The Magic of the 2010 Season

Our annual trip to see Santa went without a hitch...well ALMOST without a hitch...this year was Alex's year to NOT be happy to see Santa...so I'm limited to sharing a foto of Dominic and Shane this year...ADORABLE!

The joy in those little eyes never ceases to amaze me!

Merry Christmas to all!

Just a few random fotos...

So, I've been playing around with some of the special effects in Photoshop.  I can't believe it's been over a year since I took (AND got an "A") in my Photoshop I took at MiraCosta College.  I've realized it's VERY important to keep using the system so I don't forget what I've learned (well actually, I know I've forgotten some of it already), but I feel much more comfortable playing around with all of the effects.

Below is a foto I took with my new Tamaron lens.  It's a 60mm lens that is absolutely AWESOME!  In this foto, I was able to focus on the butterfly on the flower with my new lens without having to be right "on top" of the butterfly.

In Photoshop, I played around a bit and ended up changing the foto to b & w and using a halftone effect on it.  I really like the way this effect gave extra emphasis to the butterfly.

I took the foto below in our development.  I caught this flower (I'll have to look it up) as I was passing by, and am very glad I took a picture of it.  I just love the way it turned out.  I worked with quite a few effects in Photoshop, actually too many to remember, lol...but I do love the results!



The foto below is another of my favorites of my walk (last weekend).  I just LOVE the way this lens lets me play with depth of field...I have found I really LOVE photos that have areas is focus while others are blurred.  I did sharpen this photo up a bit in Photoshop, but other than that, it's a raw foto.

enJOY:)

Lori McCausland, Frugal Fotographer:)

A day in a life...at Legoland:)

I just LOVE taking my grandkids to Legoland.  I finally bought myself an annual pass since I know I'll make good use of it!  I've already been to Legoland 4 times since I bought the pass and for anyone that knows me, I'm totally thrilled with the GREAT BARGAIN this is turning out to be!

I just LOVE this foto below of the boys (Dominic and Shane) running toward Legoland's entrance.  The movement exuded in this foto really relays the excitement of the day.

I have also found that I just LOVE to take fotos on an angle...now not all of my fotos turn out and I'm still tryin' to work out the details of when it works, how to angle the foto, and how to best fill the frame.

This is one of those that I think turned out perfectly.  Whoo hoo!!!  As they say, PRACTICE makes PERFECT:)

I also caught a couple of great fotos of the boys on rides.  Dominic has come SO FAR with this ride below.  I can remember the first time he rode in these cars when he was three and the poor little guy just didn't know what to do...but now????...he just whizzes around like a pro!

I was lucky enough to capture a few great pictures of Billy (Pop Pop) with the boys on some rides.  You can just see the excitement in the boys' eyes...and I'm sure Pop Pop was having a great time, too:)

Well, friends...I'm off to "play" with my camera again and take some more AWESOME Frugal Fotos!

enJOY!

Visit to the Statue of Liberty

A few weeks ago, my husband and I had the pleasure of taking two of our grandkids to the Statue of Liberty for the first time.  Justin, Amanda and Nana also went with us.  We were surprised to find that Justin had never been the the Statue of Liberty either.  Having been there several times with our kids as they grew up (at least 3 or 4 times), I thought it was a bit sad to know that people growing up so close to the Statue of Liberty had never been there before.

Billy and I prided ourselves in trying to take our kids to many historical/educational places whenever we had the chance and I think now as adults, they appreciate having had the experiences.

Now for the best pictures from our trip.  Our first picture is of all of us when we arrived at Ellis Island.

 Ellis Island is a great place to get fotos with the NYC skyline in the background.  This one below is of Billy, Alayna, Jayden and I.

 One of the things I was excited to show Alayna and Jayden was the wall at Ellis Island where families could send a donation and have a family members name added to the wall of people who came from other countries through Ellis Island.  Our family was lucky that my cousin, Donna, made a donation and had our grandfathers name added to the wall.  Our Grandfather (Alayna and Jayden's great-great grandfather) came through Ellis Island in 1910 from England.

 While on the Ferry, we were able to get this picture of Justin, Amanda, Alayna and Jayden.  Alayna and Jayden really enjoyed the ferry rides to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and then back to Liberty Park.

 I was also able to get this great foto of the NYC skyline.  I'm sure this would be AMAZING at night!

 Of course, I can't end my trip without taking a few close-ups of my grandkids.  I just LOVE taking close-ups.  This first foto is of Alayna ON her 8th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Alayna!

 My last frugal foto of the day is of Jayden.  He is soooo fotogenic!  His birthday was a few days before we arrived, so we were really celebrating both birthdays while we were in town.  Happy Birthday, Jayden!

As always, we had a WONDERFUL time with our family.  We are very blessed.  Thanks, everyone, for taking this fun trip to the Statue of Liberty with us!

enJOY:)

From a VERY HAPPY Mema and Frugal Fotographer:)

A few more wedding fotos:)

A very PROUD Mom with her very handsome son...This picture was taken at a little park by the beach in Laguna Beach.  I LOVE this photo!

The 3 amigos...From left to right, my grandson Dominic (the ring bearer), my grandson Jayden, and my sister's grandson Blake.  These 3 boys don't see each other all the time, but when they do, they just pick up where they left off...definitely "best buds".

Dan and Stephanie dancing at the reception...they look SO HAPPY and SO IN LOVE:)



I certainly took advantage of getting some great pics of Dan and Stephanie dancing...it's not often you can get Dan to dance....Is that Dan singing to his beautiful new wife, too?

The second "wedding" foto I've had time to post...

Well, there are still house guests to keep me busy, so I haven't had much postin' time lately.  I'll catch up later, but wanted to post another pic from the wedding...my daughter AND granddaughter...the apple didn't fall far from the tree here, did it?

Alayna, who is my son Dan and Stephanie's goddaughter was a jr bridesmaid and my daughter, Amanda was a bridesmaid in the wedding.

Can't wait to get more awesome pics posted:)

Movin' on up...to the east side...of the trax, that is...

The view we will leave behind...as we move over to the other side of the trax, this is the view we will leave behind...it's been "our" view for almost 4 years now...the one we LOVE...the only thing between the lagoon and the ocean is the 101, a thin strip of land with the coastal road running through it...{sigh...}

Our new view...as you can see, we have the pool, then the lagoon, then the train tracks (home to the Coaster and Amtrak), then more of the lagoon....and then, finally the ocean...{sigh...}

As they say, all good things must end...BUT our new condo is also AWESOME!  It will be another 1/4 mile to the beach, but is newer, comes with a BRAND NEW front loading washer and dryer, central air (not like we need it out here, though), easy access to the pool from right off of our deck....actually, it's a VERY NICE place:)

We sign the new lease on Thursday...Happy Trails to us...

Here comes the bride...

I am very excited to post the first (of many) frugal fotos of my son and his beautiful new wife.  As soon as the "dust" settles from the wedding (still busy with family visits), I will honker down and get an entire album posted here.  I LOVED taking fotos of the wedding but realized that when you are the mother of the groom, you are in so many of them yourself that you DO miss some amazing pic opportunities...being a new venture for me (wanting to get into fotography), it's hard to allow myself to BE IN pic's since I always want to take them...now I do travel with my "trusty" tripod, but there was DEFINITELY no time for setting up while the pics were being taken on the day of the wedding:(...sometimes ya just need to let others give you pics THEY took, too....{sigh}...

enJOY:)

A VERY PROUD and HAPPY Frugal Fotographer:)

Take me out to the ball game...

While my daughter was in San Diego for a visit from Philadelphia, we took advantage of the fact that the Phillies were playing the Padres and went to a game.  My grandkids got all dudded up in their Phillies gear and patiently waited to go to the game.

We decided to take the train for some added ambiance.  The kids were excited to go for a train ride:)

Once on the train, they had fun looking out the window...for about 15 minutes (of a 45 minute ride, lol)...

It certainly was a BEATIFUL day for a game!  We had great seats right above the Phillies dugout...AND in the shade...whoo hoo!

Amanda (my daughter) and Jayden (my grandson) watching the game.

Dominic (my grandson) is also watching the game.

Alayna (my granddaugter) was more interested in getting her picture taken:)  All in all, they did fine...AFTER they had snacks and hotdogs and snacks and drinks and more snacks...the only thing the didn't get was the cotton candy, lol!

A good time was had by all:)

enJOY!

Still getting caught up:)

Back in May (Mother's Day to be exact), my hubbie and I went to an event in dt SD called Gator by the Bay.  My granddaughter had won tickets to this event last year while she was visiting over Thanksgiving week.  This was alot of fun and gave me some awesome opportunities to practice my depth of field.  I have grown to LOVE this technique, and take MANY pictures this way, lol...

This was simply a picture of some beads they were selling at the event.  Of course, this event had a New Orleans kind of feel, so there were many bright and interesting colors to use as the subjects of my photos.

Here is another photo where I practiced on the "mid" depth of field.  I love the way the objects closest to my lens are out of focus as well as the objects furthest from my lens.  I just LOVE all this texture!

This foto doesn't display the depth of field as much, but I LOVE all the texture in this photo!

enJOY~

Ok, I'm on a roll...

I've played around with my blog a bit today, but know it's not ANYWHERE near the way I envision it to be when it's done...guess I need to take some "blog creating" classes or something, lol...

I did, however, have a little time to upload a few more fotos that I took during my "field trip" to LA with Distant Lands back in June...yeah, yeah...I know it's over 2 months later and I'm just getting to these...

The pic of the Humming Bird was taken at the Union Station courtyard and the Bee on Daisy pic was taken in a little garden at the Disney Concert Hall.

This newstand pic was taken near Broadway and 3rd st.  I reminded me of NYC but is in LA...some "city sites" never change, lol...

enJOY:)

Frugal Fotos Field Trip:)

Wow!!!!  What a whirlwind this has been!  I start what I think is going to be this AMAZING new venture into my "frugal" world of Fotography...and low and behold, I find myself back into my "original" career in banking...talk about a 180 degree shift!

I definitely haven't forgotten about my love of all things frugal...in this case, "Frugal Fotos"...so I was bound and determined to get this back on track:)

Now, I HAVE still been taking some AMAZING fotographs, I just haven't had much time for organizing and getting them loaded onto this site:(

Well, as they say, the time has come...to get my rear in gear and get some fresh frugal fotos out here to share with you all:)

I'd like to start with some random photos I took on a recent (and kind of spontaneous trip) to Pasadena...well maybe the trip wasn't so spontaneous, but the side trip taken once there was...I happened to find a little "field trip" that was offered by this really cute little store in Pasadena called Distant Lands.  They were hopping on the Metro, heading to downtown LA and walking to different areas to take fotos...some indoor, some outdoor, some new subject matter, some old...it was a BLAST!

Here are just a few of the pics I took while on this field trip:

Both of these were taken in the courtyard of Union Station...as I was working with these fotos, I thought...wow, wouldn't it be really cool to create a book with this type of fotos...and use it as kind of a "seek and find"...set people out on a scavenger hunt, with a "map", "hints" and these pictures...their challenge...to find them and take their own pictures of each subject...using their "eye" for fotography as their guide...SO MANY IDEAS...SO LITTLE TIME, lol...

Well, enJOY!  Can't wait to add some more samples of our field trip!

My First Frugal Fotos by Lori Album

My first Frugal Fotos photo shoot was with my friend's 3 girls.  We went to the beach and had a blast taking these photos.  In all I took 135 frugal fotos.  These are some of my favorites.

Sasha, Emily, and Haley

Enjoy:)

Your Friendly Frugal Fotografer:)

...and then Frugal Fotos was Born...

I began my "frugal scrapping" career about 10 years ago, and although I LOVE frugal scrappin' and all it has to offer, I realized that "at the end of the day", my fotos were always the STAR of my pages. 

Being an "emotional" scrapbooker, I have been blessed with the ability to capture LOADS of EMOTION in my fotos.  My passion for fotography has given me SOOOOO much happiness, and I wanted to share this happiness with my family and friends.

ENTER...digital fotography...now first, don't get me wrong...I still have my first Minolta camera and LOVE it....but now may be a good time to reveal one of many personality traits I'm not so proud of....I have no PATIENCE, lol!  This means, I had trouble waiting for my fotos to get printed so I could see if they turned out the way I'd expected:(...and I do have to say, I've had PLENTY of fotos that did not turn out the way I'd planned....hmph!

Ok, ok, I digress...back to ENTER digital fotography...every time I take a foto AND can see it AND can retake it if necessary, I want to find that person who invented digital fotography and give them a HUGE high five!  Oh, did I tell you I am ridiculously (and sometimes embarrassingly) hooked on all things FRUGAL????

Other than the HUGE price tag that originally came with a digital camera, saving all those funds on film and printed fotos that just didn't do the trick is VERY FRUGAL...whoo hoo!

So now I take my first digital photography class AND I buy my first DSLR camera...and I'm hooked now, more than ever!  Can we give that another whoo hoo!!!!

So I start taking fotos of EVERYTHING...I can store them on my external hard drive, ok, ok, I have gotten to the point where I don't feel the need to print EVERY foto I take...that being said, I still think you should SAVE most of them...you never know when you may need them, right?  Personally, I only print the ones I want to share with others through my frugal scrapbooks or larger photos that I hang in my home or give as gifts.  There are just SO many avenues to use for printing  fotos, that I never go to studios any more...now studios play an IMPORTANT role, but since I like more natural fotos, I migrate to the BIG OUTDOORS for my foto shoots.

Ok, now I'm finally getting to the meaning for this blog post...I started getting compliments on my ability to take AMAZING fotos, and have been asked to take fotos for other people which I am very happy to do...then I have a very kind person who INSISTS on paying me for my time, also telling me that they paid many $$$$ for the same kind of fotos from a professional photographer (including prints, of course)...but the fotos I took are MUCH BETTER:)  Who'da thunk?

...and then Frugal Fotos by Lori was born...By appointment, I will take fotos of your loved ones in natural settings (currently limited to beaches and parks in the area where I live).  I will then download the unedited fotos onto a CD or DVD and they are yours to keep.

It truly is that EASY:)