Five Facts Friday

The idea for Five Facts Friday is from the online blogging class I took called Behind the Scenes.  Created this layout to illustrate five of my "loves" right now.  Thanks to Viv Halliwell for posting the link to the template she used!

Behind the Scenes Mouseover

I have been enjoying all the amazing techniques I've been learning in the Behind the Scenes class with Kim Klassen and Xanthe Berkeley. One technique that Kim uses a lot is called a "mouseover" where you can move your mouse over the photo and see the before and afters. To create the image above, I used two of Kim's textures, "Epiphany" and "Sunday", both at soft light. I liked this so much that I ended up printing it at 12x18 and framing it for my studio!  If you want to see the "before", just move your mouse over the  photo. Enjoy!

Persistence and finally . . . I did it!

A while back when I was taking Xanthe Berkeley's Capturing Time Capsules class, she taught us how to create an animated gif file.  I had troubles with it and ended up never learning the technique.  Now in the Behind the Scenes class Kim and Xanthe are teaching the same technique and I was determined to figure it out.  Success!  This is a very simplistic attempt at it, but now that I know how, you will definitely be seeing more animation in my blog!

Behind the Scenes Questionnaire

Our assignment for Behind the Scenes this week is to answer these five questions on our blog.  We have been talking about using lists in blog posts, so here we go:

1. What makes you happy?....in 5 words or less....?

Family gatherings (especially at the beach!) We actually (see #3 below) have one planned -- a week on the beach in California in August. Can't wait!

2.  Which talent would you most like to have?

I would love to be a really good singer.

3.  Which words or phrases do you overuse most?

"Actually".  And I hate it when I hear other  people say it! In fact, I didn't realize I was saying it until my grandson started using it and I said, "I wonder where he gets that?" and my whole family looked at me like I was nuts! I am actually trying VERY hard not to use  it.

4.  What is your favorite movie, book or both?

Movie:  "Out of Africa"
Book:    Anything by Anna Quindlen.

5.  If you could go anywhere in the world for a creative retreat, where might it be?

Greece is one  place I've always wanted to visit and would love to shoot there. All the gorgeous blues just call my name! I would also like to spend some time shooting in New York City.

So that's it!  I am loving this class so much!  Can't wait to try all the new things I've learned.

Timeline of the Journey

Our assignment at Behind the Scenes today was to look back at our journey to today as far as our online lives go.  I never did much online and definitely didn't  participate in any online groups until Big Picture Classes.  I can't remember when I took my first class at Big Picture but they are all scrapbook related.  Then in the summer of 2010 I decided to take a photography class called "Picture Summer" that was taught by Tracey Clark and the rest is history!  Fun to create a timeline of the process.  As they say, "You've come a long way, baby!" 

Beginning Behind the Scenes

Today is the beginning of Kim Klassen and Xanthe Berkeley's class on blogging called Behind the Scenes.  I originally decided to take it to get some ideas on how to improve my posts on Focusing on Life but after only one lesson, I want to improve this blog as well.  Our assignment for today is to write about why we blog. 

When I first started blogging a few years ago, it was for the purpose of posting photos and stories of our daily lives so my mom could see them.  Then she moved where she didn't have internet and I thought it was a waste of time since nobody else was reading it anyway. Then she moved again and had the internet so I started posting again.  

As I became more and more obsessed with photography, I wanted my blog to be more of a  place to post my favorite photos rather than just a recounting of my daily life, so I created a new blog for that purpose, this one called Photographically Speaking.  But I had gone from telling too much of the story to not telling enough.  This blog as it is now says nothing about me except that I like to take pretty pictures.  

With this class, I am hoping to put a little more of myself into this blog, more about who I really am.  I hope to strike a balance between my old blog (which was more of a diary of what was going on in my life) and this blog (which so far has been strictly photographic) and create something where I can post my photos but also connect with the people who may read it, to give them a better idea of who I am and what I love.  Keeping my fingers crossed that the other lessons are as inspirational as this first one is!