Through the Eyes of a Child

A while back I gave my son an old camera of ours to play with. Then, for his 2nd birthday, he was given a camera from his aunt and uncle. Recently, I decided to go through his cameras and see what was on them. It gave me a glimpse into the world through a toddler’s eyes.

We visited the tulips fields in Mt. Vernon, Washington earlier this Spring. As you can see, below, I am taking a picture of my son taking a picture. I was quite pleased with the way my photo turned out, but I think I may like his better.

Most of his pictures are of me with the camera, because that is when he wants to use his camera, too.

I am particularly fond of this photo of an “angry” Daddy.

I’m sure he wasn’t really angry. We were at the zoo that day.

And there you have it, the world, as seen by a toddler. I think we may have a budding photographer on our hands.

Kelsey Creek Farm

Our latest exploration took us to an unexpected place. I grew up in Ohio, so I am used to seeing farms everywhere. A farm in the middle of the city, however, surprised me.

Kelsey Creek Farm, located in Kelsey Creek Park, is a wonderful place to take young children in the Seattle area. And, it’s FREE! Complete with cows, goats, pigs, chickens, bunnies, and horses, visitors are free to wander about independently. They offer all types of classes (at a cost) for children, including horsemanship training.

Since I have a 2-year-old, the choices of classes are quite limited, though they do offer a “Little Farmers” class that is a parent/child class. I plan on checking that out.

During our visit, I had an opportunity to capture some images of the animals and thought I’d share them here.

I’m not going to lie, the cows smell. That should come as no surprise, they are cows after all.

The farm is home to four little piglets, born in January 2012. They were all asleep while we were there.

The horses seemed friendly. As I said, Kelsey Creek Farm offers horsemanship courses, starting at age 4.

The surrounding park is a wonderland for children to explore the good-ol’ outdoors. They loved climbing on the old trees.

This is one bird I am glad was behind bars. I don’t like the look I was getting from this one.

 Kelsey Creek Farm offers the “Little Farmers” class (for ages 2-3) next month. It advertises that children will actively participate in animal care and feeding, barn chores, cooking, gardening, and arts and crafts. I’m on a mission to find out more information on it. I think this may be a good one to explore.

See my Flickr page for additional photos.

A Shadowy Encounter

Lately my son has been into his action figures, or as he calls them, “bad guys.” While watching him play with his bad guys, I had a mental image of Batman and Penguin fighting in a dark alley. The theme to this week’s photography challenge is “shadows.”

Using a spotlight in the corner of our living room, Batman and Penguin had a shadowy encounter.

 

Next week’s theme is “drink up!” With the Superbowl this weekend, I shouldn’t have a hard time getting a photo of that.

Other Project 52 Submissions:

1. Made with Love
2. I had a Dream (Missed this week due to power outage)
3. Self-Portrait
4. Shadows

A Self-Portrait

As I mentioned before, I am participating in a photography challenge hosted by Darcy at My3Boybarians.com.  The challenge is to take a photo every week for one year: Project 52. Each week has a different theme. This week, the theme is a self-portrait. It turns out I’m not very good with the timer setting on my camera. I had a lot of difficulty getting the right settings for the lighting and the photos ended coming out kind of grainy looking.

Here are my best efforts.

I tried to capture myself in my most “natural habitat”. This is what I look like, in my home, on any given day.

I have a lot to learn about shooting on a tripod with a timer. I should probably keep reading, experimenting, and learning so my photos can come out a little better for next week’s challenge.

Previous Project 52 submissions:
1. Made with Love
2. I Dreamed a Dream– Note: I missed this challenge because we were without power (for 3 flipping days, I might add).
3. Self-Portrait

Made with Love

I am a person of many hobbies. When I find something I am interested in and enjoy doing, I consider it a hobby. Therefore, I am a hobby photographer. I am learning with every click of the camera and I am enjoying my journey.

In effort to improve my skills, I came across a blog of a real photographer. She has amazing tutorials on how to fix common photo problems. She is encouraging her readers to work on the skills she teaches by challenging them to partake in what she calls “Project 52“: one photo per week for one year.

I like this idea. I want to improve my photography skills, but don’t want to commit to too much. One photo a week? I think I can handle that. Even though I missed the first week of the game, I am joining in.

Every week of the challenge has a different theme. This week’s theme is “Made with Love.”

It wasn’t hard for me to think about what I wanted to shoot. There has been something I wanted to photograph for some time now, but wasn’t sure how I was going to get a shot that I liked.

As I have mentioned before, I nurse my son. As his second birthday comes closer, I know the end of that relationship is very near and I am ready for it. He will be two next month. I haven’t decided (or figured out?) how I am going to wean him, but before I do, I knew I wanted to remember the feeling and experience with a beautiful, yet modest photograph. I’ve been planning this photo for some time in my head.

There is only so much planning you can do. Eventually, you just need to do it. Today was that day. Before his nap, I set up the tripod, positioned it right where I wanted it, set the timer and took the shots.

These are the results. My first Project 52 submission. A memory made with love.