April Photo Challenge | Explanations

A tremendous thank you to all you wonderful people who are going to participate in my photo challenge!

Firstly, I'd like to clarify a few things and in doing so, hopefully answer all your questions!

1. You don't need to be good at photography to join in! The aim of this challenge is to improve your own personal photography skills - it's not to compete with other people. :-) So it doesn't matter if you've never taken a photo in your life - just join in and look forward to the results at the end! 

2. This challenge isn't necessarily a guarantee that your photos will be like Ken Duncan's at the end of the month! (That's what IPS is for! But more on that exciting topic later...) But I seriously think it will help you develop an eye for photography and maybe even provide you with the motivation you need. ;-)

3. You don't need a DSLR (a.k.a big camera) to participate, but if you have one or if you know someone who has one then feel free to use it.

4. It starts on the first day of April and ends on the last day of April! 

5. You will need to take a photo each day, because there will be a given assignment for each day. (I'm going to put the assignments at the end of this post so you can look at them in advance) 

6. If you'd like me to post your photos each day and put a personal critique with them, then let me know! I'd seriously love to. Otherwise you can post them on your own blog, send me the link and I'll comment my critique. :-)

7. In case you're wondering, this is going to be fun. Seriously. 

Any more questions? Let me know below in the comments and I will post the answers! 

{Introducing *clears throat* the April Photo Challenge in all its glory!}

Looking forward to hearing from you! Have a blessed week!

April Photo Challenge

Whenever people ask me if I have one tip or something that they can do that would help them become a better photographer, I can only think of one thing to say:

Take photos. 

Being a good photographer isn't merely about having expensive equipment or a thorough knowledge of all the composition rules. It's not about having creative 'genes' (though that helps) or even about all the photography courses you've been to (that helps, too). 

It's about experience. 

So if you were to ask me right now for my greatest 'secret to success' (not that I am a success story by any means! I seriously still have so much to learn!), I'd have to say that it's actually just getting out there and taking your camera with you. After I did a week-long photography course in 2009, for a while I took hundreds of pictures of anything and everything I could find to photograph. Believe me, my family were thoroughly bored of having to wait every five minutes each time we went for a walk so I could take a picture of that interesting little bush on the side of the road. :D

But the more photos I took, the harder I critiqued myself and the better my photos became. 

So this photo challenge is about just that - merely taking photos. You don't have to be super creative, or own a DSLR or even have been to a photography course. All you need is a willingness to take photos and a desire to improve! The challenge I'm hosting is going to be taking a photo a day for one month of a different subject and then either posting it on your own blog or alternatively sending it to me to post on this blog (and I'm even willing to critique it, too). It's going to be so exciting seeing you all become incredible photographers in just one month! :-)

And now that you've made it this far reading my long boring monologue, I'm going to reward you with a little preview of something I got up to over the long weekend...

{More on that to come!}

2011 | A Photographic Journey

2011.



What a year this has been! But specifically for photography. I think I enjoyed taking photos more than the previous year- not having to think so hard about the meaning of f.stops and metering definitely made the process a whole lot faster, at least! And I had a lot of fun experimenting and breaking all the composition rules. (But shh, don't tell!)

I thought I would share with you some of my happiest photos from this year. I don't say 'best' because I'm a self-confessing perfectionist and I always think my photos can improve! But these photos all made me smile.

| January |

{taken at Annual Conference - loving the catchlights in her eyes in this photo}

| February |

{cat + warm early morning sunshine = happy photo}

| March |

{photography wise, perhaps this isn't the best photo. But this was taken at a children's program, and the little girl in the picture grabbed my camera and took a self portrait - I thought it was adorable!}

| April |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

| May |

{imagine the sound of waves crashing against the rocks, warm sunshine streaming into a rocky cave and the soft gritty feeling of sand under your feet, and you might understand why this photo makes me happy}

| June |

{the joyous strains of a newly acquired viola began to fill our house around this point - I just had to include a photo of this very [squeaky] exciting time}

| July |

{ so many }

{ happy memories}

{and happy smiles from this month}

| August |

{not really focused but I love it anyway}

{happy times with happy people with big cameras}

| September |

{birthday food}

| October |

{because sparklers are happy things}

| November |

{Adoration: music & memories}

| December |

{because little sisters & fields make me happy}

{for God so loved the world that he gave it his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him won't perish but instead have eternal life. John 3:16}

May God bless all of you in the new year 2012!

Love,

Eloise

I might.

Merry Almost Christmas, people!

I've been thinking (I know, I know... very unorthodox of me!) about doing a long, exciting, photo-filled end of year post with some of my favourite photos from 2011 in it.

I might.

But do you know what would really motivate me? If all you incredible photographers/bloggers did the same thing!! (Yes, I'm looking at you.)

So, that being said... Happy Blogging!

And the countdown begins... {edited}

It's nearly Christmas. And that equals busyness! And because busyness equals less time to spend writing long interesting (or not so interesting) words for my blog posts, I thought I'd put all the words together in a collage so you can still see what I've been up to lately... 

Before I leave you to return to your happy busy little lives, I thought I'd quickly post a few photos that I took yesterday. One of the really awesome things about Christmas lights is all the bokeh (translation: the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light or as my friend HT would put it: baubles of light!) that you can create!

{Notice the beautiful baubles of light?}

{Not so much bokeh, but you can do really awesome reflection shots, too! Note: I changed this photo because I now have access to Lightroom (yippeee!) and loved the way this photo turned out after I re-edited it there!}

Have a great & busy week!

of moths & of pencil sharpeners

And now you're wondering what moths and pencil sharpeners have to do with anything, right?

Well, nothing really. :D But I did need a blog title...

And now, because this post is definitely in the random category already, I think I'll continue it in bullet points.

• Firstly, apologies (again) for not fixing up my blog. To be perfectly honest with you, I haven't actually sat down and tried to work it out yet - so any helpful tips would be most welcome. Otherwise, I will set aside some time and try to figure it out on my lonesome! (And it also gives me another opportunity to thank you for being so patient. What a legendary bunch of blog followers you are!)

• Secondly, I just realized that this is rather an aimless blog post. This is because after studying, practising music and drinking numerous cups of tea for 10 hours straight, my brain either switches into a completely random and crazy mode, or else it functions rather like a computer. I will do what you tell me but don't expect me to think creatively about problem solving and solutions! lol. (And that reminds me, I need to go and work out what is wrong with our vacuum. Hmm.)  

• I thought I'd leave you with a few random photos and a random verse to think about today! Oh, and you may expect some more rational posts sometime in the future...

{'For I know the plans that I have for you', declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.'" Jeremiah 29:11}

Trusting

{Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about what happens to you. 1 Peter 5:7}

To borrow a quote from a friend, "doubt is just faith in something other than God". 

"Faith reminds itself of what the Scripture calls 'the exceeding great and precious promises' says Lloyd Jones. "Faith says: 'I cannot believe that He who has brought me so far is going to let me down at this point. It is impossible, it would be inconsistent with the character of God.' So faith, having refused to be controlled by circumstances [or feelings!], reminds itself of what it believes and what it knows." (taken from  this inspiring blog)

11/11/11

Happy eleventh of the eleventh of two thousand and eleven!

{Because it's nice weather, and because today is a nice day, and because I'm a nice person (kidding on this one!) I thought I'd give you a nice happy photo of the day! :) Isn't she cute?}

(post script: aaaand yes, I'm still trying to fix those photos - thanks for bearing with me!}

Photo of the Day

{"...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love..." Ephesians 1:4}

WA: fun times...

{preface: this will probably be the last post in the "WA" series because I'm sure you're all getting bored of it by now!}

While in WA, we did a lot of *fun* things with our hospitable hosts, the D. family! Things like...

{...picniking in the bush}

{mini-golfing}

{and more mini-golfing!}

{sailing}

{Emmie & I}

{Walking with friends}

{...and taking lots of photos!}

{...having fun with cameras and phones}

We also did maany other things like shooting, bowling, 4WDing, horse riding - but sadly, that's all I have time for now! Overall, it was one very incredible trip!

WA: Stories & Scenery

Once upon a time...

...way back in January, the Dewar family invited us to come visit them at their home in the "wild west". At the time, the thought was promptly put on the backburner - so when it actually happened six months later, we were all in a state of complete shock. At least, I was. ;-)

After much praying, consideration and planning, we decided to make the journey across Australia to visit its Western state! Amelia and I were going to be a part of the Children's Institute team as well (my first ever interstate CI!). Everyone was verrrry excited, and it promised to be a truly amazing trip.

Then our friends, the Tiger Airways company - decided to close down two days before we were leaving. Now we had a big problem on our hands - we no longer had flights! Needless to say, this was a *slight* hitch in our plans! We eventually decided that if God wanted us to get to WA, then He would have to make a way for us. By our human reasoning (mosquito logic, anyone?!), it looked impossible. But God had a bigger plan...

And less than two days later, we were on a plane headed for Perth. :-)

{Don't you love taking advantage of your siblings when they are sleeping? Haha, love you Bella!}

{Warning: if you've ever been to WA - excuse me for a moment while I rave about it...}

{Perth is beaaaaaaautiful...}

{And picturesque - look at that old windmill!}

{The weather is amazing... ignore the quality of the photo and focus on the rainbow, instead :P}

{The farm is awesome...}

{The people are pretty awesome, too... but more on them, later!}

{The Dewar farm's front gate, which we long-suffering visitors had to open every time we drove through...}

{Their driveway - note the upside-down 110 speed limit?! I think *certain* people did well over that on certain occasions... (no, it wasn't me - and I wasn't in the car risking my life, either! :P)}

{The stables...}

And that's all for the present! but don't worry... many, many more posts on WA are on their way! :-)

I've been 'Westernized'...

... or so I've been told! ;-)

Yes, I've been away (and yes, I've been back for some time but let's disregard that point for the moment :D), and yes, I am fully intending to blog soon. In fact, I have so many photos from our WA trip (waaaaaaay over 1,000 of them!) that I've decided to do an entire series of posts for you to enjoy! So, keep an eye out for those in the [near] future! In the meantime, I thought I'd post a photo I took the other day...

{For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the the things sown in it to spring up,

so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations. Isaiah 61:11}

Reflection...

{"For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim reflection, but then face to face." 1 Cor. 13:12}

{Side note: I showed the above picture to a friend the other day, and she really liked it. But when I showed the same photo to my sister, she said blankly, "What is it?" Hmm. Sisters are the best critique-rs... :D}

~Autumn

{Seeing that winter has officially arrived and also in view of the fact that I am generous enough to give you yet another post while the rest of you are procrastinating with your own blogs... :-) I thought I'd post a few of my favourite pictures from Autumn 2011}

{"Let us now fear the LORD (Jehovah) our God,}

{...who gives rain in its season,)

{...Both the autumn rain and the spring rain,}

{...Who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest." Jeremiah 5:24b}