New Pics (Week 5)... Not Wednesday but still wordless

Alivia spelled out in Alphabet pasta.

New Pics (Week 5)... And the number of the day is...

Okay here is a little change.  I figured I'd write this post as a list.  There were just so many things about Alivia to report.  As Sesame Street would say, the number of the day is 28.  Yes a mix of 28 facts, milestones, and randomness.  The letter of the day, of every day, is L as in Love Letters to Livvy.  I had originally posted this on Livvy's blog but had to post here as well as I had additional pictures to share.

New Pics (Week 5)... Dis & Dat

Alivia's vocabulary is expanding and amongst the few words she can say are dis and dat.  As in this and that.  Well I'm assuming it is what she is saying.  Sometimes it is hard to decipher.  Each day I get better at cracking her code and I know in time that I will be able to speak Livvy fluently ;o)  Yes I am finding that Livvy is a language all its own.  In the past week she has met another milestone!  She actually pointed at something for the first time with her chubby little dimpled finger.  Now she points at everything and each time I can't help but to eat her up!  I can't resist her adorableness!  She has also been very active walking just about every where around the house.  With the support of couches, coffee tables, chairs, etc. to help her balance, she is getting around much too quickly.  I can't believe she is standing by herself and just within the past week is actually taking steps without falling.  I can't help but to think  how  fortunate I am to be able to stay home and witness all of her amazing firsts.  It really is crazy.  Among all of the activity, we have been swimming daily in the pool too!  It has been unbelievably HOT and HUMID.  No choice really but to swim or stay in air conditioned houses.  It's the only way to stay cool.  Our power went out yesterday for 1 1/2 - 2 hours which was a bit concerning.  It was so hot and without the air conditioning, I was afraid that the house would become unbearable for Livvy.  I closed all my blinds to keep the sun from streaming in and heating the house.  We were lucky to have the power go back on after only a short time.  I upped the air conditioning so that we would cool off quickly.  It was surprising in just that short time, the house had already become muggy.  Ick!  I hate the stickiness you feel that comes along with the humidity.  It makes me want to shower all day.

New Pics (Week 4)... I can tone it down

I've been a little bummed the past couple of days.  My sister Lola Farra, a professional photographer, just saw some of my pictures for the first time a couple days ago.  Let's just say she wasn't impressed and thought they were over processed.  I did sort of expect this reaction.  I realized awhile back that we had very different processing styles.  Just because I sort of expected it doesn't mean it hurt any less.  She did say that she liked my composition and complimented a couple of my still life photographs which was nice.  It's a little funny or so I've been trying to convince myself so that I don't cry.  At the beginning of my photography journey, I thought that for sure I would process my images very similar to how my sister did as I have always been her biggest fan!  I've always been convinced that I'm NOT biased, but that her pictures are truly fantastic!  I know that if I wasn't her sister that I'd still feel the same of her work.  She is an amazing photographer!

New Pics (Week 4) Cape Cod

Long time, no write.  I know.  I've been on vacation with my family in Cape Cod!  We lucked out and had great weather every day for the week of July 4th!  Of course I got some great pics.  I had to process the hell out of some as they didn't come out as expected.  I borrowed a zoom lens from my sister and switched my camera settings from TV to AV mode per my sister's recommendation depending on where I was taking the picture.  She is a fantastic photographer so I know that my camera settings were set appropriately for some great shots!  When I downloaded all 388 pictures, I was surprised to see them looking a bit hazy, over exposed (lacking contrast), and mostly blurry.  I reviewed the camera settings of various pictures and they seemed to have been fine so I can only assume that the lens was the reason for my less than satisfactory images.  I wanted to talk to my sister about it in hopes to trouble shoot but haven't had the chance yet.  I cleaned the lens with a dry cloth as I noticed it seemed to have been foggy.  Out of respect for my sister I did not use a lens liquid cleaner on it as I would have liked to and felt it so desperately needed.  In her experiences with them they have left a residue/film behind.  With a little, okay a lot of, time, effort, and dedication I was able to salvage my favorites.  I'm excited to share them!  You know, as I'm reading this post back to check it for spelling and grammatical errors, I realized that the culprit for the foggy lens just may have been caused by the humidity.  I wonder if I had wiped my lens in between each picture if they would have come out sharper? 

New Pics (Week 3) cont. yet again

I've been experimenting with some actions that I bought at Paint the Moon and I'm loving the results!  All my black and whites were converted using the Classic B&W action from Paint the Moon.  Others, which I mark below, have been retouched using the Color Dream Glow action. 

Another cool action from Paint the Moon is the Twinkle Eye action which I used today for the first time.  It allows you to do a few things to the eyes like brighten whites and lighten the irises. 

Red, White, and Blue

Okay, okay I took this picture awhile back in June but specifically for these photo challenges as I looked ahead to see the theme was going to be Red, White, and Blue at Mom Tried It and Live Every Moment!  This is Alivia's bathing suit.  I hope to get some pictures of her in it but for now I thought this would do.  It's hanging from kitchen chandelier.  I use this lighting fixture a lot as the background is a simple white wall.  You can only be so creative when you are in the same house day after day ;o)