My new adventure

So, as some of you already know, I love photography! I finally decided to make a separate blog dedicated to building my skills and portfolio. It took me a little while to decide on a name, but I finally went with "Cherished Keepsakes." It just made me think of all of those great moments that I like to capture of my girls and how much I love them. You can check out my new blog here:

First true shots in manual...

As time will show, one of my many other obsessions is photography. I take so many pictures of my kids that my 3 year old now runs when she sees me coming with a camera. I was lucky enough to get an amazing Canon Rebel XSi DSLR for an early Christmas gift, and I have been on a mission ever since. I wanted to make sure that I used the camera to its full worth. I figured if I was just going to keep pointing and shooting in auto that I might as well have not wasted the money and just kept my old one. So, I have been reading and studying how to use all of my manual settings to their full capacity. I just had to share these shots that I took a couple of days ago; first, because they are just too darn cute, and second, they are my first TRUE manual indoor shots. I did not use a flash with these photos or any auto settings. I set my aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and metered my own lighting for these. Needless to say, I was very proud of how they turned out for being my first time to try it on my own. One step further away from amateur photography… Watch out world!