Digital Photography School

I have joined this forum, on a website called, "Digital Photography School."  I think the best parts of joining is hopefully getting some feedback on some pictures that I take, and getting some picture taking tips!

I was really just needing to post this picture that I am going to put on there for people to, "critique."  So I can get the URL! : )  Hopefully this will be fun!

P.S. I took this picture on the 14 of December.

Great News...

Recently, I ordered some business cards, and my Dad took a bunch to work.  One day, he said, "well, I think I got a job for you Sarah."  It was our old neighbors, and I got an email 2 days ago from the wife of the man that Dad works with.  They are wanting me to take some family pictures, of them and their daughter!   I, was like kinda freaking out...someone, I don't know very well want's me to take their pictures!...I'm just kinda that way. ; )   It is kind of scary when you don't have very much experience! ; )  BUT, I am very excited!  I thank the Lord!  I was beginning to worry when I didn't hear back from her right away!!!!!  So, oh, and I got all the recording done for my Christmas present! So...here is a picture of my precious piano!

Winter Sunsets...Isn't God Amazing?!

This year, as well as last year, I noticed what beautiful sunsets there are in the winter!  Check out this picture from last night!  There are such pretty pinks and light blues, it almost doesn't seem possible!

Our friend Evy, posted on her blog about the very same sunset!  http://evyssong.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-evening.html

In her words, "Only God...could possibly paint a picture like this...His Glory...His love, His beautiful creation...Only God...." 

Beautiful...Thanks God for an awesome sky...and picture opportunities! ; )

What Simply Willing Hands Can Do

Last Thursday, Thanksgiving, Dad, Me and Robert helped at the Community Thanksgiving dinner.  I said the night before, that I wondered what I would be doing to help.  Well...Steve had said that Delores, the lady that had answered the phones for "to-go" orders in past years, had broken her hand, and they were looking for someone to answer the phones.  I was like, "I don't want to do that!!!"   But...: ) when we got to the church it was at, arriving around 9:00am, Steve took me saying something like, "I have a job for you." And there was a Lady sitting there in the basement that said the phones were already ringing...I get to answer the phones?!  We went straight to the office, Steve said, "You think you can answer phones?"  Me: "I guess so..."  Steve: "I bet you can."   He showed the "Order" cards and what info I would right down on them.  And, he already had some orders HAND written down on a paper and he wanted me to copy them onto the order cards...I wasn't sure if I could do it.  Scary moments. : )  Well...I got most of it copied down...with the help God!  I just had a couple that I had questions...like one I couldn't tell what he had written, and the Casey's I wasn't sure if it was in Newton or Hesston.  When I asked Steve about them the one was, "Food MART, and there was 3 Casey's, one in Newton and 2 in Hesston.  The Kings daughter came up and she helped and wrote out the card for the Casey's in Hess. that is by the interstate.  I just realized...that she was like thinking out loud the address.  I am not sure Steve had the address written down so it was a good thing she was there.

 So, while I was writing out the orders on the cards, the phone never rang.  A fact for which I was grateful! ; )  But, it WAS ringing in the kitchen but the phone in the office never rang!  There was this button HF blinking or just lite up, on the phone.  And, I said maybe we need to push some buttons or something.  Steph did but it didn't help...it may have just made the button blink..not sure.  Anyway, the church secretary came, and she couldn't get it to ring either.  The way only way you could tell people were calling was when Line 1 or Line 2 lite up.  There was another office off of the first one, and the phone in there would ring. They ended up bringing that one into the doorway, and set it on a chair and Heather, answered that phone.  And while they were messing with the phone, people were calling!  Pretty Crazy!!  I think it was while I was on the phone, yes...Heather came in!  It was fun to see her!  We had fun telling about the funny ways people acted not being able to hear them and understand them.  I think I might have been a little bit to...making fun, and maybe not having as good of a caring attitude as I should have.  But it was actually kinda fun!  And, Really good experience! God really helped me too, I was in my chair and asked Him to help me...and He did!  I could not have done that by myself!  There was this one lady that called, and I could NOT understand her.  I though she was like German or something.  Part of the time I thought she could be speaking another language! ; )  I was able to get what she wanted...thankfully! ...she wanted to be picked up for the meal.  The man that picked her up said she talked all the way from Hesston and he couldn't understand a word!  He just laughed...and she laughed.: D  They said after it was all over and we were just sitting around a table eating pumpkin desert that Jackie made, "who knows, you could have agreed to marry her next week!" That was bye far the worst call!!!    (Jackie was helping with the carry outs!! : )   But over all it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  It actually was kinda fun!!!

Now to the title of the post!  We were able to serve about 300 delivered/carry out meals, and total(carry outs and people eating at church), there were around 900 meals served.   And, I was amazed at how quickly they cleaned up...before you know that mess was cleaned up!  I didn't help to much on that part!!!  So lets think of how this applies to everyday circumstances.  Be willing to do whatever the Lord has you do, and ask Him for HIS help...He Will be with you.  And, know that the Lord can do Big things when you just serve...and don't just serve for fun, do it for the Lord...I'm so not perfect!  But I am learning!

We set up our tree on Mon. before Thanksgiving. : )  Here on some pictures from that night...and yes I did have to much fun taking pictures of the tree and ornaments. ; )

 The Food!  When Mom was little, her family would have a snaky dinner the night they decorated the their tree, and "watch" the Christmas lights.  So, Mom has kept that tradition and we usually do that too!  We watched a movie though while we ate our dinner.  We are so blessed!

Introducing THE....Moundridge Chipmunks!

My printing place that I found, and am going to use for my photography, has "trading cards."  So I thought it would be neat, to make some with my little brother, Jonathan's picture on it.  I used a picture of him and his glove & ball, that we had taken when we had done our, "yearly pictures"  So...we got his weight, height, and also came up with a team name.  Secretly.  And I ordered them along with my "test" order from this printing place I wanted to try...and now really like!!!

It is kind of a long story about were the name "came" from.  Here it goes...: )

My Aunt and Uncle in Oregon, have a friend, Roger, and I think one year we invited him to come for Christmas at G&G's house.  Well, he has since been coming to our Christmases in Washington every year!  Neat! I think he really enjoys it and so have we.  Although it will be different now, once G&G move out here!  : (  Aunt Lora had contacted us a few years ago and thought it would be nice for us to call and sing Happy Birthday to him.  Well, we got his answering machine, and left his present.  Later, he said that at first we sounded like Chipmunks! So, that is how we got our kinda nickname that he calls us kids.  He even addressed a package of apple juice that he sent to us, To: The Chipmunks.

So, we were thinking of a name for our Backyard team(which I really was needing for the trading/baseball cards 4 Jonathan)...and I thought of the Chipmunks! Hahah! : )....after a bunch of other things I had thought of. ; )

Well, that is what we decided on, it seemed like a fine name!

Now it is time to unveil the Official Logo, of the Moundridge Chipmunks! 

Now to Jonathan's Birthday, we were needing a baseball logo for his birthday cake.  Mom made the cake and he helped her...it was a baseball field.  What we needed the logo for, was the flags we were going to make to go in the three outfield corners.  At first they were thinking of just using a MLB team, then we though about a chipmunk.  So then, I thought it would be fun to make our own mascot, and so me and Jonathan got to work. ; )  I drew three different chipmunks, and we used the second one I had drawn. The first one reminded me of a little one inch baby in the womb! Hahaha...I won't show that one. ; ) 

Jonathan helped color the chipmunk and did a good job. : )  He did the blue on the jersey, and I did the red.  He also did most of the brown on the chipmunk, not sure about the bat, and he did the glove. He is also the reason that it is a lighter color on the nose, his idea! It wound't be the same without JJ!  Oh, yeah, he did the dot on top of the hat too!

The Baseball Cards came before his birthday, so I gave them to him then, and he like them....so did Rachel, maybe even more then him. : )

Fall 2011 Stuff

There was a special at Vistprint on their "premium" business cards, and so I ordered them.  I could have gotten free ones, but I couldn't have gotten my picture on it.  Anyway, I waited impatiently for them...the first like week after I had ordered seemed like it had been longer, but they still didn't ship for almost two weeks! They shipped on Monday, and did't get here till Sat...we picked them up on Sunday because we went to Liberal to see our Uncle and cousin.  That was fun...

I also have found a printing Lab that I really like...It makes it really easy to place orders, the shipping is  really good, AND you can ship to your customers!  I placed an order on Wed. I think and they came that very Sat!  And that was the free shipping!  The prints turned out awesome, the quality is great and their prices are not to much more than some cheap place.  BUT, this led to me finding out that me laptop computer screen was not showing the coloring the same as it printed, and our desktop computer.  We couldn't find that there was any place to change the screen settings, besides the brightness, and the Gamma.  One night I was hooking up my laptop to our tv(to watch some Sig Sound) and in trying to find where to get the screen to show up on the tv, I accidentally found a place to adjust a ton of setting for my laptop screen!  So it was good that I ran across this by accident!  So..I think it is pretty close to the way it printed, and it might just be the closes I will get. : )

I went out side to take a picture of my ~Sarah Graham Photography business cards, and of course, ended up taking pictures of other things...and Rachel. ; )   

The above picture is my laptop background

Love this one!

Like this one too!

I used the pop up flash on this one...it is fun experimenting!  I love how it turned out...I have a cute "model."  : )


I read an interesting...article not sure I would agree with everything but interesting and something to think about.  It is so hard to know how to handle a photography small business, especially just starting out! : p

http://www.mcpactions.com/blog/2009/10/12/how-should-i-price-my-photography-words-of-advice-from-jodie-otte/

This morning I read Bethany's Blog post with more details on her pregnancy!  It was sweet...http://bloggingbeth.blogspot.com/2011/11/blessings-of-lord.html
Here is how she announced it first on her blog...http://bloggingbeth.blogspot.com/2011/11/coming-soon.html

A side note: Grandpa G. got us a ping pong table, which they brought when they came on Saturday to leave for Liberal.  We they just put it in the garage, and then when we got home Sunday, Dad and Robert got it into the basement.  Dad wasn't to trilled for sure, because it would take up so much room in the basement.  It is really big...but it is also Big fun!  It is kinda more like playing tennis.  We have had lots of fun with it so far....we played Dad last night and found out how bad we are. : )
  

Some Pictures!

Tomorrow Grandma is coming to visit!  We'll get to spend time with her and show her the old house that they might be moving into late next summer!  I hope we'll have a good time..I think we will!

September 19, I went out and tried some "night photography!"  I was doing shutter speeds of like 15 seconds!  I got some cool pictures...

No flash, just using long shutter speeds!

It was amazing that it captured stars I couldn't see!  I think it is because the shutter is open so long, that it lets enough light in to see those stars the human eyes can't!

Kinda funny out of focus : )

The neighbor's puppy!  Photo chance! 

Fall colors...they are saying that the colors won't be very good this year because they are just drying out and dying.  It was a really hot summer with not very much rain!

...I haven't keep up with the "every day posting"...that's ok though....

I had the idea to get some prints...just for me(and showing others too).  I started with the very first day I had my new camera, and picked out pictures that I liked and wanted to get a print of.  In the picture below, it shows the first page in the album I put the pictures in. The first picture of the manual, is the very first picture I took with my camera. It came in a box with a smaller album too. (Christmas present from G&G S.)  I have my senior pictures(4x6) in the small one...the big one didn't have anything in it so I though this would work!  I love it...and as I take more pictures...ones I like or "just want to pint" I'll add to this "50" I ordered!  I was able to pay for them though, with a gift card!

Two days ago, Saturday I took some pictures of my little sister...

<3

 Wrapping this up, this is a stove that my parents got for...our old house.  We did rent it, (the first renters were terrible, but the last Lady and her son were great!!!  Well, Mom's parents are getting sooo close to being sure that they are coming out to Kansas to live and retire!  Lot's of things will be different!  But it will be good!  Mom said, "can I start to get excited now?!"  Anyway, there was an auction in town Sat. morning and Dad went to look at the appliances for sale.  He was interested, and since Dad was planning to go to the church to work on something, he called Grandpa G. and he came over to the auction for Dad.  He got this stove for $80...Grandpa then offered to load it into his pickup and go ahead and take it to the house.(it was on a trailer from Dad's work)  Sooo, I went too! I rode with Grandpa and Daddy drove the van with the next 3 oldest kids.  It is now in the house, needing to be cleaned and then it can be slid back into the hole. : )   <-----accident, cool!

Now, I am going to email G&G S. and tell them about the stove and send the picture!

Wesley and Horse Painting!

The other day I had fun looking at a big map bookwith Wesley(his idea).  We tried to find pictures of different things like, cows, TRACTORS, wheat, corn, and cotton.  I wanted to capture this, so here is a cool picture.  

: )

Two nights ago, I had this idea of a really orange background, and a silo-wet  I had seen some pictures that my friend Courtney had taken on facbook, and I think that is where the idea came from.  It was late at night when I though of this painting and I thought it would be fun to stay up till midnight and have a painting session. : ) I decided to use Courtney's picture to copy in the painting.   I didn't stay up till midnight though: )...I did it the next day (yesterday)!  It turned out awesome and I like it!    

 Here is the original picture, this is Courtney and her horse.  Courtney is a photographer(Zao Photography) and here is her blog....http://www.zaophotographyblog.com/....you can go to her website and visit her on facebook by clicking on the buttons on the top bar.

~Sarah

I started a Cafe Press store, using my photography on the products.  Check me out!

Sarah's Photography Creations

Pictures I took today!

Some pictures from this afternoon...

Some weeds!  Makes for a fun picture though. : )

This is my favorite one of these.  I loved how it turned out!  I took this one in raw, and editing is sooo cool!  The bead bracelet was made by a lady in Kenya.  Mom stopped at a fresh market in town, called, "Jubilee Market."  She found out that they are Christians and the lady that is doing this, is right now in Kenya.  She goes every year or something for a month, and helps at an orphanage there in the, "bush."  Anyway they had some things there that people in Kenya had made.  Mom bought two bracelets, and a carved wood paper opener with a elephant carved on the top.  It's funny the bracelet, looks like something they would ware...I don't know much about Kenya though. : )  

My siblings were practicing baseball...action shots!

Haha... : )

A Sudden Change!

I noticed this shoot in our front flower bed on August 15,2011 and took some pictures.  

Today, August 19, 2011, it looks like this!  A fairly tall flower!...I think it is a naked lady.  Interesting name, huh. : )  AND yesterday I think, it was already tall, but the flowers were buds.  The buds were open today.

Pictures with my Canon 60d + Editing = Amazing pictures : )

And, I found out today how to batch edit with Photoshop Elements 9!  That is nice, I was disappointed that it didn't look like it did this, but is does!  Batch editing is when you select a number of photos with the same kind of look,(or lighting) and make the same edits to all of them, by just making the adjustments once.  Hopefully I can use this!  It would be so much faster!

Going down a different topic I watched a live streaming video of the Visa National Championships, for the Ladies.  Almost all the girls it seemed were messing up...like falling, bad! Hopefully they can get there act together!  It will be on tv Saturday night...we'll see how they do then. Yay!