Pictures say a thousand words...

Family picture time! I have always enjoyed beautiful photos and frankly one of my "if I weren't a teacher I would be..." jobs would be a photographer. I have just discovered (probably 5 years too late) the wonderful, free photo-editing application called Picasa. Love does not even describe what it has done for my photos. There is just so much you can do with it! Straighten, crop, filter...you name it and it can be done.

I dare say I may never hire a professional photographer again. Noah only had professional pics done right after he was born...and frankly I was a bit dissappointed with them. :-( They were posed and just weren' the style I was looking for. And the saddest part for me was that they COST hundreds of dollars! So...around four months, I took some photos of Noah with the best investment I have ever made...my Canon Rebel camera. I researched lighting and out of the dozens of shots I took I have some gems that are still up and framed in my house.

I have his feet shot in black and white in his scrapbook.

These pictures were just taken in our master bedroom right after I painted the walls a light blue. The lighting from our large windows was perfect. I used no flash and upped the ISO to 1600.

Unlike many friends I have, I have not been very good at documenting formal pictures of Noah at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months old. But I guess I figure I have saved tons of money! Obviously, I have no lack of pictures of my son for almost every day of his life! Also, I appreciate more "random" moment shots than poses.  The "four-month" photo shoot was the last time I really tried to get some professional-like photos up in the house...and they are still there. Now that Noah is almost 15 months, I feel another "photo-shoot" will be in order soon to replace the baby photos up on the mantle and throughout the house. Perhaps fall will push me to play with color and outdoor lighting when he's around 18 months in October.

Here are the latest photos I have taken of Noah during a family photo shoot with my parents and siblings. Was thinking of putting the chair photos in a 3-picture frame...we'll see. :-)

Noah and his Uncle Aaron

Love this picture of Noah standing up...and the Picasa application helped me straighten out my shot.

Took this picture right as Nick and Noah were walking...I love how simple it is and that they're feet are in the same motion. I also like that Noah is still the focus since you can't see Nick's face...definitely thinking about placing this one in a 5x7 frame above the mantle.