ummm … hello?

Wow. Where have I been? I can’t believe how much time has actually passed! Anyway, I can’t really remember all that has happened, so I thought I’d just post some photos from my Instagram stream.

Daikon Kimchi – my favorite

Charlie got a ‘free gift’ from the restaurant

I wore some fancy earrings

{the most dressed up I’ve been in a long time}

Vending Machine Mustaches

the Boy looking quite dapper if you ask me

he’s not smoking – but he did pick out his shoes

lookin’ like twinos with his Dad

both of them love sunglasses

{ for reals }

So that’s just a little glimpse into what we’ve been up to lately. Nothing too exciting. But I will say, I’m incredibly in love with Instagram. Are you using it as well? Let me know your user name so I can follow along – I LOVE looking at everyone’s photos! I’m under ‘BecomingAjumma’, so maybe I’ll see you around?

Leah Lemmons - February 10, 2012 - 5:26 am

LOVE.THE.SUNGLASSES.PHOTO!!! Oh my goodness!! Actually, love them all, Charlie is so Ohmygosh cute in all his cuteness, Clair too of course! They’re getting so big!

hannah - April 10, 2012 - 8:50 am

your son is so cute and the title of your blog is amazing!

young love

So I had the pleasure of taking Engagement photos for a friend. Okay, so basically I begged her to let me take them. But she said YES, so that’s all that matters! Here’s a little glimpse of some of the shots I got (oh … and it doesn’t hurt that they are incredibly beautiful).

So this session went a TON smoother than my other ones, but there is STILL a lot for me to learn. The big thing I have learn is the placement of hands. It’s kind of hard to remember, but when you look at photos afterwards, it becomes really obvious. HA!

Oh – and here’s another idea for you guys! I started a ‘private group’ on FB for people who are just wanting to get better at Photography (like me). Since it’s a private group, the only way you can access it,  is if I add you – or another Member adds you. My thought is that we’ll have our own little community where we can ask the stupidest of questions (believe me, I have a TON) and get feedback on our pictures. I’ll also have weekly ‘assignments’ – purely for the accountability of getting out there and practicing.

My hope is that we can all learn together and share what little (or lot) of knowledge we have. I honestly don’t mind if it’s just me and two of my friends, or if we have twenty. If you’re friends with me on FB, message me and I’ll add you. Actually, if I’m not friends with you on FB you can still message me and I’ll add you – or you can go to the BecomingAjumma FB page via the link on the right and ask for an add there. And if you’re not on FB at all, you can leave your FB name in the comments below or send me a message via the contact link above.

I’ll be honest – I hope some you guys want to join. I think it would make it SO much more fun to have others to discuss stuff with. But if not, I always have my husband as my sounding board (which I’m sure he just loves … um … yeah …).

Christie Hughes - December 24, 2011 - 8:06 am

Hey, can I be in the cool kids group on FB???? I really am interested in learning more about photography and am working on getting a better camera. Looking at a Nikon right now that my friend wants to sell. Not sure on the model, but she said she got it for Christmas last year and has only used it a couple of times.

BTW – those pictures are AWESOME!!! I wish we lived near eachother so you could take our pictures and make us look pretty! :)

i guess it’s time

 

Tonight I plucked out 6 grey hairs from my head in the span of about 5 minutes. Devastation. For reals.

I had tried to make a pact with myself to stop plucking my greys. I think I held out for about 2-3 weeks before the plucking started up again. I would continue, but I’m actually afraid that I’ll lose too much hair. Because is it just me, or does your hair get thinner as you get older? And let me tell you – even a SINGLE strand of grey hair REALLY shows up on black hair. It’s kind of making me go crazy … as I’m constantly on the ‘search’ for new ones.

And it also reminds me of my Mom when she started going grey … or more noticeably grey. She was a natural blonde (remember – I’m adopted) and when the greys started coming in, she swore that her hair was getting blonder. We told her it was grey, but she was pretty convinced it was blonde. It was one of those things we would kind of chuckle to ourselves about and just ‘let Mom believe what she wants’ … but now I’m realizing how she felt. I keep thinking that I have really shiny hair. But those ‘shines’ are actually grey hairs … no reflection of light … just stark white hair against the jet black ones.

Anyway, I guess its time to start coloring my hair again. I first started coloring my hair when I was around 19. I did it so much, that I actually kind of forgot what my natural hair color was. I thought it was dark brown. But it’s not. It’s actually black.

So for a few years now, I’ve been back to my ‘virgin’ hair color. I find it somewhat amusing that I used to color my hair all the time when I didn’t ‘have’ to, but now that I kinda ‘need’ to, I’m feeling a bit resistant. So before I make an appointment to get it done, does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Leah Lemmons - December 20, 2011 - 5:20 am

I refused to color my hair up until a few years ago. I didn’t have grey hair until after I got married. Then I got even more greys when I had my daughter 11 years ago. Now, I’m a full blown colorer, as of 3 years ago! So…. are you wanting to go lighter, same color, just coloring to cover greys? What is it you want done? I wanted all of that! lol If you color, show us your due! 😉

Ramsey - December 20, 2011 - 6:53 pm

I’m jealous of your black hair!! I always think people with black hair have it easier when it comes to covering gray. I am starting to have some gray hairs, but my light/medium brown hair makes it hard to cover!! Argh.

Liz K. - December 22, 2011 - 9:55 am

Before you head to the salon, I suggest you get John Frieda’s foam color. It’s the best! Covers greys nicely and the color pretty matches my hair (I’m a dark brown and used light medium brown). I colored my hair earlier this month and it still looks good. People with darker hair color tend to have a more difficult time covering their grey than those with lighter hair colors. Good luck!!

sometimes there’s a disconnect

So I had this ‘vision’ of the concept I wanted to shoot today (you know, part of that 15 minute challenge I gave myself yesterday). I guess it could be titled, ‘A Girl and her Dog‘ and I was really looking forward to doing it.

SIDE NOTE: in case you don’t know me in real life,  you might not know that I’m actually not much of an ‘animal person’. I can totally appreciate them for other people, but having one of my own? Not so much. I usually don’t talk about it very often … like when I agreed to do a family session at the family’s hobby farm … and had a terrifying moment when I thought the llamas were going to stampede me. Or spit on me. Cause everyone knows that llamas spit – right? And right before the potential stampede, the Mom tells me how a kick from a llama can be lethal and coyotes and mountain lions stay away if there’s llamas … nobody told me there were such safety hazards in Photography.

But today turned into another unforeseen stressful day, and I thought I was going to have to cancel my ‘shoot’. But then the stars aligned and everything got worked out and with about 30 minutes to spare before sundown, I took Claire outside and began to set up. Granted, it’s not like there were a ton of props needed, but it rained last night and I have to do some creative positioning because I either have a bunch of cars parked in driveways on one side of the house, or a big stop sign/street sign on the other side of the house. Plus, there’s our large garbage can near the garage … so I have to make sure I can position Claire in such a way that none of those things show (not sure I accomplished that entirely).

Oh yeah … it was also really cold out. So I think we lasted all of 8 minutes. So while I’m not thrilled with the results, at least I got something. Now I have to think of something new to do tomorrow … fun challenge … and hopefully I’ll get slapped across the face with some inspiration. Because right now … I got nothing.

April - December 16, 2011 - 7:40 am

Two questions: What mode did you shoot these picture in and did you edit them?

Ajumma - December 16, 2011 - 3:31 pm

I’m not sure what mode … I think the ones where she was ‘walking’ I tried in Tv mode (I use a Canon by the way) and the ones where she is ‘standing still’ I used Av. Even though it may not look like it, the light was really starting to go, and I was trying to move fast as it was super cold out. They mostly turned out blurry, but I was grateful to have gotten SOMETHING! LOL OH – and I use ‘actions’ on all my photos … so everything is edited (color wise) that I post :)

It’s amazing what 15 minutes can do

Today was kinda rough. I’m sure there are a million people out there who have far more legitimate things going on in their lives that warrant a complaint, but I’m having some issues with my business website and PayPal … and it’s been super frustrating.

I wasn’t going to take any pictures today because I thought I was too busy. But then I remembered that I need to practice … which means I need to invest time into it … no much how big or small. So when Chuckster and I went to meet Daddy for lunch, I snapped a few pictures. Granted, they all turned out blurry, but hey … considering it’s Charlie I was dealing with? I’ll take it.

Charlie is looking so old to me in that hat. But the blanket he drags around reminds me that he’s still little.

During Charlie’s nap I took Claire out for a short shoot. I knew her attention span was not going to be very long, so I promised her she could pick out a movie to watch if she just took a few pictures. I had this little ‘concept’ in my mind, but it couldn’t come to full fruition because I lacked the props. Anyway, in my mind I saw a ‘little business woman’. I got this jacket from Gap Kids on sale and I always thought it had a ‘Chanel-esque’ vibe to it. So I paired it with a basic tee, skinny jeans, and some wing-tip mary janes. But why stop there … So I pinned her hair up and grabbed my favorite black glasses prop, and out we went. Oh – and just so you know, the ‘missing props’ that I wanted was a briefcase, large purse, newspaper, coffee mug, bus stop and bench. But hey – we can’t win them all, right?

So maybe this will become my new challenge … come up with a ‘concept’ and shoot for 15 minutes. And maybe next time I’ll actually have the props. Now that is a novel idea!

Liz K. - December 15, 2011 - 2:44 pm

You’re going to have your hands full when Claire grows up :) She’s going to leave a trail of broken hearts along the way :) I can’t believe how much Charlie has changed since last year..he’s so adorable!

Lacey B. - December 15, 2011 - 3:50 pm

Ok, now Charlie looks super grown up in these! Love Claires style, well her mama’s. 😉

Your pictures are making me super jealous, I have to start taking pictures again. You could do a project 52 or project 365 for the new year and blog about it… Just to add one more thing to your to do list. :-)

Natalie - December 15, 2011 - 4:34 pm

UMN I am LOVING the glasses. These pictures are so great! You got a talent over there Rachel! (not to mention they will love looking back at these later!)

Gennean - December 17, 2011 - 11:39 am

Oh my goodness, she is so stinkin’ cute!!!

Renee Fontana Theodore - December 20, 2011 - 2:33 pm

Rachel- I love these pics of Claire– the jacket is fabulous!
:) Renee

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