Wet Lens

No prizes for guessing correctly that the water fun was turned on myself. This shot was taken a few milli seconds prior to the lens getting a wash!!

 

Kid Photographers

The girls and Connor are now really starting to like taking photos with the variety of point and shoot cameras that we have bought them over the years. Some of them are quite good, lots and lots are very blurry, but I don’t mind dealing with it.

Anja has recently expressed interest in shooting with a bigger camera, so I set her up with an old digital SLR with a 50mm fixed lens. I started to explain the concept of using her legs and body to frame a picture before I was met with some serious eye rolling. It’s quite interesting to see what they capture, most pictures of themselves, the dog and their toys. All the photos below are from one of the children.

My First Cute Photo!

For the first time, Connor was behaving for the camera today and I shot this photo with our old camera and the new portrait lens! He's sitting on his Mummy’s lap, his tummy had just being topped up and has his Daddy's full attention…what’s not to like! I think it turned out pretty well.

Generally he’s a pretty good baby. He does need to feed a lot though. He has rarely gone more than two hours before letting everybody in the house (and neighborhood) know that it’s time for him to eat again. When his tummy is full he’s perfect!

Going to Ohio

We'll be out of town for a few days, we're off to Yellow Springs, Ohio. This is a small town just outside Dayton, where Chris and Karen live. Recall that Chris went to college with Lynne and they visited almost two years ago (I know we should have had a return visit prior to this). Anyhow, this is how we'll be spending our short 4th of July holiday.

Shown below are a couple of photos taken last weekend of the girls playing in the living room. Speaking of photos, for those of you out there that know my extended family members, check out the excellent photos on Jonathan's Facebook page of Mum's surprise 60th birthday in June (apologies but you need a Facebook account I believe). They are fantastic, Jonathan has a real talent behind the lens.

I've also got some relatively good news from my work. I tend not to post anything work related (for obvious reasons) but I can report that I have just being promoted again (second time this year). Technically it's a new job since the position was advertised internally, I applied, interviewed and was successful. It's a very similar job but with more responsibility. On August 1st, I'll get to call myself a Senior Director.

Anyhow, enjoy the weekend everybody!!

 

 

A Stolen Moment?

Anja and Isabel, having spent their entire life looking through my camera lens, have now settled into a very steady love/hate relationship with the camera. They now usually scream and run when the camera is uncapped, mostly since they are at an age  when they are naturally gaining a generous sense of self-awareness. However, they are also still pretty vain and love to see images of themselves in the tiny viewfinder. 

Last night I had one of those rare moments when the girls actually brought me the camera to capture an image they had conjured (most likely Anja). The image below is my favorite from the shots I took. The image looks like it was stolen by the passing photographer, in reality it was staged by Anja, I was merely the operations guy! As a Dad though, an image like this simply melts the heart!!

New Toy - Canon EOS Rebel T1i

Today I bought a new toy. The flash on our old digital SLR was continually sticking so I brought it into Roberts in Indy to get it fixed. I started looking around and one thing led to another, as they do!! I went for an upgrade to our current camera and purchased the Canon EOS Rebel T1i. I just bought the body since my current lens will work just fine. The real selling point for me was the ability of this digital SLR to do video!! Well, that’s how I rationalized it anyhow!! I had a camera friend (geek) with me and he then convinced me to buy a Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II for taking portraits!! Hook line and sinker!!

I played around with it a little this evening whilst the girls were taking a bath, see below, now I need to take a look at the manual!!

Finally a Picture of a Chipmunk

This evening we had a brazen chipmunk stay long enough on the deck for Lynne to not only take a few photos but manage to get the big lens on the camera. It's slightly hazy since the shot was captured through our patio door (they must need cleaning)!!

 

A rather close-up shot of Randy. I was playing with Eva-lotta's 28-300 mm zoom lens and got carried away. Now I think I need one of these. In any case, was able to catch Randy in deep discussion with Håkan.

 

Playing with the New Camera

The other day I was playing with the new camera and an old lens that we had. It's a Canon EF 75-300 so I'll be looking forward to capturing some Indiana wildlife over the coming months....don't hold your breath to long :))

Paul