Practice - Chloe

There is a certain something special about working in Children's Ministry. You fall in love with the kids around you. Deeply. See when I moved from Bellingham down here, I wasn't convinced that I could love kids the same here as I did there. I still remember the names of a lot of kids from Bellingham but the memories are distant and I don't imagine they remember much about me and that is ok. But here on the coast there are some kids whose memory of them will be burned in my soul forever. Certain PK's among a few and then there is Chloe. My dear sweet Chloe stole my heart from the beginning. I love her. And I most certainly can count on this fantastic 10 year old for so much. She is a fantastic dancer and I look forward to following her dance career for years - her contemporary solo of I Can Only Imagine moved me to tears earlier this year. It was special to me in so many ways. Tonight she let me practice portrait photography! Oh bless her! She has the most incredible blue eyes and was such a trooper. I am sure you will see her again in my practice and she was a fantastic little model for me and my friend Amey as we practiced our photography skills. Thank you Amey for a wonderful evening!

This was my first "practice shoot" and at some point in the shoot I put my ISO on 400 and never changed it back. It is a shame the light was lovely and I did not need it, so pay no attention to the obvious grain. I am learning. AND how I have come to despise my little 1gb CF card - it is a little pathetic all 116 raw photos it can handle and it is a slow little bugger. I see a 4gb in my future! Oh, but how I enjoyed learning by doing, where should the light be and where should the subject be and what is good light and what is a good backdrop - I have so much to learn. Changing my focus point, metering, shooting in actual manual not just aperture priority. Finding my personal exposure preference. I'm loving it! & I am incredibly thankful for my photoshop CS4 and raw shots! So much fun.

I made a big step today - I rented a 50mm 1.4 lens it will be here on Friday and oh how I will wait with baited breath till it comes that day. And off shooting again I will be. I must find more practice subjects! Any takers?

This is my absolute favorite picture of the day and one of the first ones I took. I fell in love with this blue wall and Chloe's sparkling blues are just wonderful!

And a little dancer she is! She loved jumping for us. Again - I love this blue wall!

And the many faces of Chloe. Thanks again girl! Love ya!