December 10, 2011

Taking your kid (and your camera) outdoors

“Keep it simple. Not just in your nature photography but also in your approach to hiking with a child. You don’t need a ton of equipment (for taking pictures or for the baby) and you should definitely leave it to the great outdoors to provide the awe. No need to overcomplicate anything. If you’re stressed out while hiking with your baby, you’re missing the point of the activity.”

It’s not always pretty but it can be done. More tips on how we’re doing it in my guest post on Megan’s blog, Made with True Love….

(Check out her awesome ideas for taking pictures & videos of your baby while there. She provides me with a lot of inspiration for making better videos!)

March 6, 2011

March onward

“February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March.”
-   Dr. J. R. Stockton

During the blurry 28 days of February, I celebrated Chinese New Year, a dear friend’s wedding reception, a few snow days, my first Fasching party, my third baby shower, my return to the stage, my 35th birthday and many cups of tea.

Whew.

Somehow, through it all, I was able to maintain my photo-a-day challenge the entire month, resulting in February looking a little something like this…

It’s now March.

And so far, it’s been in like a lamb and promises to be out with the baby.

(I did mention that I’m due in less than two weeks, right?)

NOT. FREAKING. OUT.

Nope. Not one bit.

Simply biding the time with serious nesting, intense moments of anticipation and Girl Scout cookies.

If my unborn child is half-Samoan, you’ll know why.

September 27, 2009

An Ode to Portland

This was inspired by our recent 4-day excursion to Portland…and Brooke’s request to have her picture featured in a blog post. Not to mention my desire to drop some rhymes.

portland

Green moss, lush trees and bike lanes, oh my!
‘Tis a beautiful town, you cannot deny.

Tattoos are a plenty and the hoppy beer keeps a’flowin,
Roses are sweeter-all the rain helps them a’growin.

roses

Bridgetown, oh Bridgetown, with the parks and the art,
The streets full of character, hipsters and heart.

Strip clubs on every corner, promising a good night…
Your food carts delight and the coffee’s done right.

spanishcoffee

No sales tax, I was warned…shopping’s a breeze.
(And yes, the money did flow out of my wallet with ease.)

Our hosts, Brooke and Nic, showed us the best of the town,
We ate well,  we slept well and generally, got down.

brookeandnic

Oregon showed us, like in Jersey, you can’t pump your own gas.
And just like in Colorado, a half-marathon can kick your ass.

Thank you to Portland for the West Coast adventure and fun,
Our late summer vacay was lovely–I’m glad there was sun!

racefinish

January 4, 2009

Hey (wo)man, nice shot

I recently completed my attempt at Project 366. For those unfamiliar with the concept, you take a picture a day for an entire year. How did I do with my 2008 creative challenge? Let’s put it this way…if I was doing this for a grade, I’d have scored an 82%.

What can I say? I have 301 pictures out of the total 366 and a wide variety of excuses for those missed days–I was busy, I forgot, I was tired, I wasn’t inspired–you name it. Some days I just didn’t want to pick up my camera. However, my goals with this project were to take more pictures, to make the time to look around and to document a year in photos. I feel like I definitely accomplished all three.

Here’s my picture from the last day of my Project 366…

366/366

Not a bad way to end it

This project was made both easier and harder by Flickr. I loved having the ability to organize the pictures I was taking every day and to arrange them into sets. However, uploading a week’s worth of pictures was often time-consuming, what with all that tagging and describing. And quite honestly, I wouldn’t even upload photos every week which made for a lengthy catch-up session when I did.

I crunched some numbers and thought that it was interesting to see how my photographic trends over the course of a year could be calculated.

# of Adam pictures: 12 (3% total)

# of pictures taken while backpacking or hiking: 14 (4% total)

# of self-portraits: 18 (5% total)

# of pictures containing drinks, alcoholic or otherwise: 20 (5% total)

# of Lijit-related pictures: 31 (8% total)

# of tech event pictures: 32 (9% total)

# of pictures taken out-of-state: 41 (11% total)

# of pictures with food, either prepared or eating it: 44 (12% total)

# of pictures taken while walking around town: 46 (13% total)

And imagine, only two pictures of my shoes.

The most interesting, and most viewed, picture of Project 366, according to my Flickr stats:

158/366

Also a member of the Fashion my Legs Flickr group

And this picture, taken in mid-January after I had my bangs cut, had the most comments:

14/366

Most of the comments were offering support. Of course, I was one of the commenters.

Choosing the picture I considered the most interesting was a little harder, but I was able to narrow it down to two. It was difficult with 301 pictures to sort through but what does it say about me that both my favorites include some spooky elements of the underworld?

137/366

Hell's Half Acre, Wyoming

298/366

Halloween decoration around the neighborhood

Some of the take-aways from Project 366:

–Keep your eyes open. You never know when an amazing shot might be right around the corner.

–Inspiration surrounds you but it can be hard work finding it sometimes.

–Pictures of home-cooked meals make you appreciate the food even more.

–Taking a portrait of a stranger is easier if you ask.

–It’s easy to forget how much fun photography is if you feel obligated to do it.

–If you want to see what a person is passionate about, find out what they take pictures of.

In closing…

65/366

Just thought you should know