Week one is done and I hope the challenge has inspired you to take lots of photos this week - or maybe just different ones. I got a few I'm really happy with and had a hard time choosing which letters I wanted to share with you this week! Here are my two:

: U is for Umbrella

Both totally different but interesting I think! Check out the other submissions in our flickr group and add your own. Next week I'll start adding some of the submissions to my posts so everyone can enjoy!

Week 1 photography tip

I had Photoshop Elements once upon a time, but I don't on this computer and for the longest time I was emailing people photos to crop or resize for me, or appropriating Eric's computer so I could use Photoshop. A friend of mine kept telling me about Picasa so I finally got around to downloading it - LOVE!

Here is a 5 minute video that gives you an overview of the software. But my short explanation of what I like is simple:

- Free

- I can crop photos

- I can resize photos

- I can tweak photos

Here are some examples of some simple things you can do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rskC6c_5L1M

Easy! Free! Give it a try!

I'm looking forward to week two and getting lots more great photos and I hope you are too! I am working through the list randomly, but if you prefer more structure then for next week your letters are C and D (Climbing and Discovery). Here is a link to the original list just in case you've forgotten the categories. Can't wait to see your photos!

I have a few housekeeping questions and comments while I work out the bugs in my challenge and would love your feedback on any of these:

- I can grab photos from the flickr group as examples of good photography in the challenge without copyright issues, right?

- I am looking for photography tips and have a few up my sleeve, but I'm no expert so if any of you more talented photographers playing along want to help out with a tip, email me at kidsinthecapital(at)gmail.com and I'll credit the tip to you and link to your blog/business/whatever. We're here to learn and I'm sure many of you have fabulous insight to offer.

- I've had some varying comments on the lack of structure to my challenge (I'm letting you do the letters out of order and we aren't all doing them together). If you feel strongly either way, let me know. I want to get a sense of where preferences lie :)

Thanks for playing along!

Lara is the mom to 3.5 year old Kiernan and 11 month old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can find her at her blog Gliding Through Motherhood.