Welcome to my blog!

Hello and welcome to my photo blog.  Most of you that know me already know that I have long been a little bit of a photo buff.  I was the one who always had the camera at each function snapping pictures.  I have had an interest for quite some time in photography. 
After Owen (my son) was born in 2009 I had a strong desire to take better photos.  I even started shooting in manual mode with my point and shoot Canon Powershot, but after a few months of doing this I found I was limited in what that camera could do.  I decided in January of 2010 to purchase a DSLR camera-the Canon Rebel XS, which I can do much more with.  Over the past year, I have been working very hard to improve my skills with my camera.  Along the way I also purchased a Speedlight 430 EX II Flash and a 50 mm F 1.8 lens, which has allowed me to do much more in the general indoor living of Buffalo, NY.
To celebrate the start of the second year of having my camera, and mostly to build my skills even more, I have decided to start this 52 week photo project.  The idea is that I will take at least one photo a week, edit it, and post it.  Please feel free to look, comment, add feedback, say "good job" or "this sucks," or just lurk like I'm sure most of you reading this will do.  The idea is that the photo you and I are looking at on week 52 is much better than the photos you will see in the next few weeks.

Here's a brief photo history of my "work"

 This was taken in 2005 with an old HP point-and-shoot I had.  I loved the random branches coming out of the beach sand at sunset.

This photo was taken in 2006.  This is the bike path at the University at Buffalo, where I was still attending Physical Therapy school.  The autumn colors are always so nice.

In 2007 I got the Canon powershot for my birthday.  This is a great camera, and I still use it to this day.  This was taken in the Adirondacks.

I started to shoot more in manual even with the power shoot in 2008.

2009 brought a lot of change.  Most of the photos I have from this year look like the one above.  Once Owen was born, I found that my camera wasn't doing what I wanted it to.

I loved this picture of Owen, but blow this up and it looks very soft on the focus

This photo was the turning point for me.  I wanted to do this picture of Owen for our Christmas card, but my camera could not handle the low light capabilities.  I had to ask my friend John to come take the pic with his camera.  This is when I officially outgrew it and upgraded to the DSLR.

Here's some photos from my first year with the Rebel (2010)

Ending with this year's Christmas card, which I was able to take myself!

I hope you enjoy this project as much as I will