WPP: Another win!

Ack! times two - the first because this will be my first post in June (I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything since last week!), and the second because I fell behind in my submissions to the Weekly Photo Project again. And good news in this one - I won one of these!

Gritty black and whites

In the past couple of weeks, I downloaded a few free "mini" actions for Lightroom. They don't have the "full" utility that the sets you pay for do, but hey, why not try the free ones out? Turns out, for mini presets, they've added a lot to my photos! In particular, I'm LOVING the black and whites that I can now create.

This is why I love my "nifty fifty"

If you enjoy photography, and have not yet purchased a "nifty fifty" lens (50mm fixed focal length), please run out and do so. I obtained my 50mm f/1.8 lens off of amazon.com for about $100, and it was probably the best $100 that I've spent so far on my photography hobby. There are MANY other lenses that I'd like to  purchase, some of them ranging well up over $1,000, but I believe this one will continue to serve me well. The quality of light, depth of field, ability to focus on a very specific part of the photo...all of these contribute to beautiful photography. If you doubt, look at these amazing shots of my beautiful daughter (and these were taken on an afternoon when she had the stomach flu!).

Morning portraits: children

As I mentioned on my Facebook page when I shared this photo earlier this week, I have a lot of photos to share of the kids all dressed up for Foxfield. I had a lot of photos to share from our weekend in Charlottesville about 3 weeks ago, and decided to split up the posts - I posted an album on Facebook devoted to mostly our friends (the adults), a post on my family blog devoted mostly to my kids, and thought I'd highlight the more "portrait" shots of the kids here. The kids all looked so lovely, and they were so obliging of my photography efforts!

Baby Geese!

Stratford pond (just behind our house) is home to a lot of wildlife, but the most obvious are the many geese that make a home here. In particular are a mated pair that we knew would be having babies at some point. Two weeks ago we finally spotted the babies, as the family came out of the water to eat not far from our backyard. As I didn't want to provoke the parents, or scare the babies, I used my 75-300mm telephoto lens to shoot these guys through the trees from our backyard.

A different view

One of the things I like to do is photograph something from a new perspective. Yesterday afternoon I was looking at a vase of flowers on my table, and the flowers hanging down next to the vase jumped out at me. I thought I'd try this perspective, and I think it works!

Beauty at Monticello

On the last Friday in April I spent the day at Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's home) with my family. I posted kid/family photos on my other blog, but wanted to highlight the beautiful springtime shots I got here.

This one is currently my cover photo on my Facebook page, and was also my submission for "Signs of Spring" for the Weekly Photo Project two weeks ago. I absolutely love this photo!

Spring in Charlottesville

 Having grown up in central Virginia, I love the area in the springtime. I was fortunate to be able to spend four days in Charlottesville recently, and have the chance to capture some lovely springtime photos.

Setting sun: backlighting

Our new house backs onto a beautiful (man-made) pond, which looks especially lovely as the sun is setting at night. 

The Eiffel Tower during the day

On our second day in Paris, we took the Batobus (riverboat taxi) to the Eiffel Tower. This was taken at our stop.

 Being on the Batobus provided opportunities for beautiful shots of the Eiffel Tower behind this bridge.

WPP: 5 week wrap up

You may have noticed (or not, cause you don't care, but that's ok) that I haven't posted my Weekly Photo Project submission here in a while. That's because I didn't submit one for most of the past month; of the 5 weeks recently, I missed 3 of those due to how crazy our life became there for a while (trip to Paris, moving, work travel, unpacking, etc).

The Eiffel Tower After Dark

My girlfriend and I went on a photography expedition (with husband in tow) to get photos of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. We spent about two hours out in the bitter cold, but it was completely worth it to get these beautiful images.

My children, outdoors

When the light outside is this great, you can't help but take photos of these adorable subjects! 

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).

Paris: Seine and Saint Chappelle

We arrived in Paris a week ago Monday, much later than planned but ready to hit the city after freshening up at our hotel. Since we'd each gotten a maximum of about 4 hours of sleep on the plane, we didn't have anything planned for the day beyond walking across the Seine to the Ile de Citie to visit Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle, both on the island. Just walking through Paris you see the most beautiful buildings.

WPP: March 18-24

Two weeks ago the theme for our weekly project was "Vintage Cars". I'm not a car person, and I very rarely have the chance to see any that would be considered vintage, much less take a photo. However, that weekend I happened to take a low-light photography class in Georgetown (Washington, DC) and captured this vintage vehicle. No one said that vintage has to mean "mint condition", right?

One of the aspects of the class was to play with white balance to get different "moods" in the photo, particularly as the light is changing due to sunset. I used the tungsten light setting on my camera; when used outdoors, it creates this great moody blue tinge to the photo. I was very happy with how it came out, and can't wait to share my favorite photos from the class here!

For last week (March 25-31), I was out of town in Paris and missed the submission. The title was "Something I See Everyday", which would've been a lot of fun to add to, but being in Paris just wasn't in the cards. I most likely would've submitted a shot of my kids or dog!

Speaking of Paris, I ended the trip with over 1,500 photos to go through. I am hopeful to start on that this week, but we're moving over the next three days (my house is currently a mass of boxes, all to be loaded on the truck tomorrow), and I still have a boudoir shoot to finish editing and get to my client. It will all happen at some point, right?!

And I'm off!

Tomorrow evening at this time, I will be on a plane over the Atlantic Ocean headed to Paris for a week. My husband and I had always talked about going to Paris (or possibly London & Paris) for our 10th anniversary, and somehow, despite many possible impediments, it's happening! Even better, we're going with two of our favorite people on earth, good friends of ours who are also celebrating their 10th anniversary this year (we got married within 3 weeks of each other; she and I were in each other's wedding).

I'm excited for so many things about this trip, but one of the most exciting things will be the photography opportunities! I can't wait to share photos here with everyone. I think I have all of my gear packed; most everything is in my new camera bag (from jototes.com) - I am in love with this bag! It doesn't even look like a camera bag from the outside, which is helpful as I've been told by so many people about the high risk of pick pockets/crime in Paris, so I'm glad to have something that would be difficult to steal (assuming I'm keeping it across my body, as planned).

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.

WPP: March 10-17

The theme for this week is "Bridges". I had a few photos from some recent photo expeditions that I were possibilities, but I knew that my ideal photo would be from our trip to Australia in 2009. We spent a couple of days in Sydney, and I have many photos of the Sydney Harbor Bridge (along with the Sydney Opera House, Zoo, and the rest of that beautiful harbor!). Sadly, I had a simple Canon point-and-shoot at the time, so my photos are nowhere near the quality that I like to have now, but despite that I'm still very happy with this photo, and thus it was my submission for the week.

Taken near sunset, April 2009.