She Shoots

Every Once in a While

I take a lot of pictures of my children and of my cats. Kids and animals are hard because they just don't sit still. Unless distracted by food, both children and domesticated beasts tend to get excited when you pay attention to them even if you are behind a camera.

But every once in a while you get a really good shot.

 

See?

I have this general rule of thumb that I go by. 70 - 1. Really. Out of of every 70 photographs I take I usually get one really good one.

Yesterday it only took me 11 shots.

Don't get discouraged. You might think 11 seems like a lot. Maybe you think 70 seems like a lot, but once you own the camera and the lenses digital photography is free. Snapping a frame and deleting it costs you nothing. Keep trying. You just might get something that you really love.

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- Sarah can also be found at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.

Simple as Fruit

Sometimes it takes just a little simple advice to overcome fear.

I'm trying to embrace the manual aspect of my Nikon, but for some reason, the digital Nikon intimidates in a way that my film camera never did. There are just so many bells and whistles, and I am often afraid I'll mess up the camera! Fortunately, the amazingly kind and talented Karen Walrond had this piece of advice when I saw her this summer:

"Just take pictures of fruit."

Just put some fruit on the table and start playing with the settings, she told me. It will be okay, and you'll see what you can create, she assured me with her soft, yet firm, voice. Thanks to Karen and some lovely morning light, I discovered just how right she was.

Image by Joanne Bamberger aka PunditMom.

A Different Kind of Ride

Thanks to my good friend, frequent partner in crime and fabulous photographer Amie, aka MammaLoves, I came up with this shot while we were riding in a New York City pedicab this summer.  It was a fun thing to do, though once we had hopped on and agreed to pay, we realized that perhaps we'd taken our lives into our own hands by riding in one little pedicab in a sea of crazy taxis!

Fortunately, we survived and with Amie's advice, I came up with this image that really captured the off-kilter sense we had of seeing Broadway from this unusual vantage point!

Image by PunditMom

And So the Transition Begins ...

This image makes me happy and sad.  Happy because it shows PunditGirl and her friend having a fun time. Sad because this was taken just weeks before her friend got on a plane to fly half way across the world to live for a few years with her family.  Happy because it is a carefree moment of childhood. Sad because I see the emerging teens who will soon be leaving their hormone-free childhoods behind.

They're still little girls and I cherish each and every moment I get to see that in them, because I know there will come a day, sooner than I would like, when the little girls are gone and they are suddenly emerging young women.

Image by Joanne Bamberger aka PunditMom

I'm Loving Hipstamatic!

I have fallen in love with an iPhone app (yes, it's all your fault Mocha Momma!).  While my iPhone is handy, I'm not addicted to it and I'm skeptical of various applications and whether I really need them.  But when I read that Kelly was a fan of the application called Hipstamatic -- a photography app that makes pictures look like they were taken 20 years ago with your childhood instamatic camera -- I fell in love. 

Shots that I would delete with my digital SLR magically turn into quirky things I love to look at!

And no, I was NOT paid by anyone or given anything to write about my love for what has become my favorite new toy.  It's just a lot of fun and I wanted to share!

Image by Joanne aka PunditMom.

Colors of a Daisy

I found some amazing Gerbera daisies at the farmer's market the other week and couldn't stop marveling at the color.  Then, when I got closer -- REALLY close -- I realized just how many different shades there were in what at first appeared just to be pretty pink flowers.

Image by Joanne Bamberger aka PunditMom.

It's Almost Gone

There's not this much snow left in the back yard anymore, but it still hasn't completely disappeared.  Maybe another day or two should do it.

Image by PunditMom/Joanne Bamberger

How Could I Have Forgotten About This One?

How could I have forgotten this one?  I was saving it for a Valentine's Day post and totally forgot about it when we were dealing with the snowpocalypse (parts 1, 2 and 3!)

I was playing with my Lensbaby while we were in Southern California in December and found this perfect image of love -- heart-shaped and prickly!

Image by Joanne/PunditMom

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I'm Done With the Snowpocalypse

It started out looking so pretty. It isn't ending that way.  :(

Image by Joanne/PunditMom

Loving the Lensbaby!

Shortly before we headed out for our summer vacation last year, I purchased a Lensbaby lens.  I'd had a chance to try one out at the BlogHer conference in Chicago, and fell in love.  I'm still trying to figure out exactly what types of shots work well with a lens that has such a small focal point, but I am having fun doing it!  I loved how this photo captured the sensation of being in traffic at dusk.

Jackson Traffic, image by PunditMom aka Joanne Bamberger