Phew, what a week! I don’t think I can easily summarize this collection in a few broad strokes – from a nearly-disastrous photo shoot that turned into one of my favourites to terrible iPhone shots of terribly funny moments, it was a crazy week indeed!
On Saturday, I had a portrait session at the Mer Bleue bog with two families of cousins who wanted to give grandma a portrait of the grandkids as a gift. (I love portraits as gifts!) We had two strong-willed three-year-olds to wrangle, and there was one point about 30 minutes in to the session that I honestly thought of saying, “Sorry, here’s your cheque back — I don’t think I’m going to be able to do this one.” The wonderful parents persevered, though, and we eventually ended up with not just a few but a whole bunch of great shots. This was my favourite of the day. We were trying to get this guy’s older brother just about anywhere into the frame, and while he waited contentedly on the forest floor, I caught this look of wonder as he gazed up at the towering pine beside him.
This is the one that will be turned into a gallery wrap canvas for grandma’s wall. I love it!
This is my favourite from my pre-Canada Day walkabout of downtown Ottawa. I *think* those holes are supposed to be in the flag to let the air through.
It only took about nine hours (whimper) in the blazing sun to put this together on Monday. It replaces the swings and beam that broke off the play structure earlier this year. (I don’t think I realized how enormous our play structure is until I put this one up beside it!) The boys are delighted to have their swings back, and now between the barnboard shelves and this, I am ready to tackle just about any DIY job around the house! (No, the original play structure is not purple, but I was too tired after building the damn thing to tinker with the white balance on the photos!)
Sometimes, you’re glad to have the camera with you on an ordinary walk down the sidewalk in pursuit of a preschooler just doing his own thing. I found the perfect quote to go with this one: “And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ~ Nietzsche
I was on my way out, to the drug store I think, when I pulled out of the driveway and saw the setting sun shining on my neighbour’s lilies in the sprinkler and I had to stop. I still don’t know which of these three I like best. This one has a very large aperture, and the fast shutter speed froze the drops in motion:
This one has a deeper depth of field (smaller aperture) so the shutter had to stay open longer. The drops become streaks in the longer exposure.
This one sort of splits the difference aperture-wise, but gets in closer to the lilies. And then the sprinkler got in closer to me and I got wet! I’m hoping the neighbours didn’t notice me crouching on the driveway and dodging sprinkler streams!
Which one do you like best?
Heh, this is my friend Justin. He was chosen to assist at the amazing Joe McNally lighting seminar I attended on Thursday – a kind of a big deal! I took a look at the breathtaking array of Nikon gear he was shepherding (not one, not two but THREE D4s, and about a mortgage worth of lenses) and asked Justin if they’d notice if he gave me one or two. This was his reply. (My iPhone maxed out its low-light capabilities in this one, thus the terrible grainy quality.)
This is where I will be today! The boys “helped” me scout out a good location for a family portrait session at Ottawa’s arboretum on Friday, and we found many climb-worthy trees.
In the funny way the universe works, the last time Justin (above) got mention on the blog was also the last time I was at the arboretum, for our fun photo shoot as part of Kym’s 100 strangers project.
Now I’m off to the arboretum for some family photo fun – what’s up with you this sunny Sunday morning?
What a coincidence, I spent my Sunday morning at a family photo shoot too 🙂
Thanks, Dani, we all had a great time!
LOL Gal, you’re funny! That was fun, I’m glad it was fun for you guys too! Almost done the photos, can’t wait to share! 🙂