Posts Tagged ‘Kids’
Fun with the flashes
Tomorrow I’m the class photographer at her school. So today I dusted off the flashes to test everything out. My live-in model was as stunning and fun as always. She even brought her own props into the mix.
I always love the spontaneous portrait sessions we have at home.
We even swapped roles and I faced down the miniature photographer. I am available for any outside modeling gigs too… for a fee, of course.
Hypnotic
She had asked for weeks. Since the first pseudo-spring day that was quickly chased away by a more cool sogginess of early spring in Northeast Ohio. But today, finally, the warm weather held, the wind was steady, and the calendar was clear.
The breeze caught the plastic underside of the kite with a satisfying crinkle. We fed the string out together until its end. I stepped back when asked and she took control. Together we watched the kite flutter high above us. Its long pink streamers traced random circuits across the blue sky lulling us into a trance.
I broke my attention from the kite to reach for my camera and noticed her smile was just as hypnotic.
Mother’s day
Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mom’s out there.
We are smothering the mom in our house with thanks today.
Thoughts on vacation photos (along with a few)
Within the past month I have traveled to New York, Florida, Washington DC, and North Carolina. That’s a very unusual amount of travel for me. Throughout it all I carried around my Fuji X-Pro1. After years of slinging a Nikon D700 the weight and form factor of the X-Pro1 made it a joy to carry around, but that could be a whole different blog post.
I’ll recap things and start at the beginning. The kids spent some quality time with their grandparents while my wife and I made the trip to New York City and Amagansett, NY. The city was a whirlwind of food, drinks, and walking. In other words great fun. I was able to meet up with Ed Brydon a friend that I had corresponded with but had yet to met in person. As I anticipated, it was a pleasure to meet him and his wife. We had a wonderfully rambling dinner conversation that covered many topics. After a couple of days in the city we traveled by bus to visit my brother in Amagansett where he is managing and cooking at The Meeting House. If you are ever in the area be sure to stop in for some food. It’s damn good. I may have a congenially biased opinion of my brother, but my taste buds are neutral and objective about his cooking. I recommend it.
New York was quickly followed up with a family trip to Destin, FL that was mostly spent poolside. Looking at my photo library, I have the most pictures from here which is fitting as my kids have always provided me with endless and quality photographic fodder. After Florida, we dropped the kids off at another loving grandparent’s and I went on a quick two-day trip with my wife to Washington DC. It was business for my wife leaving me free to ramble the city solo most of the trip. For such a visual and historic city I took very few photos. Perhaps because so many images are made of Washington DC’s monuments and malls that I feel like it’s been shot out and I had little to add. Even though DC is prime people-watching and street photography turf, I’m not very adept nor do I enjoy street-style shooting. Usually photographing strangers unaware feels too surreptitious to me and typically the street shots I take fail to intrigue me. All of the above led to sparse images from DC.
I capped off the travel period last week when I traveled solo to see a friend in Asheville, NC. The chilly, cloudy weather feigned late winter instead of early spring, but we made the best of it. The highlight being a day hike up Cold Mountain (of book fame…or movie fame depending on your medium of choice). I find little fault in a city populated by friendly people, surrounded by forested mountains, sliced by rivers, and filled with good breweries and delicious restaurants. I love visiting Asheville.
Through it all I usually had my camera with me and still I found myself using it less than I had intended. I’ve struggled to produce photographic work lately (as shown by the virtual cobwebs on this blog) and had the best intentions of trying to produce a photo essay about a “family vacation” or some such. For a few reasons that didn’t evolve. A big reason being that I find it hard to balance vacation and serious photographing. I want to enjoy vacation and share it with my family and friends not necessarily be behind the camera trying to work new angles and contemplating what image I need next in an essay. Although I want to be sometimes, I’m not the guy that documents every little moment in his life, camera always at his eye. That’s not to say that I’m not photographing family moments quite frequently. When I say I’m struggling to produce work I mean work that I think is worth putting out there. Many family photos are snapshots and I don’t mean that negatively. Those are memories and times that I want documented, but many of the images I take in reality only mean something to me. I don’t think they have a universal appeal or relatability that viewers will connect with, but I’m ok with that. Too often I put pressure on myself to produce something that will be “appreciated” and I’m working at focusing more on following my instinct and photographing what I’m drawn to. With my family that is the moments that I will enjoy looking back on years from today.
Regardless of the above sentiments I’ve attached some photos from my travels.
Clicking on any image thumbnail will kick you into a slideshow with larger images.
Puddle Jump
Spring has sprung.
She was so excited for warm weather and a spring rain to play in.
For me, scenes like this[1] epitomize childhood.
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incidentally, the first GIF I’ve ever produced ↩
Snowday
The kids have had 3 snow days off of school in the past week, which for me and my camera meant 3 free models and some wintery backdrops. When the cold finally crept through our winter layers and chased us inside I pulled out a speedlight, umbrella, triggers, a snoot and cajoled some goofiness out of them.
Lilies
These images are from my archives. I was sorting through some older photo folders and discovered them – I had a Triste phase shortly after I bought Silver Efex Pro II. I often read of the usefullness of digging back into your library, but it’s not something I practice very often. I’m not sure why, because every time I do I love discovering photos filled with old memories.
I took these lily photos during a brief period of goofing around on a hike. Simple enough, but I remember the excitement and the kids’ determination to each get a lily for themselves despite the flowers being just out of their reach on the water. I remember the feigned flirtation (charitably given) that my wife acted out as I offered a lily to her. And I remember the next week that the lilies sat in a bowl of water on our bay window as the kids tried to nurse them into perpetual life.
The Polar Express
Last Tuesday we spent a few hours on The Polar Express for a magically short trip to the North Pole. My kids range from 4 to 9 years old. Our two younger kids were pretty enthralled. My son, the oldest, was more…practical about the magical aspects of the trip, but still enjoyed himself.
Pajamas, a reading of the Polar Express story, hot chocolate and cookies, elves, lights, carols, and of course, our first sighting of the Big Man: Santa! It was a nice start to the holiday season. I hope you can overcome the commercialization and hecticness of the season and enjoy the build-up to your holidays.
The Girl and Her Pup Book
Several months ago I finished my A Girl and Her Pup series that focused on my youngest daughter and our newly adopted puppy. GaHP was a personal project that, surprisingly to me, engaged many viewers. I produced the series over the course of a year and it’s an interesting look at the relationship between my daughter and our pup; revealing moments and experiences they shared as they matured together. Early into the project I had determined I wanted to put the images into book form and now that book is complete. My aim was to avoid producing just a remix and republication of the GaHP series in book form so, to that end, I’ve added a few anecdotes about developing the series and about its subjects, my daughter and our dog.
I received a lot of support and complements on this series, thank you. Some people expressed an interest in purchasing the book when it was ready so I decided the easiest approach would be to make the book available through Blurb. A Girl and Her Pup is available in 52-page hardcover (HERE) and a softcover (HERE) versions. I’ve only offered the book in 10 x 8 formats because I think it presents the images best and, really, we all see enough images in small formats every day. I would have gone bigger, but I didn’t want to price the books out of reach for anyone interested in buying them – as is the price is not inexpensive, but it was the best I could do while keeping a format that met my goals.
If you do purchase a book, please leave a comment on this blog post, the Blurb bookstore, or contact me. I’m interest to hear what you think of it.
Scenes from trick-or-treating
It was a crisp night well suited for fuzzy suits and the extra layers of a costume. Jack Skellington, a bee, and a….Frankenstein girl (or something) set out last Saturday night for some trick-or-treating. It was a fun night that created some nostalgia for my own childhood trick-or-treating. Kids make holidays much more enjoyable. They provide an innocence and excitement, a simplicity and joy that as adults we often overlook amid the commercialization, pressure, and business of holidays. Our youngest is now 4 years old and was able to walk farther than any past Halloween, so the candy haul was sensational for the kids. Following the lucrative night, bags were dumped and the loot was surveyed, cataloged, and tasted. click a photo for large view
Jack-o-lanterns
It’s that time of year: jack o’lanterns.
Time to decapitate gourds and scrape out the gooey internals laced with seeds that hold the potential of another crop. To slice through the orange hides of pumpkins tracing elaborate sketches of decorative ghoulishness. Every year I plan to document our pumpkin carving with a bunch of photos full of interesting angles and innovative concepts, but then I find myself carving pumpkins. It is so very hard to document moments that you are and want to be intimately involved in.
Jack o’lanterns have been turbo-charged since I was young. Gone are the days of triangle eyes and toothy grins. Today’s jack o’lanterns are fine-detailed carvings that leave pieces of flesh unfathomably dangling from the thinnest of fleshy anchors. They have intricate designs of black nothingness until, when lit from within, the glory of creativity is revealed through gaps and the luminescent glow of white pith where pumpkin’s orange flesh was scraped away. With such pressure my kids invariably choose designs that excite them but are beyond their current carving skills. That means my wife and I carve the gourds while simultaneously trying to make the kids feel involved.
While that all sounds a bit cynical, I really enjoy it (my wife has a different view on it).
Just before bed last night we went out and had the formal first-lighting. I love to watch how such simple things enthrall my kids.
Guts
Surgical Instruments
Awestruck
Sibling Love?
A happy group of siblings right?
Look at the love. The camaraderie. It’s no secret that pictures can deceive and that viewers, without being directed otherwise, form a subjective opinion of what is occurring in a photo based on personal experiences and visual clues in a picture.
I could easily post this image and keep mum. I could allow the majority of viewers to assume that my kids were enjoying a late-day autumn hike filled with laughter and love. I’d be misleading. In truth this picture took 3 takes and the kids argued and fought the entire time. I had asked them to simply keep walking but to “stay in a line close to each other. Maybe hold hands.”
Sometimes we parents ask too much I guess. There was an argument over if they should hold hands or put arms around each others’ shoulders. So I called them back. Take 2 contained an argument about, ah hell, I don’t even know. I called them back one last time. Take 3 was more of the same, so in frustration I told them to forget it. Then, of course, a photo developed and I quickly took it.
Naturally, that was followed by an argument about whether I was, in fact, still taking a picture or not and whether they needed to stay in a line.
Years from now maybe I will have forgotten the reality of this picture and I’ll view it with a chuckle to myself as I reminisce how much fun we had on an autumn day filled with familial love.
Autumnous Weekend
We just capped off an amazing Autumn weekend. A perfect reminder of why I love this season. The nights grow cooler, everywhere colors glow from under morning dew and, later, against the blue sky sliced with white clouds.
There was no school on Friday so we had three full days to soak in the season. Almost immediately the kids put some energy into raking leaves together into a pile for jumping into. We went for a few scenic hikes one even on a new trail that I’d never done before. Friday night we bundled up and went to Lake County Farmpark for a Haunted Hayride (my youngest (4 year old) sat stoically on her bench, lips pressed together in concentration as we passed goals, goblins, and ghosts. When asked how the ride was: “Pretty good. A little scary.”)
If you get to experience an Autumn where you live I hope you are reveling in it. If you live where there is no flush of fall, well, my thoughts are with you.
Here’s a hodgepodge of images from the weekend.
Some fright from Friday’s hayride:
And the Bumblebee it is
October is near and Halloween is already on the minds of our kids. My youngest has been continually changing her mind on her costume choice. We’ve progressed through a few. A princess? Supergirl?
And the Bumblebee has won out…if the costume survives until Halloween.
A Girl and Her Pup Book Update
I wanted to give a short update on the progress of the A Girl and Her Pup book. I haven’t broken any speed records on producing it, but the GaHP book is nearing completion. I’ve tried to make something different than just the same images from the website in a different medium. I hope it will be successful. Rough layout work is nearly done and I am now in the process of determining my best option of printing and distributing to those of you interested in owning the book.
When the book is finished and ready for order I’ll put out an announcement. Until then, here a few newer images of the girl young lady and her pup dog.
Back to School
Summer seemed to pass in a mix of heat and hecticness until now, somewhat surprisingly, we are seeing the beginning signs of autumn and the kids are back to school. It’s early yet and all of us are still getting used to the school routine again: shaking begrudging kids out of bed early morning, deciding on the contents of packed lunches, homework, and “school” bedtimes (quite controversial still so near summer’s end).
And the wheel keeps on turning…and my wife and I find ourselves with a preschooler, 2nd grader, and a 3rd grader.
My Girls. A Year Older
In the past week both of my girls have had a birthday. I now have a 4 year old and a 7 year old.
Happy birthday kiddos.
There’s nothing like a new bike when you are a kid.
Don’t Drool on My Bike
A Girl and Her Pup Transformed
Well, my A Girl and Her Pup series is winding down and has only 2 images left before it ends. Which, for me, means its time to start considering the book I’d like put together from the images. Essentially, it will be a photo book, yet I’d still like to make it “different”. To put my own mark on it.
I’ve begun the process of laying the book out. It’s an odd compilation of monochrome and color images. I’ve been mixing and matching, marking and remarking images trying to get a good flow. I considered ordering them strictly chronologically, but that was an absolute hodgepodge of color and monochrome. Instead I’ve decided to keep a loose chronological order and give myself some layout freedom.
The content laid out
Honestly I’ve been surprised by the response to this series that I began on a whim but which organically took on a life of its own. Maybe I’m too close. The images feel so personal so the response I’ve received was unexpected. If any of you would be interested in having the opportunity to own a book of the GaHP project please let me know and I’ll consider my options for an easy method for that to work.
I’m only in the beginning stages, but really looking forward to seeing the series larger and in print. More, I’m looking forward to pulling this book off the shelf in 5…10…15 years and sharing the images with my daughter as she grows.
Oh, yes. I can already foresee how useful this book will be for my mental state in her teenage years.
No Evil
Yesterday I received a pc cable and hotshoe adapter that allows me to use my Nikon SB-600 flash with my Fuji X-pro and it’s sync port. I cajoled my youngest into modeling for me in front of the brolly box (ie. a fancy reflective umbrella) while I tested the setup out.
The picture above was a fluke. I wanted to get a picture of the chocolate milk mustache she had on her lip, but she wasn’t having it, so instead, I ended up with a picture of her covering her mouth in defiance. Actually, fine and cute. And then I lost my model’s interest and, thus, my model.
I love when inspiration strikes. Hours later while running it occurred to me that with 3 kids I just the right number for a “See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil” mini-project. Not only that, serendipity worked in my favor. If I flipped the picture of my youngest she’d be facing camera left (necessary for my concept and the order of the No Evil idiom)….if I had my oldest face camera right…..and then my middle child face dead-on camera! What nice flow.
Long story short, hours later after working with more mature models with (slightly) longer attention spans I had my 3 photos. And damn, I like them. I don’t know how original this is, nor do I care a lot. Occasionally I get hung-up on retaking or redoing concepts that have been done, but that is a losing battle. I do know that this concept has never been done with my kids and that’s enough for me to appreciate the photos. I’ve pretty much decided to canvas with these and just need to figure out if it will be either as individual canvases or as one long canvas containing all 3 photos.
Also, look at the last image below. The Fuji 35mm is stunningly sharp in my opinion. Look in her pupil and you can see me holding the camera.
See No Evil
Hear No Evil
Speak No Evil
An Imagining
She awoke surrounded by the green glow. Nausea swept through her with every movement. She struggled to the wall, but her pounding was futile this time. Her strength left her and she slipped back into unconsciousness.
Again she awoke in a strange place. As her eyes adjusted to the light filtering through the leaves she recalled the sickly green light and the feeling of weakness so unfamiliar to her. How had she gotten here? Where was she? And why?
With her strength returned and her rage ignited, she began her search for answers.
Days later she had seen and heard nothing. Only a lifeless void and deathly stillness. Her rage had smoldered into wisps of fear and loneliness.
All her power.
All she could accomplish with it.
What use was it in the emptiness?
My Assistant
Sometimes we get to slow down and enjoy the little moments we share.
My little baker kneading our soft pretzel dough.
Self-Sabotaged
I thought it was time to quiet the crickets and turn the lights back on here. Life has a way of sucking you into a vacuum and, unfortunately, this site was a casualty. As a general rule bloggers are told not to blog if they have nothing to say. Well, I’ve been mute.
Spring sports have begun for the kids –to a somewhat hesitant beginning– and our days are full and hectic as we cycle from school, to homework, to dinner, to multiple sports, to showers, to bed. I also fell into a period of gear lust (a periodic trap for me) and daydreaming. Months ago I ordered a FujiFilm X-Pro1. From the moment I hit “Pay” on Adorama’s website I began to dream of the images I would make with a new camera that was so 
light-weight and “revolutionary”. Those daydreams effected my use of my D700 that I actually *did* own, or, I should say, my *disuse* of my D700. Suddenly I found myself not taking photographs as I waited for the X-Pro to arrive.
If gear lust wasn’t enough of a distraction, I also began to plan a road trip out West to see friends in Montana and tie-in a stop at [ART](http://rlketcham.com/?p=1376). My wife and I had spent 2 years living in Montana and I’ve always missed the mountains. This was my chance to relive old times. You know the kind of trip I mean: an epic American road adventure. A Kerouac/Steinbeck saga, just me, my dog, my camera, and my truck loaded with camping gear. A story at every stop, a load of memory cards to fill with images of Americana.
A delusion.
It didn’t take me long (well is a over a month long?) to realize that at current gas prices, in a truck that averages 14 mpg, the trip West would empty 
our bank account of around $2000 and that wasn’t taking into account the ART costs of the trip. That was a selfishly large amount of money to spend on trip only for myself at the expense of my family and a possible trip with the kids somewhere. As my road-trip dream crumbled I realized that I had found another way to ignore my photography and the pictures I *could* take as I plotted and imagined the pictures I *would* take.
Why do I sabotage myself like this? I really don’t know. I’ve spent a considerable amount of time lately trying to decipher what the role of photography is in my life. The answers and questions from which I’ll save for a future post. My trip West is still happening, but it has shrunk to include simply a trip to ART, on a plane, minus a dog. Still exciting and something I’m looking forward to, but the dregs and vapors of my fantasy are still drifting off leaving a sense of despondency and monotony in life.
I did receive the X-Pro around a month ago. The internet is flooded with reviews on the X-Pro, so I won’t take that route. I will say that I am really enjoying the camera: it’s 35mm lens is amazingly sharp for the price, the form factor is refreshing and exciting for a fella with a D700 and no experience with a rangefinder sized camera, the autofocus has not hindered me as much as I feared from other user reviews.
Here are some images from a hike the other day taken with the X-Pro.
The panorama feature –not something that would normally interest me– is fun and accurate.
