Aperture 1.4 {focused blur}

Roman Holiday

Last summer Nicole Hill and I taught a workshop in France. It was amazing, I can't believe I haven't ever shared any photographs from it. I took hundreds of photographs with my big old Canon 5D Mark II but I also decided to take a little tiny point-and-shoot. Literally an hour before we left for the airport I picked up a Sony Cyber-shot because I thought it would be fun to try out the panoramic feature it offers. It was fun to play with on the trip, but I didn't even open up any of the photographs until tonight. Life has just been so crazy this year.

Mark came with me on the trip because he needed to go to Albania during that summer to do some scholarly research for a few weeks and I wanted to go with him so I could see where he had lived and what life was like there. It has been a dream of mine to go to Italy since I was a teen and our flight between Paris and Tirana had a layover in Italy so we decided to spend a few days in Rome. Plus as a bonus Mark speaks Italian and I have never gotten to hear him in action. You have to love a boy who speaks romantic languages!

Anyway, the point of all this is that I've finally pulled out the old Sony to see how all those panoramics turned out. I'm not going to do a a full revue but lets just say I'm not really impressed and I wouldn't really recommend it. The camera is NOT good in low light and even in bright light it is difficult to get a truly sharp panoramic. But for some reason the images from Rome called out to me. So I did a little bit of editing and here they are:

In order from top to bottom- Outside the Colosseum; Inside the Colosseum; The forum from the base; The forum at the top; Trevi Fountain with hundreds of visitors; The Teatro Dell' Opera dI Roma outdoor summer preformance in the Ruins of the baths of Caracalla; The Spanish Steps. 

Hope you like them! I had mixed feelings about Rome. It is beautiful, but it was so, so hot! And you really couldn't see much because it was covered in people everywhere you went, not that I can complain because I was one of them. I think I'd like to go back in the Fall someday. My favorite part by far was the Opera. Sitting in ruins, watching Italian opera with your husband? Totally romantic.

Oh Shoot!

I've had a lot of comments and emails asking when the next beginning DSLR class will be taking place. We weren't going to offer another one this year but we've been getting so many requests we decided that I should teach it one more time this year.

 "Oh Shoot!" is a 6 week DSLR class. It covers all the settings and buttons on a camera, how to use manual settings, how to expose images correctly in tricky situations, how to look for good natural light,  create beautiful compositions, and how to focus.  There are videos in the class, PDFs and MP3s of all the lessons, live video chats where you can get extra help right from me, a forum for even more help, emails 5 days a week, and a gallery to share images. I know that manuals and self help books can be confusing so I try to explain things as simply and clearly as possible with both visual, audio, and  written guidance.

The class starts September 5th. You don't have to be online at specific times unless you want to attend a live video chat for extra help with questions. The class is yours forever after you buy it. It doesn't expire so you can come back at anytime if you want a refresher.

Registration begins Monday, August 29th at 9:00pm eastern time. There are two versions of the class you can sign up for. Go here to register and find out more.  

The Announcement

Here is the announcement we sent out to family and friends! I really love how it turned out. All the photos are were taken by me when Sebastian was only three days old ( he already looks so different!) and the text was designed by Sarah Champion. She is the best!

Before and After

I saw a similar idea on pinterest a few months ago and I thought it would be really fun to have Mark take one of me. Especially because it was a way to get a pregnant photograph of me without my face, which is always super swollen by the end of the nine months. I think I want to shoot one every month for the first twelve months of Sebastians life. It will be a fun way to capture how he is growing.

He's here!

We are so happy to welcome our newest family member!

Sebastian Darcy Stringham was born July 18th! It took us a while to choose a name and we really wanted to wait and see him to make sure it was right. Sebastian comes from Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. Mark has played the part of Sebastian three times since we have been married. Sebastian is a very honorable man, a good brother, and lives life full of wonderment so we thought it would be perfect. I got to choose the middle name...and now I have my very own little Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. The future Miss Sebastian Darcy can thank me later for giving him such a romantic name. Hopefully he will too.

Here he is at the hospital the day he was born. We think he is pretty perfect. He is our first boy with dark brown hair and blue eyes! We love him so much already. The boys are so gentle and so happy to have him. And Dickens (the dog) even seems protective already. He is fitting right in around here and all my fears of how it would change our family dynamic have been put to rest!