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This semester I am taking digital photography. I have had my camera for more than a year now and I want to learn to do more then I have been able to do thus far. Yesterday the instructor sent us out of the class room for an hour to take photos. We were to try to use some of the elements he had lectured on in the beginning of class. Several of the students, myself included, stumbled upon a storage closet that held lots of goodies used by art students as props for drawing and painting. You could have spent days in there and not run out of things to photograph.

Baskets full of old shoes,

knick knacks,

statues,

chairs,

bottles and jugs,

more statues,

and baskets of sea shells and star fish were just some of the interesting things stored in this little room that I hope to be able to visit again.

© Michelle Hines

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pudgy baby toes

© Michelle Hines

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When Ian and Katelyn were babies I bought them a set of teethers that were shaped like a hand and a foot. They loved them. When I saw a similar set in a local toy shop I had to buy them for Oliver. Like his Dad and his Aunt he loves them too.

© Michelle Hines

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I am loving my macro lens. Focusing is a little trickier but it is definitely worth it. While the kids were sleeping one afternoon this week I grabbed some of the girls' crayons and some white paper and played with my new toy.

© Michelle Hines

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Look who have returned!

The past few years I have noticed the robins returning in February not March. I usually get a flock of them in the front yard feasting on the berries of my holly tree. I was very happy to see them this year. It may still be February but their return means spring is soon to be here.

© Michelle Hines

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Fun with food.

I got a 60mm macro lens for Valentine's day. These are my first attempts at macro photography.

© Michelle Hines

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Since my hospitalization in 2008 I have been crocheting little tiny hats for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). I love doing it. it is a way of giving back to the hospital for the great care I received. Matt asked me if I could make an adult sized hat for him to wear on his upcoming ski trip. I told him I would try. He picked out yarn from my yarn basket but most of it is baby weight. Matt is over six feet tall. He definitely needed a heavier yarn. Yesterday I bought two skeins of chunky wool yarn. Last night I gave it a try. Matt wasn't here but Patrick kindly lent me his head so that I could get the sizing correct. Two and a half hours later I had made both Matt and Kate a hat. The pattern is my own and I am pretty pleased with the results. I think Matt and Kate are too.

© Michelle Hines

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Oliver, five months old.

© Michelle Hines

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Sophie is the only one who is still enjoying the snow.

She is blazing a trail through thirty four inches of snow. (click to see it larger)

The snow is so deep we don't have to leash her. She can only go so far so fast. She is loving every minute of it. Yesterday when I ventured out for more wood she came with me and would not come back in. Every time I called her she just laid down and looked at me. Crazy dog won't go out in the rain but loves the snow.

© Michelle Hines

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More snow! The storm last weekend dumped thirty four inches of snow here in Maryland. Yesterday's storm brought about eighteen more inches, maybe more, it is hard to tell with all the drifting. The news is reporting the snowiest winter in history with accumulations since December topping seventy seven inches. I am so done with snow.

© Michelle Hines

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Here are a few pictures from last Sunday. On Saturday it snowed thirty four inches!

The view from our back deck.

We had to dig a path to Mom's apartment and for the dogs to get to the backyard.

Our fence is four feet tall.

Two out of three cars cleared, the parking pad shoveled and we were able to get down the driveway. Thank you to Matt and Lori for their help shoveling and to Fred for making enough room on the driveway for them to get here.

© Michelle Hines

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5:00 PM Friday February 5, 2010

7:00 AM Saturday February 6, 2010

It has definitely snowed. I woke up this morning and had to head straight out side to shovel a place for the dogs to go out. The snow is as high as they are tall. Kate came out and helped. The two of us managed to shovel a path to Mom's house and a small area for our dogs and hers to go potty. I measured between twenty six and thirty inches of snow and it is still coming down. Patrick is stuck in Brazil and even when his flight leaves there he can not get a connecting flight from Houston. The airport is closed. Kate and I plan on keeping our path cleared and that's about it. This snow is too wet and heavy to try to shovel the long driveway.

© Michelle Hines

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There is a website called Digital Photography School that I visit. They have a weekly photo assignment/contest. I try to participate when I can. It forces me to look at things differently and to take pictures with a goal in mind. This week's assignment was Centered Composition. Usually when taking a photo you offset the subject to add interest. We could take a photo of anything as long as the subject was centered. It is dark out when I get off work, last Saturday it snowed all day and Sunday was spent running errands so outdoor shots were out of the question. I always photograph the kids so I wanted to do something different this time. I remembered a seemingly simple assignment from my B&W film photography class (see those here), we made a simple sculpture out of white paper and photographed it on a dark background. It was a project that involved light manipulation and camera angle. I decided to try it again. I spent the last 2 evenings playing with the sculpture and lighting. Above are some of the shots I liked. The last one is the one I submitted to DPS. It is the only one without post production white balance help. The only editing I did to the last photo was a slight cropping and a bump up in the contrast a little to make the background darker.

© Michelle Hines