31/365 - Scion Exposed 8.0

Clint and I met at Scion Exposed 1.0 in Daytona Beach in Spring of 2005.  We moved in together in August 2005.  July 30th, 2010 Jordan was born.  This was Jordan's first Scion Exposed event.  Our family was built by Scion, so naturally Scion is a huge part of our lives.  Our story has touched many Scion enthusiasts across the country.  We enjoyed the 8th Scion held event, and can't wait to take Jordan to many more future events.

This photo is of the Scion tC that won Best of Show at this year's Scion Exposed.  This tC happened to drive past us on the interstate on our way up to Jacksonville.  It turned both of our heads, which is rare for us b/c we have seen it all when it comes to car mods.  But that paint was gorgeous and the tC was so clean.  It could have had less stickers, but oh well.

30/365 - Puppy Love

Jordan really likes our dog Bungie.  We often tell Bungie to give Jordan kisses, and Jordan put his hand out  to prepare for the slobbery, wet tongue of doom!  These two will be best friends as Jordan grows up.

29/365 - techy Jordan

Jordan LOVES our apple laptops.  Jordan really loves anything that involves a backlit screen.  Cell phones, TVs, computers and tablets are of course his favorite toys.  He is a high tech baby, like his daddy!

I wanted to give the photo a retro look, so I used a retro photoshop action from thecoffeeshopblog.com.

28/365 - Sippy cup anyone?

Jordan tried out the sippy cup today.  it's more like a sippy straw inside a tumbler by NUBY.  He really didn't get the fact that he was supposed to suck the apple juice out of it.  He just chewed on the straw for half an hour.  But at least he knows how to hold it.  He will have a nice surprise when he finally figures out how to suck the straw.  =)

27/365 - Good Karma

Today after work I met up with a friend and her dog, Karma.  I took some photos for my portfolio to show pet portraits.  I will say Dogs are the HARDEST subject to take portrait of.  Kids are way easier, but I LOVE the challenge.  Here is the sneak peak I posted for Shannon to see.  Enjoy!

26/365 - France in Vegas

Another photo from my 'Vegas Series'.  At first I was upset with the fact that no matter how hard i tried, I got a car in the photo.  Well after a while I began to like this modern day look to such an old structure.  So here it is!

23, 24 & 25/365

Got a little behind!  It happens easily in the middle of a tiring week.

Tuesday Jordan played with his First Football. (he is gonna be a Wide Receiver one day! Just like Wes!)

Wednesday he began to figure out his drum toy..."so if i bang the top of it, it will light up and make noise??  Well why didn't you say so!??"

Thursday was his second day to taste applesauce - NUMMIES

22/365 - boring day

seriously, nothing exciting happened today.  So i give you a photo edit - vintage style!  Jordan with Aunt Trista

21/365 - Sad Day, But Jordan makes everyday a bright

Today we went over to Clint's Parent's house.  His mom had already left for Albany NY.  Clint's Grandma was dying, and only had maybe 12 hours left.  We went over to Titusville to comfort his Dad and his sister Trista.  We knew that Jordan would bring smiles.  Trista and I took photos of Jordan.  This photo is Jordan in Trista's arms.  I was trying to get a nice closeup of his BLUE eyes.  The colors of her sweater and his eyes were so nice, so I had to post it!

We had a nice time with them for the afternoon.  We left around 6, and found out that she passed on at 6:30pm.  At least she is no longer suffering.  I just pray for their family and for Clint's Mom, this must be so hard for her, i can't even begin to imagine.

20/365 - in honor the craziness in Egypt

With all that is in the news right now  - Cairo, Egypt anti government protests - this seemed appropriate.  This was taken in Nov 2009 in Las Vegas at The Luxor.  This is a part of the Vegas Series that I am re-editing.  This photo is dedicated to Trista!

18 & 19/365

I kinda forgot to post last night.  But I did take this adorable candid shot of Jordan and Bungie yesterday.  I want to put "thought bubbles" or captions up fo this photo and see who comes up with the best one.  maybe they can win a prize!  =)

The second photo is a continuation of my Vegas series of photos.  This is the Bellagio and it's fountains.  No editing done here, this photo is "AS IS".  Yes, the colors were that vibrant!

More Vegas photos will be uploaded for the next few weeks!!

17/365 - Horse Fish of Vegas

Again, an old photo - newly edited.  I am going to take a few weeks and re-edit some old Vegas photos.  I took so many back in 2009 but I never took the time to edit them properly.  Here is the Horse in front of Caesar's Palace.

16/365 - Old Photo - New Editing

I took this photo in Vegas back in Nov 2009.  I edited it tonight Finally!  here are the results, nothing fancy.  Just a nice statue!

15/365 - Octotunes!!

This is one of MY favorites of Jordan's toys.  It's manufactured by LAMAZE, but looks sort of crafty/handmade.  I love the quiltiness (as if that is a word) and the vibrant colors.  I took some shots as if it was for a product manual or magazine review.  I put together a small collage to show of the product at different angles.  I just love the Octotunes!

14/365 - Bye BYe ToonTown

ToonTown in WDW will be torn down after Feb 12th.  Jordan will never remember this place, so we took him to ToonTown for a last goodbye.  We toured Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy's places.  Mickey's House is of course the best, and here it is all hyped up on color and saturation.  not a fabulous photo - but a fun one.

10,11,12,13/365 - Mega-Update

It has been a bit crazy, and lazy for me around here to be honest.  But i kept taking photos.  So here is the mega update!

We bought Jordan his FIRST Mickey Mouse

He posed himself, what a model!

Trying some fun colorful editing

Re-editing the photo above with crazier colors and B&W

9/365 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Last night it was REALLY Foggy here in Central Florida.  We live right next to an elementary school.  So i took soem photos of the playground.  This reminded me of the hit NIckelodeon SNICK TV show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?"  I loved that show!

This Photo has not been edited.

8/365 - bouncy bouncy bouncy in the bouncy seat

Jordan always enjoys his time in his bouncy seat.

7/365 - Play Ball

We took the dogs outside and found a big yellow ball.  So we picked it up and the dogs got really excited.  We threw it around for a few minutes, here are our crazy mutts in action.   This is Bungie, our Lab/Chow/Border Collie mix.  Behind him is Sora, our Long Haired Miniature Dapple Dachshund.  They are best friends, but Bungie is the ball hogger, while Sora think's he rules the house.

6/365 - Changing Time

I was Changing Jordan, and I noticed how his outfit (navy and yellow) really complimented his blue eyes and the yellow polka dotted changing table pattern.  So I grabbed the Camera and went to work.  This was also a chance for me to rally focus on his beautiful eyes (just like his daddy)!  Man he is so handsome!

5/365 - new photo editing skills

     An old friend from Oklahoma gave me a few tips with editing the EYES of my models.  I do not use a flash when I take photos.  Since I have been taking a lot of indoor shots with poor lighting, I needed to figure out a way to make the eyes pop out more.  She told me to look up the BABY POWDER ROOM action by Coffee Shop Photography.  I did, and then at the end of this editing session, I painted a little bit of Blue in the overlay to make the color pop out more.  Here are the steps I took from beginning to end.  the 4th photo is the FINAL RESULT.  Not too shabby.  Thank you Amy Sargeant Photography and Coffee Shop Photography for all the tips!

4/465 - smiley

Jordan stayed home with Daddy today.  But when I got home, Daddy had to go to work to help someone cover their shift.  Jordan and I played a little game of "where's the baby?" and every time I would say "there he is" and pop out from behind a pillow, he would smile like this.  It took a few shots to get this perfectly.

 After all holding a camera in one hand a pillow in the next, not looking through the camera lens so as not to hide my smile from Jordan, all while shooting Manual mode a 1/30 of a second at aperture 5.6 is not easy.  But luckily it only took me 4 smiley shots to get the right one!  I love how his tongue curls.  I did use photoshop to create some effects, vignetting and some color work.

3/365 - Patriots

I have nothing better to do with my "downtime" other than play a silly little Facebook game called CARTOWN.  It's like farmville, zooworld, etc...except its CARS!  right up my alley!  With the Playoffs in order, i HAD to make a patriots car.  So I created this graphic set for my cartown car.  I know it's not all original, but it did take a lot of time, patience and LAYERS to get it the way I wanted it to look.  =)  Don't judge - you all know the Pats rule!!

GO WES #83!!!

2/365 - Sadness

Today was a tough day for me and for some of my friends, professionally.  While I cannot go into details, I do want to express my feelings visually with this sketch.  I call it a sketch because i did not fully render the image.  It is pretty flat.  I just wanted to do a small amount of cell shading to add some color.  I hope you enjoy my efforts to portray my emotions on this night.

Why so sad?  Personally I felt very sad, angry, upset, frustrated, betrayed and cast aside.   I realize that I have 2 choices to make: stay angry and dwell on it as I drown in my sadness, or stay positive and look to the future for some sunshine.  Professionally, I should take the latter choice.  I realize that this is a life lesson, and that this will make me grow not only as an artist, but as a person.  As I take a step down from what is professionally expected and required of me, I am NOT taking a step down skillfully.  In fact I can take my skills and apply them to my new venue.  Who knows maybe something good will come from me giving more than what is expected of me.

I learned a lot, and I continue to learn.  This is just a small rock that I tripped on as I climb my Everest of life.

1/365 - Jordan's Keys

     Jordan loves his keys!  He gets really  excited when I get them out and jiggle them above his head, here is that moment taken today.
     This is the FIRST upload of my Project 365.   This is an example of my Photography/Photoshop skills.
     First, I do NOT use a flash.  Second, this was taken with a 5.6 lens in VERY LOW LIGHT conditions in my townhouse.  I had to bump the ISO to 3200 or higher to get this shot.  I had to use photoshop to reduce the noise and also to add some vignetting around the edges.

New 'Project 365' Launching Soon

I am starting this project Tonight!!  Which means, the first upload will actually be Tomorrow.  Tonight is my site/blog build night.  Every day I will post a new work of art to keep me going.  Please follow my journey and help by critiquing my work.  The goal is for me to find out my weaknesses, my strengths and to become a better artist.  I really want to work hard this year so that I can build a better portfolio for my future, and most important, my son's future.

Thank you and see you tomorrow

Cheryl

here is a little sketch I did last night to hold you over...  =)
This is what I think Oswald the Lucky Rabbit might look like today (if his story had continued).