PS22 Chorus "LISZTOMANIA" Phoenix

Palace in Wonderland

So about two weekends ago I was fortunate enough to get to party with the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and Alice. We all fell down the Rabbit Hole and ate hamburgers that didn't taste like hamburgers, but like cupcakes. And, we drank tea from tea cups made out of ice cream cones.

All this was done for one special girl who was turning six. Her mom worked hard and made all of the decorations for the party. Because of the great job that she did and praise she received, I think that she has decided to do this type of thing for other people. I was lucky enough to be able to take pictures of some of the cool decorations and food.


Above are the characters she used to decorate the table. All of the Alice in Wonderland characters sat on top of huge cards. They were awesome. Doesn't Alice look like she is holding a gun? (Yeah, she's pretty gangsta!)

This was a picture of the hamburger and fries she made. The hamburger was made from cupcakes and the fries were made from sugar cookies!

Yeah, the little girl turned six! She also had about eight other little girls there with her. It was very interesting - little girl dynamics are a wonder to watch.

Learning part of the blog:

So this week I have had the song "Lisztomania" by Phoenix on my mind. Here is the first line of the song - "So sentimental, not sentimental no/Romantic, not disgusting yet." I just love it! Definitely a booty shaker! And that is exactly what I do!

I have attached a video to my blog of PS22 chorus singing the song. It is a great version! Give it a listen!

The blog you should check out this week is The Downtown Diaries! I follow her on twitter too. www.twitter.com/downtowndiaries Tagline: Where Nightlife meets Real Life. Lifestyle and culture blog for all things below 14th, BK and beyond! You know I had to follow her! You should too!

Best,

Kanye West - Good Life ft. T-Pain

Selective effin Focal Points...

Blogging in the month of May. Why not? But let's get something straight -- I am only posting because I have become obsessed with something I just learned about taking pictures. SELECTIVE FOCAL POINTS!!! This has been my nemesis. I was told that my composition and exposure was great, but I needed to work on my soft focus. So for weeks I've been searching, trying to find out how to change my selective focal points. I swear I'm not an idiot, but I have a hard time learning when I am just told what to do. I definitely learn better when I am shown what to do.

So needless to say, I had to google long and hard before I found the website where I best understood how to change my focal points. I will tell you that when I figured this out I screamed so loud. I felt like such an effin champion. I love figuring out shit about my camera!

So the following pictures show a little bit of my current obsession.

Here I was focused on the middle of the picture, up towards the top.

In this picture, I moved the focal points to over the candle. Look how the blow pops (I love them) are blurred.



In this picture, I changed my focal points to the blow pops. Look how the candle is blurred. Seriously, don't I sound like I know what I'm talking about?

Anyways, I am totally going to be practicing all week. I have to get used to it. My fingers are short and I have a hard time reaching around my Nikon.

Just FYI, the pink basket is for the bike parade that we are doing at my work for Breast Cancer Awareness. We are making baskets to auction off and this is mine. I have to add the cellophane and ribbons and then I'll be done!

On to the next:

This week I downloaded Kanye West's Graduation. Here is my quote from Kanye's "Good Life" song: " 50 told me go 'head switch the style up and if they hate then let 'em hate and watch the money pile up" I actually posted the video to my blog. I don't usually do this, but I love the song and the video is dope! So take a look.

What blog should you look at this week -- www.yougetthepicture.net I love Elyse Cardon's photography! Very vibrant.

Best

Dusk on the Bridge

I feel as if I am always driving. The fact of the matter is I think that I have driven across the HRBT for at least five days a week for the past 12 years. Yes, the past 12 YEARS. I have found that I love driving across the bridge during dusk. Look at how beautiful the drive can be. For all of you who are thinking it, yes this was very dangerous, but what the hell. This blog's description IS the mischief I can get into. But to calm your nerves, I didn't actually look into the view finder. I put the camera on continuous, held down the clicker and prayed for a great shot! Thank God this is what I came out with.


I was reading about a Philadelphia-based photographer and he said, "I'll take two or three shots, and maybe they'll all be out of focus. I don't take a photo, look at the little screen, and take it again. If it's perfect, then it was meant to be." I love this quote because sometimes I feel like I'm a slave to that little screen, but then I find that some of the best pictures that I take are when I relax and not worry about what is on the screen.

So on to the informational part of the blog.

Regardless if you have kids or not, you should sign up for online course given by Kelly McMahon-Willette {www.willettedesigns.com}. You are guaranteed to learn lots of good tips about photography.

Now, what to listen to: I've been singing LOUDLY to "Natural Woman" by Aretha Franklin. I bet you will too.

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