POTD Day 316-319 Lalie visit...remember we were cooped up

I had been reading about flash photography and wanted to play...the girls were upstairs so I brought all my gear up there and informed them that there would be a photoshoot. They are too cute (no bias here!). 

These two are like cousins-Lalie is my best friend's daughter and they live right down the street. We mostly get together on Friday nights to hang out and debrief the week and that has been about all these two have seen of each other. Over this week, they played in the snow a lot and hung out...These photos make me smile.

And the lighting looks good! This was at night with dim lighting. I used a speedlight with a diffuser disk (another tutorial idea???). 

The Sweet Violet Linky asks us this week to think about what inspires us. For me, it is life-whatever is happening. I also get inspired when I read about a new technique or gain a new understanding of something that I want to play around with.

Project 52 and POTD days: 285-287 Made with Love

I remember being a kid and seriously not believing my mom when she would tell me that "homemade gifts" and "messages from the heart" were more precious to her than anything I could buy for her. Of course, now that I am a parent, I totally get it and also prefer the treasures made or written by my sweet girl than dollar store items and the like. This is one of the handmade gifts I received for Christmas this year. It is a clay pot and you can see that I have put it to good use as a paperclip holder. Do you not love my blob of clay as much as I do?

Photographically speaking, I am still playing with my speedlight and reflector disk. I started with the white background (sort of high key) and then tried for a low key effect with the black background and then I played with the crop. I get a lot of mileage out of those 69 cent tagboard pieces! Which one do you like better?