Saturday, brought to you by headbands

So, this morning I ended up taking photos at a charity fundraising 5K. I had volunteered because I thought it was a good cause (rescuing girls from sex trafficking - they're raising money to build a safe home here in StL), and when the coordinator mentioned she needed photographers, for some reason I volunteered myself for that. I say "for some reason" because I really don't know my way around my camera that well, despite the gobs of photos I take of the babe. But, I made it clear I was way amateur and they still wanted me, so I was up at the park bright and early this morning.

It was a lovely fall day - chilly but sunny and crisp, and they had a really nice turnout. I was really surprised at how different it was trying to shoot more "action" type, wide-view shots, as opposed to shooting a child close-up. I mean, this shouldn't have surprised me, but I picked up pretty quickly that I was going to have to change my approach. I didn't really end up with that many stellar photos, but I did what I could (and fortunately they had a few other, more professional-type photographers there too). And I learned A LOT. A lot. I wish I had tried to photograph a sporting event or something similar before hitting up this race, because I would have definitely done things differently today, but, eh, live and learn, right?

One of the other photographers there mentioned a local group that does one-time, evening photography seminars, so I think I'm going to look into that. I'm also starting to drool over some new lenses for Christmas, maybe. And I'm recommitting to learning more about my camera and using the manual settings more.

So, in a slightly related note, I'm also trying to recommit to blogging more. I know most people who read this are family who are interested in photos of Julia, but I'm getting sick of only posting photos. I could just get on Flickr instead or something. So I'll try to insert some bits of life, text-style.

And now, the completely unrelated note: headbands. These are Julia's latest obsession. She found a basket of my old headbands, and now we have headbands all over our house, many in places I'm not even aware of. But she pretty much tries to wear them constantly, and I think it's adorable how many different ways she can put on a headband wrong. Here's a smattering of headband photos from the last week or so:

She's constantly on the go lately, so it's almost impossible to get a shot of the front half of her.

"I know it works somehow like this..."

"I did it! I look awesome."

"Another can only help."

"Or maybe mess up the one I had on correctly."

"Whew. Looking this good is hard work."
(As an aside, we're teaching her to fall back onto pillows and go, "aaahhhh,"
and it's the cutest thing ever when she does it.)

Crawling away. These things go with her everywhere. Evidently, this includes the bathroom.

I love when she does this because she looks like she has little bug antennae.

Watching the rain.

Subscribing to magazines.

Princess-style.

Double princess-style.