts much later than the rest of North America.  So I tend to find that I'm getting excited about seeing things just starting to bloom that others have already seen bloom and fade away.  A perfect example is our Lilacs.  I love lilacs, they're one of my favorites and seeing other people's pictures of lilacs has made me extremely impatient to be able to take pictures of my own.  Thankfully, they've finally started to bud and I was able to get out and snap a few pictures.

I'm also hoping to get out and get some other flower pictures.  I'm finding the magnification filters a bit difficult to work with, but I think it's just going to take some practice!

My Inspiration

My favorite photo of Little Man and I that I've taken is a black and white photo.  It's one of those pictures that wouldn't look right any other way, except black and white.  And believe me, I tried many many different edits with this picture, most in color.  I didn't get that "AHA!!" moment until I converted it to black and white, and then it was perfect.  I have this picture hanging on my bedroom wall.

Every time I start to get frustrated with my photography and feel like throwing in the towel and buying a cheap disposable camera, I look at this picture and it reminds me how much I love it.  It helps me to keep trying.