project 26 | Post 7 | Me & Mine

It was 10 on 10 shoot day for March, and I remembered how Lora Swinson said she gave her camera to her five year old to take her last Me & Mine shots.  Little Buddy is super responsible and has loved taking pictures with his LeapPad, so I figured it was time to give that a go.  My only fear is that he'd drop the camera, so I tied my PhatStrap in a knot so that the loop was the perfect size to go around his head.  I put the camera in aperture priority, set it at f2.0, showed him where to back button focus, told him how to put the rectangle in the viewfinder over our face, and told him to push the silver button to take the shot.



Not bad for a first shot, eh?  He was thrilled with himself.  Eventually I realized that for his tiny  hands, the back button focus needed to go, so I switched it back to using the shutter release for focus.  That worked a lot better for him.



 I should also mention, I had not really anticipated being in front of the camera this day.  Life has felt stressful and to put it plainly, I haven't felt much like fixing my hair lately.  So this day was just a pull back into a ponytail day.  But I suppose, this is real.  The real me that they see, so it might as well be what he captures.



Then I asked the Little Lady if she'd like a turn.  She said yes.  And she was so stinking cute doing it, I just had to grab my stellar (sarcasm) phone to grab that memory.  So these were taken with my Droid Incredible, which incidentally does NOT take Incredible photos (though my husband's identical phone does!).


The Lady took a lot more VERY out of focus images.... so none of me-shooting-her-shooting-me (mouthful) were even remotely recognizable.  But she did get a few of Little Buddy and me.



I'm really glad that Lora mentioned how she got her Me & Mine shots.  I bet Little Buddy will really enjoy shooting some this summer!  I may have to ask my friend Rebecca to borrow back my D70 and 50mm f1.8 lens so he can play!

Now please continue through our group circle to the next photographer and her version of Me & Mine:  Misty Setzler | Lubbock, Tx Photographer.

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D

FOOD CHALLENGE | March | Splash

I almost chose not to participate in my Food Styling Group Challenge for 2012, because I was afraid of not being able to get my other two creative projects completed, let alone a third (I'm just someone who isn't okay with not turning in an assignment.  Couldn't do it in school - can't do it even for a project that no one grades.  Though I'm quite certain now that I've stated this, I'll be failing big time in this area and now quite publicly).  So, I almost missed out on just how rewarding and simply fun participating in these challenges has been!  Not to mention, I have really enjoyed the camaraderie our group has found, being both food and photo enthusiasts!  March 20th is upon us and that brings the March Challenge of .... SPLASH!

Make sure you continue on through our group to see how they captured the combination of Splash and Food.  Next up is the wonderful  Tiffany Dahle from Develop.

I was so excited to see this prompt, Splash, on the list - it has just been one of those things you always want to try out, as a photographer.  Now I had an excuse to give it a whirl.  Without further ado, here is my official Splash image:

I wanted to try for that beautiful just before sunset light, and have the fluid backlit.  And this time, I recruited my husband, Shawn, to help me.  I used the continuous shooting mode on the camera and had Shawn drop or pour the object.  Since I was using my 85mm lens, I just didn't have the ability to press the shutter AND drop the object myself - my arms simply aren't that long.  In retrospect, I should have upped my ISO some more so I could have used a faster shutter to freeze all the motion better.  Oops.

We tried pouring in the cream -- not a great splash.  It was when we dropped the chocolate in the coffee that we finally made some headway.  That makes a mocha, right, so that isn't crazy out of context... right?  right??   I also foamed some milk and placed that on top before dropping in the chocolate.




There is a part of you that knows something is going to be challenging.  If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?  Well...... this was even more challenging than I expected.  I actually had three separate photo experiments/shoots for this challenge.  But it was simply so much FUN to play and figure out what worked and what didn't.  I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Here was my first attempt with just water and ice, inside my dining room, just to see how I fared at capturing a splash with the camera.  I set up my D90 with the Nikon 85mm f1.8 on my tripod.  Used my remote shutter release.  These are at a high ISO on my D90 so they have noise, but I needed the higher ISO to make my shutter fast enough to freeze the motion.  I had trouble timing the ice drop with the shutter release - I kept missing the splash.  Eventually I tried using the delay timer WITH the remote and that is how I captured these.  I eventually figured out when to drop the ice with the warning beeps to perfectly capture the splash, by myself.

Not filling the glass all the way seemed to work for a better splash, as well as using 'new' ice each time.  If water had touched the ice and 'smoothed' the outside, it would glide in the water instead of making a turbulent impact.   And geewiz, did this ever make a MESS!



So for attempt number two, I headed outdoors.  I wanted to use coffee, since I'm such a huge coffee fan. First I tried with water, just to test my setup out.  The light was not ideal for these, but I was running out of time before the challenge was due, and with the weather what the weather has been here, I had to go with it just in case something better wasn't possible later in the week (which thankfully, it was).

And then... just for giggles, I had to include my bloopers.  Apparently, I have severe, severe aim issues.  After about the fourth time I missed, I had to just laugh at myself!  

Here I was having trouble capturing the right moment.  Just a fraction of a second too soon, but I do like the tiny explosion of a splash from that first drop that impacted the coffee.

To finish up, I decided to drop my swiss cake roll right in the hot coffee.



Make sure you continue on to see what Tiffany Dahle from Develop has done to capture a Splash!

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 85mm f1.8.

so stinking cute

I finally blogged A's pregnancy while she was anticipating baby L yesterday (boy, does it feel good to have that session edited and behind me!  Undone to-do's eat at me!).  I had the opportunity to hang out with baby L for a while on Friday and couldn't help myself but to photograph the little dude.  He is just so cute! I actually bought this alligator toy for the Little Lady when she was a baby, but they never played with it much.  Baby L thought that alligator was the bomb!  He was NOT a happy camper if I tried to take it away, to make a better photo, so I went with it.  I'm about 'real life' anyway.  He's eight months old now... and not crawling.  Since both of mine crawled on the early side... the Lady at 6 months!!!... that is just sooo not fair!

I shot these with my D90, Nikon 85mm f1.8 & Sigma 30mm f1.4

Anticipating Baby L

Last time P & A were anticipating a new little life in the world, P had been diagnosed with cancer, at 28.  So while they were adjusting to life as parents, P was also battling chemotherapy.  Which means, he missed out on a lot of the pregnancy and first many months of K's first year.  This time however, four years later, P's in a much better place and gets to experience the pregnancy fully.  P asked if I would get a few of A and her belly, to remember this pregnancy in a beautiful way forever.

Unfortunately, I am an excellent procrastinator and am not so good at time management.  Sooooo, these images are from July 2011.  Oops.  Only nine months late......  Without further ado, here we have Anticipating L.

I shot these with my D90, Sigma 30mm f1.4, Nikon 85mm f1.8, & Nikon 50mm 1.4D

Project 26 | Post 6 | Morning Light

We moved into this house in early March of 2007.  Five years ago.  That March and every March since I have been wooed by the sunlight that floods my living and dining rooms first thing in the morning.  I have soaked in those rays that hit the front of our house.  There is something sheerly magical about that light that streams in through the glass, unfettered by the leaves on our old, established oaks.  It brightens not only my home but my weary soul.  I don't know why this light would be any different than the light that happens in the other months.  And perhaps if those mighty oaks weren't in the way, it would be like this daily.  But I've come to anticipate and yearn for these March mornings that seek and destroy sadness in my heart through their sunlight, a harbinger of the glorious spring soon to break forth.

This week's theme for my Project 26 is "Morning Light".  What perfect timing.

While the perfectionist in me wanted to capture an image that you'd probably see on a wall calendar, with gorgeous rays of light streaming through trees in a forest, I knew that the lifestyle, documentary photographer that I am needed to capture this essence of March Sunlight about this home and this time of my life.

Here is the view of the sunrise out our front door at 6:30am, just before the sun emerges above the horizon.  I am always awed at the colors that God has placed in our world and how the simple rising or setting of the sun can generate such spectacular beauty.



And here at 7:10am, the Lady watches as the sun comes up, about to fill our home with rays of gorgeous, gorgeous light.  I couldn't make my mind up about color or black and white, so I included both.  Yep, indecisive me.



What?  Your children don't carry around larger than life size stuffed animals and random helium balloons at 7am in the morning?  Seriously?  : )

Please take a tour through the circle and see my photographer friends' interpretations of the theme "Morning Light".  Next up is the lovely Lubbock, TX photographer, Misty Setzler!  Can't wait to see what Texas morning light looks like!

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 85mm f1.8 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D

10 on 10 | March Edition

March 6, 2012.  That was my 10 on 10 shoot day for this month.  I didn't mean to barely squeeze it out, yet that was reality.  February just whizzed right past us, and let's just be honest.  Managing shooting this 10 on 10, the biweekly Project 26, and my Food Styling group shots is throwing a kink into my nicely ordered photography life (sarcasm.  that was most certainly sarcasm, at least the 'nicely ordered' part).  Nothing special about this March day.  Just a regular day in our life with little ones.

And sit down, lovely readers.  I managed to share with you a mere 10 single images this month.  It feels freeing.

7am:  The Little Lady is pointing out the splotch of bird poop on our window.  Shawn and I have been wondering precisely HOW birds manage to poop on vertical surfaces.  It happens to our windows quite often.  My theory is a precisely arranged use of momentum during a last minute change of direction while they giggle to themselves "take that!!".

I shared the 8am shot yesterday in my post on tears.

9am brings us to preschool.  Little Buddy never wants to engage in the learning activities the teacher arranges at the table upon arriving.  He immediately goes to play.  This day I had his parent-teacher conference at 930, so I had some time to kill.  He begged for the Little Lady to stay and play with him in the blocks.  So they did.

10am:  We are heading out to the van from preschool and the conference.  This morning, for the first time, she decided she wanted to wear one silver sparkle shoe and one pink sparkle shoe.  I'm totally down with that.  

11am ish:  Lunch time.  I just love her sweet face.  

12:30pm ish - I have no idea what got into my head.  NO idea.  But I'd pinned this post on Pinterest a few days prior, and I just wondered if it would work.  The grout in my kitchen was magic marker black. I'm not exaggerating.  At all.  Disgusting Black and NOTHING would remove it.  You could see in the pantry and under the fridge that the color was supposed to be a light beige.  The fix was just bleach and baking soda, so I went to town.

Oh. My. Word.  She says in her post how she wanted everyone to come see her floor.  Well, that is EXACTLY how I felt!!!  Took that paste to the grout with a toothbrush and that nastiness just brushed away.  It was amazing!!!  And I want EVERYONE to see my new kitchen floors!!!  Well, when I finish.  So far I have a 5'x6' patch of clean floor that I accomplished this day.

almost 2pm-ish:  Snack time.  This precipitated The Lady's Tear's that I posted yesterday.  

3pm:  Just normal time in the playroom in the afternoon.

4pm ish - The weather has been so utterly crazy lately.  It was warm, very very warm, this day so we went outside to play a bit.  The Lady loves chalk.  She lined them up and asked me what color I wanted her to use. 

5pm ish.  I hate that I didn't get a great image of the two of them playing together, because they were playing up a STORM.  They had it ALL out and incorporated into their scene.  The dollhouse.  The castle.  The ponies.  The airplanes.  The dinosaurs.  All of it.


5:30ish.  I've started a Couch to 5K program that meets at 6pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You'd best sit down, again.  Because, believe it or not, I'm loving this program.  I'm not kidding.  ME.  Self Proclaimed Exercise Hater!  I'm waiting for the bubble to burst, but for now, I'll take this while I have it.  I still dread going and try to come up with excuses, but once I'm there, while I'm running and afterward, I feel amazing.  So glad I decided to do this.  Shawn shot this real quick before I hopped in the van and took off!

Now please take a few moments to continue along the circle of my wonderful group of photographer friends.  First visit Jayme Franklin | San Francisco Bay Area Lifestyle Photographer.

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D

tears

While I have tried to fully embrace my femininity, I wouldn't say I'm very dramatic or emotional.  I put significant effort into avoiding my own tears.  I detest being considered "girly" in this regard, and I always have.  However, I do not mean I don't feel.  I do not mean I don't have emotions, strong emotions in fact, or that I don't let them fester inside me.  Perhaps my observable emotional Achilles Heel leans more toward the path of anger.  Appropriately handling anger is a constant struggle for me, and having children has certainly brought this weakness to light.

So many times people have told me I'm "real", both in my real life and online friendships. Being transparent and authentic is very, very important to me, so this statement has never surprised me.  I've sat in Bible Study or other women's gatherings and wondered why people don't feel comfortable sharing - what causes them to be so distrustful?  Why won't they bare their souls, as I do?  Why can't they share what they struggle with?

Yet, as I was thinking about the text that would accompany these images taken two days ago, I received quite the surprise.  The images are of my children with their emotional tears.  I set out to write about the surprising perils of raising a girl with all of her emotions, tears, and drama!  Instead, I have my own personal and mildly disturbing revelation.  I have discovered that I'm much more guarded than I knew... than I realized....  for someone who touts this transparency and authenticity as I do.

I will talk to you (or write) all day long about what I think.  But what I feel?  The emotions in my heart?  The happy emotions, the happy feelings, are free to be shared.  But the sad ones?  The ones that would involve tears of my own?  They are kept hidden.  Well guarded.  And I don't share them.  I don't share them with you, when I write here.  I don't share them with my friends.  And I don't share them with my husband.  They are my own and my own only.  I truly didn't realize I did this until now.  I've always prided myself in my transparency.  I may share pain and sorrow, but only when it is old and shriveled and long gone.  Not when it is there, alive and festering, raw and blistering inside my soul.

As I said, I set out to write about all the unexpected drama we have found when raising a little girl.  I set out to write how surprised I am at the vehemency, and frequency, of the emotions involved in what seems to be utter ridiculousness.  I set out to write about how frustrating I find her dramatic displays of emotion.  And rather, I discover, that perhaps allowing her tears to have a public and safe voice, will be a very, very good thing.

--

He is a mini-me.  A perfectionist to the core.  And he fears my anger and frustration with him (and I've been way too quick to share them, unfortunately). This led him to lie to me over something silly, that he wouldn't have gotten in trouble for.  Instead, he had to endure severe consequences for lying.  And I was fortunate to have something I could remove that hurt and hurt badly.   I hope this time he remembers.

Then later in the day, I said "No.  You may not have chocolate chips for snack today" and received the following in response to that callous remark.   This one was my favorite, gut wrenching image from the series.

But I decided I should share the entire series that I shot.

I was sooooo disappointed to see how horribly I missed focus on this one. I would have loved it so much, had it been in focus!

I shot these with my D90 & Nikon 50mm 1.4D