Source: Uploaded by user via Katie on Pinterest
So cute.
Take More Pictures. Celebrate More Moments. Tell More Stories.
Remember that life is full of beauty and wonder.
This wonderful poster reminds me of why I take pictures.
This is a collage of my recent favorite series of shots:
On the left is my partner in crime, Alfred. On the right, is my handsome, adorable, one-year-old nephew Amir. They were engaged in a staring match, that ended up in fits of laughter because of their funny faces!
It was such a tender moment, and I was glad to have captured it.
Why did I take these photos? Amir’s smile makes me feel good. His smile lights up the room, and his laughter makes all booboos go away. I took these photos because I wanted to capture those smiles in a way that would allow me to keep going back to them. Yes, that’s mainly why I take photos now – for memory keeping. I want to keep memories of this time in Amir’s life. He will grow up and might be embarrassed to give his old aunt a kiss in front of his friends, but I can always look to this photo, and the hundreds of snapshots we have of him, and all will be well.
I take photos of food I eat, things that interest me, people I’m with. I photograph everyday things, and special things too. All these I take because I want to remember them well someday.
There was a time when I took photos because I wanted to improve at photography. I photographed for art’s sake. But that didn’t work out for me. It frustrated me at times. But once I reframed my thoughts in line with why I really want to take those pictures, the experience became more enjoyable, and fulfilling.
Sometimes I wonder if we only photograph the beauty around us so we can later surround ourselves with what is good and beautiful. But you know what, sometimes I photograph the ugly too (if it turns out beautiful still, then that’s great!), and the sad. They are still memories worth preserving anyway.
Last month I posted the question on Facebook, why am I taking pictures? I am happy to be surrounded by people who are also after preserving memories.
Due to the real-life events, all my blogs have been quiet these past two weeks. I haven’t blogged why I take pictures, but I will soon.
Kodak has declared bankruptcy.
I’m not really sure what happens when a company files for bankruptcy. Initially, I though that Kodak will completely shut down. But the linked article says that they are receiving financial assistance to continue operations. I haven’t been to the mall in over a week so I have no idea if the Kodak kiosks in SM malls are still there.
I have Kodak Moments to remember too:
Kodak has had good advertising over the years, and coining Kodak Moments really was effective. In fact, there is Pinoy slang kodakan meaning picture-taking, or photo opportunity.
No matter where Kodak goes from now on, they have already made their mark not only in the world of photography, but in the world at large. Memory keeping has never been the same since the advent of the first Kodak.
What are your Kodak moments?
There is an interesting post over at The Digital Photography School that has definitely sparked a revolution in my head: The One Question You Should Ask Yourself Before Taking Any Picture.
I did a quick check of The {Newbie} Photographer’s About page, half hoping that there was an answer to that question there. Disappointment is what I found – I had not mentioned the reason I take pictures!
This blog has existed for quite awhile now, perhaps two or even three years. It’s non-success (very little traffic, very few posts) in the blogging world should probably be attributed to one thing: the goals I set for the blog were skewed. I had set off hoping to build a treasury of technical resources for the newbie photographer when I should have aimed for something that was closer to my heart: to provide a venue to share our love for photography. Along the way I may share tutorials or links to great tutorials on photography, but ultimately, I should blog about why I always feel like being a newbie in this field (and truly, I am), and why that is just fantastic. This blog must be about why I love capturing moments, and the many possible ways it can be done.
This question will also guide me as I embark on Project 365 for my Project Life in 2012.
I don’t have a profound answer just now, but I intend that to be on my next post. I would also like to hear from YOU – why do you take photos? or particular pictures? Leave your answer in the Comments box. 
This has been circulating around Facebook but I couldn’t find it on my wall anymore. A quick search in Google landed me on this blog, she may or may not be the author.
I wanted to share it here because, I can relate, and I’m sure my guy can too:
Date a girl who takes photographs. Date a girl whose favorite sound is the click-click of the shutter as it closes and opens to capture a memory. Date a girl who sees the wonder in the simplest things. Date a girl who looks at the world and wonders how to put a little of herself in it.
You might find her in the park, lost behind her lens, the world a blur around her as she tries to capture a single moment in time. You might find her in an exhibit, a look of concentration on her face as she contemplates a photograph that called out to her as she was passing by. Or maybe you will find her in a bookstore, a book in her lap as she pores over photographs of weddings all the while wondering what hers would look like.
Take her out to photo walks and laugh as she tries to take a picture of you. When she gets tired of walking, buy her cupcakes but wait until she has taken pictures of them before proceeding to eat them. Listen as she tells you her ideas for a photo shoot on the ride home.
Take her to a restaurant and wait patiently as she surveys the menu carefully, appreciating the food photography. And again, wait until she has taken a photo of your food before digging in. Allow her introduce you to Ansel Adams while you both eat your lunch. Introduce her to your favorite musician as you wait for the bill to arrive. When you get home, change your Facebook profile picture into a photograph she took of you. She silently hoped for it.
Take stolen shots of her. Compile it and give it to her on her birthday. Tell her you love her over and over until your voice replaces the click of the shutter as her favorite sound. Kiss her after she lifts her head up from the camera. Give her camera-shaped necklaces. Go places with her.
You will never be bored again.
Date a girl who takes photographs. She will never whine about a little dirt on her favorite pair of jeans as she kneels down to get a better angle of her subject. She will never be afraid to take adventures with you. She will take photographs of you not just with her camera but with her mind as well and keep it to herself to admire at night. But above all, she will teach you how to look at the world with a brand new perspective and she will do that unknowingly.
Marry a girl who takes photographs. Ditch those wedding photography books and give her the most beautiful wedding you could. She will teach your kids to find the beauty in everything just as she had taught you. Every day will be an adventure as she tries to create photograph-worthy memories with you. She may wake you up in the middle of the night because she is buzzing with ideas but she will make it up in the morning with a stack of hot pancakes beside a steaming cup of your favorite coffee blend.
Grow old with a girl who takes photographs. Sit with her on the front porch as you both pore over the bits and pieces of the moments you’ve had together. Stroke her hair as you both relive the photo walks that you took and the places you have been when you were both young. Smile as you both reenact your clever wedding vows.
Date a girl who takes photographs because she will always see that “something” in the most “nothing” of things. She will never let anyone take you away from her like she never lets anyone steal her photos and that is just one of the evidences that she loves you.
I’m a girl who photographs so I don’t get to be on many of the photographs here. Haha. Here’s a self portrait I took three years ago (I think).
A few weeks ago, my host disabled this blog due to a malicious attack. Since then, I have been trying on and off to get The {Newbie} Photographer back online. I found a way to get the posts back to a new WordPress installation, but I have yet to get all the photos uploaded.
I have resorted to manually re-uploading the photos from the old directory to the new one so that the links in the posts will still work. But doing so is proving to be quite the challenge. My idea was that FTP would make things faster, but I always get timed out. Not sure if it’s a host issue, or my Internet connection. Please be forgiving of the missing photos in my posts for now, and the generic design. I started uploading the older photos first, but I will reverse that after the current folder (month) completes uploading.
Anyway… Just think of all this mess as a process of remodeling the site. 
I am not going to make the effort to get my old premium theme installed because I’d already forgotten all the tweaks I did on it. So I’ll restart with a different theme.
Thank you for your patience.
This has got to be the biggest Christmas giveaway this season! Even if it took me awhile to do the required tasks (mostly Liking and Following), the prizes at stake got me going on. hehe 
Check out the massive Prize List:
One Winner of $100 Paypal Credits
One Winner of $50 Paypal Credits
Three Winners of $25 Paypal Credits
Five Winners of $10 Paypal Credits
Twelve Winners of $5 Paypal Credits
Three blog makeovers – special prize for bloggers who do the optional task only
And it wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support from sponsors:
GEORYL | Techie She | Chika Bits | Dens Online | Stay at Home Wife and Mother | Work at Home Wife and Mother | Travel Yums | The Food, The Place and the Bad Trips | Mitigating Life’s Uncertainties | Blogger’s Notebook | Zowanderer | The Packrat Wifey | Enairrah’s Travel Thoughts | Enairrah’s Notes and Rumblings | A Wife’s Online Abode | Tinkerputt’s Turf | Simple Happiness | Impulsive Shopper | Momsdrive Online Finds | Nanay Blogs | Make Money Online | Samu’t Sari | The Traveler’s Journey | Khakiness | Walk With Me
Contest ends on December 23, and announcement of winners will be done on Christmas Day, December 25. Winners must have valid Paypal accounts to receive the prizes.
Congratulations Sheryl, for yet another successful project
Help Instax Manila’s Facebook page get about 475 more likes before 11.11.11 and get the chance to win Fuji Film Instax 50s in Piano Black.
I already own one, but it wouldn’t hurt to get another no? Specially if it comes free! 
But no one will get this precious Instax unless Instax Manila’s Facebook page gets to 1500 likes! So go, Like!
More and more I have found that the most indispensable camera I possess is the one on my mobile phone. It is the one camera I am sure to have wherever I go.
I have given up on toting my DSLR everyday – it’s too heavy and I don’t always use it even when it’s just there. Many times even when I have the TX5 with me, it’s inside my bag and not in my pocket. So at work, it’s still more convenient to bring out my Blackberry to snap a quick photo.
But I’d have to say that what makes it my go-to gadget for capturing moments is the fact that they’ve made it so easy to share photos from your smart phone. Point, snap, share. It’s as easy as that.
Although I would love to have a proper photo shoot for my nephew, he’s also been my favorite subject to capture on my camera phone. Here’s just three of my favorites:
What other subjects do I capture on my phone?
> Food
> Street scenes
> People
Where do I share the photos?
> I also MMS them to family members
What about you? Do you use your camera phone often? What are your favorite subjects?
Phew! It has taken me the entire day, and I’m not even done yet. This whole redesign is proving to be more challenging than I first thought it would be.
I was actually FINISHED with the first theme I selected before lunch time, but the boyfriend commented on Facebook that it didn’t look nice. I checked it out in IE, and well, I had to agree with him. So I had to scrap that. Yes, had to scrap it after all adjustments were made.
I’ve decided to stick it out with this theme already, even if it means having to go through all previous posts and resize the images to fit in the slim width of the posts. I’ll commit to this theme and try to make it work. But having to work on the tweaks means that this one special post I had in mind for today will have to be delayed a bit. I’m hoping the delay won’t have to take longer than a day or two, but we’ll see. The image in the Photo post below this one was to be my “example” for the topic I had in mind, a topic inspired by a newsletter I recently received in my Inbox.
Thank you so much for continuing to visit The Newbie Photographer and I appreciate your patience. Business as usual. 