What A Difference A Day Makes

No more rockstar hair for John... It was a great experiment and I loved having him around looking like he's on a perpetual vacation.

Also, I owe him a big huge thanks for saving the day by recovering all of my image archives from a failed external hard drive.  I would have gone mad if I had lost 6 years worth of photos!  

Hair or no hair, YOU ROCK honey.

Over The Moon

I was driving at dusk the other day and a bright big moon was staring at me from the horizon.  By the time I managed to get home to pick up my camera it has climbed much higher and the light has faded, but these are not too bad for handheld telephoto shots:

Photo Journal: Exploring The Hood

New month, new home, new photos to be taken.

I present you a rather unsuccessful one of Shakespeare, the neighbor's cat, and a few others from my latest life in suburban heaven.

Supernatural Shelby

This is what happens when you decide to shoot your cat during a bright afternoon with the settings from shooting the moon the previous night...

It's rather awesome.

Happy Anniversary!

We were so busy with parenting and moving to a new house that we almost forgot to celebrate our wedding anniversary....!  Here are a few snapshots from the day:

Johnny B Goode

Not to brag, but I must have the most beautiful baby in the whole wide world.

Shot with my Sigma macro today, along with these.

Hunt the Light. Take a photo. Smile. Repeat.

When you have a 2 and a half month-old baby, you tend to gravitate around parks. Gardens, green patches, groves, anything with a landscape.  And this is what happens when you look around while pushing the stroller:

I can't wait for the new iPhone to come out!

Road Trippin'

What you see here is my concept for a perfect vacation combined with my favorite type of candid photography.  The only downside is that unfortunately it didn't happen to me.  During the early 70's my Mom and Dad in law went on a road trip around the United States, and they saw everything worth seeing - Seattle's Space Needle, the Grand Canyon, the desert, Mount Rushmore, and New York at the time the Twin Towers were being finished.

Man, I really need to get a Polaroid.  

Or moreover, a time machine....

P.S. My dad-in-law isn't present in any of these shots because he was the one who took them, but I found a photo of him standing at the Big Sur beach in 1966, and it is awesome:

I Heart Bokeh

I've been meaning to do this in ages, but the joys of motherhood were keeping me busy till today.  A heart-shaped bokeh attachment (or any other shape, for that matter) is very easy to make:

1. Take a sheet of heavy stock paper.

2. Take the cap off of your 50mm lens (or any other lens with a high f-stop) and put the lens on the paper, glass down.

3. Outline the front of the lens and cut it out.

4. With the help of a paper-punch (if you have one) or a utility knife, cut the desired shape out from the middle of the circle.

5. Place the circle at the front of your lens, as you make sure that no light escapes from the sides.

6. Find a tree and set your subject in front of it - tree crowns make wonderful daytime bokeh.  Christmas lights or traffic lights would do for night time shots.

7. Shoot open wide and enjoy!

The photos below are really just test shots; it is too hot today and I didn't feel like going on a long walk so I just stepped out my front door and used what's there.  My succulent and my cat provided the rest!

A Trip to Steinbeck's Country

Last weekend we took a trip to my in-laws up in Tassajara - our first big adventure with Johnny - and we stopped in Monterey on the way there. It felt great to get away from suburbia for awhile, and it led nicely to the midweek break for Independence Day.

Here are some of the shots I took while juggling between playing a tour-guide for my Mom and making sure that Johnny is comfortable in the sun and the salty ocean breeze. Being a full time mommy and a part time photographer is fun!

A few technical notes: I discovered that my telephoto lens takes pretty decent shallow DoF images at 50mm, even at f 4.5. Also, the pale pink light during sunset at Tassajara is absolutely stunning, and the way the fog crawls between the ridges is a rare treasure not only to photograph, but to experience. 

The portraits of me and Johnny were taken, as usual, by John.