Say Cheese: Goals 1 & 2

My first two goals go hand in hand. I don't take enough pictures. I bought a dSLR camera a year ago, but I hardly know how to use it. I have two extremely cute kids. But I often forget to take my camera places. Or worse, I'll take the camera somewhere, I'll carry it around and then forget to take pictures.

In March, I spent a week in Vancouver with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. My sister-in-law had just been released from the hospital after having a stem cell transplant to treat lymphoma. I was 30 weeks pregnant with my daughter. It was an emotionally-charged time, and I had a wonderful visit. But I did not take a single picture. I lugged my camera all the way across the continent just to sit in my brother's hallway for a week.

When I do remember to take pictures, they aren't great quality. I would like to learn how to take better pictures, and I would like to remember to take pictures more frequently. Since this will be my first full calendar year with both kids living outside my womb, I think it would be fun to make sure I take pictures of them each month. Then at the end of the year, I can have some of those pictures made into a calendar for 2012.

I have gotten a head start on these two goals.

I have signed up for photography classes starting in January. At this point, all I need to do is show up once a week for six weeks, and I can check my first goal off my list.

I also put a reminder on my calendar to take pictures. My phone will now alert me on the first of the month to take pictures of my kids. My plan is, once the first rolls around, reset the reminder for a day that month when we are doing something fun. Yeah, I can take random pictures one Wednesday after work, but if we're going to the zoo two weeks later, it would be more fun to make sure we get a pictures at the zoo (or even better, I could do both).

Next steps: Go to first photography class. Think about when I want to take January picture.