Practice, practice, practice....

So I have been busy snapping away and have easily filled a 1GB memory card. I'm too scared to pop in the 4 gig. I'll never get through that many photos!! lol. (To all you skilled shutterbugs out there, just remember I'm new at this. I'm not use to processing this many pics).

Anyway, I finally managed to sort through some pics that I took two weekends ago when we travelled to Grand Prairie for my cousins wedding. The trip was good for the most part as Ethan slept more than half the way and then kept himself entertained by ripping up a sticker book while Daysha kept crying for her soother. I couldn't tell you what the scenery looked like as I mostly had my head ducked under the DVD player as I was constantly popping Daysha's sucky in her mouth. The South bound traffic though, had a good view of my butt. By the end of the trip, I had a headache from smashing my head on the DVD player at least ten times, the two kids and Glen were dying to get out, stretch their legs and eat. It wasn't until 9:00 that we managed to get into Tony Roma's and stuff our faces.

The wedding was at 2:00 which fell right in the middle of Ethan's typical nap. I don't think things would have been half as bad if we had had the correct address and weren't running in, literally, 3 minutes before the bride made her debut down the aisle, but Ethan couldn't hold his head up any longer. He was snoozing so soundly that he never even stirred when I carted him in on my shoulder, camera around my neck, running to find a seat in the pitch black while Glen carried the carseat trying not to trip up. The entire church was lit only by candles creating a BEAUTIFUL atmosphere for the wedding (and hopefully camoflaged the late arrivals), but made it very challenging for a newbie photographer to shoot a clear picture without using a blinding flash or stepping on the hired photographers toes. So I resorted to enjoying the ceremony and soothing a baby that woke up in the middle of the ceremony. Ethan didn't arise until he heard "I'm a Believer" from the Shrek soundtrack pouring out of the speakers while the Bride and Groom made their exit. He had no clue where he was, poor lil' gapher!

The rest of the day and into the reception, I decided I would try to take pics of some family members getting them to pose for the camera and squish their heads together. lol. And boy! Do people pose! As soon as they see a camera, it's almost as everyone freezes and gets a look on their face like they have to poop really bad! It's only after chatting with them either before or after you get a true smile! I got some people to pose but I do like the look of my candids a lot better. I think there is a lot more emotion in those.

During the reception I was dealing with really low lighting once again. They only had white Christmas lights and candles decorating the hall. Again, beautiful for a wedding; tough on the camera. I tried a few different things to help but I resorted to my pop-up flash. It wasn't until afterwards that I learned I could change the flash output so that may have helped soften the light. I also don't own, and haven't created, any diffusers to use but I did the best I could. I tired really hard to get a correct white balance because everyone was getting a orange halo around their heads and that warmness made their faces almost blend in.

So here are a few pics from the trip, let me know what you think!