Summertime!

Wow... summer has been crazy! I thought that I would have nothing to do, other than work 20 hours per week. Well, I was right. But that left me with a lot of time to take pictures which, in turn, left me with a lot of pictures to edit. I can't believe that the summer is half over (do I really have to go back to work full-time?) but in terms of photo-taking opportunities, the best is yet to come.

So far this summer, I've taken a lot of random pictures... family pictures of my family & Paul's family...flowers...trips to the zoo...River Falls Days...a trip up North...I even tried to take pictures at Valleyfair, but they said I couldn't have my camera on the rides!

But...in the next month or so... oh I'm excited!! The Kansas City Chiefs return to RF for training camp next week & I always find time to go take some pictures there. (plus I'm working with my brother Alonzo & he loves football!) We're going to the Packers preseason game against the Bengals. And, for the first time, we're going down early to go to one of their training camps. Then we have the Renaissance Festival!

So it turns out this last month (plus some) before school starts again is going to be... well, let's just say not boring. Lots of time and subjects for photos! But when am I ever going to find the time to edit all of these pictures??

In happier, more fun news...

I recently bought an AlienBees lighting kit. I'm going to be taking pictures at the school carnival for the school that I work at and was planning on buying the materials for a "do-it-yourself" lighting setup (worklights). I told my husband about my plan & he said, "Why don't you buy a real lighting kit? I wasn't going to pass up that offer! I bought a Beginner Bee Kit, which is one light, light stand, and umbrella, with a B400 light. So far I've been very impressed but I have much more to learn! I think (almost) everyone is getting tired of me taking their pictures...

Oliver posed for me a few times... -->




<-- So did Paul....
And I took some pictures of my brother- and sister-in-law and the newest addition to their family.

As always, you can see more at my website, which I recently redesigned. It was a lot of work for me for a few small changes - see if you can find them!

Dear Lindsay,

I wasn’t ready. I don’t think I could have ever been completely ready, but maybe I should have been more prepared.

I’m going to miss you so much. I already do. I can’t believe I will never get another email from you. I can’t believe I will never get to look at more of your beautiful pictures. I can’t believe you’re gone.

You were amazingly strong. You worked so hard but still kept your spirits up. Your personality shined through your whole life. Even at the worst times, you found something fun, or funny, or at least something to keep you happy. You touched so many lives. I know I’m a better person for having known you and so are many others, I’m sure.

You’ll be forever in my heart.

New things

Well, there have been some new things in the lives of those around me & in my own, even just since my last post (although that was almost a month ago!).




First, my brother-in-law & his wife had a baby, their third boy. He was born on March 18. He's adorable & I finally got Paul over to see him! I took some pictures on the 18th... here's one just for fun, but there are more on my site.








Second (and less importantly), I got a new camera. It's the Nikon D200. Since I sold my D50 to my uncle & didn't want to leave him without any lenses, I also got new lenses. I still wasn't able to spend real $ and get good lenses (since I needed a camera body too!), but I'm really happy with what I got. The one I am most impressed with is the Nikon 18-70 that is the kit lens with the D70, I think. It's so much nicer than the 18-55 that came with the D50. You can't really tell with this photo, but I was absolutely amazed with how sharp Oliver's eye is!

Well, thanks for reading & hopefully it won't take so long for me to post next time. I am (sadly) off to bed. Last day of spring break y'know, and I've got to rest up for work tomorrow!

Moving, Brett, and Projects

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted. And, surprisingly, it hasn't been that long!

First, Paul and I moved. We're now renting a very nice townhome in Hudson, WI. It's way bigger than our apartment was and we have a garage and washer & dryer! I have some pictures, but they aren't that great & I haven't uploaded them yet.



Second, Brett Favre retired. Okay, so it's not really something that happened to me, but everyone's been talking about it. Except at my school, because I work in MN. No one cares there. Next season's going to be tough and a little sad without Favre, but it'll also be exciting to see how it goes.







And last... I finally finished uploading my grandparents' pictures to Flickr. Right now, they're only available to friends & family, so to see them you'll have to add us (ebbenfamilyphotos). Here's another quick preview.

Hudson Hot Air Affair

Every year, in February, Hudson (WI) holds the Hot Air Affair. There are tons of events that happen - a parade, hot air balloon launches, etc. The one that I always try to make it to is the "Moonglow." It takes place at night and consists of a bunch of balloons being blown up and then lit at the same time. Unfortunately, every time I've gone, it's been too windy to actually blow up the balloons and I've just gotten to see fire.
Finally, this year, the weather cooperated for the Moonglow! It was so much fun. I took some pictures and put them up on my site.


I found this to be a really hard event to take pictures at, both because of the conditions and because I hadn't really seen it before. Keep your eye open for next year's Hudson Hot Air Affair - it's a lot of fun!

Completed photo project!

My grandmother passed away on December 26, 2007. My cousin (Marina) had a wonderful idea - to scan most of my grandma's pictures. I just finished scanning...almost 715 pictures! It was really fun and we're excited to get them online. Right now you can see a few at my website and in the next week or two we should have them up on flickr as well.