On the beach at Fort Story, just north of Virginia Beach. Lightning storm approaching. Crabs scurrying.
The boys and I went for a walk at sunset. The adventure finally ended when the crabs became just a whisper across the sand… and my exposures went too far under. Enjoy the digital grain!
Here are some of my favorite images from last week’s shoot. There are more that I love, but these rise to the top.
We began at the newer farm house, if you are familiar with the Littleton Historic Museum. Technically we weren’t allowed to photograph near the buildings, but we were quick and only got shooed out of one space. Even so, we were rewarded with this gorgeous image:
The school house was extra special and since it is off the beaten path, there weren’t any visitors disturbed by our presence.
The field with the sheep! I guess I didn’t choose one with the sheep in the shot. Oh well, you can check it out in the online gallery.
How can I catch up? It has been months since I have posted anything about our summer. I still have the images from India’s birthday and party that haven’t made it up. Not to mention the kids’ last day of school. Ugh. Well, here’s the “best of” photographs from the summer months:
India’s birthday party at the Adam’s Mystery Playhouse. The kids really enjoyed the show. I highly recommend this type of a party. We only invited 5 kids which made it very affordable.
On the right is India’s passport photo. The kids got passports in anticipation of our trip to Sydney, Australia in September.
From the top right: Ezra and his pals on the last day of school. India at the Childrens Museum. We visited a few times thanks to Ken who worked there just before moving to San Fran. The boys got hair cuts, there is Zed in a fire truck getting his cut. Ezra showing off his do while eating a taco at Chipoltle. Zed posing for the camera, almost a Spock thing going. Zed helping Anson retro fit the bathroom vanity which I stripped and varnished myself, thank you very much. Thanks to my dad’s input. The tile Anson put together for the hall bath. I must find the before shots for this bathroom. Anyone who has been to our house knows it is a night and day transformation.
Ezra demonstrating the robot dance for the camera, after a week at hip hop camp. India in her costume after performing her skit she made up with friends in the theater camp.
Grandma and Grandpa Smith’s weekend visit was a blast. Too bad it was so short!
ok, now I just need to post some shots from our 4th of July trip to Virginia and I’ll be caught up!
Yesterday we spent some time at the Littleton Historic Museum, an old historic farm. The kids explored with a very fun friend, whom they wish to spend more time with. It’s true Emma, Ezra asked several times why we don’t see you more often. I photographed Megan while the kids played. We were all doing our favorite things. Here’s a little preview:
There is much more to come…
When my friend asked if I would do a boudoir shoot for her husband’s birthday present I was excited to try something new. I wanted to make them a piece of art rather than a pin-up. I had seen this post on “kiss the groom” (a fast favorite) and wanted to try something similar. Although with a one week deadline, we weren’t ready to dive in to a totally new medium. We created something with a similar feel using materials easily found a the art store.
I did take the plunge and purchased a Lens Baby Composer to aid in the feel of the images. I bet you don’t know that while in school I photographed all my assignments using a crappy Cannon Rebel 35mm which would scratch my film plane even. Oh, those were the days. Then BYU’s photo department secured a few 4×5″ cameras which we could rent. Well I checked out one of those 40 lb cases whenever I could. I loved the 4×5 cameras and I loved tilting that front plane. I used those cameras in my illustration class, which was mostly product work (which I hated) and proceeded to use it for the portrait class. My teacher asked that I stop shooting with the large format camera. He wanted the images to be less staged (they were still pretty loose, I thought). At the time I didn’t really feel the need to practice shooting people with my slr. I had had plenty of time on that thing.
That spring we visited some photographers in Los Angeles who photographed people using a 4×5 camera. Kids and families even! They were high end portraitists who would present proofs (4×5″ contact prints) in handmade books and photographed wiggly kids using a camera that took time to set up and was difficult to move around. Unbelievable. Wish I could remember who they were so I could get an update on their work. That was probably 15 years ago.
Since that time I have always wanted a 4×5″ camera of my own, or get a tilt-shift lens. But I never wanted to lug the equipment around or spend the dough for the tilt shift lens. I couldn’t imagine shooting a wedding and having to set up 3 different cameras. Just too much stuff to deal with. But whenever I saw 4×5 or 8×10 cameras being used for wedding photography, I would always dream of ways to make it work.
Fast forward to 2011. Film is pretty much dead (unless you talk with Jonathan) but I still have the desire to load the film and crank the knobs and get some type 55 polaroid. Oooo, and a vintage, uncoated lens. Buying a $250 lens baby makes me feel a bit like a sell out. Really, everyone’s got one… every blogger mom in the world owns one. Why am I just hearing about them? Am I really that out of the loop? Apparently. I want the hack product too. It’s $250. In the world of lens, that’s super cheap.  It’ll hold me over until I decide I need the real thing. Tonight I will dream of all the things I could do with a 4×5 camera.
Enjoy!
We found these wooden frames which I’m sure are made for someone to paint on. They were a convenient 4×6 size! We just got some sheet adhesive, not sure what it is called, and mounted the prints to the frames. Then we used some jell medium or something… who knows. It sounded a lot like mod podge. I almost bought the glossy mod podge, but I’m glad I didn’t. This stuff smelled much better. Sorry the details are a little fuzzy. This happened in April and all the supplies are packed away some place in my garage.