Making Art

On Black Friday we took our children to the Crayola Experience in Pennsylvania. I've posted details about the trip on my family blog here; while there, we were surrounded by so much creativity that I had to get a few artistic shots of my own to share here!

Disney on Ice

Back in October, my family and I attended Disney on Ice: Celebration! At the Patriot Center. We were up fairly high, but that's ok - it let me put my telephoto lens to good use!

Wedding Part 2: Little Touches

Some of the fun of wedding photography is focusing in on the little touches throughout the day. I started with the wedding bouquets in the room as the bride was getting ready.

Nutcracker Audition

Last month my daughter auditioned for a local production of The Nutcracker. I wasn't sure what the situation would be in regards to taking photos during the audition, but I was able to sit in on it and use my 70-300mm zoom lens to snap a few photos. The lighting was difficult, and I of course could not use a flash, but I think I was able to make do with the situation at hand.

The role her age group tried out for is "gift bearer", so during the party each of them would come forward with a gift to the front of the stage, curtsy, and return to the back. The older girls (chosen to play the main role of Clara) helped them out with their nervousness on the first run through (they each did it 3 times).

 

Political Event: Office Opening

**Disclaimer: This post is not an endorsement of any candidate, simply noting some photos I took at a local political event.

A friend of my husband is running for Delegate in the state of Virginia. We don't live in her district, so we can't vote for her, but he wanted to support her so we went to her office opening in Berryville over Labor Day weekend. She had asked if I would take some photos of the event; these are my favorites.

Her office is in the old Berryville Pharmacy building (the whole town is so quaint!).

Paris: Notre Dame

Continuing from my previous post...

We made our way to Notre Dame, as it's one of the places Evan was very excited to see (again).

Winterguard Competition

Throughout high school and college I participated in winterguard - if you don't know what it is, picture a colorguard from a marching band, but indoors with more dance, grace, and performed to a recording, not a marching band. Search youtube for some examples if you're really curious...or if the photos below pique your interest!

American Museum of Natural History: Animals & Bones

As I posted on our family blog, we recently spent an afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. When not having fun with the kids, I was spending time trying to get the highest quality photos possible in a crowded museum through thick glass, without my external flash (batteries died about 10 minutes in and I had no spares - lesson learned!). Not all of them were winners, but on the whole I'm really happy with these. To prevent the post from getting too long I'm only showing my absolute faves here.

Hanging art

Last week I traveled for work to Philadelphia, and despite the cold was lucky to have some beautiful weather in which to do so (unlike what we're seeing outside today!). I'm always on the look out whenever I go somewhere different for interesting photo opportunities; unfortunately often they occur while I'm driving solo and don't have a chance to stop and get out of the car to make the shot. Fortunately this opportunity presented while I was in the client's building, and lighting was good enough that my iPhone was sufficient to capture this beautiful hanging art display.

White House holiday tour

Earlier this month I posted some photos on my family blog detailing our visit to the White House for a holiday tour. I'm very happy with the photos posted there (I find many of them to be more artistic than I normally post on that blog), but I had some additional photos that I wanted to share with everyone, and I think this venue is far more appropriate in which to do so. I feel quite lucky that we were able to get tickets to the White House during the holiday season to see the beautiful decorations!

I actually edited the above photo on my iPad in Camera+, and I really like the blurred effect!

 This photo isn't my favorite, but I do like the color scheme of these decorations quite a bit.

This photo was also edited in Camera+ on my iPad...I like the edited version far better than the original!

Richmond capital building

Last month my husband and I spent some time in the Capital building in Richmond, VA. The building is beautiful, and while I was waiting for our event to begin I took a few shots of the decorations inside of the state legislature room.

Nutcracker ballerinas

In early December my daughter was an angel in the South Riding Dance Academy's rendition of The Nutcracker. I've posted photos of her already on my family blog, but here I wanted to highlight some of my favorites that I took of the older girls during their performance.

Disney on Ice

Back in October, I took my daughter to Disney on Ice at the Patriot Center. I have to admit, I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! They did four stories: The Little Mermaid (Ariel), Tangled (Rapunzel), Beauty & the Beast (Belle), and Brave (Merida). Natalie absolutely loved it, and I had a lot of fun using my telephoto lens to capture the ice dancers. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of photos I was able to get given that I was using a telelphoto for many of them, and the skaters were moving. I thought I'd finally get around to sharing them here!

Tiny Toes Dance Shop

A couple of weeks ago I was at my daughter's dance class and realized that I'd forgotten my book, my iPad, and my phone was about to die...which left me with only my camera to entertain myself. As parents aren't allowed in for most of class, I couldn't take photos of her, so I occupied myself instead with things I found in the dance gift shop.

Portraits of children

I took a large amount of photos at my friend's daughter's baptism. Many were of course of my friend's family and the baptism itself, but I also snagged a few photos of the other kids that were present.

Very Victorian

At the end of September we went to NJ for Evan's grandmother's funeral. The service was lovely, and afterwards we went to the Milleridge Restaurant on Long Island. Lynn had gone there with her parents for years growing up, so she felt it was the appropriate place to have a family gathering to remember Gram. It's a fascinating place - room upon room filled with neat old decorations (and neat old people!).

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Sometimes my job takes me to some very fun places! At the end of July I met with a group who works at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in DC and uses our software. They asked if I'd provide them with a refresher training for their study, and I was happy to oblige as they in turn gave me an "official" visitor pass to the museum for the rest of the day. Not only did this mean I didn't have to deal with security on the way in, but I also got the employee discount on the IMAX movie that evening, was able to walk around and explore the museum kid-free, and didn't have to pay admission to the Butterfly Pavilion! Definitely worth it.

Black and white NYC

On Memorial Day weekend, my family spent a day in NYC. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had taken a number of black & white photos that weekend due to that being the subject of my weekly photo project on Facebook. When I got home and went through the photos, I realized how many B&W photos I truly had taken! As I think it makes for a unique way of looking at modern Manhattan, I thought I'd add put my favorites here.

Hotel decoration

Last Sunday, Evan and I attended the Fairfax County Democrat Committee Roosevelt Dinner at the Hilton in McLean, Va. Prior to the actual dinner was a cocktail hour, and I found a few interesting things in the reception area to photograph.