Photography

Waaaaay back in April I did a little photography class in an attempt to get me using my big camera more often (and being less dependent on my iPhone). It certainly did the trick, at least at the time. The class itself was mostly review for me, but it did help me to remember some lovely tricks that I had long forgotten. Not to mention, it really made me aware of how lazy I have been with some of my photo taking when I know I can do much better (like just turning up my ISO and having grainy pictures instead of making other adjustments that would give me better photo quality). It also helped me to shoot more efficiently so there are less lighting adjustments on the computer afterwards (eg., white balance).

Since then I have been making slow and steady improvements, though I still seem to get a little too dependent on my iPhone for photos but I'm working on it :). Anyhow, I thought I would post up some of the photos that I took for my class. I'm pretty lucky to have some very patient children and Hubby because they were so helpful in letting me snap photos of them all the time. Like the 'day in the life' photos I did of Atticus. Or the lighting experiment pictures I did with Milayla and Jason. It was fun though, and they seemed to enjoy it also. It was also quite nice to remember how photogenic this little city of Bremen is - even when it's ridiculously cold.

Here are some of the photos:

Please note::: the lighting in these are not perfect. there was no post-editing allowed for this class. So, although I would have liked to have made some lighting adjustments, this is how they come off the camera. I'm hoping to keep working at this so I can improve my shot quality straight out of the camera so that things need to be adjusted afterward far less :).

Milayla's Birthday - Part II

The day after Milayla's birthday we were off to the Zoo am Meer in Bremerhaven for her birthday outing. We figured that the zoo was the perfect fit for our little animal lover and adventurer. But we got a little worried after we visited our first animal - the chimpanzees. 

See Milayla clinging to me and hiding behind my shoulder in this picture? That was her hiding from the Chimps whom did not seem to care for visitors and were making quite the ruckus (poor guys, trapped in an enclosure, I bet they'd like a walk). I certainly can't say that I blame her for being a little worried; the glass between us just didn't seem like quite enough. I certainly enjoyed those sweet little cuddles though.

Thankfully, Milayla warmed up to the zoo pretty quickly after our visit with the chimps and was pressing her nose up to the glass to get a closer look at the animals in no time. 

The kids thought it was great that they could compare their little hands to the animals. We all agreed that we don't want to get too close to a polar bear - they're huge!

It's at least 4.5 Milayla tall!

I love her expression here!

And while the animals were pretty awesome, the kids couldn't help but notice that there were people climbing all over the masts of the boat outside the zoo. See them all up there?

We were pretty lucky that we had the zoo pretty much all to ourselves - just us and one or two other older couples in the whole zoo! There are some lovely advantages to rising early on a holiday.

Milayla was pretty eager to lead the way on our exploration.

And of course, Atticus was always ready with the map in hand to let us know which animal was around the next corner.

I love this photo of Milayla. She was taking a break to watch the penguins swim underwater. Very sweet moment.

Milayla taking a break at the zoo

The kids were pretty excited with how close they were getting to the animals. There were a few cases where I was pretty grateful there was some glass between us and the animals though (like those chimps!).

And this little guy played with us through the glass for a good 10 minutes; playing tricks, following our hands, spinning and flapping his fin. We all agreed that we would take him home for a pet, but then decided that he would be much happier at the zoo than in our bathtub as it just isn't big enough.

And before we headed off we caught one of the animal feeding times. If I remember correctly these are the sea lions (?). This one next to the zoo keeper was huge. The kids sure loved it when they got splashed by her jumping into the water. This was the perfect crowning moment to our trip to the zoo.

And with that we were headed back to Bremen for lunch just as everyone else started arriving for their day at the zoo. It was great. The kids loved having their own private zoo for a morning. And the zoo, even though small, was the perfect size for a morning with young kids.

We rounded out the day with Milayla's maiden voyage on her new bike. We headed down to our favorite gelatria to get some sorbet. Even though we got rained on these kids still thought it was the greatest trip ever. Milayla loves her new bike! A lovely way to round out her birthday celebrations.

Stealing daddy's sorbet - tastes better apparently

Good times and good memories. We had plenty of fun celebrating Milayla's birthday and doing our best to make it a special day for her because we love her to pieces!