Torgesen Family Times: photography

Showing posts with label photography. Show all posts

Halloween 2014

We have a cute little Queen Elsa and a “Dark” Vadar this year! That’s what Alex calls Darth Vadar. So cute, I just can’t correct him!

I’m pretty proud of that little Queen Elsa dress because I made it! I asked my Mom to come up and help and with a little this… and a little that… Volia! I couldn’t have done it without her expertise on the sewing machine. Thanks Mom!

We created an Elsa dress out of a white long sleeve t-shirt, some shiny spandex “dot” material and blue polyester for the dress. And a detachable train… wonderful! And the train is Sara’s favorite part. When she was getting a little worried about the hair part, I found an inspiration to make yarn braid/crown. In usual Sara fashion, she wouldn’t even try it on for days, basically breaking her Mama’s heart. Then, on Halloween night – she wants to wear it! Go figure! And she loves it!

Cancun, part 5

Wow! Things have gotten behind on this ol’ blog of mine! I’m trying to keep this going as I love sharing our adventures. But, life is busy and we are having so much fun, that I rarely sit at my computer much anymore.

The most favorite day of our whole vacation (as if everyday wasn’t my favorite on vacation!) was this day – the day we decided to take everyone snorkeling. For those with young kids – you know how much this must mean. We have a 3 year old and a (now) 7 year old, who just learned to swim last summer. We have a 3 year old who can’t “swim” without floaties and/or a life vest. But, we did it anyways. Alex was loving his snorkel in the pool and Sara was so easy going and brave in the shallow ocean right outside our condo that we decided to go for it. At the very worst, one of us would just sit on the boat.

We made arrangements with the same place we went scuba diving and they took us to a calm bay about 20 minutes north of where we were staying. It was protected by a coral reef and the waters were calm and warm.

In short – this was my best thing we did all vacation. Connie and Steve joined us too! I loved seeing Alex snorkel in the ocean and see the sea life with us. I loved seeing Sara and her floaties and how brave/calm she was with the whole thing. We saw a sea turtle – which is what I wanted to see. We saw a sting ray, many fish, lots of coral, and an eel. We put Alex in a wetsuit to try to keep this little man as warm as possible (he has no body fat – this kid is pure skin and muscle). Sara didn’t really get too cold in the pool and the ocean water was warmer than that – so she was fine. Plus, there were no wetsuits her size.

A funny story was when Lance saw the sting ray – he poked his head up and told me there was a sting ray and to take a look. The kids both started screaming at this point – thinking the stingray was going to sting them! Great – two screaming kids in the middle of the coral bay. Maybe sting them like like a jelly fish? I don’t know… We calmed them down by telling them that the stingray wasn’t interested in us, and it was way down on the bottom (maybe 10-12’ down) and was going to stay there. It took a while, but they did calm back down and enjoy themselves again.

I hope you enjoy my photos and videos. I enjoy sharing them with you.

Sea turtle

Sara on Mommys back, little kickers

Sting ray

Alex snorkeling

This is how Sara did part of the snorkeling trip – either on my back or on Lance’s back. Also, for a while she would just do her little swim/kick all by herself – of course with her big smile the whole time. She just loved it!

My Mother’s Day photo

Out of all the photos I take all year long, this one is one of the most important to me. The photos of ME with my kids. Doesn’t happen as often as it should, but at least it does happen. It’s important.

Some recents …

Here are some recent photos I’ve taken. I’m taking a photography online workshop (Wendy Schultz Photography Workshops) which is challenging and difficult and making me think hard, and practice practice practice. I’m taking the advanced class (Eeeeekkkk!). In other words, I love it. We’re focusing on different angles of light for our first assignment, as well as other aspects.

In other news, Alex is starting kindergarten on September 4th. Like, it ~ a week. How did this happen? Tell me – how did this happen? We just celebrated his last day of preschool on Friday and there is no school this last week of August. I’m mentally preparing myself (for like a year now) for his first day. There will be pictures, for sure – and there will be tears too. Good thing Alex knows there is such a thing as happy tears. Cause I’m gonna be using some of them.

Mt. Rainier at Sunset

Washington, D.C.

I had an opportunity while traveling for a work conference to do a bit of site-seeing – Washington DC is so cool! I can’t wait to take the kids there when they’re older. The White House is not as big as you would think. Pretty cool! I took a big circle walking from downtown to the White House, around to the WWII memorial, the new MLK memorial, the Lincoln, Vietnam memorials. Whew! It’s a longer walk then you would think – by the end of my walk I was so thirsty and had probably walked 4-5 miles!

North White House

South Lawn – White House

The Washington monument is HUGE and you can see it above everything in the city.

I made a point to see the new Martin Luther King Memorial and WOW – it is amazing! Especially in these times with wars, injustices, human rights issues, etc.

Behind the sculpture of MLK is all these sayings he said – I particularly liked this one.

“I oppose the war in Vietnam because I love America. I speak out against it not in anger but with anxiety and sorrow in my heart, and above all with a passionate desire to see our beloved country stand as a moral example of the world.” California 1967

Just take out Vietnam and replace it with Iraq/Afghanistan…

and of course – the Lincoln memorial is Grand. Stunning. Amazing!

The reflecting pool is being renovated and is all torn up, someday I want to see it full with water.

The Vietnam Memorial is so elegant and subtle. It looks so plain until you walk by it and see all the 59,000 names… and then it hits you. Being a mother now sure has changed the way it struck me. Last time I saw this I was pregnant with Alex, but he was still in my tummy…

I saw the most amazing sunsets going back and forth across the country outside the window of my plane.

First day of preschool - 2011

I’m going to try to get first and last day of school pictures of these two for the foreseeable future (or until they won’t let me anymore!).

This is where I got my inspiration for first and last.

And here’s my two kidlets.

P.S. For y’all that think I’m perfect, I’m not. I captured this picture on the 2nd day of preschool because the kidlets just were in a foul mood and didn’t want to a. sit still or b. sit near each other for the first day back. Boo! But, 2nd day works just as well!

iPhone – my favorite camera apps

There is a famous saying that by Chase Jarvis that “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”. (right now)

He has even published a book entirely of iPhone pictures – pretty great, huh!

Well here is my latest and greatest camera – on me all the time – my new iPhone.

Oh my gosh! I’m having so much fun! Here are my favorite “apps” in no particular order (you’ll see the photos of some of these apps below): Hipstamatic, Camera+, Nightshot, Incredibooth or Pocketbooth, Retro Camera, Shake it Lite, Self Photo, Muybridgizer, just to name a few.

Enjoy!