09.19.08

Boy Can Jump

I was working on an image and he wanted to join in on the fun so we played around with jumping pictures. He was awesome! Love that kid to bits.

Shannon asked in yesterday’s comments what lenses are in my kit.
Currently I have
85mm f/1.8 USM
16-35mm f/2.8 USM II
(crappy) 28-200mm f/3.5-5.6 (it works well on my 5D, but sucks on my 300D)

and that’s it. I want a macro lens really bad right now but it’s just not in the budget at the moment what with some emergency expenditures I’ve had recently. It’ll have to wait until sometime when I actually NEED it and don’t just WANT it. ha.

16-35mm @ 16mm | 1/1250 @ f/5.6 | ISO 640
pp: black and white home brew, resize and sharpen for web

09.18.08

Friendly Visitor

My mom’s dog, Zena (left), is staying with us for a while. She and Peter (right) get along way too well and act just like best friends. Most of the time it’s really adorably cute. And I double dog dare you (get it? get it? ha!) to try not to pet Zena when she has that oh-so-pathetic look on her face….

That door bugs me. Please pretend it’s not there. Thanks. You guys are always so sweet.

09.17.08

Boring Picture of Bread

09.16.08

Self-Portrait Tuesday: Moment to Myself

It’s a busy few days in a row around here and this was a rare moment to myself. Just sitting. Watching the birds out my bedroom window.

This also proves that I can look naked while being fully dressed. Which is quite the skill.

16-35mm @ 35mm | 1/40 @ f/3.5 | ISO 400
pp: defog, softy bleach, black and white home brew, resize and sharpen for web

09.15.08

okay people.

for those of you who have been patient with me, I totally appreciate you all. A prize drawing will be forthcoming — so be on the lookout.

Anyway. See. the thing is this. Photographers? They get into funks. And sometimes you can push through the funk by forcing yourself to take pictures. And other times you need to just put your camera away for a bit and not think too much about using it.

But. I SWEAR I am over my funk. I think. maybe. Anyway.

I’m trying, is what I’m saying. So hang in there with me.

Pink Dress

Today after school we made cookies and drank milk. I want to point out that I did NOT do this in some sort of Martha Stewart-y need for domesticity. I did it because I wanted cookies and what are kids good for if not an excuse to indulge your own desires and pass the buck onto them? Right. So. Cookies and milk.

After cookies and milk, we were enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and a bit of a breeze and watching the dog(s)* frolick about and the light, it was pretty. And I was inspired for the first time in a long time. And I saw this image in my head.

And then I bribed my kid with Lysol Cleaning Wipes (yes, that’s right. I did) to stand in that light like I asked her to. And she did. And I gave her a Lysol Cleaning Wipe and she went to town cleaning off the slide and the swings and whatnot.

That kid is weird.

*I’ve got my mom’s dog here at my house for a bit for reasons that I am not going to say here but which might involve something that rhymes with bacation. Don’t rob her house. k. Thanks.

16-35mm lens
pp: Pioneer Woman’s Soft and Ethereal, resized and sharpened for web

09.06.08

Only in Oak Creek

Today we drove up to Oak Creek Canyon and I let the kids just play and play in the water. I must have sat there next to the babbling creek in the shade of the tall carved canyon walls for three hours while they played pirates and mermaids and cooked up mudpies and threw in the biggest rocks they could find and all of the other things kids do when they get a chance to just play in the water.

It was a perfect end of summer day up there. The water was cold, but not TOO cold. The air was warm, but not TOO warm.

And it is rare that my kids get along for that much time. But they did. And it was lovely. This was towards the end of the afternoon. Katie was scared to cross the deepest part of the creek by herself, and would ask for help from Elijah every time. He would stop what he was doing and trot right on over and take her hand and walk her across the creek.

I KNOW! I feel the same way. All verklempt or something.

85mm lens | 1/200 @ f/4.5 | ISO 200
pp: crisp color boost, Vintage Film v1.0 fallout75 from flickr.com, resize and sharpened for web

09.05.08 - Featured Student

I have been TERRIBLY REMISS in posting this. I told Barbara I would post it like TWO MONTHS ago and then I just sort of dropped that ball and it rolled under the couch and yesterday I was looking for a library book and WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT??? There was that ball I’d dropped oh, lo, those many years ago.

*sigh*

Summer Sprinkler by Barbara Johnson

When Barbara turned this shot in for assignment 6, I gasped out loud. Not only did I just LOVE the moment she had captured, it showed so clearly everything that she had learned. I flashed back to what she turned in for assignment 1 and I knew then that I had made a lasting impact on Barbara’s photography.

I LOVE my job. I DO. I LOVE teaching people how to capture moments, how to make the light work for them, how to be better — visibly better — photographers. And this image reminded me of just exactly WHY I love this job so much.

Thank you for sharing 12 weeks of your life with me, Barbara. You were a JOY to have in class and I am so proud of being able to post this image here on my blog.

Barbara doesn’t yet have a blog or anything for you to enjoy more of her work on. Feel free to bug her in the comments about that. She’s an awesome person and I would LOVE to be able to keep up with her life and her photography.

09.04.08

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream

Yummy treat to celebrate the end of summer and Katie’s last set of vaccine’s until she is 11. YAY!

16-35mm lens @ 35mm | 1/80 @ f/6.3 | ISO 400
pp: defog, crisp color boost, resize and sharpen for web

09.03.08

While I was being Not Dead, My Baybee Turned FOUR

16-35mm lens with a whole lot of other settings
pp: Pioneer Woman’s Fresh and Colorful, resized and sharpened for web

09.02.08

oh.

hi there.

am not dead.

as proof, I offer this flare-tastic shot of myself. Also proof that I am narcissitic.

I was trying to do this thing with catchlights, but then I got distracted by the sunbursts and the flare and yeah, it all went downhill from there.

16-35mm @35mm | some settings go here
pp: Pioneer Woman’s Soft and Ethereal at 80%, resized and sharpened for web