Emily Southerland Changed My Life.

My fun and sickeningly multi-talented friend Emily Southerland is a professional photographer.  She took our family pictures a couple of weeks ago, and we are very excited to see them, even if Callum did make it a miserable and almost impossible experience with his stubborn refusal to sit still or look pleasant.  (More on that in a later post.)  Emily is the mother of Noah, the adorable little two-year rascal whom I watch once a week and with whom Callum loves to get into mischief and run in circles around the apartment.  (For real.  Last week Callum was so excited about chasing Noah that he forgot to turn at a corner and just ran right into the wall.  Just another goose egg to add to his forehead's impressive and sizable collection.)  Anyway . . . . . . for Christmas I combined all of our Christmas money with the money made from my jewelry sale and purchased a sparkly new, magnificent Nikon D90 DSLR camera.  I love it.  However, as the months have ticked by I have grown increasingly frustrated by my inability to figure it out and increasingly impatient with the "AUTO" mode, although I must admit that the auto mode takes absolutely stunning pictures and I revert to it most of the time.  I tried to read the manual, I tried to watch Nikon School DVDs.  Nothing doing.  If you don't KNOW what "aperture" means then how in the heck are you supposed to know how to use it?!?  My friends Ann and Marie were having similar problems, and Emily generously offered to have us over to her home and feed us fresh cookies while giving us a basic seminar on how to use our cameras.  It was life changing.  One of my favorite friends in the world always says that stuff is "life changing" and I laugh because she's just referring to my hot new pair of metallic stilettos.  But this photo class was TRULY life changing.  I now have the (developing and basic) ability to capture my family's memories and the lives of my children in beautiful, crystal clear, and artistic clarity.  I am a complete amateur and have years and years of practice and learning to go before I truly get close to even understanding how this camera works, but, thanks to Emily, I am now officially on the right track.  THANK YOU EMILY!!!!!  Below are a few of my practice shots.   Luckily I have an insanely cute model at my constant disposal.  And, luckily, I have a camera that can keep up with him most of the time when he won't sit still.

Alright, Mom, enough is enough . . . put the lens cap back on.  I know you can do it . . .