Adventures in Homeschooling
I think I shocked more than a few people when I decided to homeschool my two beautiful kiddos. For one, I was a public school baby. I am not deeply religious and choosing to homeschool for theological reasons. I sent Ivy to a brick and mortar school for kindie and first grade, volunteered all the time and made friends with her teachers. So why homeschool? While I absolutely adored Ivy's teachers (and still do), the administration running our school district is fatally flawed and I felt strongly that as the teachers suffered, so to would their students.
So we exchanged backpacks, pencil holders, and mile long school supply lists for the comforts of home. No desks, kidney tables or school announcements. When we have reading time, we cuddle up in mommy's bed.
When it's time to combine some science and math, we cook.
I haven't regretted my decision for one second. The kids are thriving and we get to do so much more than they would chained to a desk. It's not for everyone, but we love it.
I love you, Martha Stewart!
Yeah, I said it. I know she spent time in the pokie and that she kinda sounds like a man when she talks, but I love her all the same. The shows are insane, which brings me great joy. Who spends 14 hours decorating Easter Cookies? Martha Stewart, that's who. The recipes she features are fantastic! So why should I confess this now? Well, that is linked to another of my loves...Pinterest.
Ahhh. I just started blogging, so that's a newer part of my social media experience. I'm on Facebook, but only as a way to advertise my business. If you ask my husband, he'll tell you that at least once a week I'm ready to quit because new rules block my posts and fail to publish my pictures. Grrrr. But Pinterest is a happy place. There's a lot of eye candy (photos, you dirty mind, you), great recipes and warm fuzzies. And like all things Martha Stewart, the stuff on Pinterest is almost too perfect. Almost. So when Pinterest sends me my weekly inspiration with this recipe from Martha Stewart, I got all kinds of happy. Let the fall baking begin.
Miss Martha says I need a big old batch of roasted fall veggies. Done and done.
I wonder if I'll be able to save enough for the pizza. I've got a wicked case of the nibbles.
Next up, roll the dough. Now this is where my girl Martha tries to lead me astray. The recipe calls for refrigerated pizza dough. NOOOOO! A new obsession of the kids and mine is The Pioneer Woman on Food Network (that's a different blog post). So I decided to try Ree's recipe a try. It was worth the extra effort.
My little helper rolls out the dough.
Time to load up the pizza. Will anyone mind if I lick the ricotta spoon. Anyone, anyone... Well okay then!
25 minutes to bake!!! But I want it now!
Okay, I'm going to get these shots quick because I'm HUNGRY!
Oh my gosh, so good. You know that moment when you're totally full but your hand reaches out for more anyway...
iMac keyboards are waterproof, right? Because I'm drooling all over mine right now, which is pretty embarrassing.
Go make pizza. Go now! Martha would want you to!
Keeping it Real!
So often, when I photograph kids, I think back to when my husband and I took our own youngsters to cookie cutter studios and what a disaster it was. Before I knew how to photograph children, I trusted these places to find a way to get great photos out of my kids. I think I had an instinct that trying to get my super active kiddos to stand still on a red dot and look at the camera AND smile naturally was going to be as likely as Publisher's Clearinghouse showing up at my door with a giant cardboard check, but we tried. I'm not sure who it was harder on...the kids, the photographer or my husband and me. My kids first photo shoots were a lot more like war than play. To be honest, I'm glad I at least have these photos, since I was in my own infancy of learning how to photograph people of all sizes.
Fast forward to today. I shoot with natural light, so I don't need a red dot. I've learned that 4 year old boys never, ever, ever stand still and smile naturally...ever! So when my good friend Susie asked me to photograph her son Tyler, I knew going in he was going to want to play. Game on! It was my job to capture that spirit. Those first shy looks, wondering if it was okay. The mischievous looks when we wrestled around with my reflector. The curious journey to find more bunnies. I needed to see the tentativeness and the all out ebullience and capture it all.
Tyler has the most infectious, happy laugh. He is a little powerhouse of energy, curiosity and playfulness. While a still photograph can't fully capture that, I hope that when Susie sees the pictures of him laughing she can hear it. I certainly did while I was editing them. I know that every one who sees these pictures can feel that joy of being a 4 year old boy at play. Tyler didn't want to stand still and I respected that. He wanted to play on the John Deere tractors at the location we picked. Were they an ideal "backdrop"? Who cares! Neither he or Susie will remember these pictures as a fight to be perfect. Tyler was himself, which is pretty perfect in my book.
I'm 40!!! How did that happen?
Just kidding. It's amazing how quickly the years roll by. I started dating my fantastic husband when I was 19! My beautiful babies aren't babies any more. And I turned 40!
To celebrate, we decided to enjoy this gorgeous state that we live in. Ken and I got engaged and married in Georgetown, Colorado, so it's really special to us. With camera in tow, we took to the hills. Here's a little sample from our adventure. Enjoy!
You know what they say about good intentions...
That they are the path that leads to hell, right? Well, often times in photography that same old saying applies. We do so many things thinking that they're a good idea and then we see the results and realize we goofed. So today, I'm going to talk to you about shade.
I have two very active munchkins and the vast majority of the activities we engage in occur between 11 am and 4 pm. The are probably the worst times for taking pictures because the light is so harsh. But hey, life happens when it happens and a good photographer learns to work with all light.
Most people know that if you take a picture of a person in full light at noon you get some seriously squinty looks and harsh shadows. Take a look around Facebook and you'll see LOTS of these shots. Alot of times, the person has a now or never mindset to these shots. It's high noon, we're in front of the Grand Canyon and this shot is happening no matter what it looks like. I get it.
Then you have the shooter who knows just enough to be dangerous. They know that these shadows are gonna look bad so they seek out shade. Good idea, right? Well, all shade is not created equal. Too deep of shade and you get lifeless photos. But the biggest offender, by far, is the photo under a tree when the photographer doesn't notice the sunlight coming through the leaves. It's called dappled light and it looks like this..
AHHHH! I actually made my daughter do this on purpose for demonstration sake and I cringed the entire time. I included all of the worst photo sins in one photo. Dead center focus, dappled light, and a dead on pose; it all makes for one really bad photo. What's worse, I have actually seen "professional" photographers post these types of pictures as though they are successful shots! I put quotations around professional to emphasize that just because someone charges you, they don't always know what they're doing. The second picture shows Ivy in much better shade. The light is even on her face and those baby blues are twinkling because she's facing the light.
So what can YOU do when you go out in the middle of the day to take pictures of your family? Look at the light! Even on days when the sun is beating down, you can find BEAUTIFUL shade to shoot in. You remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, right? Well, that means that at 3 in the afternoon, the east side of a building is going to have some nice shade, so shoot on that side. When you're against a building, the north side never gets direct sunlight, so you can shoot there at high noon and avoid harsh shadows. If you do choose to go underneath a tree, hold your hand out in the area you plan to put your subject. If you see blazing white, hot sunshine on your hand, it'll be dappled light in your photo. Move around at the edge of the shade until you find an even spot. And your best friend on a sunny day is a doorway or awning.
These are pictures of Ivy and Zander, same time of day, inside doorways. All that beautiful sunshine wraps around their faces, creates soft shadows and twinkly catch lights in their eyes. Try it out. When the interior is dark, the light just makes your subject pop out of the picture. Send me some of your "good" shade shots. I'd love to see them!