Delicious treats!

Today is definitely another scattered day. I'm having a difficult time hanging onto topics to write about. Here it is, past seven in the evening and I've only just now started typing. I can admit that my slow start is partially attributed to sleeping in a little bit (but only by an hour! We had a crazy sleep schedule this past weekend and I am not used to that sort of thing), but mostly it's due to the fact that I was making a birthday gift for Andrew! Pictures next week I'm sure. His birthday is tomorrow, so I'll take pictures then!

 Some fun with bokeh since it was too dark to focus on faces in Disneyland.

The week involved a lot of baking for me. This presented many photo opportunities! I believe I mentioned last week that I was going to try to incorporate a more... interesting angle for the photos I took, and I think I did OK. At the very least I made strides over the previous shots I did of my baking endeavors! I expect to only get better. Part of my motivation is that I'm thinking I'll try and get into stock photography. It could end up being a great way to make some money (eventually), and will definitely provide more chances for me to experiment and grow with projects. It will also create a more creativity driven environment in my brain, hopefully leading to more interesting portrait shoots!

The planet thing that looks neat, and a 

lantern from Fantasy Land. 

Another learning/growing opportunity that I've delved into is creating a model mayhem account. Andrew's co-worker's wife is a makeup artist, both fashion and effects, and has had success with projects and collaboration. So, he encouraged me to join the fray and see what I can do. You can find my account here, as well as her's here. This should be interesting.

 Andrew's exceedingly interesting friend. A nice chance to

practice low light portraits. And the last train pulling

into the station before the park closed.

Saturday night was Andrew's birthday party, and I think it's safe to call it a roaring success. There were a lot of people, I'm going to say thirty to thirty-five total. I don't think I've ever been to a party with that high of an attendance! Andrew asked me to take pictures of everyone having a good time, and I'm sad to say that I failed at that. I am shy, so even though I walked around with the camera literally the whole night I only took about ten photos. And they're not good. They're all from really far away, sort of overview photos. Very creepy and impersonal. I really biffed the opportunity to get to know new friends and to take pictures of people (which is my favorite photography subject!!), and I'm feeling very disappointed about it. Although Andrew says to not feel too badly, because they have parties often and so I will have many more chances. Here's hoping I do better next time.

 My bruschetta! I didn't make the bread. Perhaps

I'll get that ambitious someday.

In good party related news, a handful of people ventured to the photo booth and we ended up with many fun photos of drunk people goofing off. We feel good about that.

 Two plates full of cookies!

Last night we took another trip to Disneyland and this time we had a tripod! One of Andrew's housemates was kind enough to lend us his, and so Andrew and I had the chance to get some photos that we weren't able to get last time. We have yet to go to the park while it's still light outside, or when we arrive the sun has just set, and we've missed the golden chunk of time. There are a few places in the park that would look really fantastic, we just need to get there earlier :) The night shots were super fun though, and created a great chance for us to do some HDR practice. I'm terrible at HDR, so hurrah for learning!

Lots and lots of baking photos!

I ran into a slight update/software issue that prevented me from getting a few of the final cake photos uploaded. I should have it fixed soon though!

 The cakes were lookin' pretty good.

Next week! Andrew's gift (maybe) and hopefully some shots of Disneyland during daylight hours. And who knows? Maybe I'll have some sprouts in the garden to show off.

Should have just made a Mickey Mouse cake!

 I made two cakes: one two tiered and one three tiered!

-MJ

A birthday and a dog.

But not a dog birthday. I don't think I know anyone that hosts birthday parties for their dogs. That's OK though.

Today was Elijah's 3rd birthday! He had a party with lots of friends. This is the first time I've used my camera in just over two weeks. It felt good to be taking photos again. I've had a hard time getting motivated to take photos during my transition back to the States. I should be fine going forth and completing my 365 now.

There were many children in the house today, I wasn't entirely sure what to do. I wanted action shots of course, but there were so many limbs and toys and balloons flying around that it was difficult to get FACES in the shots. I came away with a few that I'm happy with though. Some very nice ones of Elijah enjoying his super awesome train cake.

I made a big effort to really use my SB-800. I was fiddling with the controls almost the whole time. I found that the TTL wasn't really working as well as I would have liked it to. I know that there's a bit of an issue with relationship to the aperture on my lens, so a lot of the photos are a bit darker than I wanted them to be. Not a huge deal, I can lighten them in post, but it would be nice to not have to worry about it at all. There's still so much to learn!

In general it seems that upping the ISO to 200 makes enough of a difference to lighten photos that are taken while I'm zoomed. Of course if I forget to put that back to 100 and I take a photo of someone as close range the photo is completely blown out. It was an exercise in quick transitions, so all in all it went well.

After the party I went to visit Jacki :] and finally meet her puppy, Hiro! I brought my camera with me, still in shutter bug mood, and planned on taking many photos. I'm happy to say that I succeeded in taking many photos. I would have taken even more if my flash batteries hadn't 100% died on me.

No problems though, because I got some super cute photos of this fantastic doggie! Another exercise in acting quickly with a squirrelly subject!

All in all, a great return to my 365 project.

-MJ

Ireland Day's 28/29 - Busy busy

OK! I did not mean to skip two whole days. Holy cow. I've been going non-stop though! Wednesday was Dave's birthday, so after work I went home and ate then jetted back into town with Catherine to meet up with everyone. The Irish really know how to throw a birthday party! I didn't want to miss it. I had a lot of fun at Owen's two weeks ago as well! Seeing as I had (still have) a head cold it probably wasn't the best idea, but I am choosing to live it up. Either way, everyone was up late and I got home around 2 and just crashed. Suffice it to say, yesterday I did not feel good at all. Combining a head cold with a hangover is something I'd rather not ever repeat. I think some of the guys were much worse off though. I've never heard of this game, but they call it Edward Buckfast Hands. I guess we have it at home, but I wasn't aware. Either way, the person in question has a bottle of Buckfast (we've established how I feel about that stuff) taped to each hand and they can't remove the bottles until they're both empty. No thank you!

I was the taper, not the drinker! I had whiskey for my throat xD I was sipping it straight for a while then decided to add a little coke. I didn't want too much because the carbonation just irritates a raw throat! So I sat around enjoying the use of my hands while Catherine, Maisa, Roger, Dave, Eoin and Geraldine punished themselves for some unknown sin. I have it on good authority that all the guys (they were drinking Buckfast, the girls opted for something less horrific) were in bad shape the next day :P

Not that I'm one to talk, I felt awful. I had a hard time sleeping consistently because of my throat and the light coming in through the shades was so bright! I loafed in bed until 1 pm, struggling to gain the energy to get in the shower. I felt better after that but I was still in some serious need of medicine. I left my stuff at Geraldine's place, so I had to walk to the store and buy more! I can't believe I managed it. The cold medicine here is extremely potent. It must be the stuff they give to famous people. Half an hour after taking it it's as though I'm a different person. Just unbelievable. It's not so bad that they don't have Nyquil/Dayquil here, because this stuff is better!

By the time I was medicated and sitting upright, Louise was in town! She is the fabulous woman that lives in Ireland and works with International Internships to place students here. She's our contact of support and lifeline! She is also very awesome. She was swinging by to catch up with the three of us and to take video testimonials regarding how our internships are going. I feel knowing I'm helping potential students to choose this company. There weren't nearly enough testimonials on their website when I started this process. That all ended up taking longer than I thought, but that's OK! It was nice to talk with her and give my two cents about the company :D

After THAT, I had plans to watch movies and eat foood with friends and that went late. See? Non-stop! I woke up this morning and realized two things: One, that I hadn't blogged in two days and TWO, that I didn't take a photo yesterday D: D: D: Shame shame shame. Oh well, I will forge ahead and try not to let that happen again!

I'm on work for the next five days while Brad is out on vacation. Holding down the fort with pride over here! There are some shoots happening this weekend too. Send me your positive energy so I don't forget anything important! :D

p.s. Catherine leaves for home tomorrow morning! She is super awesome and I am going to miss her! Hopefully the three of us can hang out a bit tonight? I have to do laundry, but that won't take me too long. Hanging the wet clothes is the most time-consuming part!

-MJ