Thursday, October 1, 2009

Photography

If you know me, you know that I normally do not enter into online contests - especially the type that require you to round up a bazillion people to vote for you. Let's face it - I don't know a bazillion people online and I don't have time to round up a bazillion people.

Last week, Multiples & More announced that they were going to be holding blog awards and one of the categories was Best Photography. Best Photography! Imagine my surprise and delight to see fellow bloggers nominating me. Can you believe it! So long story short, I was one of the top three nominated and am now in the running to win. I don't really expect to win but I would hate to lose by a landslide just because I didn't ask you to vote.

Voting is super easy. All you do is go to Mulitples & More, scroll down the sidebar and you'll find me under Best Photography - click on me and hit vote. It's that easy. No registering, no entering email addresses. It's fast and easy. If you like my photos, it would mean a lot to me if you voted.

And now I am going to be all cheesy and tell you why I was honored to even be recognized.

My father is/was was/is a photographer. He tells me that it is in my blood. I've always been interested in photography but never took/had the time to learn. I could always see what I wanted the photo to look like in my mind but could never quite get there with the actual picture.

I can't be the only one who had a crappy point and shoot in the 1980's. Mine was bright pink and took those odd shaped film cartridges that you just popped into the camera. Okay, so those pictures were horrible. I then upgraded to a better 1980's point and shoot and used that for way too long.

There was a period of time while I was in college that I used my great aunt's ancient film camera. Sister Marion (whose birth name was Anna) traveled the globe and wrote school textbooks. And when I say ancient, I mean it. She still had the original user's manual that came with it. I thought it was up in my home office but I can't locate it right now. Must be at Grammy's house. I was going to dig up the year it was manufactured. So anyway, the problem with learning photography on a film camera is that by the time you have the film developed, you forget what you were doing when you took the picture.

I eventually upgraded to a Canon lens camera and just as we were becoming friends, it was stolen during the Goo Goo Dolls After Show Camden New Jersey Car Break-In incident of August 2002. It was replaced with a Nikon lens camera. Digital cameras were so new back then. I didn't know many people who had them and I tried to stick it out with the film but when I was pregnant with the girls, we decided it was time to move to digital and stop relying on Grammy.

Over the past year, I've learned so much and grown as a photographer. Unfortunately, there is still so much to learn and my time is so very limited. To be nominated for this means to me that my photos are somewhat decent. I don't know why I have to be so insecure about this whole thing.

I took some pictures of the girls tonight that I was going to post to go along with this but they've been acting insane all week so that project was not finished. Emily and Rich have my cold. Anna and Allie seem to have borderline stuffy noses. And believe me when I tell you that my girls are identical in the teething department. All of their teeth come in at the same. exact. time.

Signing off now. Thanks in advance to those of you who will vote!

8 comments:

Feris said...

Hy Sarah! I was so glad when I saw you were nominated for that category, I really think your photos are a-m-a-z-i-n-g (of course you have the most beautiful models lol).

Since I saw you were nominated, I have voted for you like 10 times! I really think you deserve to win :)

Good Luck!

http://rememberwhen-feris.blogspot.com/

Cody said...

Good luck! I think your photos are great. I love that you use bounce flash indoors, it's so much better than direct and not very common to see on your average blog.

I'm a photography lover too, and I actually started reading your blog when I saw over my wife's shoulder that your photo gear was listed on your sidebar. I had most of my gear already (I use a Sony DSLR) when we found out about our boys and I'm so glad I did. I'm really looking forward to when they are sitting up, mobile, etc. Right now I've got far more gear than skill, but I continue to learn.

I don't know if you're looking for any advice, but the most fun I have taking shots of our boys is with my Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens, have you ever considered getting a fast prime? I love being able to shoot indoors without a flash, and shallow depth of field is very fun to play with. I have friends with the new Nikon 35mm f/1.8 and it is excellent and (relatively) cheap. Anyway, just throwing that out there.

Good luck again!

Lani said...

I can't believe you would be surprised to be nominated:) I totally expected it because your pictures are always really great, you definitely have a talent!

Bree at Clarity Defined said...

Good luck! I voted!

Helen said...

I'm shocked you were shocked! Your pictures are so great and it seems like all the comments I read on here say that! Don't worry - I don't see you losing by a landslide (like I am! LOL!).

BuckeyeBundle said...

Yea Sarah! I already voted for you because I LOVE your pictures. Mainly because I feel like I can see the spirit or personality of your subjects. (of course, you have the best kind of "subjects" to shoot pictures of, but seriously). I love to catch a glimpse of their giggles and feel like I am right there having fun with them. I think sometimes I try to "stage" too many photos of my girls and I'm learning from you that sometimes, just letting them be will allow their true personalities to shine through into the photos. Thanks for the inspiration and keeping on capturing!

Sarah said...

Thanks everyone AGAIN!

Cody - I'll have to look into that! Thanks.

I think one of the reasons I love the bounce is the lack of natural light in most newer New England homes. And the fact that we don't get much sun here!

Jennifer said...

I love your pics! I started reading your blog b/c A. your kids are cute B. you write well C. i'm hoping to learn something about taking pics from your blog. I made my pics bigger b/c of your post a while back. That alone has made my pics look better, thanks for the motivation!