eli at 35mm

I'm the lucky girl who received a super-awesome new camera for Christmas. With it, I received a couple of new lenses. One is a zoom-y telephoto. The other is a 35mm prime lens.

Eli says I should go photograph that really interesting thing over there.

I've been doing a little bit of practice with the new gear. Eli is a common subject, as has been his habit for the past 7 years. Eli tends to get a little timid when the camera is on him. He thinks the flash is going to go off, every time, and this disturbs him. He recognizes the "I'm focused!" beep the camera makes, and he closes his eyes in anticipation of the flash. I have about a billion photos of Eli looking nervous with closed eyes. For example:

Eli says he hates cameras.

 Sometimes I try to humor him by pointing the lens not-at-his-eyes, but he doesn't seem to notice the difference. I'm just glad he returns the favor by sitting still long enough to get a few pictures. I have approximately 45 seconds of camera practice time in any given day, and it's nice to have a live model who doesn't clamor for that curious thing mama keeps holding up to her face.

Eli says he's ready for his manicure.

 I also have the option of photographing Gabriel while he's napping. He sleeps by a window and there is this delicious, beautiful natural light in there during nap time. Sometimes I just can't pass up the opportunity, but most days I am not willing to risk waking him. It happened once....that was a rough day.

Here's an out-take. Let's all pretend my apartment doesn't look like this approximately 95% of the time.

days like these

I baked a spoon into the banana bread. Draw your own conclusions. 

smile

Last week was a long week, culminating in a three-day fundraising dinner/national council meeting/board meeting extravaganza. And this part-time gal on a full-time schedule is tiiiiiiiired. At least the first day after a major event is slow as molasses!

 What do you mean, my lip is stuck on my tooth?

 It'd be great if you'd stop laughing at me.

 I'm telling you, there is nothing wrong with my face!

Stop giggling, or I'll stab you with my lip.

absenteeism

I am an introvert. Did you know that?

At least, I think I'm an introvert. Many signs indicate as such, and I've never been an E-anything on the many Myers-Briggs tests I've taken.

I am an introvert. I'm ok with this. Most folks seem to be.

The thing is, I'm also something of an internal processor.*

What I mean is, I internalize things and spend some time, sometimes a lot of time, processing them. I can get upset, know it, and know what made me upset, but it sometimes takes days for me to know why. And deep down, I'm totally envious of people who know things about their reactions on the spot.

I mean, just today, in the middle of a day-long meeting at work, I had this flash of brilliant insight as to why something someone mentioned to me, in passing, a few days ago, REALLY irritated me. It only took me what, four days to figure it out?

Processing is a lot of work. And I'm telling you this because I am doing lots of processing right now. Things are shifting, internally and externally. Lots of things. Things with significant impact, and not just on me. Things that are riddled with challenge, ultimately beneficial, and absolutely necessary.

It's a lot to process.

Eli and Rory agree.

Enough thinking, it's time for a nap.

Are you more introverted or more extroverted? How do you think that affects your emotional response timeline?



*entirely made up term, right there**

**which kind of makes me think of 'intel pentium processor'***

***do you remember when there was just an intel pentium processor? now we're up to what, pentium IV? pentium V? if I weren't so tired right now I'd look it up.

yesterday's troubles

Yesterday was trash/recycle pickup, so naturally we set out our trash and recycling. And since we just moved, we have about 3000 boxes that need to be recycled. I left the house that morning, ready to see the pile of cardboard go far, far away.

I came home to a giant pile of cardboard.

Right. So apparently the recycling people are way picker here than they've been anywhere else I lived. I don't know how I'm supposed to get these boxes picked up. Maybe cut them down and stuff them in the supercan. Because that sounds like a lot of fun. Anyway. So instead of pouting and feeling really embarrassed in front of the neighbors, I tried to pick myself up by going out back and taking pictures of this:

After doing all the procrastination I could muster, I went to the front to start reigning in all the stuff. Box-wrangling done, I headed to the front door to pick up the mail, where I noticed this:

Sometimes you just can't win, beautiful foliage and all. There will always be squirrels to eat your giant pumpkin.

7.17.09

Last Friday, my little brother tied the knot, and I was there to document it.

Congrats, little bro. Many happy returns.

Favorite Photo of 2008

From the Shutter Sisters website:

"I spent the last couple of days browsing through my personal photo folders and reflecting on this past year. And I thought it would be great if you could share your favorite photo for 2008 with a short comment about what this past year has brought into your life, as well as your hopes and your dreams for 2009."

With a renewed interest in photography simmering, I thought this might be a good way to start off the new year.  So here it is, my favorite photo from 2008.

We loved this beach, which was in a town called Kailua on the northern part of Oahu.  I loved capturing this quiet moment where Brian was stomping in the surf, oblivious to everything but the sand and the water.

fun with the new fisheye

So one of the swell gifts my husband gave me this Christmas was a fisheye lens (makes things round) with a detachable micro filter (makes small things very big).  These are some of the early results - straight off the card, just goofing around.

Christmas at our place

I thought I'd share a few pictures of the way I've been able to 'do up' the place.  We're on a tight budget, as usual, so there isn't anything fancy going on, but it does feel like Christmas, none-the-less.  At least, it does in one room...

We don't have a fireplace or a mantle, but we do have book shelves!  One got the stockings - don't ask me why we have 5 stockings for 2 people and a dog.  We got the NOEL blocks last year on a post-holiday clearance.

Behind the E is an old-fashioned Hershey's candy jar.  I don't know if it itself is an antique, though.  It came from my grandpa's house, in Hershey, PA - I think he gave it to me because he was tired of looking at it.

Next door to the stocking bookcase is the rest of the Christmas stuff that most people put on doors or on top of their mantles or somewhere else.  For us, these include Christmas cards, a tree topper that doesn't top very well but is still awesome, my "Dr. Seuss" Christmas tree hailing back to my single-gal post-grad days that I did up with neon pink disco balls, and our new Advent calendar.  Next year we hope to add an Advent wreath.

We are North Carolina people, which means we are Real Tree people.  There is a family-operated garden/lawn shop in our neighborhood that sells North Carolina fraser firs every year.  We splurged on a real tree as broke newlyweds last year, and this year we returned, less broke but just as enthusiastic.

These are some of our favorite ornaments.  I got the idea for the 'zooming' toaster photo from this blog.  It felt good to do something new for a change, and get to know the camera a little bit better.

puppy butt

Eli makes this face at me regularly.  I interpret it as something along the lines of "Oh, are you speaking again?  I'll just glare at you until you have the good sense to stop."

YOU NEED TO SEE THIS

If I have done my research correctly, then my conclusion that this, ladies and gentleman, is a pheasant, and more specifically, a hybrid of a Golden Pheasant and a Lady Amherst's Pheasant, is correct.

If I have done my research correctly, then my conclusion that this hybrid is not found in the wild in the US is also correct.

So could somebody please tell me why this guy was in our back yard this evening?

I am not kidding.

My question is this. What would YOU do with an exotic pheasant hybrid on your premisis?

hawaii photos

I'd like to share some of my favorite photos from the trip.

Feel free to add your thoughts, comments, and/or crits.  I am an untrained 'chick with a camera' and some fantastic equipment that I don't know how to use yet.  I work mostly with a Nikon D50, a Sigma 72mm 28-200 lens, and (as of a day before the trip) a polarizer filter.  

Hawaii had lots of brightness, lots of haze, and lots of shadowing - three things I don't know how to overcome.  Take a peek at the best I could come up with!

North Shore

these little birds tickled my fancy.

I liked sitting under the coconut trees and looking up at all the textures and the contrast between the earthy greens/yellows and the wispy blues in the sky.

typical sunset shot.  I was desperately wishing for my tripod.

After clambering all over this outcropping for an hour or so, all my equipment was salty and foggy.  I almost like the haze, though.  The impurity makes it feel like a memory.

Playing with the new filter.

What struck me about this image once I uploaded it was how it looks like architecture.  That's a catamaran sail, by the way.

Showing off the sweet wide-angle lens here, not to mention the sweet scenery.  We snorkled in this cove.

Dear feds: we didn't see the signs because they were on the other end of the beach.  PS, this beach was by far the brightest environment I've ever tried to shoot.  Hotter than hot, visually burning up, even my eyesight was bleached out.

The water and the sand really looked like that.

This was taken before I really got the hang of the filter, but I still like it for some reason.

This outcropping was one of the coolest things we may ever experience in our lives.

Certainly one of the most evocative images I've ever taken...

What did you think?