These are for You, Mom.

I know being a mom myself that you're probably tired of seeing photos of everyone and everything else and want to see some of your own baby, who is so far away. My midterm assignment is to collect 3 photos of myself and 3 photos of others in under 200 exposures. 3 of my 6 photos ended up being profile or silhouette type photos because that is a skill I had not tackled before and I ended up having fun with it. Each photo, for the assignment, has to tell a story ... or at least be an amazing use of light. I admit, these aren't anywhere near as inventive as I'd imagined, but they are both decent and simple and I did them without any assistance while watching my children, during a week that was almost completely cloudy.

Now, here are your grand babies and some really great light.

Freckles

I told her to be ready for a spur of the moment visit and there I was at her doorstep as soon as we had some snow (a good reflector for some soft natural portrait light). My friend here is a beauty and I desperately needed her freckles for my midterm assignment. I spot metered off of her face and the snow appeared white as it should instead of grey, which can happen in matrix meter mode if you do not overexpose to compensate.

Which one of the three tells the best story? And is the story the youthful freckles alone or is it the content and concerned mom looking over her children falling in the first snow of the year while finally getting to drink her coffee hours after it was poured? See, there, now I left nothing for your imagination!

Milk and Cookies

This family of three makes me feel better inside than warm chocolate chip cookies and cold milk.

We had scheduled this session for today, mid October, with snow in mind at Chena River Park in the Chena Lake Recreation Area. We did not have snow and we did not have sun and we (I mostly) almost postponed because of it. I am glad we did not because THEY made these memories as sunny or as snowy as it gets with their energy, personality, and love.

This set, I cannot wait to edit. I shot in RAW format and good thing because I realized early on that Auto white balance was going to be too cool (or blue) and Cloudy and Shady settings were going to be too warm (or orange). For the first time, I used Auto White balance as the default and decided to fine-tune them to the Kelvin scale later in Adobe Camera Raw. They are going to be even more vibrant than they are here unedited ... something maybe one could not ever notice until it's printed. This is my third family session (see here and here) and this time I did not forget, not even once, to check my light meter. I also adjusted the aperture and shutter speed often. I prefer the most shallow depth of field possible for any given situation in portrait photography. This is a milestone for me ... especially since I am by nature a poor multi-tasker and might have also been playing soccer, running, or telling a joke in the mix). Today was a really good experience for me. Thanks for the opportunity.

Negative Space: The Moon

A friend gave me a heads up that the full-moon was going to be arriving and that it might be a good way to practice night photography and the use of negative space in my frame. The moon, the stars, and the aurora were all on my hit list and the moon was the last to be tried so I jumped on it. However, I caught it a bit too late in the night. You can see how little of the frame the moon takes up at 9pm--even at 300mm which is extremely zoomed in. Catching it just after it rises of course is best because it is largest ... which of course isn't possible in complete darkness yet because we still have too much daylight in October. But, I did learn a few other things that I can use next time:

1) at such a long focal length the remote shutter release (which I did find Nikon brand for only $27 locally) is essential. Even at fast shutter speeds, you do not want your hand anywhere near the camera and this is mostly because

2) you need a very sturdy tripod with a long focal length, which I do not have, especially when the moon is high like it is here (say maybe 60 degrees above the horizon). I was holding my tripod to keep it from tipping onto myself. I ran into the same problem with the aurora (even though then I was using a much lighter lens and a longer exposure). And not only does the tripod need to be sturdy to prevent camera shake but it needs to have a decent ball head for extreme upward rotation if you want to catch things high in the sky.

Auora vs Moon. Although (generally) for the aurora you use a long exposure and the shortest focal length money can buy (wide angle if you can) and for the moon you use short exposure and the longest focal length you can get your hands on, the remote shutter release is ideal for both. And I'm glad I decided on the one that plugs into the camera instead of the true remote so I am able to stay behind the camera at all times (plus not have to deal with two batteries). Another difference between the two types of night photography is that the aurora requires manual focus completely. It is not possible to focus on the aurora automatically or manually. You really need a bright light on some trees in the foreground for a focal point or to focus on infinity. The moon is bright enough however that you can auto focus on it and then switch the lens to manual mode to lock it into place while you work on the correct exposure. Like any frame with a lot of black, to capture the detail on the moon, the photo must be underexposed and in this case more stops than I could keep track off. I am curious to see if I catch the moon on the horizon if I can get away with only a couple of stops of underexposure. The aurora on the other hand may be overexposed or longer exposed because this can capture more detail and movement.

I really needed this challenge to get me excited again. If we have clear skies again tomorrow, I'm going to get the kids in bed as early as I can and try to catch the moon earlier.

We are far from studying negative space. Actually, we've been talking about abstraction, perspectives, angles, and patterns. I took most of my photos for this assignment at an appliance junk yard. But, I would've liked to do something like this. I have a feeling this landscape was pieced together. But, if it wasn't it sure has all of the elements we've been talking about. The shape of the dandelions in the foreground mimic the shape of the full-moon and the clouds create many more repeating bubble around the moon. The bright colors of the grass at night make it abstract even though the perspective from ground level and the anchor or the mountains gives it a realistic feel. My favorite perspectives are those that have a real element to them. A kid looking down at the art he just made. A photo of the sky the includes a bit of the foreground or at least clouds. A photo that makes you feel like you're there. I don't really identify much with photos that don't provide a sense of scale or have some realistic element to them. I guess I don't see the purpose of the effort necessary to create the art unless the brain can eventually relate the image to something it know. Because of the digital editing software available you see a lot of photos that are over-saturated to create either an unrealistic effect or a photo that looks better than real life. I am not a fan of this. I think you can catch good enough light with a camera and over-editing is cheating. I'll end at that. If you were reading, hopefully you stopped before this last paragraph :) It is part of my latest journal assignment on angles and preferences.

Motion and the Aurora Borealis

30 second exposure

Motion photography can be broken down into three main categories: Stop, blur, and pan. In general, "stop" photography is catching something in focus that your eye would normally see in motion; you have to use a fast shutter speed, probably more than 1/60 second, to do this. Examples are a kid blowing bubbles, embers flying away from a fire that was just disturbed, a chainsaw spewing sawdust, etc. "Pan" is moving your camera parallel (or in another direction) with the subject so that the focal point is clear but the background is blurry. The typical shot that displays this is someone riding a bike. And "blur" is the opposite of "pan;" the subject is moving in a blur but the background is in clear and motionless. "Pan" requires almost a second of exposure and "blur" usually requires longer exposures. Above, the aurora is an example of blur photography. At 30 seconds of open shutter, the aurora's color is enhanced and it is able to be seen in multiple locations yet the foreground, the trees, are clear.

For aurora and star photography, I read in an article about aurora photography that ISO should be as close to 400 as possible. If the aurora is quite dull, a higher ISO might be needed. It is a good idea to go into the menu of the camera and turn on the long exposure noise reduction feature. An exposure of at least 15 seconds is probably ideal. This means if you do not have a sturdy tripod, it should be set low, you should not move around it, and of course it won't work if it's windy. The shutter release should be depressed not by your finger but by using the timer function. For my camera, for exposures longer than 30 seconds you must use "bulb" which means you can have exposures up to 30 minutes as long as you hold down the shutter release button the entire time. This introduces slight camera shake (from my hand) seen below, but you can tell how much the extra 53 seconds grabs the red light from the nearby city and the neighbor's homes. I need to run to the photography shop and grab a remote to plug into my camera. Another student said the generic brands run as cheap as 20 dollars nowadays. I do not have a wide-angle lens and that is why the strange angles. Although my 50mm lens has a largest aperture of 1.8 thereby letting in more light, my 18mm at its largest aperture of 3.5 can capture a much larger view of the sky so is a compromise. If I wanted to catch just one constellation, I think I would opt for the 50mm because I could get by probably with a shorter exposure and therefore have less noise.

I am supposed to mention an inspiring motion photograph so now I'll mention a family friend Tony Rath (Photography) out of Belize. I grew up next to his parents and he does some amazing things with stop and blur. He recently posted some 90 second exposure photos of the stars on small island we visited a couple of years ago, South Water Caye as well as some stop photographs of dirt bike races and beach volleyball. I can't link to the photos individually, but here is one of his websites.

83 second exposure (using "bulb")

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.