Natural Light & Fast Toddlers

Over the past oh, say 'bout a month - I have been learning how to use a *real* camera - which, if you haven't tried it yet, is quite the learning curve if you've been screwin' around with a craptastic point & shoot. Which, I have been doing since our family crawled out of film and into the digital era - which, wasn't that long ago.
Already, my older boy is asking why I have a bazillion pics of David, and so few (comparitively) of him. He still doesn't totally understand that when he was born, we didn't have a digital, and mom was farkin' around with her Daddy's old 35mm SLR - with mixed results. I did get some great shots, but the tension of waiting for the lab to print them is torture. But, I digress.
As a result of the new camera - I have been searching for subjects. My kids are getting tired of it FAST. So, I have taken to shooting friends' kids. This is one of my favorite to snap shots of....


Lets just say she doesn't seem to enjoy having her picture taken nearly as much as I like taking it. Oh well - I'll still try to get her. She's too cute to NOT shoot.....

Then there's this guy right here.

He's adorable. And, well, he's mine - but that's not the point. Its a major chore to get a good shot of this little handsome booger, like I can't even describe. He is a MAJOR goofball. He seems to think when I say 'Honey, come over here, I want to take some pictures' it somehow translates to 'Honey, grab all of your current favorite toys, and stack them around your head in gravity defying formations, oh, and make the goofiest, cheesiest grin you can manage'.

I do get lucky from time to time, and get to take shots of the field. Of course, I can't take too many because I haven't gotten the chance to do the whole 'spring farm cleaning' routine. It's crazy. High water table = has to dry up before it greens up, and has to dry up before you can even pull out all the crap that needs to be chucked/burned. OY.



Then there's the semi-macro on my single all purpose lens. You can't see it when it's so small, but when the pic is full sized/full screen - you can see the trees upside down in the dew drop. WOW.



So, I desperately want to become a child's photographer/horse photographer. All with natural light, so unless it's a family birthday, or I'm really screwing around, that fancy flash that pops up on top of the camera is more or less a gadget that goes unused.

Who couldn't have a good time, for instance, taking pics like this of Little Miss Sassbox?



That girls' eyes are so pretty, they should be illegal.

And moments at pasture like this one.

Really. You can't pose that kind of thing. And the silly camera needs to be fast, so I am happy that I finally have one that seems to keep up with what I want to do!

Then this little boog likes to do such silly things that make you laugh so hard you can't hardly keep the camera still. Oh, it's a range I like to play with. Yep. Kids. Horses. Kids & horses. WOW.


If that wasn't enough - I go to snap a shot of Ma's horse she wants to sell, and I end up with this gem.

Really, Rose? Why don't you tell me how you REALLY feel?

Just felt I should share what I've been up to over the past oh, week.