And So I Don't Forget...

A Month of Milly // Days 14 - 17

Day 14: My little nudie-rudie, hanging out in the boat with her Dad in the driveway, while he does some repairs. Love the squishy hug here, hanging onto Dad's arm with all her might.  

Day 15: This is the day we headed away for a couple nights and I realised I'd packed the wrong camera, complete with almost flat battery. Not my finest moment! I played with some detail shots before putting the camera down to preserve some battery, but a moving 2 year old doesn't make for the easiest of framing. I think her concentration in this photo grabbed me, as well as the attention on just one side of her body.   

Day 16: The focus isn't great here, and her eyes could be better lit, but I love that cheeky grin and the crazy hair. Probably a dirty face too. That's her, with personality shining through. 

Day 17: I like the light and shadows on this photo. Milly was playing in her brightly-coloured little climbing gym and I encouraged her to peak out the opening at me, which provided a lovely frame. 

A Month of Milly // Day 5

While this photo was actually taken yesterday, it was from a different session than the photo I posted yesterday and so I'm calling it good. My challenge, my rules. ;) 

I adore this photo! I was attempting to take some photos of a sleeping Milly during nap time, but she roused, rolled over, saw me and that was the end of nap time. Sitting on the floor next to the cot, she played peekaboo with me for a moment before wanting to get down.   

A Month of Milly // Days 3 and 4

Day 3 - Just before Christmas I bought a new camera and I love it! After forgetting to take a photo most of the day, then discovering I'd neglected to return the memory card when I did think of it, this photo was taken late at night with only the hall light and a little torch for illumination. No way would my old camera have coped with these conditions like this. Asleep in her cot with giraffe and bunny. 

Day 4 - This was actually taken in a bright room, in a strip of strong direct light. I lowered the exposure while editing to give the photo its darker appearance and contrast. 

A Month of Milly // Day 2

So, the introductory post I intended to write yesterday but didn't. 

It's crazy to think that I first set myself a month-long photo a day challenge 7 years ago. That's 2 houses, one husband and a child ago! 

I've picked various themes over the years - 2011: A Month of Me, 2012: A Month at Home, 2013: A Month of Faces and 2016: A Month from Bump to Baby - managing to complete all but one, 2013 which petered out mid month but I was traveling in Europe so I give myself a pass for that one. 

The goal has always been to pick up my camera and learn and play. And man, I'm a much better photographer now than I was back then so something must have worked! :)   

So, this month I will be taking and posting a photo of Milly every day. And not just a snapshot or a phone photo, because I can do that no problem. I want to challenge myself to move beyond that, particularly in my use of light. 

That's the aim at least. I'm pretty big on giving myself grace with projects like this. Attempting is better than nothing at all!  

A Month of Milly // Day 1

 

A Month from Bump to Baby: Day 29

With one last photo, A Month from Bump to Baby comes to an end. I haven't finished with anything artistic or elaborate; in truth I didn't even manage to select an appropriate shutter speed for this photo. Instead a simple snap of me and my girl, taken with arm outstretched.

This photo is a glimpse into my reality right now. No makeup and hair brushed that morning but not a thought given to it since. Glasses sliding down my nose as I never seem to have a hand free. Sitting in the armchair where I've spent so many hours since she was born. Amelia swimming in her onesie, as even the size 0000 is still too big. Her arms flying but her precious floppy head safely tucked up against me. And a smile, because there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

I'm so glad I committed to this project. Starting the month heavily pregnant then adapting to life with a newborn, there were times it felt like an incredible hassle to take, edit and blog a photo. Some of the images I captured though, they are absolute favourites. 

So very, very glad for this project and these photos.   

A Month from Bump to Baby: Days 27 and 28

Our peaceful little sleeping girl. Amelia is still a wonderful sleeper, once asleep happily being passed from arm to arm with barely a flutter of eyelids. (And check out those eyelashes!) Getting her to sleep, however, can take a bit more doing. Unless I'm in the middle of trying to feed her, when she's just as likely to doze off from one suck to another.  

This photo is a bit of heart-melter for me. How tiny she looks in her Daddy's arms, trustingly gazing up at him. Mike is so patient with her, adores her so, it's lovely to watch. 

Baths warrant a squawk or two when she first goes in but put that face washer over her chest and she just blisses out. It seems Amelia is fond of the water just like her Mum. :) 

The focus on this photo isn't perfect - the top of the face washer is crystal sharp, not her face as I intended - but the photo doesn't need to be technically perfect to be wonderful.   

A Month from Bump to Baby: Day 26

We had our first visit with the Maternal and Child Health Nurse the other day and in her little packet of information for us was a poster offering 72 different ways to praise your child. 'Good girl' comes so naturally, but we're encouraged to praise the action rather than the person. Mike and I have been joking, 'That was very productive' and 'Good effort' after a big burp or nappy change, but apparently by toddler years much of parenting will be habitual. It's a little daunting to think that we're already begun the process of raising what we hope will be a healthy, happy and resilient girl.  

And our tiny little girly with a big teddy bear, well I just couldn't resist. :)   

A Month from Bump to Baby: Days 24 and 25

Her cute little toes. As she lay on my chest after she was born I remember counting her toes, and then double counting, as it seemed her feet had more than enough toes. All good though. :)

I moved little miss Amelia in front of a window for this photo, selecting a very narrow depth of field on my 50mm lens. It was a fine photo in colour, but when I switched to this black and white editing your attention is immediately drawn to the sole of her tiny foot.

Playtime with Dad. She'll tolerate a few minutes of tummy time before getting grumpy and has managed to move her head from one side to the other, with considerable effort. We can already feel her getting stronger, and a little plumper. Mike notes she has a butt now, where previously she was dead flat.

The narrow depth of field wasn't so much an intentional choice with this photo, more dictated by the lack of light in this room. I set the shutter speed to 1/60, generally the slowest I aim for anything handheld, and let the camera do the rest.

A Month from Bump to Baby: Day 23

Another sweet, sleeping baby photo, taken this evening without natural light. I slowed the shutter speed down to 1/8 sec and used my tripod, aperture of f5.0 to maintain some depth of focus and amped the ISO to 1600. The shot is a little grainy but turning it black and white helped with that. Let's just call it an artistic intention!  

Time for bed now. The sleeping baby in this photo turned irritated, hungry baby very soon after but the house has just gone quiet and I think my wonderful husband has managed to put her down to bed. That or he'll be enjoying some snuggles.