Leaps and Bounds

I'm learning as quickly as this guy is growing, these days. Each day I come home from class, I am inspired from looking at the work of other artists or just other students that I take out my camera and try something new. Tuesday, I practiced long-exposure with fire, the aurora, and headlights. Thursday, I grabbed a new perspective of potty time before bath.

I am frustrated with digital editing software and really I wish it didn't exist so I would not feel obligated to touch it. I am finding that I don't always agree with it. And I am wondering what is the best of the many ways to convert a file to "black and white," which turns out isn't really black and white in the digital world. I am frustrated by the internet and how it changes the images it accepts. I just want to know everything now. But, I guess it's best just to think back and look at the progress made. Only a month ago, I was shooting manually without even using my light meter. That's major.

Early Ties

This set of photos is all about the intimate connection between a mother and a child. A baby who is learning to eat food with a spoon. A boy who today took his first steps on his knees. The sun came out for a brief moment today on this chilly fall day to remind us that these important stages in life are much too short and best not forgotten.

Above are 6 of 25 that I chose to retain for my friend. This time around, I bracketed 0.7EV (underexposed) from what the meter suggested and I ended up using a couple of the bracketed shots. These were taken on a short public trail in our town. Since we were going to catch light in a mostly shaded area, we met mid-day. I was a bit concerned that the light would not be wonderful because we did not meet at the beginning or the end of the day, but I think the colors turned out great, even unedited. Sometimes experiments turn out better than expected.

Annex Inspiration

When I arrived at the Annex, it was raining. Therefore, instead of photographing myself in front of the gallery using my tripod as I had planned, I allowed my three year old to help. He doesn't have unique perspective necessarily; it's just that that a DSLR is pretty hefty for him to handle and this was his first and only shot.

There were only about 4 photographs displayed at the Annex. However, a black and white by Herb Melchior was relevant to this week's discussion of shutter speeds. He displayed some sort of thicket, which was crystal clear, and used a long shutter speed to cause the rain to flow through it. My first thought when it comes to rain is to "stop" it using a very fast shutter speed, but creating flow, like one would for a waterfall, river, or fire using a long shutter speed, looked lovely here in the case of rain as well. Of course, as soon as I arrived home, the rain had stopped. We have been having some lousy weather, neither sunny nor rainy. The leaves have fallen, and I am having trouble finding inspiration out there.

The aperture assignment that we did was not very challenging for me. I felt like I already had a good handle on the differences between small and large apertures and the differences in depth of field that result. Some of the ideas that ran through my head for days, like photographing a field full of cows or trees in a burn area, did not really work out as well as I'd hoped because for example the cows were too far away or the weather was not good when I arrived at the scene to create nice photos of various depths. However, I have a number of ideas for the shutter speed assignment that involve objects/instances that I can find at home which should be more feasible to attain for a mom with two small children: aurora, candle light, steam, water, bubbles, fireworks, fog, night light, and stars.

The Goods

Six unedited favorite photos that I captured during my first photo session with a family of four (as opposed to shooting one or two people at a time). (I am not uploading edited photos because I know when I put photos on the internet they are changed drastically so I don't think it's worth it at this point to wait for the slight adjustments. I will have to figure out the quirks of the internet. Is it just discrepancies in dpi or is it one of the problems with using JPEGs or something else altogether?) This was also my first time bracketing my exposures and my first time shooting in RAW (on purpose). Bracketing was not necessary or at least bracketing a whole exposure was not necessary. And I can see now why a 50mm lens (effective about 80mm) on a less than full-frame camera is best for portraits. Shooting four subjects is a bit overwhelming for 50mm but at the same time we have here some appealing portraits of the kids and the couples that I would not have been achievable with a shorter focal length. So, it's a trade-off. Prior to the session, I was most worried about choosing the appropriate aperture so that all four people are perfectly in focus but so that the background is as blurry as possible. Sometimes I did this correctly and sometimes I did not. Sometimes I think the source of my error was my own motion or trying to shoot in spots in too low of light.

This should sum up the first Journal Entry, as I am just beginning and very excited about the basic digital photography course at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This session was a good experience for me. I took 150 photos and immediately reduced that number to 75 (deleting mostly the photos bracketed for the correctly metered exposure). There will probably be about 20 that will be printable in significant size. I'm not sure how these odds compare to a professional's, but I think to get 15 good photos from a session is considered acceptable. The most appealing part of photography for me is looking for the light. This session was done at the home of this family, a small lot next to the slough. As you can see there were plenty of wonderful backdrops. Granted, it was a gorgeous Fall Equinox day . . . possibly the most beautiful day of the entire year.

Fall Colors

There's nothing better than the colors of fall. They are so warm and inviting. I am thankful to have gotten one good shot of my boys in our front yard.

They wanted to grind moose, play in the sandbox, and play pirates.

We went on a walk together while big brother was in preschool. He stomped, roared, and stuffed leaves into the mouth of his brother's favorite toy the entire time we walked.

Almost 20 months old. Watching the leaves fall from the trees.

After this he hopped into my seat and said "I drive," his first 2-word sentence.

Third Time is a Charm: Short Book List

I feel like if I had a 3rd kid, I would get everything as right as possible from the start. It wasn't until our first baby was born that I became versed in contaminants and how to keep levels low in the household. My Master's Degree in Environmental Science coupled with a book called Slow Death by Rubber Duck and hundreds of hours reading journal articles fueled this knowledge. It wasn't until our second was in utero that we started cracking down on contaminants in our diets, which needs no explanation in this age of the industrialized food dilemma. And if I were to have a third, I would crack down on reducing our exposure to additives in vaccines and minimizing reactions (which are actually quite common) from the day of their birth. I don't like to be a part of the US of A's wonderful thoughtless experiments or support big companies, and I don't like to be kept in the dark. I like real evidence. I recently read 4 books that are on 4 completely different topics and have 4 different audiences, but that have A LOT in common.

The Gerson Therapy: The Nutritional Program for Cancer and Other Illnesses (by Charlotte Gerson), a book on consuming phytochemicals in fruits and veggies combined with coffee enemas to relieve pain and liver load to actually cure ailments or at least prolong life

Eat to Live (by Joel Therman), a book on losing weight and dieting in a way that does not harm the body

Super Baby Food (by Ruth Yaron), a book on healthy family eating including how to properly prepare, cook, store, and preserve food to maximize vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients including phytochemicals

The Vaccine Book (by Robert Sear's), a look at the major problems with our health care system in terms of vaccines and how to receive all or most of the vaccines while reducing the risk of high chemical exposure or severe reaction afterward. If you haven't figured it out already, diet plays a role here also.

Chapter 2. 1st Day of Preschool

If Chapter 1 is birth through toddlerhood, Chapter 2 is the preschool years. Before Chapter 2, kids show an interest in doing things with new mentors and friends. I think they show this interest around 18 months or the time they figure out how to open the door of the house to the outside world. In the last two years, we've taken our first son to swimming lessons four times, daycare playtime once every week or two, playdates with the same group of friends, and library story time. He has also become comfortable around his grandparents and while traveling.

I signed him up for Young Learner's Preschool when he was 1 after hearing about it from a friend. It is to my knowledge one of the best preschools in town. The director is supposedly supportive of shy students, energetic, creates structure, and communicates very well with parents.

During the car ride to preschool, he probably asked me twenty times if I or at least his little brother would stay with him like we had two days ago for Orientation. He also told me I couldn't take a photo of him. I assured him we would get ice cream afterward if he was a good boy and didn't cry or whine. When we arrived, he was excited to carry his bag inside by himself and he said it was okay for me to take a photo. He had a dollar coin in his pocket for good luck and in his bag a t-rex for show-and-tell, markers, crayons, glue, and his down vest for playing at the playground at the last part of class. As soon as we walked into the door, the activity had him. He and all of the other kids who arrived at the same time put their bags on their hooks and went right to the tables to do a project. Here he is with Mrs. Tina and Mrs. Michelle. I believe there are 11 students in his class and that number may go up to 14. Half of them are 3 and half of them are 4.

When I came to pick him up two and a half hours later, he ran to me with a hug. He said, "I did a very good job." His teacher said, "He did great!" He even described his dinosaur to everyone at show-and-tell. Before we left he yelled "Bye. Bye. Bye." and then ran up to "Miss Shell" as he calls her and gave her a giant hug. In the car, he told me that Huey, the boy shown below at the other table who was in swimming lessons at the Alaska Club with our son brought a monster truck for show-and-tell. He said Mrs. Michelle was "very, very nice" to him. According to him, she helped him make a volcano with green play doh, played music like "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," and taught him how to pretend he's popcorn by doing "small pops, medium pops, and giant pops." We practiced this at home later. It's so fun that he can share with me the things that he learned. And I feel like I did a great job preparing him for this day.

Your Turn

Oh, the poor baby of the family, you are always second, even in the blog. It's a good thing you are a patient fellow. Mr. N, you sure do impress me. By 18 months of age, you can ride a bicycle with handlebars all around the house and do not have any trouble with corners or obstacles. You can blow your nose, well, better than I can. You can climb onto the couch and off. You can assemble a wooden train track by yourself and even a jigsaw puzzle if I show you where the piece is supposed to go. We didn't work at any of this; it was just "there." "It," the knowledge just appeared all of a sudden. It seemed like you moved onto new, more mature, games and mastered them at your first attempt. I change your diaper and you say "butt." Yep, loudly and clearly and perfectly and at a surprise to me. I'm sure you say 50 words already but I stopped writing them around 30. You tell me when you "potty" or sometimes instead quietly run to the baby toilet and sit. You tackle playgrounds and slides without me anywhere near you. You eat anything, including large carrots from my garden and you're just getting your molars.

They say a second kid progresses more quickly because they are trying to be like their older sibling, but I know a large part of this work is genetic. I know for a fact that you have not ever been bitten or had a toy thrown at your head and somehow you figured out this is a good way to get the attention of an older brother who is not being nice to you. Oh, well, you don't know your colors or your shapes and you think a lot of animals say "moo" that do not. Come to think of it, I still give you a bottle of milk, a pacifier, two naps a day, so you're not quite ready for college, but YOU, little buddy, are not going to be second at everything in a year or two. You are just too smart to let someone else take the lead.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

I love the age of three. I love all of the ages (so far) and I am sure there will be many ages that I will not love as much (teenage years), but our three-year old just has such an exquisite imagination I have to write down some of his blurbs.

The other week our son was pretending that his Diplodocus dinosaur was baby Riley, the girl pictured here playing with our younger son. Whenever he was too busy to properly care for baby Riley, the dinosaur, I was asked to push her/it in the swing and carry her in my front shirt pocket.

Another day, he exclaims, "I see a tiger I better poke it with my rhino horn." He butts his head and falls onto the floor.

While playing Go-Fish he says, "Hey, mom, look at my face." Then he scrunches eyebrows together. "That (points to forehead) is a reason." He nods his head in approval.

He stops for a minute building letters with foam blocks, walks off, cups hands together. "Mom, I'm getting you a secret." He sneaks on toes into other room and gets a toy stethoscope. He returns. "Here is your secret. Now you need to listen to somebody's heart."

He stands in garage and pees on driveway rocks, raises hands and exclaims, "I just made a number nine!"

I think he had a fun time today with the real baby Riley's older sister Morgan. During a hike he was able to take photos with her camera and wear her backpack. Together, they pretended to fix the old tractor pictured for about an hour. See them conversing. He practiced her name about 50 times before he went to sleep. "MorGAN. MOORgan. Morgan. Wheeeere Arrrrre Yooooou?"

After today, Morgan will probably be added to the list of friends that he always requests: Cedar, William & Julia, and Arthur. He starts preschool next week and he will meet 10 new friends with whom he will learn and play twice a week and who will probably become a part of our lives also. As the years pass, more and more of life's realities will be instilled in him. Whatever happens, I hope at least part of his amazing imagination sticks with him for life.