Photodyssey: Buildings and Boys

I'm in the middle of figuring out my new DSLR camera and the best way to do it just to shoot. But how many photos of my dishes can I take? So we drove to the picturesque town of Solvang, just north of Santa Barbara, to discuss aperture, shutter speed and ISO.

Not that I learned anything. I just took pictures and yelled at John, "Why is it so light?!"

And, "Why is it so dark?!"

Then we had a snack. A raspberry buttercream snack.

Then more yelling to John, who used to have an SLR camera back in the 80's, (which is when Hartwell thinks everything old is from), so he knows a lot about photography.

Baby steps. 

Back to boys. Much easier...

Night shooting? I'll give it a whirl.

The boys were as patient as boys can be, so we went back to the hotel and played Life. Which is so much more depressing to play as an adult. And, of course, Beckett won. Even though he barely played and mostly skipped around the room like a little squirrel. Maybe we can learn from that? Which would be, it's okay, my mom is playing for me!

The next morning, we woke up early for pancakes. Hartwell likes to do the pose from the Nintendo DS commercials. Everywhere.

After breakfast, I forced the boys to walk around and let me take pictures of them. It was cold. And the boys were uncooperative. Luckily, this bakery was amenable.

Pretty sure I yelled at them to get this photo.

And then it all fell apart. Too cold!

Back to buildings.

I was waiting for this place to open. Jule Hus, Christmas all year round! I needed candles for my german pyramid advent thing. And I can only find them online and I can never tell if they are the right size. Found some for $5. Yay, me!

More photos.

I think the first thing to do to feel like a fancy photographer is to set your camera to sepia. Fancy.

Bye to Solvang, and now back home. John wanted a photo of this crazy log cabin farm house and barn. But we were driving. So I had to continuous shoot out the window. Which made the foreground blurry. Which made it look miniature. Adorable!

Just keep shooting...

And finally back to the park where Beckett finally decided to try the zip line. He went once and swore it off. Then went one more time.

It's sort of a weird thing, a photo vacation. I still know very little about my camera, but I am also less likely to keep it on auto now. Mostly I like taking photos of the boys. Which was nearly impossible with their not sit stillableness. Always on the move. Always with great faces that get blurred.

Always saying, "Mom...stop taking my picture!"