Sweet Maia, a few days ago ;)

My cousin wasn't the only one to get a late batch of photos from me. A really great friend who I love who has an adorable daughter is a victim of my slow processing as well.

And why? I am usually not so slow about delivering pictures, but what can I say? It's been a crazy couple months.

My friend Katey, her husband Jason and their lovely daughter Maia were in town, ahem, a few days (months?) ago and made the time to grab lunch with me, Alex and our friend Caroline. And apparently I really wanted to snap a few photos of Maia so that I could keep them to myself, because, hmm, well, Katey already knows what Maia looks like! ;)

Sorry Katey. I hope you like these.

My favorite

Maia had great fun playing around in the parking lot (sorry we didn't have time to go to a more picturesque venue!), especially when it came time to play with her balloon!

Katey and Jason, thanks for sharing her with me for a few minutes. We had a great time! Click here to read more!

Liam

On September 29th, my brother Patrick called me. You know, he said, you only have one more day to write a post in September. I acknowledged his powers of observation and explained I just didn't have time.

By October, he must have given up, because I didn't get my warning call on Friday.

But now it's November, NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month - aka, the month in which you are supposed to post every day). Last year, I had an huge trip to Australia, New Zealand and Japan to write about. It took me more than the month of November to finish! What on earth am I going to write about now?

Ah, and now we see the genius inherent in my laziness. I've been saving up all of my good stories for November. Brilliant, right?

Yeah, it would be if I had a bevy of good stories, but for now, I just have a few things to share.

Like the day my cousin Susie visited my mom and I with my aunt Mary and her son Liam (my first cousin, once removed, according to the very complicated tree on Wikipedia). You may remember him from here.

Eh, what does it matter what his title is, he's a cutie.

No, we didn't let a seven-month-old go down the slide alone.
His mom is braced to catch him and strategically cropped out of the picture. :)

We had a great time at the playground. Liam was fascinated by the falling leaves, and he only tried to eat a few of them!

And he's such a ham. I had such a great time!!

Susie, I'm so sorry these took so long. I should have all the pics to you shortly. Click here to read more!

The rest of the portraits

Let's see, where was I?

Oh right: and a couple! (A couple of professional photographers - yikes!!)

My second photoshoot on Day 3 of the amazing photography workshop that I've been writing about here, here, and here was with a couple: Matt and Laura, who were among the group teaching the workshop.

I have another story about how not inside-of-my-element I was, but first, a picture, just so you know it all turned out ok in the end.


Oh wow. When I was told I would work with Matt and Laura next, my stomach turned inside out. Doubt started to creep into my mind - I mean, I had seen their self-portraits. What did they need me to take pictures of them for anyway? :) And they know what they're doing! What if they think what I'm telling them to do is stupid? What if they know what I'm photographing won't work? What if...

Fortunately, I didn't have too much time for self-doubt because I was thrown into a group where shooting was already in progress. A couple of snaps of the shutters and the group turned to me as Matt and Laura asked (very nicely, I might add), so what would you like us to do?

Whoa.

I was a deer in headlights. And here's something you may not know about me: I have a quirk. Probably more than one, but one in particular that came to light here. When I'm nervous or don't know what to say, I crack jokes - weird jokes, inappropriate jokes (not in the risque or dirty sense, just simply not germane), anything to distract people from my unease.

So I asked Matt to twirl Laura. I meant spin. In the dancing sense. But that's not what I said. So I explained what I meant and then somehow decided it would be a good time to start in on the weird jokes. Frolic like bunnies! I said. I was kidding, but no one laughed. So I kept going: If you don't want to spin her, you can both hop around like bunnies - that might be nice!

I hoped they knew I was kidding. I really think they looked nice spinning!

And then they did this at the end, making it all worthwhile. They are a gorgeous couple.

I think at one point I even asked them to talk to each other as they walked away from me. The topic? Why you aren't bunnies. Totally weird. I know. I cannot believe I'm even telling you this.

Fortunately for me, you don't need to tell Matt and Laura too much to get a beautiful picture.


You guys were wonderful and wonderfully patient models. Thank you! Click here to read more!

More adventures in actual portraits

After surviving the experience of my first real photoshoot on Day 2 of the San Francisco workshop, I assumed the rest would be easy. But Day 3 arrived with a whole set of new challenges. New kinds of subjects - a family! with kids! and a couple! (A couple of professional photographers - yikes!!)

Taking pictures of people who do what I tell them to was still new as of Day 2 - one day does not an expert make, apparently. But I had amazing subjects who made it easy to take these pictures.

First was the beautiful family:


Smiling faces,


laughing with dad,


and doing what little boys do best


I had a great time photographing them.

I'll tell you about the couple next time. Click here to read more!

Wait, you want me to take an actual portrait?!?!

I spent the first weekend in May in San Francisco, trying to discover whether I truly could capture someone, really show who they are in a picture or if I was just destined to simply push the shutter and get lucky (sometimes) with my photographs. And while I cannot say that I emerged completely transformed into an artist, I did return home having made steps in that direction and with a roadmap to get there.

The photography workshop I attended in San Francisco was a three-day affair. Day 1 was about self-portraiture, artistry and learning who we are and how that impacts our art. Now, I'm an analytical number-crunching nerd, so to say I felt a bit out of my league is a true understatement. Fortunately for my self-consciousness, everyone else seemed to be (for the most part) new to the exercise too, and so we all stumbled through the day together. It was great.

On Day 2, we did something completely different. We headed to the lovely town of Stinson Beach, where the uber-talented Rick Chapman had recruited a number of locals to be portrait subjects for us. We were paired up with another photographer, given a subject and sent out for two hours to learn about the person and capture them on film (or SD/CF card, whatever).

As the time for our assignment approached, nervous energy filled the room, and my classmates, who take portraits of babies/children/families,wondered how different it would be to take an adult's portrait. At the same time, I stewed over how different it would be to take a portrait of someone (a real one), how I had never in my life given instructions to the person on the other side of my lens, and how I had no idea what I had gotten myself into! What had I gotten myself into?


This first portrait assignment pushed me. My subject was an amazing woman.


We went to a place that was very special to her, a place of remembrance.


And we celebrated those memories and looked forward.


And I think I captured a little bit of that. And a little bit of me. What do you think?


I'll tell you all about Day 3 later.
Click here to read more!

Last Weekend

Last weekend, I flew to San Francisco to participate in this - another photography workshop with Me Ra Koh.

The view from my room

Wow. Just, wow.

I was so out of my element, but I loved it! The workshop pushed me in a new direction and I'm a more well-rounded person because of it. I push myself intellectually at work, I push myself physically in the gym, but I pushed myself artistically this weekend. And it was weird. And amazing. All at the same time.

Learning from Lesley Ehrenfeld, Garrett Burdick, Me Ra Koh, Brian Tausend and Rick Chapman,
all of whom are amazing

The last workshop I took with Me Ra was in Chicago (home) and we learned about the technical (up my alley) aspects of photography - aperture, shutter speed, ISO, flash, shooting in Manual mode. I really enjoyed it and came away with a view that the world was my oyster. Technically, I could take pictures, now I just needed to take those tools and compose great photographs.

When I first read the description for the workshop, it sounded amazing. First, Me Ra and Brian (her husband) would be there, but they would be complemented by Garrett Burdick and Rick Chapman. Second, this workshop was about artistry, not necessarily about building a photography business (I'm not) or about how to shoot a wedding (I don't). While it sounded a little over my head, it also sounded like something I could really benefit from. Time, and my pictures, will tell...

Rick Chapman at work

So I signed up.

And waited.

As I got ready to fly to San Francisco, my mind was in a totally different place. Work was busy. Life was busy. Artistry was not at the top of my list.

And when I met the other workshop attendees, the vast majority of whom had their own photography businesses (all but 2 or 3 of us!), I was afraid. I was petrified.

But I survived. ;)

And then I grew, I had fun, and I met some amazing people. What an incredible weekend!

Who wouldn't want to learn from this group?
Brian Tausend, Me Ra Koh, Rick Chapman, Garrett Burdick, Laura Reoch and Matt Reoch

I'll post some more images once I finish editing. We did a few portrait sessions over the weekend, which really pushed me. I've always been an observer. I've never told anyone to smile, much less how to pose for a picture! It was scary at times, but I'm going to work on trusting my judgment, giving myself authority and believing that I know what looks good. In fact, I just may subject someone who is graduating this weekend to a little portrait session...

Look out Patrick! :)
Click here to read more!

Baby Liam - seven weeks cute, er, old

Is it me, or does this little guy look a lot older than seven weeks?

Remember my cousin Susie? She had her baby Liam seven weeks ago and he's adorable!! Last weekend, I was in Milwaukee to independently verify his cuteness and I am happy to report that neither mom nor grandmom were lying when they told me that he's really really cute! And big! With an amazing full head of hair - check it out!


Susie has taken to motherhood like a fish to water. She is a pro and just beams with pride!


Liam's grandmother Mary is a pro as well, though she's had some practice. (This is her second grandson.) You can see just how much she lights up when Liam smiles. As she pointed out, Liam is very interactive for a seven-month-old.


He's a great smiler!


And a pro sleeper.

Liam, this picture is for you, I know how much you love black-and-white photos! :)

I can't wait to head back up North for some more photos! Click here to read more!

Visiting Jack

Work slowed down enough this week for me to visit my new little friend Jack on Friday evening. I haven't seen him in a while, and he and my camera haven't had a get-together since the beginning of the year.

Karen was kind enough to let me come by to take a few photos of the little guy. Jack and I had a lot of fun. Jack, because bath time is one of his favorite times of day...


...and me, because I got to try out my new lens (a 24-70mm, 2.8), which was a lot of fun! Even Jack was impressed.


It's amazing how much Jack has grown in the few short weeks since I last saw him, and it's great to see him preparing for Dartmouth already:

toGA, toGA, toGA!
(just kidding, Karen)

Jack is a sweetheart and we had a great visit with him and his parents, who just exude pride from every pore (as they should).


I cannot wait to practice some more with my lens!! Who's next? :) Click here to read more!

Happy New Year! (Alternate Title: I'm only 21 days behind)

Finally! I'm editing photos that were taken this year instead of last year. :)

I've edited these pictures in two batches, so party pictures will come as soon as I get to them (maybe even this weekend!). For now, some pictures of the adorable little ones whose parents were kind enough to let me chase them around with my camera this year. But first, a little background.

Every year, for the past 10 years (!), my good friends Liam and Karen have invited friends (including me) to celebrate the new year with them and their family in Florida. I've never turned down the opportunity to go, because (1) they are some of my favorite people and (2) they invite some of my other favorite people to join us. It's a great reunion, especially now that we've gotten to the age where we don't have a lot of events like weddings to bring us together every year. (Also, Alex and I met (for the second time) and started dating after New Years in Florida, so add that extra layer of nostalgia to it all.)

There are small variations in the group each year, but the core hasn't changed much since we started. The most notable change to the group has been the addition of some new little faces. And they belong to the aforementioned little ones whom I chased with my camera. Like this one:

This is Eleni, Leni for short. She was so much fun to photograph - she couldn't get enough of looking at the screen on the back of my camera, pointing to the pictures I had taken and excitedly declaring, in a way that only a two-year-old can, "That's MEEEE!!!!"


And I couldn't get enough of showing her, because, hey, that's the kind of positive feedback I need! :)


Leni also got a big kick out of Alex, and the feeling was mutual. She took him on walks up the stairs to demonstrate her stair-climbing-prowess to him (he was impressed) and led him around the yard looking for aliens (he played along). She had some serious powers over Alex. I'll have to consult with her to figure out her secret! ;)


I was even able to get a couple cute shots of Leni with her mother, Ruth, and sister, Lily.


And this one, which I love, of Ruth and Lily on the beach (not that you can tell).


Of course, Lily had her moment to shine on her own too.


And then there was Jack. Jack is Liam and Karen's addition to the group. He was surrounded by grandparents and grandparents' friends most of the time, so he was tougher to track down, but that didn't stop me from trying!

Jack is a very serious young man.


I mean, he's already trying to walk! At four months! ;)


But he's also willing to relax and enjoy the lovely Florida weather.


As long as his mom is close by!


More on Florida is soon as I get to it! Click here to read more!