Rachel Likes to Photograph

Day 1 of 365

2011-01-01T17:45:00.000-05:00

Neely made this for me recently out of some leftover metal he found on a job site.

Day Sixty-four

2010-03-06T13:55:00.000-05:00

This is Emma. Today was her 2nd Birthday. Emaa is the daughter of the bassist in Carbonstone. Today we went to her birthday party and I got to take pictures.

Day Sixty-three

2010-03-05T13:39:00.000-05:00

Today was no a great picture-taking day. I did manage to get this one of Daniel dancing though.

Day Sixty-two

2010-03-04T13:38:00.001-05:00

This is Will's bike. He loves to ride it and he's really good at it.

Day Sixty-one

2010-03-03T13:32:00.001-05:00

Daniel has been broke from his pacifier for over 2 years, yet we still keep finding them all over the house. I guess I bought too many of them.

Day Sixty

2010-03-02T13:31:00.000-05:00

This is Neely's multitrack. The backbone of his studio. He can't record without it. It's been giving him problems lately and he's been obsessing about it.

Day Fifty-nine

2010-03-01T13:26:00.000-05:00

My parents were in North Carolina recently. They brought each of the boys one of these shirts back. My dad is a huge Tar Heels fan!

Day Fifty-eight

2010-02-28T16:18:00.000-05:00

This is my kitchen counter. I took a picture of it today to give you a little idea of what I live with. You can find the conversation on my personal blog.

Day Fifty-seven

2010-02-27T20:35:00.002-05:00

Today Neely and I went to Home Depot. I'll be doing a newborn photo shoot next week and I wanted a portable fake hardwood floor & wall set up to use for it and other shoots. I snagged this 6x8' vinyl flooring for $23.00 and then used my white paper to make a "wall" The the paper is clipped between the molding ($9.00) and a 2x4 ($1.65). Look how real it looks!

Day Fifty-six

2010-02-26T20:33:00.002-05:00

This a camera strap cover that my good friend Holly made for me. Be on the look out on my personal blog for your chance to win one of your own. I love it Holly! Thanks for making it for me.

Day Fifty-five

2010-02-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

Today, Daniel grabbed his camera and was acting just like me when I take pictures, that I just had to capture him, capturing me.

Day Fifty-four

2010-02-24T20:27:00.000-05:00

Daniel did not want me to take his picture, but he was having so much fun playing with his big brother that I couldn't resist. I am always touched by how much James loves Daniel.

Day Fifty-three

2010-02-23T20:26:00.000-05:00

I posted about this on my family blog. It's my awesome new camera bag made by the talented Joanna from JustMommies. I love it!

Day Fifty-two

2010-02-22T20:24:00.000-05:00

Daniel has gotten into the habit of sucking on his fingers lately. We have been getting onto him every time we see it, but this time, he looked so deep in thought that I snapped a picture first.

Day Fifty-one

2010-02-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Baltimore to visit my friend Cricket and celebrate her son's 9th birthday. This is one of Cricket's granddaughters, Ty'Jiah (pronounced "tie-jay"). Isn't she gorgeous?

Day Fifty

2010-02-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

This is Paul O'Sullivan from Woodbine Hotline. Neely had a show tonight at Jams Music Store in Eldersburg, MD and I tagged along to take pictures. This was one of my favorite shots of the night.

Day Forty-nine

2010-02-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

This is how I caught Daniel watching TV today. Can you say relaxed?

Day Forty-eight

2010-02-18T23:24:00.001-05:00

Sadly, this is the only picture I took today. I'm not even sure why I took a picture of the grapes I bought today at the grocery store, but I'm glad I did or else I'd have nothing to post today. By the time I remembered that I hadn't taken a picture, everyone was in bed except me and I figured I would spare you another awful self-portrait.

Day Forty-seven

2010-02-17T22:59:00.000-05:00

Another one of Daniel's Lego creations. Not only did he require that I take a picture of it, but he turned it on my desk after each picture and made me take one from every angle. He's really taken to the Legos lately.

Day Forty-six

2010-02-16T14:45:00.000-05:00

My new toy! I just upgraded my phone (and started using Sprint again) and got the BlackBerry Curve in purple. So far I love it.

Day Forty-five

2010-02-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

Daniel really enjoys building with these blocks. He got them as a gift from his Grandpa & MeMaw (Neely's dad Dan, and step-mom, Pat) for his first birthday. Neely and I marveled at how symmetric he built his little house tonight. Whenever he would put a block on the left side, he had to put a block on the right side in the same spot.

Day Forty-four

2010-02-14T19:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your special someone makes you feel loved all year long and not just on this day. Neely and I went out to dinner not because it was Valentine's Day, but because my mom said she would take the boys to the movies. This is what I saw as I was leaving for my "date" with Neely. Daniel was ready to go to the movies, but waiting for Grandma to be ready.

Day Forty-three

2010-02-13T23:05:00.000-05:00

We finally were able to get out of the house, after being snowed in since last week. We still have snow all over the place and it's still bitter cold, but the roads are mostly clear. Tonight we went to a benefit music fest hosted by St. John's Catholic Community in Eldersburg. Neely helped run sound for the main stage and I took pics. Here is one of one of the bands, Badd Zakk. They're a cover band, but are really good.

Day Forty-two

2010-02-12T17:30:00.000-05:00

It has arrived. My new baby. My Canon 50D, with battery grip. I am totally completely in love.

Day Forty-one

2010-02-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

This is after the Snomageddon. We had two really bad storms back to back. We're covered in about 4 feet of snow right now. The snow is so high in the back yard, the swing seats are covered. We are supposed to possibly get hit with another small storm on Monday-Tuesday. The kids have not been to school since Friday, the 5th and will go back, Lord willing, on Wednesday, the 17th.

Day Forty

2010-02-10T20:43:00.000-05:00

This is me. This is me after being stuck in the house for the last 6 days. This is me after being stuck in the house for the last 6 days with a 10 year old, 8 year old and 4 year old boy. Not to mention the 19 year old and 18 year old boys I have here too. Our region has been hit with two back to back snow storms and there is currently at least 40" of snow outside right now.

Day Thirty-nine

2010-02-09T20:04:00.001-05:00

I took this picture today of my dad's favorite Bible verse to demonstrate a shallow depth of field. I love how this turned out. I chose this verse because I've grown up with it. When I was a little girl, many, many years ago, my dad was in Evangelism full time. He had a mobile chapel that he and a few other men used to travel all over the country and preach. It had a puppet stage, a pulpit and room for use to sleep when we traveled with him. This Bible verse was on the outside of the trailer. Here's a picture of it that I scanned today.

Oh, funny story just came to me as I looked at this picture. I had recently been taught about the book of Revelations and rapture of the Church and end times and was really worried that I would be left behind when the rapture occurred and I think I "got saved" every single church service, just to cover myself. I was 6 or 7, so it was little much for me to take in. This truck had a sleeper in the cab and my brother Philip and I would sit in there and frequently fall asleep. At one point while I was sleeping, my dad stopped let me continue to sleep while he and my mom and brother got out to get dinner. (it was the late 70's; it was a different world, then.) While they were in the restaurant I woke up, discovered that I was all alone and was convinced that the rapture had occurred and I had been left behind. I was never so happy to see my parents than I was that day.

Day Thirty-eight

2010-02-08T22:58:00.002-05:00

You might be wondering why I took a photo of my laptop today. I'm gonna tell you. You see that thing attached to the red cord? Some of you will easily identify it, but for those of you who don't know, that is my hard drive - from my desktop. Some how over the night last night, my power supply died and apparently it died while my hard drive was in the middle of a critical process. What does that mean? Well it means, I had to replace the power supply and hard drive and reinstall Windows and all of my programs. It was an ordeal. I had originally thought that we wouldn't be able to retrieve any of the files on my hard drive, but in the end, I did manage to get it all. It wasn't much that wasn't backed up somewhere else, but enough to make me nervous. This pictures was taken while I was in the process of moving files from the crapped hard drive to my laptop. They are all now safely on my new hard drive with a copy on my file server.

Day Thirty-seven

2010-02-07T20:43:00.000-05:00

The kids had cookies after dinner tonight. About a half hour after Daniel ate his 4 Oreos, he told me that he needed a cookie because he didn't get any. I asked him if he was sure he didn't get any, because it looked like he had cookie all over his face. About 2 hours later he said "if I give you a kiss, can I have a cookie?" This kid sure does know how to get what he wants!

Day Thirty-six

2010-02-06T23:33:00.000-05:00

Because we have been snowed in for the last few days, the boys have played with Lego's quite a bit. Daniel made this today and it really impressed me. It's "Anakin's Pod Racer". He's also played a lot of Lego Star Wars on the Wii. ;)

Day Thirty-five

2010-02-05T22:43:00.000-05:00

The snow started falling around noon today. Will & Clayton had an early dismissal so Daniel didn't have school. I caught them like this this afternoon and ran to get the camera. This was totally unscripted.

Day Thirty-four

2010-02-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

This is James' only injury from his auto accident. It might possibly be a torn muscle in his calf. We'll know more next week when he sees the specialist. I'm so very very thankful that this is all it was.

Day Thirty-three

2010-02-04T17:21:00.001-05:00

I got a new lens today. It's the Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) Macro. I am in love with it! I was sick today so I only played with the lens once for this pic of Daniel playing Wii this morning.

Bear with me.

2010-02-03T18:33:00.002-05:00

I have taken pictures for the 2nd & 3rd, but if you follow my other blog you'll know that my oldest son was in a car accident last night. On top of that the sickies that ran through the kids, is now running through me. I'll be back in a day or two.

Day Thirty-two

2010-02-02T23:00:00.000-05:00

Daniel was sick tonight. He fell asleep at 7:00 after having spent the entire night before throwing up. Poor kiddo.

Day Thirty-one

2010-02-01T20:08:00.000-05:00

This is usually the shot I get anytime I aim my camera towards my oldest son. He refuses to let me take his picture mostly because he knows it gets on my nerves when he refuses. When he was playing football or throwing shot put, he would let me. Now he's too cool.

Day Thirty

2010-01-31T19:38:00.000-05:00

Today is Neely's 36th Birthday. Happy Birthday, love!

Day Twenty-nine

2010-01-30T22:55:00.000-05:00

This is my sleepy boy. He will always fall asleep when we drive for any distance. And of course where I live, any time I get in the car, I have to drive a good bit. He fell asleep shortly after I snapped this shot. We had just dropped his brothers off for an overnight visit with their mom, so not only was he sleepy, but he was also sad. Couldn't you just kiss that face?

Day Twenty-eight

2010-01-29T22:27:00.000-05:00

Neely and I went to the mall with Clayton & Daniel while Will was at his dance. Neely needed new work boots so I treated myself to a new pair of Chucks. These are, in fact, my first pair of Chucks in many many years. I think I had a pair when I was around 14.

Day Twenty-seven

2010-01-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

James & Daniel playing Wii today. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that the makers of the Wii didn't intend for people to play while sitting on the sofa. I could be wrong though. James seems to be able to box just fine while sitting down. Daniel on the other hand needs a lot of room to play and really works up a sweat.

Day Twenty-six

2010-01-27T22:00:00.000-05:00

Daniel was "playing" his guitar tonight. He was also singing Linkin Park and a few other songs that Will & Clayton listen to from time to time. He loves to imitate Neely with the guitar and Neely says he has a good sense of melody, but of course I wouldn't know. He was really cute tonight playing and singing that I had to capture it.

Day Twenty-five

2010-01-26T18:19:00.001-05:00

This was actually taken with my cell phone, so I apologize for the quality of it. I thought people might look at my funny if I carried my camera into Daniel's allergist appointment today. Anyway, this is art on the wall of his doctor's office. I want to take it home with me and hang it on my own wall. It's gorgeous and colorful and abstract and I want it. I asked Daniel to count the circles in it today and he said "1, 2, 3, 10, 89. There are 89 circles."

Day Twenty-four

2010-01-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

Neely has an inability to throw things away. Things that I would consider useless (like extra screws from an installation at work), he keeps and buys things to use to organize them. This afternoon he started cleaning out his car and ended up sitting at the kitchen table sorting screws and various other pieces of trash, er I mean hardware into this new $25 bin. Hardly seems worth the effort to me, but if you ever need a screw for something, I'm sure Neely has just the thing you need.

Day Twenty-three

2010-01-24T17:50:00.000-05:00

Photoshop is my life today. I took over 600 photos last night at Liberty High School's Battle of the Bands. I've been editing all day and am only finished with the first band. I love Photoshop and I especially love actions, which make editing so much easier!

Day Twenty-two

2010-01-23T23:00:00.004-05:00

Neely and I went to a Battle of the Bands at Liberty High School. I took pictures and Neely sponsored the grand prize (a three song recording session, a photo shoot and graphic art package) for the winning band. Here he is presenting the prize to the winners, Call Ahead Seating.

Day Twenty-one

2010-01-22T15:39:00.000-05:00

My son, James (most of the time he's called Earl, his middle name) coached JV football this year for the Taneytown Jr. Eagles (12 & 13 year olds). He loved it, even though they had a really bad season. He really loves football and he's a good coach. He got this plaque yesterday in appreciation for coaching this past season.

Day Twenty

2010-01-21T17:04:00.000-05:00

This is how I found my oldest and my youngest this morning. Sarah spent the night and slept on the sofa and when Daniel woke up this morning he snuggled up with her to watch TV. I love how much they love each other!

Day Nineteen

2010-01-20T17:04:00.000-05:00

The kids got bikes for Christmas and have ridden a few times. Clayton is still not able to ride his yet, but is learning. Will is already a pro. Daniel is a little slow to take off, but is doing well. I anticipate by this time next year, we will be removing the training wheels for him.

Day Eighteen

2010-01-19T19:04:00.000-05:00

We had my chicken cheese & rice casserole for dinner tonight. It's a favorite around here, with everyone except my biggest boy, James. You can get the recipe for it here. I had to modify the recipe again to make more, because there were never any leftovers and we love leftovers!

Day Seventeen

2010-01-18T20:10:00.002-05:00

Daniel finally got his hair cut today. But he was not having it when I wanted to take a picture. He had just learned that it was bedtime, so that might have been why.

Day Sixteen

2010-01-17T19:53:00.001-05:00

I took a ton of pics last night and tonight I'm playing in Lightroom. It's fun, but lots of work! If you want to see the finished photos, check out my flickr photostream.

Day Fifteen

2010-01-16T23:00:00.010-05:00

Neely had a show today at Club Sonar in Baltimore. His band, CARBONSTONE, played 5th out of 8 bands. It was a long night, but we had a lot of fun! And I fall in love -- OK, you got me, it's just lust -- every time I see this man play on stage!

Day Fourteen

2010-01-15T20:47:00.000-05:00

Self-portrait. The lighting sucked so it's black & white. I don't get many pictures of myself because I've always got the camera. I like this one.

Day Thirteen

2010-01-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

These two are here to stay. You can read all about it on my personal blog here.

Day Twelve

2010-01-13T16:17:00.000-05:00

What does your husband bring home from work? Dinner? Miscellaneous office supplies? Yeah, this is what Neely brings home. He installs high performance audio equipment in schools, churches and government buildings. He frequently gets first dibs on old equipment. Today was one of those days. I just smile and nod and think about running away from home.

Day Eleven

2010-01-12T19:04:00.000-05:00

This is Neely's cell phone. It's the HTC Hero Android from Sprint. I think he loves it more than me. He spends hours at a time downloading apps for it. He can tune his guitar with it & access his home PC with it, along with various other unique and probably useless things.

Day Ten

2010-01-11T12:14:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not pregnant. These are from when I was pregnant with Daniel (yes, I still have them!). I realized today that I found out I was pregnant with him, about this time 5 years ago. It certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long. I miss the little baby that he was, but I love the little boy that he's become.

Day Nine

2010-01-10T17:12:00.001-05:00

Way to play, Ravens! Looking forward to next week! Final score, Baltimore Ravens 33, New England Patriots, 14.

Day Eight

2010-01-09T23:29:00.001-05:00

This is Maliyah. She's my great "niece". Her mom, Nicole, is my god-daughter. She turned 2 on the 7th and today was her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. I love every inch of her! You can see her when she was fresh from her mommy here.

Day Seven

2010-01-08T12:26:00.001-05:00

Daniel is having a very bad hair day (and makes the funniest faces when I want to take his picture). I've been waffling about whether I want to let his hair grow out some or go ahead and get it cut. Today I'm definitely leaning towards the latter.

Day Six

2010-01-07T18:39:00.001-05:00

This is Billy. Today is his 19th birthday. He's my son James' best friend. He came to stay here, for what I thought would be a few weeks and it has turned into several months. I think we'll keep him, for a while anyway. He's less annoying than he looks. Happy Birthday, Bildo!

Day Five

2010-01-06T19:05:00.001-05:00

I love this boy so much, I can't stand it!

Day Four

2010-01-05T12:04:00.000-05:00

Spaghetti. It was for dinner.

Day Three

2010-01-04T17:42:00.001-05:00

Today was the boys' first day back at school since December 18. It's been a long two weeks and I sort of dreaded the morning routine, thinking they would be grouchy and not happy about going back to school. To my surprise, they did really well this morning and daddy treated them to McDonald's for dinner. These pictures were taken during dinner (and while Will was talking to his mom on the phone).

Day Two

2010-01-03T21:33:00.001-05:00

All of the boys received new bikes for Christmas and therefore they all received helmets. Daniel's helmet had elbow and knee pads with it and for two days now he's insisted on wearing them "so he wouldn't get hurt if he fell down" inside. I oblige him because he's cute as can be. Today after putting his helmet on, I asked him to let me take a few pictures. I would point the camera at him and tell him to say "poop" or "I love Cheetos". After a while, I ran out of things to tell him and so when I pointed the camera at him he asked "what do you want me to say?" I love this boy!

My first 365 Project - Day One

2010-01-02T21:16:00.001-05:00

I'm going to try to commit to this and hopefully we'll have a great year of photographs and you can also see me improve (*crossing fingers*) over the next year. I'm starting today instead of yesterday because I suck at remembering to do things, but it's still close enough to the first of the year to be OK, I think. (Right?)

Here's today's photo:

In my house there is no shortage of guitars. I think there are 10 total including one for each of the boys and 2 bass guitars. This is Neely's newest acoustic. It's special to him because it helped him through a very bad time in his life, so it's equally special to me.