Cousins-A Wonderful Time of the Year

Part of the most wonderful time of the year is watching the cousins get together. My kids are very blessed with four wonderful cousins…three of which I got to stand still for a moment to update their photo for the family photo wall. I found one cousin is a budding entrepreneur, one continues excelling in STEM for potential medical studies, and one now is an avid reader. The fourth cousin is only one…he is a fun loving and adventurous kiddo who I did not catch before Christmas when he visited with my bro.

All the kids love their sports and are close to their parents. They had a great time with my kids…nerf wars, bowling, Christmas day sports, and lots of interesting stories. Great kids with a sparkle in their eyes. We all loved being part of the annual tradition and renewal of family ties.

Well until next year, I know these will be the memories we hold on to.

-ehw

Kids at Twilight

A quick series of the Kids at Twilight.

I just needed a photo fix, so I went out and did something very hard.  Tried to get my own kids to pose for the darn camera!

These are a quick set of photos.  For a few I really pushed the fast side of the class to se what the depth of field would be like at F2 to F2.4. Some others I pushed to get larger depth of field so I could get a moving child in focus.  One on one I played with manual focus so I could get my moving child in focus...

It will be a busy week for me...so I'll post these ahead of time.

I hope you like them!  I know they gave me some smiles while I worked them up.

-ehw

Pretty Kitty

Here is a rarity for me...portraits of a cat.  Yes, you read right, I photographed a cat.  Yes the animal I am very allergic to.  The animal that looks at me and says, "I can take you."  The animal that is ripping up my popup trailer cover.  I photographed a cat!

This cat is called Friendly by my trusting, adoring, cat petting, and often drawing wife and children.  She is a neighborhood cat.  My kiddos go out an pet the cat, the 22 month old chases the cat with glee.  She and her buddy Shiloh own my yard and keep it free from snakes and other pests (for the most part).

How did I come across this?  Well I was playing with my camera working on a tree across the street with its fall colors and late afternoon sun.  Then Friendly waltzed up into the yard and starting being coy.  She even wanted me to to pet her!  Obviously she needs glasses and a smell test.  I look nothing like my six year old or my red headed wife.

Seeing that she wanted to play, and pose and goof off I took the opportunity to get some photographs of a new type of subject for me.

What I learned was that working in the contrasting light, on a subject with such a glossy coat is not in the easy to do category.  Next time I'll stop down up the aperture a bit as well.  I threw out a number of photos because my depth of field was too small.  The portrait up top is a good example of the eyes being perfect, and the rest good.  The others...well not so much.  The final photo was a fun one of the cat on the prowl.  Just as with any photo or portrait I found myself taking some time to touch up parts of the photo to make the cat look like a winner.

-ehw

PS: Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55

Time with my son

On of the benefits of "working" a show like Art in the Park is my children get to come with me.  Yesterday my eldest daughter came, and today my son.  I enjoy having them with me.  I don't to take them to my real job, so this is where they get to see me relate with people and be a professional.  It is an extra classroom for them, and a place for me to be a Dad by introducing them to the world outside of the home.  It also gives a me a few moments to catch that glimpse of my children Mom gets everyday in homeschooling.  The glimpse of the real child of mine.  What good kids they are!  They each endured several hours of slow times, but they engaged other adults with conversation.  They learned a great deal, and were very courteous and respectful to all they met.  They even did a good job talking to people about the prints we had for sale.  We also had some time to laugh and talk to each other...all in the warm golden light of early fall.

To celebrate afterwards I snapped a few images of Kalen this afternoon.  I had nothing current of him in my collection, and I really was missing that.

Got to celebrate the good times...for in just a few years they'll be out and on their own!

-ehw

PS Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55 kit lens F4.5, 1/180, -1EV ISO200 @55mm.  Post in Aperture with a few simple adjustments.

Negative space in life and a portrait

Here is my pretty china doll Julia Rose...

I think the world's technology if overloading us with stimuli.  Our brains are truly wired differently now because of it. Unfortunately this is robbing us of our ability to be introspective.  Introspective people often look into what appears to be nothingness, and find the rich textures and beauty God has hidden in there for their enjoyment and enlightenment that others ignore.  While making these portraits with my daughter I was able to slow down just enough to explore what I was doing...the why...the how...the wonder of the moment before me.  Writing this article, and thinking about what I wanted to do actually made me go back and re-edit my photograph to make it more attractive..actually to make the nothingness more attractive and complementary of the subject!  I had set the stage, but only by self examination was I truly able to explore it.

Here is the story of the shot:  When I shot this portrait I wanted to explore the concept of negative space a bit.  I just finished reading about in in Bryan Peterson's book so I thought it would be good to practice.  This is one of those times where you purposely let a big set of space be empty...but in this case I filled it up with a rich texture.  Before last month I would be scared to do something with the space, wondering if I was "allowed" to by the photogurus of the world.  Bob Coates helped me walk away from that supposed stigma last month at a class I took with him.  "If the masters of art did it, why can we learn from them?" he said...and then he encouraged us all to play a little but with the concept.  Only through play can you learn, experience and find the your style in the wonderful world of photo development we have at our fingertips today.  It is a great lesson we should all grasp on in so many ways (Bob Coates website bcphotography.com)  I used Julia's eyes and body curve to compliment the negative space...she is looking at the negative space as if something is there you cannot see!  By moving Julia in the lighting space I also purposely created shadows to give the subject a three dimensional depth to match the texture.  If I had more space in the old basement I'd pull her further from the backdrop..but I am out of that vital commodity in the basement right now...to create more depth and contrast in the textures.  Next step is to do more with the lighting outside of post to make this easier.

So put down that smart phone, ipad or gameboy.  Look into the nothingness, and see what you've been missing.  Remove the man made stimuli, and look, listen and feel for the rich textures of life God prepared for us.  I think our lives will be much greater for it...I know this portrait of my daughter certainly was.

-ehw

P.S.  The Fujifilm X-E1 F5, 1/110, ISO1600, at 234mm(35mm equivalent) tripod mounted!

Looking up to Heaven

Vertical elements in churches main function it to have you look up, hopefully towards where we perceive heaven to be.  This is a reflection of our natural tendencies.  I have yet to find a culture where when they are happy they look down, or when in a defeated stance look up.

Each stone you see weighs 50 to 100 pounds.  Estimates say they moved over 125,000 cubic feet of rock.  Some fathers and grown sons hauled as many as 70-80 loads of stone to help raise this from the ground.  By the way...no automatic lifts or power tools!

Amazing!

-ehw

PS All the info is coming from the parish information sheet...check out their website at www.stfedelischurch.com

Three Portraits

Up in Chicago I spent the last few days working on my portraits and marketing skills. One additional challenge I put before myself was to start asking people to pose for a portrait for me. In each portrait I wanted to try and start capturing a part of my subject's personality....and why they are such special people to God and me!

In the first photo you see my friend Richard. He was my table buddy during the group talks and we shared a few wonderful meals together. He is from Mayberry, NC..the real one. He and his loving wife worked hard for years as a husband/wife team in a two person law firm. Now he and his wife are retired...and he is now adventuring. I hope the photo reflects his wonderful, peaceful, calm and friendly personality.  I'll never forget the vegetable rolls he ordered the last night there!  Even when surprised he was so calm!

The second photo is Levi Sim; now of Portland, Oregon. I hope you see the energy in those eyes. He is a man of seemingly superman energy. Actually doesn't he look like Clark Kent?...well anyway the energy in those eyes is nourished by a wonderful wife and a little girl they are adopting. I loved seeing him well up over a child he loves so much...made me think of how I felt each of the four times a child entered my life. I hope you can see the joy in his life right there.

The final photo is of my friend Adrian. He and I were table buddies last year at Skip's. We renewed our friendship this week.  He is smart, direct, and one of the more encouraging people you'll ever meet. He is a U.S. citizen from Romania ... .and if he does not give you inspiration about taking a risk in a completely new land and starting with nothing no one will. He gave me help last year, and this year in the encouragement realm...thanks buddy.

Now I hope you enjoyed my little set of portraits. A little tip to the People of Calgary blog...he is inspirational at meeting and introducing interesting people up there...and one day I hope to add some more jock stories like this.

-ehw P.S. All with the fujifilm x-e1.  Edited in Snapseed while I waited for the airplane ride home.

Superstar

Isabelle was a superstar for us in our portraiture class yesterday...she sings, dances, entertains and doesn't let happiness leave her heart. Lovely gal.

Well today in Bob Coates fine art class we do discussed finishing effects you can put into photos through applications such as photoshop, On One software and others to add to the artistry of the image. Did not take many photos, but I did learn how much more one can do if you want to take the photo beyond normal and evolve it into a hybrid art form....it was almost overwhelming for a guy like me who doesn't know photoshop at all.

Well I took a few of those techniques and added them to the photo I took of Isabelle yesterday...it is already on her family web page...Dad threw it right up...so I got one happy customer this week!

So thanks Bob for a wonderful eye opening day!

-ehw

Portraits with Michele Celentano

Yesterday I had the joy of attending a class in formal portrait photography provided by Michele Celentano. Michele is a wonderful tea her who constantly through us into the fire...with a safety net. It was was wonderful.

The key lessons are simple, but the devil is in the details. Where I'm looking big picture she already was two steps ahead of me going into details. Not just any details but how a hand is laid down on a brother's shoulder, or if the whites of the eyes are too visible....these details are what makes her a master formal portrait artist.

I'd just like to say thank you to her for her dedication to the instruction yesterday. I'll be taking it home and putting it all to work as soon as I can so I don't forget the lessons learned....

More importantly I'll keep some of that passion for the craft she imprinted on me for a long time to come!

Pool Shark

My son plays his first game of pool...while doing a Cub Scout achievement no less!

To capture a moment of timeless contemplation what else to do other than get a nice photo finished as sepia?

I am really starting to enjoy environmental portraiture.  To photograph people in their element makes catching a glimpse of their soul so much easier!

For you camera geeks like me...shot with a Pentax K-5, Sigma 17-50 F2.8 OS with reflection coming off the pool table itself actually giving me some fill light!  Fantastic combo of camera and lens.  Post was completed in Nik Silver Efex Pro 2.

-ehw