Just the Five of Us

Some Favorites

I've had three shoots so far this month, and these are some of my favorites:

I have a maternity shoot this weekend that I'm looking forward to. I've only done two of those so far, so it will be nice to have more shots to add to the portfolio.

Six Month Photo Shoots . . .

. . . are hard to do with babies who never stop rolling and moving :).

Some favorites:

At the Duck Pond

Playgroup went to the duckpond today to feed the ducks (which, according to new signs, we're not allowed to do but we didn't see the signs until we were under way feeding the ducks and there was no way we were risking four tantrums so we had our grand duck feeding finale). Took along the camera and my 50mm 1.8 lens to practice with. My favorite shot of the day.

And can we say sweater weather? I wore a sweatshirt the whole time!!! It was awesome . . . I am so done with heat.

more photos . . .

Horse Photo Shoot

We were at home for a couple days, and my sister wanted us to watch her practice jumps. I wanted to see her ride and play with the new camera, so off we went.

I took over a hundred photos of her and her friend riding. The continuous shooting mode led to some great approach, in the air, and landing shots. How I LOVE being able to use my lenses again! I used program mode for almost all of these because the horses were moving and we were sitting on a wagon that the kids kept getting close to the edge to, so I didn't want to have to think of much.

A couple favorites:

Took this just as she went past, hence the awkward crop. Kind of like it though. She's riding Agassi, who's about 14 and totally beautiful and gentle. The kids were feeding him carrots as Mag got him tacked up, and he was sniffing at everyone looking for me. A sweet, sweet guy. Mag really wants him and does well on him in competition.

The girls were doing low jumps today . . . Mag jumps up to about 3 feet. She makes it look totally effortless, but I love how some of the photos show her expression. She concentrates immensely, and her nickname at the barn is Velcro legs--she has amazing control and rarely falls (I don't know if she ever has).

Waiting for the younger girl with them to adjust the jumps. Love how this looks like the horses are chatting with each other.

Love this perspective . . . it's neat to see what the rear legs are doing and how the horse launches. If I print, I'll probably remove the telephone pole and wires.

Can't get my kids to smile, but the horse will ;). So mad I cut off his ears, but I love the grin I got. One of those things I didn't see until I downloaded the photos. This is Darwin, Mag's friend's horse.

It's really quite hard to believe that's my little sister out there. I don't know the first thing about riding a horse, but I know her dedication to the barn and the animals and the lifestyle. She has a good relationship with Agassi and cares a great deal about his welfare--he gets cracked hooves sometimes and she's worked up a schedule to make sure he's not overridden. I've seen her on a few different horses over the years, but I think she looks best on Agassi.

The kids were not as impressed as we thought. We were sitting on a old flat wagon, and there were lots of weeds coming up through the cracks in the wood. They amused themselves for an hour by pulling the weeds and throwing them over the side. A few times, they went "fishing" with the weeds in knot holes in the wood. They spent much time precariously close to the edge (we were about two feet up) with no awareness of their surroundings--I'm glad Doug and Mom were there to wrangle.

Simply

One of my goals every year is to simplify. Have less stuff. Keep only things that are meaningful to me. I've simplified my wardrobe, my home, even my scrapping. But not my photography.

I have long loved photography. When I got my SLR in 2002, I went over the top. I think I took over 100 rolls of film that year. I bought lenses. Filters. Played. Experimented. Developed some skills (at least I like to think so). I have 100s of photos from that year . . . and that's after purging even more.

Then I quit work to stay home with the kids and didn't have the resource to spend on my hobby. Now, buying and developing film became a lot more expensive, and I couldn't afford to practice as much.

Wanting a carry around with me camera and determined to only order photos that turned out well, I bought a digital point and shoot. In hindsight, I could have gotten a lot more camera for about the same amount of money, but live and learn. I LOVED the freedom afforded to me with digital--aside from the initial camera purchase, it was so much cheaper to only pay for the photos I want. Enlargements were easier. I could play with my photos with software. Though not having negatives kind of wigged me out, I loved that I could sit outside and take picture after picture. 140. 150. Of the kids playing. Pick the best and print them. I was saving huge amounts of money.

But I was taking huge amounts of pictures. It got overwhelming, really. A two hour outing to the gardens yielded over 60 photos. An afternoon in the pool . . .over a hundred. I was spending too much time behind the lens, and I wanted to get back in front and enjoy again. So I started taking fewer photos. Hardly ever used my film camera anymore--I don't know if it's the camera or what but my photos have been turning out horribly on film. Dark. Shadowy. And I know enough about light to know it's not all me. Then, a week before Christmas, my memory card died. I think it did--it just stopped working. I was left with only the internal memory of my camera . . . 12 photos at a time. 13 tops.

Right before Christmas. A time full of traditions, programs, parties, and gatherings that I wanted to capture on film.

But I only panicked for a bit. I used the film camera a bit but I was just more selective about what I took photos of with the digital. I experienced more and wrote more and had enough shots to make do. I couldn't afford a new memory card, so that wasn't an option. I simplified. And I liked it!

Since then, I've gotten used to my 12 photos per event camera. Last year at the farm show, I took almost 90 photos. This year, I took 13. I still have the same memories, but I don't have as many photos to look through or print . . . and I spent quite a bit more time enjoying the show rather than photographing it. It's been an exercise in simplification that's been pretty eye opening for me.

That all said, I'm still planning to upgrade to the Digital Rebel next month (I'm giddy writing that -- next month -- for years I've pined for this camera). I miss the photography aspect of photography. Using my lenses. Playing with exposure and shutter speed. The things I'll be able to do with the lenses I have now and the freedom of digital. Have a hankering to see if I can't start a little photography business eventually. Will I go back to taking tons of photos? Probably. But I think I'll be more selective as to when I take all those photos. I want to go back to enjoying my photography and not feeling like I have to get every single moment on camera . . . already, my children will have so many albums and so many photos that I fear they'll just throw them all out to avoid dealing with them (and then I'll come back after I'm dead to haunt them for it). And, though most people who have this camera recommend the 1 gig card, I think I'm going to go for a smaller one. Cheaper, for one.

And simpler for another.