I was looking through my Lightroom files and I found this photo. I remember the day I took it. We were visiting Emma for her sorority Dad’s Weekend event. She attends a private college in Indiana and the campus is gorgeous in the fall. While she and Rick attended the football game, I took a walk around her school. I love fall and the gradual change of seasons that has a bit of crispness to the day. After a long hot summer, the change was welcome. Today the sun is shining and the temperature is close to 30. We still have about 7 inches of snow on the ground. It’s pretty but I would be happy to just be back one season-Fall.

Each morning I wake up and look out the window to see that the sun is not shining AGAIN. I can just see a hint of sunshine through the clouds. It’s cold, dark and dry. My clothes are loaded with static and I am afraid to touch anything metal for fear of getting a shock. I need some sunshine and a reason to get outside and take pictures. This photo is a reflection of my mood tonight.

Moose Peterson is an amazing wildlife photographer. I was looking at his blog this morning and found this great video. Makes perfect sense doesn’t it!

Thought I would post this for my fellow Lightroom users. I just got an email from Creative Techs about a free online Lightroom Seminar. It will be 90 minutes long. Just follow this link and sign up! Use the discount code “lightroom” for the online seminar. Yes, I was told I could post this information on my blog!

I try to spend time in Lightroom every day. Today I updated my camera profiles and found a few more presets to add to my ever expanding list. I visit Lightroom Killer Tips often and have found some great presets and adjustment brushes. I thought it would be great to show a side by side of this photo before and after. Of course I forgot to export the before so I had to do a snapshot of the side by side.

I used the Brighten Eyes, Whiten Teeth, Soften Skin and Matt’s Soft Focus 1. I think she is so pretty untouched but what girl doesn’t love a little help?

Molly from Molly-blogs has interviewed me!

1. If you could live in any other time period, what would it be?
I don’t know. Perhaps the wild west-kind of during the Annie Oakley time. I like cowboy boots, jeans and hats so that seems like a good era for me.

2. What’s your favorite feature? Hair, eyes, fingernails, beauty mark?
Captain of the Low Self Esteem Club here. I would like to say my favorite feature is my eyes. They have failed me in the vision department but they have allowed me to see the light in the darkest of times.

3. If you could have two more hours everyday, what would you use them for?
Ahhhh good question!! If I could request that those extra hours be daylight, I would be one happy girl. I would take those extra hours and be very selfish. I seem to never have enough time for me. I would devote it to shooting photos, working out, and maybe just slowing down and doing nothing. Oh I really want those extra hours now!

4. Tell us one thing that no one knows about you.  Yet.
My family knows this about me but outside my family –no one knows this..I am ashamed to admit it but I am extremely competitive. EXTREMELY! My husband doesn’t like to go for walks with me, because we end up running because I need to be in front. I don’t know where this competitiveness came from but it is always lurking around the corner. We took up riding bikes this summer. We rode every night after work. Guess where I was? Yep- in front, setting the pace. I don’t have to be the best at anything. I just have to do it better. I used to work for Nordstrom and we would have all kinds of department sales contests. Yes, I would win. I received a lot of free clothes that way.

5. Who’s your favorite movie star and what movie do you love them in most?
I have to say that Shawshank Redemption made me fall in love with Morgan Freeman. I loved his character in that movie and from there he went to Driving Miss Daisy. Those were two great characters for him. I am a easy weeper and both movies make me cry every time.

Want to be interviewed by me?  Here’s how:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

It is pretty cold here in Chicago right now and Brutus hates it!

We have had quite the winter here in Chicago. It seems like the snowiest winter ever. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining…yet! I love the quietness that comes from the storm and right before the snow plows start working. It really is beautiful. We had to go up North on Saturday after our recent storm that left us with 12 inches of fresh snow. Instead of taking the highway, we took the back roads so I could take a few photos. I love this shot.

Me Ra has posted about our lighting conditions during our workshop. Please wander over there to see the amazing photos from all the women who were there.

In the previous post, I put up a photo of my mom and her dear friends. I took the photos in a restaurant in so so lighting using my SB800 flash and my “kit” lens that has an aperature of 3.5-5. I was full of myself thinking that I could manage to get a few good photos since I learned so much at the Me Ra Koh workshop. Hah! Fat Chance. They looked liked this before I did anything to them in Lightroom. This is the advantage of shooting RAW and using Lightroom to fix my lack of knowledge. I used Lightroom to fix my exposure and do a bit of color adjusting along with adding a post crop vignette. I then brought the photo into PS CS3 and ran an action by Pioneer Woman called Color Boost. If you are shooting RAW and using just Photoshop, I encourage you to download a demo of Lightroom and play around with it.

While my mom was visiting us over Christmas, she got together with a couple of her long time friends. It was heart warming to see that after 50 years, they can take up right where they left off. They have raised children who still remember those days when our parents all got together for cocktail parties, bridge, weddings etc. They were part of a large circle of friends and now some of those friends have passed and the sadness of their loss is evident. Their circle is getting smaller and they strive to keep the friendships alive that reminds them of their youth. Could this be a more beautiful photo of three beautiful women?