Someone gave Marissa a gift with the above saying when she was very little. I remember thinking how true that was but I’m not sure I fully got it until I discovered that old blog. Yes, there were photos of BIG vacations, parties, Christmases, etc. but it was the images of the kids blowing bubbles, making crafts, playing dress up and making snow angels that really brought back the most fond memories. Turns out THOSE were the BIG things. They were the things that made up our life.

As the kids have gotten older our life has changed some. Between their school, sports, activities and more obligations and commitments that Chad and I have taken on, sometimes it’s harder to take time for those little things. That old blog has inspired me in that department too though and they will be a top priority again.

Yesterday was a good day for “little things”. I went to School of Economics with Chase and his class to help out. We worked in the “bank” and had a great time! Then when he got home he asked if we could go to Literacy Night at his school. Geez , I was tired from spending the day with over 100 noisy kids (teachers…kudos to you!) and almost came up with an excuse as to why we couldn’t go but I caved and am glad I did because we had a great time there too. Twice that evening Chase put his arm around me and his head on my shoulder and said “Thank you for spending the day with me today mama”. <3 I thought I was just doing little things, but they were SO big. So, one thing I'm going to have to start getting comfortable with again is carrying my camera around with me more (what you don't think about when looking at images of a cute kid in a cart with her doll in the grocery store like the ones in my old blog, is that there was a crazy person with a big camera taking that photo in the middle of the aisle) so it didn't go to School of Economics with me and wouldn't have been practical there anyway really. I do have some cruddy iphone photos for memory's sake but am also posting some other "little thing" photos. Valentine's Day is kind of a "little thing" holiday as far as kids are concerned but I like to make little things into big things with tradition. We hang a Valentine's banner and then I fill each of the kids' little mailboxes with a special treat, note or surprise every day in February. They look forward and I know in their eyes it is BIG and will be a wonderful memory someday.

So last week good ‘ole “Facebook Memories” gave me a wonderful gift. It was a link to a blog post from an old blog I kept when the kids were little. I clicked on it and totally got wrapped up in the whole blog, reading every post and looking at every photograph. This blog was originally created mostly to improve my photography skills and creativity but I thought it would be fun to document our lives too. It wasn’t until now, years later when I have realized just how quickly they have grown that I fully appreciated what I had done. While it definitely was a great exercise for creativity, the memories that came rushing back are absolutely priceless. When I try to just sit back and remember what life was like when my kids were little it’s kind of a blur honestly. But these posts took me back to exact days and helped me remember them like they were yesterday.

It’s funny because I remember getting frustrated trying to find things to photograph daily and feeling like I was failing because it usually ended up being my kids. I even apologized in MY OWN blog a few times for “more photos of my kids”.   So there were some photos of random things around the house that I attempted to shoot in an “artsy” way to prove I really was a creative “artist”. Now I realize that capturing what life was like at that time and turning every day moments into photographs that took my breath away WERE the real art. Sooooo….to make a short story really long, I’m going to start blogging again. Mostly for me, most likely mostly photos of my kids, no apologies, no explanations. I invite any of you who enjoy my photography to follow along but if it’s not your cup of tea…that’s ok too. 😉 I know in a blink of an eye THESE photos will be memories of days that seem so long ago, but also just like yesterday.

I start with Chase this morning. Like most mornings he has wound up in our bed. Someday soon enough he won’t and I know there will be times when I miss it (maybe not getting kicked in the head though).

4th of July is almost here. Every time we go to a big fireworks display I see people trying to capture great photos of them, but they often end up scratching their heads when they look back at the images because they don’t seem to be quite as breathtaking as the real deal. Here are some tips to help you get great photos that will make everyone who views them ooooh and ahhhhh.

1) USE YOUR DSLR. Remember that big, expensive camera that you bought because you wanted to get amazing photos of your memories but now it’s sitting under an inch of dust because you never really had the time to learn how to use it or because it’s so big and it’s easier just to take photos with your phone? Now is a great time to take some baby steps and start learning how to use it to it’s full potential.

2) USE A TRIPOD….and a remote trigger if possible. Your camera will have to be extremely steady to get nice, crisp shots so a tripod will eliminate a shaky hand. Even pressing the shutter button can jiggle the camera enough to cause blur so a shutter remote is very helpful as well.

3) CHANGE YOUR SETTING TO “MANUAL”. Yes, it’s time to stop letting your camera decide what you are photographing and what your images should look like and time for you to take charge (which is what your DSLR was designed for if you are going to take advantage of it’s full potential anyway). Speaking of “manual”, now might be a good time to find the owner’s manual for your camera so you can learn how to adjust some of the settings if you don’t already know how. Specifically, ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

4) TURN OFF YOUR FLASH. Yes, I understand that it is dark out and you are taking photos but the fireworks are not dark, they are bright enough on their own AND your flash is not going to reach all the way up into the sky to light it up any more than it already is anyway. You are only lighting up (and annoying) your fellow spectators.

5) ISO. This setting measures how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light. The lower the ISO number, the less sensitive. Again, although it is dark out, the fireworks that you are photographing are bright so an ISO of 100 should work just fine.

6) SHUTTER SPEED. When photographing fireworks, you don’t just want to capture a quick second, you want to get the action of the color and light streaming upward and outward so you want a long exposure time. You might need to experiment with this to get it just right with your other settings but usually somewhere between 1-10 seconds is best.

7) APERTURE. There is a lot more to learn when it comes to learning aperture, but for this purpose we aren’t going to go into all of that. I would usually set your aperture around f/8-f/16.

8) FOCUS. This part can be tricky. It’s hard to tell your camera to focus on something that isn’t there yet so what I usually do is keep my camera on automatic focus, wait for a firework and then look through the camera and focus on the firework by pressing the shutter half-way down (but don’t actually photograph it). Then I set the lens to manual focus so that it will stay at that setting instead of searching for something to focus on every time I press the shutter like it would do in auto focus.

Nothing is set in stone, so if you aren’t getting the result you want, play around with the settings a little and most importantly have a fun and safe 4th of July!

Here are some of my favorite firework shots from 5 years ago (and my favorite people 5 years ago too).