Tennessee Aquarium Part 2: The Animals

This post is all about the animals!

First stop was the seahorses! They were so cute and their displays so colorful! 

I loved these things too! I'm not sure what they were called, and the giant sea star is beautiful as well.

A little bitty miniature seahorse. Can you tell how small it is by the picture? 

My kids loved the giant otters at the zoo. They were glad to be able to see some at the aquarium as well!

This fish tank amused me. I didn't get the waterfall and current in the picture, but these fish are all pointing toward the current and were huddled in a big group. It was fascinating to watch!

Three alligators lounging on a log.

This one got into the water and kept eyeing me with my camera. 

I thought this fish tank was pretty.

This eel is so creepy looking! He kept discharging electricity, so we heard it over the speakers. 

Beautiful birds - we tried to get them to talk, but I don't think they said anything to us.

The butterfly house was interesting too. We saw many beautiful butterflies!

This one's wings were translucent!

I loved the brown eyes on this one...

...but even more striking was the brilliant purple inside!

The penguins were funny to watch. They walk around like this to cool themselves off!

This penguin swam right up to the window and hung out for a while!

A giant sting ray swam right up against a tank. I love the way their underside looks!

I sped my shutter speed up a lot to get more detail on these jelly fish!

I loved this tank as it was one of the most colorful!

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Click here for Part 1.

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Click here for Part 3.

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Click here to see Bethany's pictures!

365 in 2015 - End of Week 44

I'm a couple weeks behind again! It's been so hard to keep up, and this is a hard time of year when everything is so busy. These are from the last week of October and are the completion to my challenge of The Unexpected Everyday. I truly do feel like I learned a good bit about manual mode. I'm still fuzzy on a couple areas, but I hope to be able to read more about them soon! 

Most pictures are:

SS 1/60 | f/5.6 | ISO 800 or 1600

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Tip 25: Telling a Story

Prompt: Head to your child's favorite place to eat and photograph it.

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Well, I did do the "tell a story" tip, but I didn't follow the prompt. Instead I decided to take pictures on our Sunday afternoon trip to Autumn Leaves to see Jon's mom (or Mimi as she's known to the kids). We try to go every Sunday before the evening service to visit her at the memory care center. The residents enjoy seeing the kids, even if they aren't always thrilled to be there (Clayton especially as evidenced in one of the photos above). Watching Mimi change so much has been such a hard and challenging part of life. I'm not sure what God has planned through this challenge, but it can certainly only be for our good! 

SS 1/50 | f/5.0 | ISO 800

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Tip 26: Split Lighting

Prompt: Encourage your child to stare into your lens.

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This prompt was definitely meant to be a little more serious, but after a few pictures, Clayton got quite goofy. I liked this one best!

SS 1/250 | f/5.6 | ISO 3200

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Tip 27: Self Portrait

Prompt: Get in the picture with your kids.

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I had a hard time getting a self portrait picture to work well. I tried several times, and this was the closest I got to getting something decent. I still didn't get the exposure right on this one, but I like it anyway.

SS 1/125 | f/5.6 | ISO 3200

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Tip 28: Raise Your ISO

Prompt: Capture your child's first in any type of lighting.

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I raised my ISO for this, and I still didn't get it right. Pictures in the evening or at night in my dark house are still impossible for my to capture correctly. But I loved this of Paige holding baby Patrick! 

SS 1/4 | f/16.0 | ISO 6400

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Tip 29: Narrow Aperture

Prompt: Photograph your child's room with or without them in it.

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Clayton's room at night. It's once again a dark place I have a hard time capturing.

SS 1/60 | f/5.6 | ISO 800

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Tip 30: Negative Space

Prompt: Capture the hands of your child with a parent or grandparent.

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I didn't follow this tip on the 30th, but decided to pull the hand picture I had taken earlier this week with Jon and his mom. I thought it was a good one!

The challenge was only thirty days, and I didn't really get any pictures on Halloween, so this is from earlier in the week. I thought the girls were too funny with their fake teeth!

Park Hopping: Rolater Park

Back in July Bethany and I went on first long park day trip (that ended up being the only long one). We headed up to Rolater Park in Cave Spring, Georgia. It looked like a neat little place with a cave and a creek. We weren't sure what to really expect, but headed there anyway! When we first pulled up, we saw a very neat natural swimming pool. It was fed by the creek that came from the spring. I wished we had brought our swimming things to do that as well! Anyway, we stopped and ate our lunch at the pavilion before meeting up with another friend from church who lives nearby. 

The fresh spring water. We all filled up our water bottles, but my kids and I didn't care for the sulfur taste that usually accompanies spring water.

Shelby and Kyle feeding the fish in one section of the creek. This area was directly below the fresh spring and was off limits for getting in. There were a ton of fish in it and food to feed them!

The crew before heading into the cave. 

Inside the cave - everyone was trying not to get muddy (surprisingly enough)!

Sophia, Shelby, and Paige in the cave.

The crew in the water. They had fun splashing up and down from one end to the other!

Cheyenne and Keira eyeing everyone else's antics.

Kyle, Paige, and Sophia figuring out how best to jump in from the little bridge.

Mercy Rose on the bridge.

Having fun for a group picture!

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Click here to see Bethany's post on this trip!