I have to admit that I love Instagram and am so happy I have an iPad. Granted I have never used it but it just looks so cool – all those neat photos people are posting on Twitter from Instgram.

There is something similar to Instagram for Windows 7 phones. It’s called Photogram and you can take a photo and add a filter to it. One filter makes the photo look like a Polaroid picture – which reminds me of Instagram photos. Here is one of my photos with the vintage filter applied -

It is a fun little program and a cool way to spice up photos before posting on Facebook.

Here is the only Christmas photo I have of Christmas morning. We were with relatives for Christmas – so I pull out my camera only to discover that I had forgotten the compact flash card. I have done this before – each time vowing I will buy a back-up compact flash to leave in the camera bag. It is amazing how easy it is to forget it. When we got home, sure enough the card was right where I left it – in the computer’s media reader.

Well this time I mean it and will be buying a second compact flash card. So if you received a digital camera for Christmas, make sure to have an extra media card.

One learning community that I love is the HP Learning Center. Classes are free and they offer a somewhat broad range of topics. Mostly the topics center around business – as would be expected. They do have several classes on photography. I decided that it is high time I start learning more about this hobby that I love.

I want to take memorable pictures – and arrogant as I am(or that’s what I’m calling it) I thought that just by doing that I would learn. I’ve been humbled and now believe that it is very important to read advice and learn more about the things you care about from other perspectives. I can’t know it all and it’s just plain crazy to think I will magically become good at something if I just snap a lot of photos without thinking about it. I am ready to start learning and applying that to my photography.

So if you want to learn more about photography, you should check out the HP Learning Center. I’m taking Beyond basics: Fundamental photography techniques. I just finished lesson 2 (of 4) and can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned so far this weekend as we are going back to the pumpkin patch Friday and the Ren Fest on Saturday. Both events should present many photo-worthy moments.

Last night we had to run to town for a few items. As we were riding through town, I noticed this lovely bell tower on one of the churches. I thought how nice it would be just to have a trip that is all about taking photos of whatever we come across. So that is what we are doing Saturday.

When we lived in town, I took a lot more photos of landmarks. Since we moved three years ago, I have been mainly taking photos of Rae and nature. So I’m excited to take a trip that is just about taking pictures. We will probably just drive around town since there are a lot of places I’d like to photograph locally. Then maybe when the weather cools off, we will venture further away from home.

This is something we’ve been wanting to do forever, so it finally feels good to set a date.

Soon my DSLR Canon Rebel will be four years old and out of the good warranty. To celebrate four fine years of service, I’m thinking of retiring it – i.e giving it to my husband – and buying a new camera. It makes sense to choose another Canon since I already have a couple of lenses and really want to buy another one soon.

I love my Sigma telephoto lens and hate the small lens that came with the camera. So I’m in the market for a smaller lens. I thought about checking into renting a lens before buying one to make sure that is the right lens for me. But I worry about not using it enough in four days to offset the cost of rental. If two of those days are work days, then most of the day will be gone. I would really need a longer time to evaluate a lens – which could mean I might rack up the money to buy one in rental fees.

I’ve just begun to think about a new lens – like today. So it will probably be a few months before I actually buy a lens. Any suggestions on a small range lens for a Canon Rebel?

Even though there are many benefits attached to working from home, there are in fact a few steps required in order to make these benefits possible.

Such steps include establishing a good working environment and one that is separated from that of your home life. Create an office and utilise this space wisely, close the door of this office in order to block off any distractions such as television, other members of the household and also food temptations.

Having an office space that is separate from the rest of your home will allow you to shut the door on that work space when you are finished for the day, which in turn will allow you to enjoy your weekends and evenings. This way you won’t feel like you are at work when you are at home.

The best thing about working from home is that those who do so are able to cut out the commute, this doesn’t however mean you should get into the habit of commencing work later that normal, nor should it mean taking extra breaks or partaking in other distracting household chores.

Another must-have investment for your home office is a work telephone; many clients may come to the conclusion that because you work at home you will be in to answer their calls at any time, even after office hours. You should therefore invest in a separate phone line and one that comes complete with an answering service informing clients that your office hours are now over.

Working from home has an assortment of pros if tackled in the right way; one of the main benefits is the savings made on child care and fuel. Having the ability to work the hours to suit yourself and still being there for your children is every parents dream. Workingmums.co.uk the online community is a great place for mums to discover franchise opportunities which will suit their needs. Visit the site to discover more on working from home opportunities.

In what probably will be a vain attempt on my part, I plan to start a week in pics blog post on Sundays. This will be sort of a brain dump of all the things I’ve taken pictures of and have half-baked blog ideas for. If I just roll them all together, then maybe it will be something worth viewing and reading. So this is the first week which covers April 24(Easter) to April 30. In the coming weeks I will probably toss in some older pictures to clear out my mental to-do list.

An Easter pic taken with my phone. I started out the day with my Canon Rebel but by the time it was down to egg hunting, it was getting pretty heavy.

Rae found a bug when we were babysitting her little cousin. She loves bugs and crawly things. Sometimes I wonder how we are kin.

Saturday we went to a rugby game at the university. It was interesting. I didn’t understand a lot that was going on but still fun. Rae posed after the game on the sideline.

Afterwards we went to Books-a-million where it was a lot cooler. Rae round the perfect princess hat. I love their big hats they now carry. I’m sure they have a big price tag, too.

I thought this was really cute as I’m not much of a twitterer.

And this is something I need for my husband -

That has been our week. Now I feel better for sharing those things that I thought were most interesting.

A few weeks ago, we went to a Spray Park that was perfect for the girl. She doesn’t like a lot of splashing so she was able to get wet without getting too wet. Here is one of the cooler sprayers. It’s a flower. I kept trying to play with settings to gets the water to look flowing. The lower I would go with a setting, the more washed out the picture would be. It makes sense if I’m letting in more light then the picture is going to be brighter.

Anyway, I never did get the picture that I wanted. But it was fun to tinker around with the camera settings.

My digital camera has been in the shop for two weeks but today I was able to pick it up. It’s so good to have it back. Maybe now I can get back to taking a photo a day.

They replaced the shutter. I kept getting the dreaded Err 99 on my Canon Rebel. The error basically can mean just about anything. When I bought my camera, I bought the 4-year maintenance plan which is a good thing. The repair didn’t cost anything. This is the second time I’ve used it. I dropped the camera last January- three weeks after I had gotten it.

I can’t wait to get back to taking photos. Spring is almost here and some flowers are already popping up. It’s a great time to take photos.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the second part of 2008.

July – Plant

This is a plant I bought for my Mom for Mother’s Day. I really like this type of plant. It’s just different.

August – Butterfly

I like photographing butterflies almost as much as flowers. I even bought a book on different butterfly species. It’s fun to snap these photos especially since butterflies like to hang out at colorful flowers. It’s a win-win for me.

September – Spider

I bought a ‘macro’ lens. Well it’s basically a huge magnifier for your existing lens packaged as a macro lens. Technically I guess it is but it’s not a true macro lens. Still it’s a lot of fun to play with.

October – Sunflowers

I looked forward to our trip to the pumpkin patch for weeks because I knew there would be sunflowers. Our first trip was disappointing as the deer had gotten into their first planting and ate practically all of the sunflowers. So they had to replant. But those were out in full bloom by the time we made our second trip.

November – Motion

I think this was a photo challenge I had read. It was to photograph something on the move with the idea to have a blurry background and in focus subject. This is the closest I’ve gotten yet. Most of the time everything has been blurry.

December – Water

This picture demonstrates why I wanted a DSLR in the first place. I have been an awe of photos that had water features the showed the water more natural looking instead of frozen. When I took this photo, the background was really washed out since I had to use a lower setting that let in a lot of light. I did some corrections with Paint Shop Pro and this is the final result.

Looking back through the year of photos, I see that I have learned a few things and that I have experimented on occasion when taking photos. My goal for 2009 is to learn more about my digital camera and taking photos. Hopefully my photo a day goal will help me with both of those things.