An Unwilling Model

Swinging :)

Crash and Conundrum

Y'all.  Our laptop suffered a devastating crash about a week and a half ago.  It is only two years old, we have never EVER had anything near this kind of problem with our Macs, and it was really, really bad.  Not my-kid-spilled-milk-on-my-computer bad, because that, apparently, is way easier to fix than our problem.  Nope, this is the sorry-there-are-big-problems-with-your-hard-drive-and-even-the-recovery-software-you-paid-over-$100-for-tells-you-that-this-is-really-bad kind of bad.

I just went through the files that the recovery software was able to save, and you guys, it is all the junk.  I have about 50 pictures out of the thousands I have taken over the last year.  And beyond that, do you know what was saved?  One audiobook and the pictures that were in the trash.  UGH.  All the pictures of my babies since last Christmas are gone.  All the pictures from our 10th anniversary trip are gone.

By the look of things, this particular crash is more severe than the normal hard disk crash.  The people at Apple say they will replace the computer, but data recovery is up to us.  And beyond what we've already done, we'd really be looking at $1000 or more to recover the missing photos, if they are even recoverable at all.

So at this point, the only place that the best of my pictures exist is on Facebook.  And those are small enough files that they are not truly printable, because they'll never look good blown up to just about any size. 

What I'm trying to work through at the moment is whether or not it is worth it to try to recover these missing pictures.  Because I do still have the ones on Facebook, it is not a total loss.  But it does mean that I will never be able to print them successfully.  Is this a big deal?  I can't decide.  Up until Clara was born and the busyness of three kids prevented me from posting all the time, this blog was the place I stored all my pictures, I never printed a thing, and it didn't bother me in the least.  And I have still not printed much.

But, y'all, seriously, last week I was going to have stuff printed to fill a bunch of frames!  The timing on this crash stinks. 

So the lesson of the day is this: BACK UP YOUR FILES.

{Face palm.}

Why Photography? The Days are Long, but the Years are Short.

Although my presence in this particular corner of the internet has waned lately, I think it's fairly clear that I've got a new hobby that's been absorbing me lately.  Someone asked me recently how and why I got into photography, and I thought I'd write about it a bit.

My interest in photography has everything to do with my children.  I hadn't been a mother for long before I experienced for the first time that mix of poignant love and fear that the moments in their precious lives and in our life together are so rich yet so fleeting.  That maybe you missed something; that perhaps there's something precious that you have forgotten.

I value this blog so much because it's our family record of a precious set of years when my oldest kids were very small.  There's no way I'd remember so many of these marvelous details if I had not written them down in detail (e.g. Noah loved hot tea as a toddler and asked for it every day; his expressions are the same and will probably never change, etc.).  And I've found that photography is very similar; that I can catch moments that I'd otherwise miss (I'd probably even forget to blog them or run out of time to do so).  Also, like writing, I can compose and edit a photo to reflect the feeling with that particular memory, or to show off/emphasize an aspect of that child or that event.

So that's why I began learning this new skill: it's all an effort to remember the little things that are so very delightful to look back on later.  And I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

My First Attempt at Backlighting

Clara's First Ponytail

Clara's First Ponytail

(And my first attempt at properly editing a photo!)

Bluebonnets!

Well, I may be too busy to post pictures, but I am taking them.  Here's some proof from yesterday.

Texas bluebonnets!

These were taken in a patch of bluebonnets near our house, with some careful framing in order not to include the cars and street which were 15 feet away or the ugly buildings in almost every direction.  I was pretty proud of the framing, actually! 
I took these a little after 4:00, and the sun was still very strong.  Next time, I'll wait another hour or two until the light is more diffused and softer, which will help with the deep shadows and the squinty children. :)

PS 52: Photo 9

I just realized I had not posted this!  I wrote it a week ago but got busy with other posts in the meantime.
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So this week, I challenged myself to get a good low light photo.  This is the one I took:

Oh, the grain!

Low light + high ISO = grain.

They say to embrace the grain, but I have some trouble with that.  If it were grainy and sharper, perhaps. . . . I don't know.  I'm just not there yet.  Plus, the color seems off.  And I even cooled it down a bit.

So I now know enough to know that a full frame camera would shoot in low light conditions far better than my camera does, but I am determined to figure out how to make the most of the camera I've got, at least for now.

Also, I'm going to try shooting in RAW and (finally) dealing with my avoidance of the white balance issue.

Banff: Early Morning Shots

 So one morning while we were there, I got up a bit early and headed outside, because I wanted to get some night shots of the lake and the surrounding mountains.  

The hotel was serene and quiet as I made my way towards the outside.

It is quite a wonderful sensation to walk outside in the frigid cold.  You inhale that crisp, freezing air and simply feel alive.  And at peace.  Because snow mutes the sounds of the world, except for the crunching under your feet.  Solitude, peace, life.  And beauty all around me.  I loved my few minutes outside that day.

Would you believe that this was at 7:00am?  Yet it was completely dark outside.  Lucky for me, I went out to take some night shots on the shortest day of the year.

Boy, did I wish I had a tripod after I looked closely at these shots.

 I do love this one, though: a puff of powdery snow being blown off the mountain, high above me.

Banff: Frozen Lake Ice Skating

"WHAT am I about to do?"

So I thought to myself.  Because ice skating is not my sport.

This beautiful lake freezes every winter, and the hotel clears part of it for the ice skating.

And they build this enchanting ice castle on the ice.  You can skate in and around it.

So we went skating one afternoon.  Nathan was much more of a natural than I was.

 Of course, I didn't get a shot the moment he fell. ;)

But, in his defense, the lake ice is not entirely smooth.

Another Lake Louise adventure.

Banff: Dog Sledding

The last time I posted about our anniversary trip to Banff was way back in early January, and the trip actually took place in December, so I think it's safe to say that I'm a bit behind on this thread!  In an attempt to catch up on these long belated posts (will I ever get to Christmas?), here's the next installment on Banff: Dog Sledding!

When we went to Lake Louise for our honeymoon, we hiked canyons and around the lake, we watched ice climbers on a frozen waterfall, we rode on a gondola up a mountain, and more.  But dog sledding was the thing we thought was the most fun.  It's a unique experience for Texans.  Plus, the dogs are just so darn cool. 

Ten years later, dog sledding was just as cool.  Or, more accurately, it was frigid.  I think the temperature was around -5F that morning, but the air is so dry in Banff that it really is not uncomfortable if you wear enough layers.  Well, okay, my fingers and toes got pretty darn cold after a while, but they warmed back up nicely.  It was worth being a little cold to enjoy such a fun excursion.  Nathan and I picked up these mufflers before our trip, and we were really thankful for them on a couple of occasions--I have to tell you, when you get into that sled behind the dogs and start moving at 15mph on a day when it's -5F and there's snow being kicked up in your face, well, although you may not be terribly uncomfortable, you do start to be grateful that the only part of your face that's exposed is your eyes.

The dogs are wonderfully sweet and full of personality.  Some of them are shy, some are wild and goofy, and all of them are eager to get on their way.

Definitely, part of the pleasure of dog sledding is getting to hang out with the dogs a little.

The dogs that run the sleds are bred and trained for it, and it is their life's love.  While they're waiting, they yip and pull and cry, and when they're being harnessed, the din escalates with their excitement.

Even though they can't go anywhere, they pull and strain, yip and holler.

And then, when the brake is loosed:

silence.

It's so interesting to see them run.  They dip their mouths and take bitefuls of snow to stay hydrated and cool off without missing a step.  Each member of the team has a clear job, based on their personalities, age & experience, etc.  They clearly love to run and are good at it.  They're the elite athletes of the dog world, bred for their sport rather than for looks.  This particular team of dogs runs long Alaskan races in winter when they're not tugging little tourists back and forth across the Continental Divide. 

Speaking of which...

We got out at the Great Divide and wandered a bit, taking some photos.  My face looks so cold in this one!  Like it was a strain to smile!  Ha!

On the way back, we were each allowed to drive alongside the owner for a while.  We'd stand on one runner while she stood on the other, agreeing to stomp on the brake if she fell off, and she'd do the same for us.  :) 

Check out the eyes on that puppy.

It was super fun, y'all, and Nathan and I would recommend it if you ever get the chance!

P52: Photo 8

I love this sweet image.  This is Janey and her best friend, holding hands at a princess party.

They love each other a whole lot and are always ecstatic to get to see one another.  It's a good thing Elizabeth is moving in down the street; there'll be lots of happy days ahead for these girls!

As far as photography goes, this was an easy shot.  There was plenty of natural light, the girls set up a lovely shot naturally, and I exposed it properly without any trouble.  So, well, yay for that.  But the purpose of this 52-week project is to get better, and nobody's going to get any better without challenging themselves.  So, now that I'm fairly comfortable getting a shot properly exposed, I'm going to work on some other technical aspects of photography in the weeks to come.

P52: Photo 7

Yeah, yeah, so I'm a week late.  I did actually take these photos last weekend, so in my book, it counts. :)

This is actually a series of detail photos that I took at a lunch out that I attended for my Aunt Patti's birthday.  I still just about totally stink at low indoor light photos, but some of them turned out well.  (And, of course, I'm only showing you the good ones!)

A Family Session

Last weekend, I went to the park with some friends and took their family pictures.  I loved it.  And, as it turned out, they loved their pictures.  They'd never had a family photo done before, and when they asked me to do it, I said something to the effect of, "Well, I'm a very new photographer, and I can't guarantee they'll be awesome, but I'd love to do it."  And I think it's safe to say that we were all thrilled by how they turned out.  I sent them over 20 shots, and here are a couple of my favorites:

I was so happy that I was able to capture this family's joy and closeness.  And (bonus!) they are pretty awesome and treated us to dinner and a game night at their house.

 -----

Before I showed up at the shoot, I made a list of poses to have them try, and most of them worked very well.  Here's a list, for my own future reference:

• Parents standing, touching, holding child
• Mom and Dad hug, child by legs
• Three pairs of feet
• Mom-child-Dad holding hands, crop Mom and Dad's upper body, shoot at child's level
• Each parent alone with child (snuggle, nuzzle, tickle, have Dad lie down and child piles on top)
•  All together, tickling (I believe that's what was happening in that first photo)
• Whisper to one another
• Reading together
• Child alone--"Do you see the butterfly in my camera?" (tried to elicit meaningful eye contact with viewer), look down (try to get lashes--this little lady was too quick!)
• Feed the ducks (particular to this location)

Although I didn't try for every single one of those poses, we did get 90% of them, and they were great.  I have been reading a lot about family photography and got lots of ideas from the Clickin' Moms blog (a great resource), among other places.

P52: Photo 6

This is my little boy, putting on his lab coat and safety glasses for his science lab.

So serious!

His favorite activity of the week is definitely science lab.  And the teacher told me this week that he is far more serious than the other kids his age--that he tries very hard to do well on his lab reports (which include writing, something at which he is new, of course).

In this photo, he's facing some large windows, which is what accounts for the very nice natural light.  And I like his serious face, because it's not an expression I see very often.  Ha!

P52: Photo 5

Y'all thought I forgot about this, didn't you?  Well, no, I didn't.  I'm just not on the ole blog all that often anymore, so I'm just running a tad bit late.

Last week, we had a snow day!  

Yes, in Houston, we consider twenty minutes of wintry mix to be snow.  We take what we can get.

Nathan was home that day (Houstonians also hunker down at home, close all their businesses, and do not drive in wintry mix), so the whole family flew outside to see the snow when it started.  I shot this picture of Janey's hand tentatively touching the ice on her play cottage.

I posted it on Facebook, and a FB friend said he was horrified--that it looked like a bloody hand reaching up for help on a bloody step.  Whaaaat?  

Public service announcement: if you never take any interest in one of your FB friends--never "like" anything, never leave any nice comments, and have no personal rapport with them--do not, then, leave a potentially insulting comment on your acquaintance's picture or status. 

I mean, yes, I do see the red cast on her hand, and I know I'm new at this and am still developing my eye, but even so, I don't think it's that bad.

Anyway, I also made a black and white version:

So, dear readers, I'd like your opinion.  Is that first one horrifyingly bloody, or was that just my middle-of-his-hospital-shift-doctor-friend talking?  Personally, I like it.  I like the B&W conversion, too, though.

P52: Photo 4

What do y'all think?

I took this photo of a leaf on my Brussels sprout plant the morning after we got some rare freezing rain here in Houston.  (The kids sure were hoping for snow, but no such luck!)

This is my first attempt at really editing something in Photoshop, and I'm actually pretty proud of it.  I always admire black and white photos that have ice in them, so I knew ahead of time that I was probably going to try to convert the shot to B&W.  In PS, I went to Image-->Adjustments-->Black and White.  Then I adjusted the Reds all the way down (which turned the mulch in the background black, making the leaf stand out more), and although I played with a few other colors, it was really turning the reds all the way down that was the most striking adjustment.

If I had been a little more expert about the shot, I would have isolated the subject leaf by either moving the other leaves out of the shot or moving them backwards so that they were not in the focal plane and therefore were a bit blurry.

Project 52: Photo 3

We went camping this weekend.  I had the opportunity to take such lovely photos--the light, especially in the evening, was lovely.  But, y'all, my pictures are horrible!  Mainly in terms of focus.  I've got to get better at nailing my focus in low light situations.  More than half of the photos I took are blurry.  Aaaargh!  I am also finding that I really need to work on 1.) white balance for skin tones and 2.) post-processing (editing), as I am sure that some of my landscapes would be helped by a simple fix in Photoshop or Lightroom that would adjust out my overexposed and underexposed spots, but I am just not good at it yet.

Anyway, here is one of the few that I felt came out well.  This is SOOC except that I cropped it and sharpened it a little bit.

Little Clara, with the main item that comprised her diet for the weekend: graham crackers.

Thankfully, I did get good light in this picture, as well as good exposure and focus.  And I like the aperture I set it at, which gave me just the right amount of blur in the background.

Thanks for looking!

Project 52: Photo 2

This is my Noah on his sixth birthday.

 Coming soon: an entire post about my boy's birthday.  But for this post, I'm just going to address the photography.

I chose this picture because the lighting is very nice and the focus is just what I wanted.  The exposure is pretty perfect, too.

What might be better is the composition, I think.  I'd like it better if his eyes were along the top third line (rule of thirds).  Of course, this particular photo can be cropped to make that happen.  I also think the composition might have been more effective if the aspect were horizontal rather than vertical because of the way he's holding his head.

So that's my self-critique on the technical elements.  As far as other aspects to the photo: I like his completely natural expression, the catchlights in his eyes, and the fact that the light is not flat on his face (one side is slightly shadowed).

And I must also add that our next house is going to have some great natural light (I hope!)!  Our current house is fairly dim, and it is SO HARD to get the exposure correct without kicking up my ISO so high that everything becomes grainy, which is why I'm showing you a picture I took outside!  But it's good for learning to shoot in any circumstance, I suppose!