A Walk with Sienna

Our son, DIL, and grand-daughter Sienna are visiting from California to celebrate her first birthday on October 2. All of us took a walk last Saturday morning to enjoy the fresh fall-ish air and to view the first peeks of red foliage.

You can see more of Sienna, and the very best landscapes I could find in our neighborhood, right here.

Reasons for My Discontent

Last night, after posting some pretty underwhelming photo results for my "flash experiments" assignment, I signed onto the class' blog site so I could show my husband some of the really creative photo journaling assignments of my classmates from last week. While watching those slideshows for the second time, I wondered how Robert was able to get the red lightning-like lines to originate exactly at his Superhuman's eyes. I again admired the artistry of Kacie's composition and the action that her still shots were able to convey. Amy's assignment was just pure fun -- a labor and delivery in surreal black and white. And Allison's picnic... I love the way she sees things! The black and white cat on the blue step... the way she photographed the spreading of the blanket from a vantage point somewhere underneath it... thinking to take a photo of the weave of her picnic basket... and on and on.

When I'd returned to Allison's blog, I saw the very cool drum shot that was her teaser for this week's assignment... and so I had to look at that. I was completely blown away by the clarity of her shots as compared with my own run-and-jump attempts from Sunday night... and so I began shooting more photos(the first one a blatant plagiary of Allison's water idea, I admit!).

As well as shooting the water in the drain, I tried taking a swoosh shot of the TV (that's Jay Leno) -- and a whole lot of moving fan shots (these ideas, also, a-la- Allison). What else could I photograph while it was moving? I took pictures of a basil plant on the kitchen table (it's uppermost leaf was quivering in the breeze of the fan overhead). I took pictures of my own foot while it was tapping time to music (it looks like it was still) -- and of my husband swinging an orange stuffed cat by the tail (two of these look like still shots; the third one is swooshy, but blurred).
SIGH... you can view the results of these second efforts here.

I ended my second flurry of photography feeling a bit disconcerted. I guess I just need lots more practice... and I definitely will not quit my day job!

Jumping Jack Flash

Our assignment for this week was to experiment with the camera's various flash settings. I took three sets of pictures. The first set used manual settings and the long shutter feature -- without benefit of flash -- at about 7:30 p.m. -- with a different ISO and length of exposure for each photo. The last shot in the series allowed 15 seconds of exposure and is completely white because it was shot at 1600 ISO.

The second set of photos I took used the camera's Night Photo scene mode. These were the best quality shots that I got the whole evening (but of course, the settings are entirely automatic!).

The last set of pictures was taken with the long shutter feature again, but this time with the flash on. It was about 8:15 p.m. Some were taken with the camera held still, and the rest were taken while moving the camera a little bit. For this last set, I again varied the ISO but held the exposure time constant at 1 second.

I was a little confused about this assignment (that is, what all I was trying to accomplish) and am not entirely certain even now that I did it correctly. I did achieve the various effects -- freezing the [jumping] action; creating the swoosh-y continuous action illusions of jumping/running; and getting the lightning-type effect of the camera moved slightly while taking a picture. But I didn't catch on to a rationale for using these effects deliberately, and I am far from feeling I have any kind of control over the results I attain while using them. One thing that I do know for sure is that my use of the techniques in this assignment did not result in the art-y effects that were shown in the links posted to our course's Blackboard page!

You can see my very patient hubby jumping from a retaining wall in the back yard -- and then sprinting past me in the front yard -- (over and over and OVER again!!) here.

Schafley Bottleworks' ART OUTSIDE

The assignment for this week -- Photo Journaling -- was to "capture" an event with a collection of pictures that would tell a story of sorts. Since I had a lot of other things I needed to do this weekend, I wanted to get my pictures taken on Friday. At work that day, I checked the Entertainment section of the Post Dispatch on-line to see what was going on.

Late on Friday afternoon, we went to the Alternative Art Fair at Schlafly Bottleworks in Maplewood. It was the first day of the weekend-long event, and we arrived about 1/2 hour after the fair opened. This allowed me to get some relatively un-crowded and not-quite-ready-for-prime-time shots early on. If you have frequented the Clayton Art Fair, you would understand better why this show was billed the Alternative Art Fair. But I liked it -- and found the artists and the art patrons to be often as interesting as the art being displayed.

The problems I encountered with this assignment had to do mainly with lighting -- how to avoid the glare of bright sunlight on the faces and clothing of my human subjects at 5:45 p.m. -- and at 8-something, what I could do (if anything) to prevent the reddish tint on the faces of band members photographed under the cover of a performance tent that was lit from within. On the plus side, I am becoming more accustomed to the shortcomings of my camera's telephoto capacities, and this week was able to make changes between settings for ISO and white balance with more of a rationale and less guesswork, overall.

I'd like to learn something about photo composition, and plan to do some reading on that. It was easier, though, for me to feel I had a little bit of an "eye" for composition this week -- as opposed to last week, for the portrait photography.

You can view the rest of my photographs for this assignment here.

And a Good Time Was Had By All

I could say so much more about this wonderful weekend... how great it was to see my brothers, sister, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews again... how nice it was to meet the guests of some of these family members, as well as Jeff and his family and friends... how touching it was to see Kelly come up the long aisle of St. Rita's church, flanked by her mom and dad and beaming ear-to-ear... and hearing Kelly and Jeff exchange their vows, and be introduced as a married couple by the priest... and at the reception, seeing them ride the carousel... and watching Kelly dance with her dad, and Jeff dance with his mother...

How much fun we all had at the reception! I'll end this long post now, with one happy video!

The Newlyweds

As I mentioned in the very first installment of today's post (and someday I MUST figure out how to have the first post show up first, and last post show up last, instead of just the opposite! Ideas, anyone?!?), Kelly is my oldest niece, was my parents' first grandchild, and is my god-child (she was born when I was a senior in high school, and boy, was I proud to be named her godmother!)

Today, Kelly is a really wonderful woman with many interests and many friends. She is an athlete: a starter on her wheelchair basketball team, the Connecticut Spokebenders (and the first woman to be one, at that!). And as of Saturday, September 5, 2009, she is a married lady! Her husband Jeff seems to be a wonderful man, and what we could all tell for sure is that Mr. and Mrs. are very much in love... Congratulations, Kelly and Jeff!!

You can view more of my wedding portraits of Kelly and Jeff here.

Lighthouse Point Park, New Haven, CT

Kelly and Jeff's wedding reception was held at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven, Connecticut. The park, as its name suggests, is home to a lighthouse -- one that is octagonal in shape (a Connecticut lighthouse trademark) and completed in 1847. Its exterior is made of sandstone that was hauled by horse-drawn drays. The interior is lined with New Haven brick. It has a circular staircase made of granite from local quarries, and 74 steps lead to the lighthouse's lantern.

The lighthouse is located at the eastern point of New Haven Harbor. The view beyond the lighthouse is beautiful in the daylight and even more spectacular at sunset. Across from the lighthouse is an enclosed pavilion that contains the Lighthouse Park Carousel -- one of only about 100 carousels still in use today. It was inside this pavilion that we ate dinner, danced, and -- yes! -- rode the carousel at Kelly and Jeff's wedding reception. I told them that theirs was, hands down, the most picturesque wedding reception I'd ever been to. Our class assignment was to try to take portraits that looked like portraits you might see in a magazine or book, and this setting was surely up to that challenge!

Almost 21

As I had my first cup of coffee in bed on Saturday morning, I decided that the white curtains covering the window in the hotel room would serve rather nicely as the background for a portrait sitting. At breakfast, I recruited my subject: my niece Stephanie, soon-to-be 21 years old and a Air[wo]man First Class in the U.S. Air Force.

I took about 100 photos that morning in the room. I took a few more shots later with Steph dressed in her wedding finery, both at the wedding and that evening during the reception. You can see more of our "shoot" here.

Thanks, Steph! You're a great girl and an awesome model!

Quick Trip to Connecticut

Kelly, my oldest niece and god-daughter, was married this weekend in Hamden, Connecticut. My husband and I arrived at the hotel in Orange on Friday afternoon and were back in St. Louis by 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Between those times was a fun meal at The Chowder Pot with my two brothers, sister-in-law JoAnn, and niece Stephanie on Friday evening... an extended "photo shoot" with Steph after breakfast on Saturday morning... and the nuptuals at 1 p.m., followed by the wedding reception at 5 p.m. We had to pack Saturday night after getting back to the hotel from the reception (so that we could get our wake-up call at 5 a.m. and make it to the airport on time!). WHEW!

In the week before the trip, I'd looked forward to taking photos of people I don't get to see very often for this assignment. I wanted to be able to get really good shots at this really special event! My task was to experiment with ISO camera settings in bright outdoor and low inside lighting... and at close, wide angle, and telephoto ranges.

On the way to the hotel, I practiced my bright daylight and close range shots in the car, using my genial hubby as a model. You can view the rest of that short series here.