You Capture: Black & White

Finally, I get to join in the You Capture fun!  I have to start by saying there are many things I hope to accomplish while participating in these weekly photo challenges.  But I realize I can't knock out all my goals in one week so I am starting small and working my way up.  When we bought our "new" camera (4  years ago) and I got the "newest" version of Adobe Photo Shop (about 3 1/2 years ago) I had such lofty goals to create the most stunning photos you've ever seen.  That goal fell way short when I failed to learn how to use most of the functions on my camera because I didn't have time to read the manual and I still don't know the majority of what I can do with Photo Shop because once again, no time to read the manual.  So I have learned a fair amount through trial and error and as I get into this I hope to read about a new trip or trick each week.  (I hope.  No promises.)

My goals this week were to get creative and look for new angles.  I also want to get better at getting shots without using my flash so I worked on that a bit, too.  This week's topic was Black and White.  Easy enough, right?  So I tried to get creative.  This is a shot of my black coffee in my white mug in black & white.

I did not drink coffee - not even one cup in the morning - until Joseph was born.  Then it became a necessity.  I have to admit, when I took this picture I was enjoying my coffee more than usual.  Brandon had already left for work, dropping Ella off at school on the way.  The boys were still sleeping hard.  And the weather was so fantastic that I had the windows open, the fresh air was blowing in and the birds were singing.  It was glorious.  (And by the way - most mornings I do add cream to my coffee.  That morning it was International Delight's Amaretto.  Delicious.)

Of course I couldn't resist snapping shots of my kids for the challenge.  Ella is always my most willing subject and loves to pose, so I took her to the side yard and put her against the brick wall.  I had a couple of favorites come out of this mini photo shoot.  (Although she thought I was extremely weird for taking her into the side yard to take pictures for no good reason.  I tried explaining the photo challenge but I'm not sure she gets it.)

I LOVE this last shot of her - she does not.  She said she has a weird look on her face.  I guess she doesn't realize she makes that face all the time and that is why I love it so much - it is so her.

Be sure to check out all the You Capture Fun over at Beth's place!