mary elizabeth graff photography- powered by SmugMug

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My Book of Days-365 (ish) project : I am passionate about photography (just ask my two boys who, at 4 and 2 are SICK of me taking their picture! ) I want to learn learn learn as well as take the time to document our lives together as a family. My philosophy is that: life is happening NOW--there are no dress rehearsals. I want to get more involved in the photo/SmugMug community so I thought this may be a good place to get my shy self "out there"--by starting a 365 book of days project. I am learning CS3 and Lightroom 2.0 but have no official editing training other than my trusty e books/tutorials and lots of hours logged onto my laptop while the kids are sleeping.
Here goes--my official "Photo Journal". In it I will publish self portraits -in hopes of learning to be more comfortable with the camera myself (see my Blog for more info on that) as well as pictures that I hope for feedback on to improve or learn from. After thinking about it--I don't think I can stand to look at myself in photos for a whole year--yuk! IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE: that I do this project for myself and my family--so some days there will be more than one photo if I feel so inclined. I don't want this project to become cumbersome...but I want to use it to document a year in our lives as well as to learn as much as I can from taking various pictures. I value and appreciate any feedback from all of you.

Check out my Blog too:
http://inthepaintingofchaos.blogspot.com/
And do me a favor--leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by!

MB

My Book of Days-365 (ish) project

Favorites :

jon benson :

benjamin's senior session 9/08 (Share gallery) :

benjamin's senior session 9/08 (Share gallery)

Most Popular Photos

stovepipe wells-death valley at sunrise.

swingin' with my little guy. that smile makes my heart soar.
i never understood what pure love was until i had my boys.
newly added texure.

took the fam out "chasin'" light tonight. i found a spot that was pretty sweet-and it lasted just a few minutes. beautiful skies, cloud cover and the tips of the foothills in the background.

feelin' reflective about my 38th birthday on monday. i ditched the flash for this one.

my boys and their toes! i love this shot!

my apologies to those who are not feet lovers. i hate my feet but i do love all of these!

my neighbor got a d 300. he let me shoot a few frames to compare it to my d 200. this is taken right out of the camera---no processing or color adjustments. 'nough said.

i officially have camera envy.

near crested butte. outrageous color eh? i've lived in colorado for 8 glorious years and this is the most amazing color i have ever seen. (and we've traveled here a lot!)
how lucky am i?

more from my botanic gardens escapade this weekend. i am starting to like some of these more and more as i look at them. sure wish i had the class to actually learn something about taking macro floral pics. but it was fun playing around.

i am still on the 'trial' period with lightroom 2.0 and so far i am really intrigued. it seems as if i have the 'need new presets' fever. i just ordered $70 worth on davidjay.com. heaven help me. i have just gotta stop spending money.
here is a david jay preset. neat huh?

i forced my MIL to ride the rickety ferris wheel with me at Heritage Square park in Golden, Colorado. we had some laughs and bonded a bit. more pics of the view in a minute.

is riley the cutest dog or what? she cracks me up how she gets in between your legs or on your body to get comfy. today in particular she found my bottom to be particularly cushy. i seem to store excess fat from the winter there!

pictures at "red rocks" (the outdoor apmitheater in morrison, colorado):http://www.redrocksonline.com/index.asp
before a date night out. first night out (sans the boys) in months...well more like over a year. this park is minutes from our house and has great lighting, amazing colors and is great for people watching and great views of downtown denver in the distance.

the little guy cuddled with me on the couch today and fell fast asleep. i treasure special time like this with him.

fields and fields of lupine in washington gulch-crested butte, colorado. amazing.

today while having my 'special time' with my oldest while the youngest one slept he asked me "if boys wear rings like girls do". this spanned the topic of marriage a bit and he was curious about it. i am not ashamed to admit that marriage has been hard for me and that it is more work that i had ever dreamed. we were on the couch cuddling and i put the ring on his finger to show him what it looked like. i explained that he doesn't want to put a ring on this finger until he is really sure he wants to keep it there forever.
then i realized that the very best gift i can give him is to show him what the beauty of marriage is and how wonderful it can be. lately my husband and i have not been doing a good job of that.
in that quick conversation with him on the couch and just seeing that ring on his finger i realized so much.
children can teach us such powerful lessons.

finger painting (and toes and arms and legs) in the backyard with the boys.
my idea of fun (not my husband's!)

more here:
http://inthepaintingofchaos.blogspot.com/

the color in colorado is outrageous. stay tuned for more pics from aspen and crested butte (no i didn't get to see andi!)
this was taken by leadville, colorado on the way to aspen. just amazingly beautiful.

i couldn't really not count these special friends in my book of days because they have been and are a big part of our lives (and our days)! (and i hope they will continue to be for long long time.)

even though the sun was an issue-i enjoyed doing your family photos tam and john. thanks for driving all the way down to our end of town today! you are very special to us!

(i'll upload the rest of the gallery overnight!)

i actually liked this image of myself (one of very few). it was taken a while ago. i added the texture and liked how it turned out.

another sleepless night (it's 2:04 am as i type). lots on my mind.

"i'm stuck in 'texture-land' unsupervised, while my mom burries her head in the laptop and pse book. i gotta tell you--this is gettin' old."--aaron

i miss you already sydney raye...thanks for sharing your spirit with me during your visit to colorado. you are one special little girl. i've fallen in love with you in 5 short days.

first day of school shoes.
chucks of course.

nobody misses papa more than this little guy. he asks for him every day.
come visit again soon daddy.

another beautiful day in colorado and off to another park. have i mentioned just how lucky we are to live here?
i dragged the boys in our radio flyer wagon (with two cute umbrellas to keep them shaded) around the 1.4 mile loop at clement park. then as a reward for their good behavior we went up the hill to the playground. everyone was happy--especially me!
every day here is a gift to me.

at the farmer's market in boulder. although it's hard to work with without a tripod-i do love the 60mm macro lens. and the light was just perfect. plus-i just love tomatoes!

is it REALLY this time of year again? Where did the time go?

daddy bought halloween costomes early--and a certain little guy didn't want to go to school today so he could wear it. (he did go to school but got to wear the costume after dinner.)
i'm all for cute toys and such to go with the theme--but am puzzled as to why there was a big hatchet and a small fire extinguisher included in the set??
regardless--he made me smile so much tonight. what a character!

being outdoors + time with daddy + snacks = one happy little guy!

my entry for a contest/photo walk in boulder this weekend. as soon as we starting the group walk it started to pour. i wanted to capture this girl best before she became aware i was taking her picture...but that didn't work out. this is one of my entries.

thanks for andi tippie and john bennett for their feedback...both fantastic photogs in my book!

here are the rest of the shots i got that were decent: (remember--there was no theme to the contest--just two hours to get some neat shots. i looked at it as a chance to try out my new 24-70 2.8, to meet new friends, and to get some fun shots of the 'characters' in and around boulder, colorado's pearl street pedestrian mall.)

http://graffs.smugmug.com/gallery/5786452_CyUiJ/1/359937953_tds8C#359937953_tds8C

lemme know what you think!

portrait of my best friend.

thanks for planning and executing a lovely trip for us all. you are an artist true in so many things (especially planning and packing). thanks for your hard work and patience. and for listening to the 'wiggles' cd over and over and over.

went to boulder for a picnic with tamara and some friends. afterward we headed to boulder's pearl street mall for some coffee and ice cream for the kids. out of 150 picture taken-this one is my absolute favorite. i love the blur of the background and the busy pedestrian mall on a beautiful colorado day. i love the telling connection between tam and her daughter. these two aren't too tough to photograph, they are almost always happy and smiling!

my little guy 'bonked his bean' (graff lingo for "hit his head") this morning awfully hard on the toybox. he got over it very quickly but i was thinking that the black and blue spot on his forehead might not look too well for his birthday on sunday. so--i raced to dress him in his birthday portrait outfit and urged him to pose for me. it was a struggle for us both but i think i got a couple of cute ones.
(thanks john for offering feedback and helping me to pick these out of the album.)
happy early birthday my love. sorry-but momma is probably going to dress you up for a few years to come--until you are able to put up a fight!
more here:
http://graffs.smugmug.com/gallery/5253917_FWefQ#319560566_ux7Uq

a rare family portrait. i lugged my tripod up to this park today so i had to include this. plus-i am not loving these plug-ins so i gotta get my $120 worth!

fun guesthouse in crested butte, colorado.

gotta ask andi the story behind this place!

stayed up last night and watched "into the wild" a wonderful, reflective and just beautiful movie. i am tired today. so tired.

this is one little lifeguard that i am GLAD is off duty! (but i love him!)

just some fun with the ole' fisheye!

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