Nieces/Newphew + Water + Mother-in-Law + LillyDee

My nephew didn’t much care for me trying to take some photos of him.

Time spent in Texas is always too short. But I did get to take some more pics of real human beings!

Jason, LillyDee, and I laced up and headed out to Skidaway. We got a good amount of sun and burned a few calories while out on the trail. LillyDee drank all of our water though. Next time, we are getting her a doggie pack that she can carry herself. I wished I had taken these pics earlier in the morning as the mid-day light is not great for photos, but it is what it is.

Excited and fist-pumping into the air – yeah, that kind of excited! You see, my neighbor’s son agreed to let me photograph him.
Yes. I got to take pictures of a real live human boy.
I’m posting a few of my favorites here, but there were many “almost good, but not quite” photos to choose from – an immensely powerful learning experience. I realized I need to be much more conscious of my backgrounds as I had many trees growing out his head and I definitely need a portrait lens as I was unable to get a lot of the DOF I was hoping for. I shot these using my crappy kit lens. Yuck!
I also attempted back button focusing during this shoot and learned that my camera body may be too small to accommodate having my fingers back there (especially since I use my left eye), but can see how this technique may work well if you have room for your fingers. Overall, I wish my focusing skills were better, so many of the shots were not salvageable due to blur. And in the heat of the shooting moment, my nerves took hold and so much of what I have already learned went to the wayside and I made some pretty sloppy shots.
I’d like to hear what you think and how you think I can improve.

I hardly ever go out to Richmond Hill, but a bunch of the photos I’m posting on this blog were taken in Richmond Hill. Interesting….and odd.

Anyone know why this tree is in the shopping plaza in Richmond Hill?

Ate lunch at Panera and Jason romantically sat us by the garbage. Ahhh, even after 14 yrs and he still knows how to woo a girl….

A peek into Jason’s toolbag…

This is the first thing I see every morning. My bedside reading light. Jason wired them up for me and I love them. However, I never get to use them to read in bed because he says they are too bright. I’ve recently started using PantherVision glasses we picked up at Lowes to read while in bed. I look uber-cool wearing them (as would most people wearing safety glasses with LED laser lights attached to the sides). Jason never uses the bedside lamp on his side, I wonder if he has ever turned it on? Does that mean he never reads? I’ve seen him read. How is he doing that? Hmmm….

We did a lot of gardening this past weekend. I was too tired to take pics when we finished up so I took some today.

LillyDee is hardcore when it comes to tennis balls. She gets this crazy intent stare. It’s almost creepy.

Hanging out and riding around town with my favorite girl. We hit the park while out and I got some snaps of some mossy trees. Not exactly hard to come by in this area I’m thinking I may have over-sharpened these. I am using an action that sharpens for the web, but I need to tweak it a bit more.

Took this from my the cover of my front porch as I was afraid of getting the camera wet if I ventured out further. I should have used a slower shutter speed to really make the rain in the background look crazy.

Opened the carafe set my mom gave me for Christmas today. I realize Christmas gifts are traditionally opened in December, but I’ve never been one for tradition.

I promise this is not a LillyDee Williams blog!
It’s just that she’s such a perfect model and happens to be around every time I have my camera in hand trying out new techniques.

It was quite foggy and wet this morning when I took these pics of garlic I have planted in the front yard.

Jason took me out to Richmond Hill to take a look at his most recently finished job. Not my favorite that he has done, but nice nonetheless.
I should mention that this is a garage apartment so you can only imagine the house. While there, I decided to take a couple of snaps of the surroundings.

We typically bathe Lilly Dee once a week. It’s usually a big PITA bathing her at the house. But, a few weeks ago we noticed a local car wash installed a dog washing center. We’ve been hooked ever since. This invention is on the same level as the iPad. Genius.
Here I tried a newsprint/Xerox type effect. I’m kinda digging it, how the grain is very amplified and pronounced. Not everyone’s ideal, I’m sure, but I think it’s good to experiment a bit.

Lilly Dee is crazy for balls. It’s most definitely her favorite toy. This is my first attempt to capture any action shots. Didn’t go so well. I was only able to catch her coming down from her leap. You’ll see here that I chopped her feet off in my frame. Next time I need to figure out her movements ahead of time to fill her body in the frame.
I think we succeeded in tiring her out.