Capturing a sunbeam

Yesterday afternoon I had a couple fun experiences with my girls.  First I got a hours of time with my big girl, we went out to lunch.  We talked, and talked and talked.  It was fun, and a good time to be a Dad.  After we arrived home, Mom had to depart for WalMart leaving me in charge of the house.  After a mere thirty minutes my little one found herself startled out of a good deep sleep.  When this happens you have two choices, let her go with a minimal nap and watch her feel ugly all night...or hold her as she tries to sleep.  Well this Dad scooped her up, and held her close.  She did what we all do when we want comfort, put her head down and listened for my heart to calm herself down.  After getting her calmed down and almost asleep, I put her in the big bed and she fell asleep on my arm.  This resulted in forcing me to get a good nap too!

Ok the point of this is that after we awoke, the sun was shining in the way only a winter afternoon sun can into out living room.  We both had energy now, and could really enjoy playing with the sunbeams.

Thankfully with my camera at hand, I was able to capture a sunbeam in the eyes of a happy little girl.

-ehw

P.S. X-E1 with 60mm Macro at F4.5, 1/150, ISO 800, -.5 EV.  Minor edits in Aperture using the RAW file.

A child's eye silent night

A great photographer I met once, and listened to often, Scott Bourne once said to explore the world creatively you need to see the world from the mind of a five year old.  Well I've been doing that with my now six year old. Today I reviewed photos he took over the last four months on my old Canon P&S.  My wife mentioned several times he imitates me when he shoots...he was actually doing quite well!  He does video much better than I do!  Well in his photos I did see the sense of wonder I often miss as I get older.

So tonight I set the tripod up and looked at the tree from the level of my two year old.  I just fell into the wonderful world of bliss.  I saw the lights, the shiny ornaments, the dark spots, the smiles on faces, the tassels and beads.  It was fun.  It was like my first memories of Christmas growing up...and when I made up the HDR images I just had to capture the feeling of the moment of when I can remember looking at my family Christmas tree a the age of four or five at Fort Devens, Massachusetts in 1974 or 75.

Then I thought about the most important part of the evening...the arrival of Jesus.  A hundred thoughts started running through my mind.  I can see so much of the story rushing together, and my mind is just too slow to understand or explain it right now.  I turned my lens on the family nativity scene, and turned of the lights.  I felt a peace come over me as I worked the light and tried a few different angles.  I began to reflect, that on a night like tonight I don't think Jesus wants us to think too deeply.  He wants us to look at his arrival like a child who can feel something special in the air, and now that in the darkness of the night a child was born who gives peace to our souls if we but choose to listen for the sound of his voice.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1.  These are HDR processed in HDR Efex Pro 2..the second one got a touch up in Perfect Suite 8.

Lessons from the farm

So what does a farmer do when a baby lamb loses its mother hours after it birth? My second son's Godparents recently had this occur on their farm. A ewe carried her 10th lamb to term, and died shortly after the birth. If the lamb existed in the wild, it would simply be left to fend for itself immediately. No other ewe will care for it, preferring instead by instinct to care for its own offspring.

This farming family instead will feed the lamb ewe by hand until it can fend for itself. Extra work yes, but it is an example of proper stewardship of the world we live in. These Godparents let nothing go to waste if they have any say in it. I find it is also a little example of following the wisdom of God, and an example of what we saw from Christ. We are all fallen creatures, even if we have good genes we are all still flawed. Despite this problem of ours, he for came into the world as a child, and grew to become a man...the perfect sacrifice and example for us to follow so we too could be with him in heaven.

So as you prepare for the arrival of Christ tonight...remember that as hard as it is to fathom...he calls us to follow his example in largest, smallest and everything I between parts of our life.

-ehw P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with the 18-55

Getting Ready!

A few weeks ago I was able to walk around town and snap some images on a cold November morning.  Our town works hard to create an old city center worthy of visiting, and the business owners do their part to make it inviting.

In these final days of preparation for Christmas, don't forget the reason for the season of advent (and it has nothing to do with present lists or parties).  Do your best to ignore the last minute sale emails ,and focus on getting your heart ready for the arrival of our Lord!  Take a walk, dodge raindrops, and look at your fellow man for all the reasons he came to die for us!  Then ask yourself...have I made a home inside of me for him?  Have I risen to the challenge?  When I failed did I beg forgiveness and make amends?

Ok...time for me to get ready for church myself and get my own head in the right place!

-ehw

PS-Fujifilm X-E1 with 18-55mm.  Cropped in camera using the square framing option.  It is fun to see the world in different framing formats than the standard 2x3.  It think it really allows you to do some extra mental calculus, and come closer to making the final product in your camera.  If you spend less time behind the computer the better off you are!

Stetson Hats!

Walking around Seattle I found an amazing store full of awesome hats! It had been years since I'd found a nice hat store and I enjoyed the visit. I even found my old hat made new! Trying on the hats I found myself easily noticing the difference between the affordable hats and the higher quality hats...and I liked the the best ones because of their light feel and quality construction.

The store owner and workers were great hosts as they helped me size my head, explained the colors and materials. They even sold one of my coworkers a hat while I dreamed of my own.

Oh I wanted to bring one home, but not in the budget this month! If I lived in Seattle I'd have one in my budget for sure!

I captured the photos using my Fujifilm X-20, and post processed in Snapseed. The little bugger is a decent travel camera and stayed with me all the time in my coat. It did not leave my side, and caught a few good photos along the way.

-ehw

Wishing for My Someone

Last night I ran out with friends to grab a bite to eat and I was longing for my lovely wife to be with me. I knew she might enjoy the sights, sounds and a little treat...

Oh well just under 42 hours or so and I'll be with her and the four little people I love so much! Time does make the heart grow fonder...but that happens to me after 8 hours at work! I hope when I retire from my second career I can merge family and work a little better.

-ehw

PS X-20 with post in Snapseed. Fun composition. I did open up the shutter on purpose to get the movement of the cars. Snapsee continues to amaze me with fun tools and output.

Keep Working

The only thing between the almost two dozen of us and home is getting the job done....13-15 hours a day for the last nine days. Leadership works longer and harder than us little worker bees...and treats us fairly...so I am happy to be here learning more skills needed to be a better leader and supervisor back home.

So until I come up for air again....I hope you like this little bit of Seattle.

-ehw

Thoughts of a Father

Walking the streets of Seattle's business district is a study in contrasts. Historic buildings stand next to new steel structures, the working port competes with the white collar district for attention, trendy tech stands side by side with food vendors trying to work out a living, the mentally ill panhandlers walk the streets side by side with Bill Gates.

I saw this very nice store a block from the hotel while grabbing breakfast one morning. The wedding dress made me thing of my wife's wedding dress, it is something I could enjoy seeing my growing daughters shine for a night like princesses in.

I know the reality of my life trajectory will never let me give such gifts to my children. I would never begrudge those who can enjoy such things, heck they end up paying my salary! I just know I will never be "up there" with the big boys.

I just know that each person needs to dream good thoughts, and look for beauty in our lives. For some it will be those incredible dresses making someone a princess for a night. For others it will be the smile of children enjoying their favorite meal, made for them with the love of Mom. For still others it will be the act of selfless giving to those in need of help for their poor spirit or accidental misfortunes.

I have not been away from my clan like this for quite a while. While the work is good, I can see it on the faces of myself and colleagues the longing for the comforts and love waiting at home.

I can only imagine if my longing for being with family and giving them gifts is this great, how much greater is the longing and love of the Father above for each of us to be one in communion with him? Imagine the cloaks of glory and food he has prepared in a house of joy....I guess it is time to really enjoy waters of life he offers.

-ehw

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Market Time

The only time I've had to shoot is when I got to run out of the building to grab something to eat. Crazy hours the last week...great learning opportunities but CRAZY hours! Good company though, as made some good friends for the future here in Seattle.

Ok so the first shot is as we approached the downtown Farmer's Market. The closing is what I snagged for breakfast one cold morning. It was pretty darn!

I must say Seattle is an interesting city downtown from what I've been able to see. Not take that with a grain of salt because I am not a city person, and this entire environment might as well be the far side of the moon to me!

My biggest beef is that I am not really comfortable shooting. First I am in someplace new and strange to me. Second I only get seconds to snag a shot because we have to get back to the office. So everything is supper rushed, and really is almost like I was running and snagging shots in a complex and hot news scene.

As with all my travel photography I'm processing in Snapseed with a few of my favorite presets. I still enjoy the program and the ability to get something nice well under my two minute processing rule. The photos are first from the X20 and second from the X-E1.

-ehw

Through the Looking Glass

Full day of travel and meetings...and this is what I see from my window. If I was not so tired I'd be walking with the tripod snagging a few shots. Instead I'm going to crash!

Besides I've been reading a lot about the Theology of the Body and I have a lot to pray about...it provides so much to learn and apply in my family life that my head is bursting from that as well!

-ehw

P.S. X-E! from the hotel room with a couple tweeks in Snapseed.

Dodo Bird spotted in Alpharetta!

Contrary to most textbooks, the dodo bird does show up from time to time in the wild.  This one wore a mask to disguise itself amongst the busy downtown Alpharetta Canton Street.

For this photo I did a little bit of work in Capture One 7 Perfect Effects.  One thing I've learned is that many, many effects can be done in your primary photo editor.  Programs like Perfect Effects and the Nik products (I own both) can make the process of having fun with your image faster.  Yes there will be some things you can only do in Photoshop, but reality is that for 95% of your work these tools will do just fine.  Yes I did use some one shot HDR work with Perfect Effects for this...as RC Conception says...everything can look better in HDR.

-ehw

PS Fujifilm X-E1 with the old 18-55 again.  The darn thing is just so versatile!

To color or not to color

During my work around in Alpharetta I began to work with my camera settings internally.  In this case I shot the jpeg with Artisa Film mode on high color and contrast.  It as nice, but I also wanted to see what the B&W would look like.  So I simply reprocessed in RAW using the B&W setting with increased contrast and detail.  The more I get comfortable with adjusting settings in camera, I think I may be able to reduce my time at he computer after the shoot.

I also wanted to experiment with the B&W because out of camera, many much more experienced and savvy photographers, say this machine is a B&W dream machine.  I think it did pretty well, but I'm not an expert yet.

In either case, it makes a good study of how removal of color can change up a photograph and focus your eyes and experience on different parts of a photo.  While the white frame and dress draw you in while it is in color...the shapes and patterns box you in for the B&W version.

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1

Fall Colors in town...

I went for a walk yesterday and learned I have a lot to learn...while using my tools.

Fall is a wonderful time.  Great light, cool weather, and some things slow down around the house.  Well as the kids get older it does not seem to slow down much, but it does a bit.

This photo is an interesting juxiposition (well to me at least) of nature's leaves, a service panel on the sidewalk and a spray painted spot of blue!  Not expected with the fall and natural colors in there!

I hope you enjoy it!

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1 with the not so kit 18-55 lens.  RAW file conversion and edit right in Aperture.

Heart Struck!

One last one from Art in the Park here...

This is from my friend Wendy Dickerson's booth called How Charming.  She makes charms of every type you can imagine.  This one struck me as sentimental since it reminded me of my nurse wife.

I'm finding in my artistic journey that it is not the technical aspects of a photo that sells it to most of us.  It is the sentimental that makes us want to attach a photo to our walls or story books.

That said, the any good of a photo is almost equal parts technical and art that can tell a story.

So I guess our job as an artist trying to create a story from our minds and then to capture it in our particular product.  If we do our jobs right with technical and artistic competence, we will have that story connect with some cord in others in a way that allows them to relate to the piece as well.

Not as easy as it sounds or looks...or to understand late at night after a good long day with four kids, yard work and a photo session!

-ehw

P.S. Fujifilm X-E1with 60mm Macro.  Contact Wendy at Howcharming22@gmail.com if you'd like to see her work!

Dancing Water

Last week at Art in the Park us photographers were having fun with the park fountain.  The objective was to both capture and display motion in one shot.

To accomplish this I used my telephoto lens, pushed it out to 175-200mm.  I switched to manual focus (something I am still learning with my new focus peaking feature) and tried to watch my focus zone so I had enough depth of field to have the drops in and out of the focus zone.  I used a series of shutter speeds from 1/1000 to 1/600 to capture the drops.

Lots of fun...and you only get better with practice!

-ehw

Sights around Art in the Park

We had a slow. but lovely weekend at Art in the Park...so that left some time for us photographers on scene to play and make some art...and admire the work of others!

Please enjoy the photo essay that follows, and know we were working hard!

-ehw

PS  All taken with my X-E1 with a variety of lenses...

Art in the Park in Alpharetta Today! October discounts!

Hello!

It is the last Art in the Park of the year in Alpharetta today and tomorrow!  I need to sell off my inventory so if you come down to the show expect up to half off on matted prints.

If you like any of the photos in my store or in my portfolio I have a deal for you!  I am offering 10% off all photos, even special orders you start this weekend!.  Use the code "Octoberfest" in the Square Marketplace.

I hope to see you there.  I'm as always excited to help you decorate your life with some of images of His Glory!

-ehw