Excited For Spring / Project 52 - Week 11

  It's been an exciting week - and an even more exciting weekend.  We've spent LOTS of hours outside this week, cleaning, raking, planting, and expanding our paths in the back gardens.  It is so great to see all our hard work transform year after year!  

  Yesterday my youngest and I were continuing to tidy up the back garden and she was "helping" me build a new pebble walkway / path.  She's been a bit terrified and paranoid lately that the giant bumblebees are going to "get her" and we made frequent trips inside until it was safe to return to the garden.  It was a pleasant surprise when she found a small toad {or otherwise known as her friend}.   I quickly retrieved my camera to capture some quick shots:

{First 2 Images: Captured: 50mm - F3.5 - ISO 100 - 1/1000
Last Image:  Captured: 50mm - F2.2 - ISO 100 - 1/2000}

  She was completely entertained with every little move the toad would make - pure toddler bliss.  After the toad found his escape, she returned to her "gardening" as seen in the last picture.  To her defense, she'd had a hard day and it was rather hot.

  She really wasn't much in the mood for being the subject of Week 11, and I could understand.  We'd had a long morning of chores, she'd gotten a few bumps and scrapes and had fell on her eye earlier {it was not her day for balance}.  I wanted to make sure I let her choose how she wanted to be photographed, so I provided no "coaching" and didn't ask for a smile.  Instead we had a fun conversation about the toad and she decided to demonstrate {to the best of her ability} how the toad's mouth moved.  

Project 52 / Week 11
{Captured: 50mm - F2.2 - ISO 100 - 1/2000}

  I set my aperture at 2.2 because I wanted to capture the details on her shirt, but not too terribly much of the background.  She was in constant movement, telling her story, and the sun was very bright, the shutter was set at 1/2000.    While normally, with toddlers, I like to make sure they are at their most relaxed and have tons of patience to get "just the right" shot, I knew that this wasn't 'her day'.  Instead, I was happy to share the story-telling moment and capture a few shots of the sillier expressions that toddlers make!

  Adding one more image this week - I think this was during the point of her telling me how the toad was covered in polka dots and stripes but wasn't too pretty:

{Captured: 50mm - ISO 100 - F2.2 - 1/2000}

  I love to work with toddlers - I love their sense of humors and huge grins!!

Hope everyone's week is wonderful!

--Jennifer