Thursday, April 29, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 17

365
Hosted by Chris






Day 112


April 23: If I knew who came up with the idea for Chili's To Go, I would kiss them.

Right on the mouth.

After a long week, nothing sweeps away your cares like a sixteen ounce steak, and loaded mashed potatoes.

I'm happy to report that I made it out in three minutes and was neither crushed, nor melted.


Day 113


April 24: Emma's first 1K.

It's only about a fifth of a mile, and took about two minutes to complete, but she trained like it was the New York Marathon. She asked every night that week if we had washed her shorts, because she was running a race on Saturday, and needed to wear shorts. She also drew a track on the back patio, in chalk, to practice on.

Emma, being Emma, I was actually surprised that she not only ran the race, but when her older brother left her in the dust, she finished anyway.

I was very proud.

And so was she.


Day 114


April 25: I know what you're thinking.

"Does he always take pictures on the trampoline on Sunday?"

Yes. Yes I do.

These are my girls. There are six years between them, and they are at ages where it might as well be twenty years. Jordan is becoming a woman, and Emma is just learning to be a girl. They don't have a lot in common.

But the trampoline is common ground.


Day 115


April 26: A quarter ounce of relief -- when your lips get cracked and dry from the constant wind, when your stuffy nose causes you to breathe through your mouth while sleeping, driving your wife to the couch. (I didn't know until the next day!)

This makes no sense at all.

I was just running out of time, Ok?!


Day 116


April 27: I have a bad case of tulip envy.

We have dozens of tulips in our yard, and NONE of them are opened.

Well, I lied. Five of them are open(ish) -- three little purple flowers and these two sad little yellow ones.

All the plants have sprouted, but the flowers are not opening.

EVERY OTHER YARD is full of tulips! Why are mine taking so long? What do I need to do?

It's giving me a complex.

I feel very florally inadequate. Very horticulturally impotent.

Help me.

(By the way, do you know how hard it is to take a close up picture of tulips in 70mph winds?)


Day 117


April 28: Fearless.

I told Emma I'd let her jump off the back of my car, if she'd let me take pictures of her doing it.

That wasn't good enough -- she made me turn the car on, crank up the stereo, and play Taylor Swift's Fearless.

So I laid under the car, Emma jumped off the bumper, and Taylor gave the neighborhood an impromptu concert.

I often wonder what the neighbors think, when they look out the window...


Day 118


April 29: I blame this picture on Neil Diamond.

When you drive the same way to and from work every day, the only thing that changes is the sky.

I've always been drawn to dramatic skies.

When I was a kid, I used to haul my boom box (that's what we called them back then, ok?) up to the roof, and listen to "Be" by Neil Diamond, while I watched the sunset.

I know you're laughing now, but there was a reason I chose that song -- it contains the line:

"Lost, on a painted sky, where the clouds are hung for the poet's eye."

I still think of those words every time I see a scene like this.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 16

365
Hosted by Chris







Ever have one of those Thursday nights?

Day 105


April 16: There is a great temptation, at this time of year, to go out and shoot pictures of flowers every day. I'm trying to limit myself to one flower picture per week.


Day 106


April 17: Kim and Garrett. If you've read my previous post, you'll know how pleased I am with this photo shoot.

I think couples may be my favorite photographic assignment.


Day 107


April 18: This is Emma's Extreme Jump Roping.

It involves Emma, a trampoline and a jump rope...not necessarily coordination.


Day 108


April 19: Um.

This is my glass of root beer.

At 11:55 pm.


Day 109


April 20: I taught my first ever photography class Tuesday night -- turns out I know more than I thought I did (go figure...), but, I needed an example of a slow shutter speed setting, so I ran up the canyon quickly to shoot the flowing stream.

This is my first attempt at capturing the ethereal, misty flowing water effect.


Day 110


April 21: The full name of this instrument is Pianoforte.

It's an Italian term meaning, basically, that it can be played soft, or hard.

When Emma plays, it's just a Forte.


Day 111


April 22:  As long as I'm looking at the beautiful blue sky, I can't see the weeds in my flower beds, or the crab grass in my lawn, or the oil stain in my driveway.

Happy Earth Day!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Engagements

I love taking pictures of couples. Especially young couples in love. There's something very dynamic about them, they are completely wrapped up in each other. The world does not exist, but in the eyes and the arms of the other.

I love the faces.

The light touches. The eyes, softly closed. The smiles are so real.

They are savoring the presence of one another. They are falling in love, and being in love.

As a photographer, I want nothing more than to blend into the background and with a young couple, with eyes only for each other, that's pretty easy to do.

These pictures are from an engagement session this past weekend.

Say hello to Kim and Garrett.











Thursday, April 15, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 15

365
Hosted by Chris



Day 98


April 9: We throw things in our family. We throw footballs. We throw baseballs. We throw our weight around. We throw tantrums.

You get the idea.

But, one of our favorite things to throw is the frisbee. This one is our oldest and our favorite. It's just a two dollar frisbee, but it flies as straight as an arrow (even with the teeth marks in it, from the times when my former neighbor would forget that he didn't shell out the two dollars for the frisbee, and would play catch with his dog.)

I'm not bitter.


Day 99


April 10: When the soccer games on Saturday morning begin at 8:15, pancakes give way to donuts.

So far, no complaints.


Day 100


April 11: I was going to mark day 100 with something spectacular. And then I forgot all about it.

I don't usually go this extreme when it comes to editing, but I wanted to see how much I could focus in on  Jordan's eyes.

I think it looks like a pencil drawing.


Day 101


April 12: Do you take your Christmas lights down, and then put them back up again every Fall?

Not me.

That's why I hung clear lights. You don't notice them.

Ok, you hardly notice them.

(I never know how handy I'm going to be, from minute to minute, so the fact that I got the lights up without killing myself -- or breaking anything -- is justification enough to leave them up).

Don't judge me!


Day 102


April 13: When I was a kid, there were still heroes on the earth -- or rather, above the earth. Men who  traveled to the stars.

Of the billions of people who live, and have lived on Earth, there have been just over 500 men and women who have seen this globe from orbit, and it changes every single one of them. They look out into the vast emptiness of space, and then back at their little, blue home. They each come to the same conclusion -- that we spend far too much time fighting over this little gem, and not enough time appreciating what we have here on earth.

Tuesday night, Sharon and I had the pleasure of listening to one of these men -- former Utah Senator Jake Garn, who flew with Discovery, twenty five years ago this week -- as he spoke of his experience, and introduced the new Imax movie, Hubble 3D (a jaw dropping movie. See it. Tonight.)

The United States has gotten eight dollars back, for every dollar that has been invested in the Space Program. Most of the cutting edge technology in communications, health care and many other fields, has it's birth in the space program.  The current administration wants to end the Shuttle program.

This is rarely a political blog, but please consider contacting your congressional delegation, and asking them to fight for the survival of NASA.

Food for thought.


Day 103


April 14: I can't tell you why -- I just like this shot. It's pretty representative of Emma's personality -- a brilliant, flashing light.


Day 104


April 15: Tax Day.

I paid seven thousand dollars.

Not in taxes, but for a new furnace, after ours went berserk, and melted everything in the house on Tuesday.

You know, even if I had seven thousand dollars just sitting around (which we don't -- we're financing), I would still resent shelling it out for a new furnace. What fun is that?

It does have a 99 year warranty though -- so, if it breaks down when I'm 136, they're going to fix it for free! (Or, maybe their great grand children will...)


And a Bonus


I just want to get your take on this picture.

I was going through some older pictures a few days ago, and I came across this one. This is my nephew Noah on a hike all the boy cousins and their dads took, last summer.

What is that thing flying by his calf?

I have no idea what it is -- it looks like a fairy (albeit an ugly fairy...)

What say you?

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Photostory Friday: 365 Week 14

365
Hosted by Chris





PhotoStory Friday Give me your best shot at Better in Bulk


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli


Week 14

Or, the week I managed to shoot all three of my children
(that line just never gets old)


Day 91


April 2: I hadn't broken out the lights in over a year, and Emma was momentarily game, so we set up a little impromptu photo studio in the upstairs hallway.


Day 92


April 3: I don't know what they are, but they're growing in my front yard, and they're pretty.


Day 93


April 4: My focal point was supposed to be the flower, but for as long as I've been taking pictures of Jordan, all I ever see are her eyes.


Day 94


April 5: COME ON! It's April 5th!

We got six inches of snow in three hours.

Winter is not my friend.


Day 95


April 6: I was there to take pictures of the sunset. Matt was there for the sunset. We put a (very) quick ten miles behind us chasing the light, and when we got to the lake, I had a camera attached to my face the entire time. But Matt sat down, and took time to absorb the moment -- in the moment.

To be totally honest, he also wanted to talk to the ducks -- he asked if any of them were mighty.

He's an odd one.

I'm not sure where he gets it.


Day 96


April 7: The infamous black jellybean.

Do you or don't you?


Day 97


April 8: A trampoline is a stage, and a rocket ship and a bed and a circus and countless other things.

I don't know who invented the coiled steel spring (or the trampoline), but this spring, and about a hundred more just like it, will give more joy and exercise to my kids than anything else we'll do this summer.