My first step in my goals has begun! I recently wrote a blog post about 3 Goals I would like to achieve in 2018 and one of them is to improve my photography skills. In an effort to do this I’ve committed myself to producing a Photo Diary: A Day in the Life of our family once a month. It’s a way for me to be mindful of little moments that I will someday miss, to see what life was really like for us at this point in our lives and improve my photography skills. My sister-in-law did this in black and white which I love because it’s classic and it helps hide some of the clutter and my lack of skill. I’ve left my favourite photos in full colour because I just really enjoy them that way. I hope you enjoy this photo diary!

I have to laugh at myself for starting the day with a very dark and grainy photo. This was my attempt to capture Wes taking Poppy down stairs while I slept. Pop woke up at 4am ready for the day! I was not however and got a chance to nap.

A messy bedroom is still inviting when you’ve only had 5 hours of sleep!

I woke up an hour later to find breakfast in full swing. Wes makes breakfast every morning and prepared cereal for Lux.

Poppy is in an egg-phase and obliterated her breakfast! She looks so cute here- no matter how early she wakes me up I still think she is just the sweetest little baby.

Getting the girls dressed is definitely a challenge! Here you can see Lux is ready to go and Poppy isn’t even close. Lux’s favourite new thing is to jump in Poppy’s crib. They’re going to share a room soon so here’s hoping the novelty wears off soon!

Another favourite. My husband, Wes, works upstairs and when he goes up to work he has to give each of the girls a hug and a kiss! I love to see how much these girls love their dad.

This is my sister, Whitney. She lives with us and helps us take care of the girls and works for Wes’s business. The girls absolutely adore her!

Playing in mom’s closet! After the girls get dressed I attempt to get ready for the day. It’s always a process and my shoes almost always go missing but I love that we have this space to hang out in.

“I try these on!” Lux loves trying on all my clothes including these shoes she pulled out of my GoodWill pile. I told her to, “smile” and she’s at that stage where she gives me a funny face instead. She’s such a funny kid! Where did my little girl go?

This is my office! I sound too excited for a small spot at the top of my landing but I covet the space nonetheless. The girls are going to share a room soon and Lux’s old room will become my office after it’s renovated.

The door to the right of my desk is Wes’s office. Wes is a web developer who teaches online courses, make videos and has a podcast so he has quite the set-up!

I’m in the middle of the 10×10 Challenge and here is Day 7 outfit! I’m squinting hard because my eyes are tired from being up since 4am! 

This girl is so fun!

…and gorgeous!

… and mischievous! I think I tell her to get off the table every day.

I also tell her to sit on her bum everyday! This brave girl is definitely not scared of heights!

This is our handsome dog Snickers. He’s not sad- that’s just his face. He’s basically a Precious Moment’s doll.

Lux made, “socks” out of tape… her real socks are on the floor behind her. It’s fun to see her imagination run wild.

Wes is done work and checks on the chicken he put in an hour earlier. He cooks all our dinners too.

Chicken and potatoes!

He’s the most handsome, sweetest and funniest guy I know. Look at his dashing smile!

Dinner!

Homemade popsicles for dessert.

Poppy often crashes before Lux so she heads to the bath early.

Lux has finally joined us and Wes reads to them in the tub.

A hug and kiss from my favourite 2 year old.

Reading goodnight books to my sweet baby.

Reflection

I had a really lovely time taking photos of my family all day and being mindful of moments I wanted to remember.

I think I captured some sweet moments but it’s time to get technical and try to improve- that’s part of why I’m doing this!After reflecting on my settings, in the first half of my series my ISO is too high for my camera which is a problem because I need more light. I also have lots of blurry photos near the end of the day. I blindly played with settings and  cranked down the shutter speed to 1/15 to let in more light but it proved to be too low and slow- it needed to be a higher denominator for a faster subject. My shutter speed was way too slow for my fast subjects- babies. My aperture was at F5.0 which was right in the middle. Maybe if my aperture went down it would’ve made a difference with the light.

Improvement

I’m using my 5-year old DSLR here along with the kit lens because my 50mm lens doesn’t allow for a lot of room to take pictures. I really hope to invest in a new set-up so the quality of my photos improves with a good lens.

Using the light to my advantage. I love moody photos that have contrast and depth so I would love to figure out how to use the light I do have (I don’t think my house is well lit at all) to my advantage.

I’m going to keep taking pictures, looking up tutorials and study my cheat sheets. If you have any suggestions, sites to suggest, etc. please let me know in the comments below!