First day with the grandbabies- so it’s art time for Miles!
Day 195- Golden Boy
I am a little obsessed with the golden hour (right before sunset)- and especially with the backlighting available on our deck in the very early part of the golden hour. We get some great tree bokeh, so it is fast becoming my favorite place for family photos (well, at least in summer). Tonight we celebrated our son’s birthday a week early before he heads out of town, so here is his golden hour photo. Happy Birthday, Matt!
f/7.1, 1/125, ISO 640, 95mm
Day 191- *F*O*R*T*Y* !!!
July 10, 1971- July 10, 2011
Happy Fortieth Anniversary to us!!!
Day 177- Last Hike
It’s our last day at Yellowstone- tomorrow we start the long drive home. Papa has become Miles’s hands-down favorite person, so here is a photo, taken during a short hike we took to Wraith Falls, that commemorates their special times together.
f/9, 1/500, ISO 640, 105mm
Day 175- Chico!
No, I’m not back in my hometown- we are at Chico Hot Springs, a wonderful resort in the Paradise Valley of Montana, only about 45 minutes from Yellowstone. We had an afternoon of fun in the pools, a gourmet dinner in the dining room, and an evening spent babysitting the grandbabies while their parents enjoy the warm pools and poolside bar.
Photo collage: Miles, post-swimming, examining a gorgeous moth that Justin found, a small segment of the amazing panoramic view from our cottage, and some of the beautiful lupin in the fields outside.
Day 174- Let me out!
It’s Henry waking up from his nap!
f/2.2, 1/40, ISO 4000 (!), 35mm
It was very low light- I kept increasing the ISO until I got a decent exposure. It wasn’t until I uploaded the photos to my computer that I noticed that the ISO was 4000! I think my D7000 is performing amazingly well at this high an ISO- there is some noise, but nothing that really distracts from the photo at this size. I love my camera (and my grandbaby!)!
Day 173- Bubbles
We are having the complete experience of what it’s like to live in a national park during tourist season. At lunchtime, the house was surrounded on two sides by elk and tourists snapping photos, so we found a little patch of grass on the side where Miles could play with bubbles. The baby elk was nowhere to be seen- until Miles and Papa went to the playground later and found him stashed under the slide.
I wasn’t too happy with my photos- and am blaming it on the midday sun. However, I remembered this week’s Texture Tuesday challenge was to use texture on a photo with people. I converted the photo to a sepia toned image and then added Kim’s bent edges texture. I also painted in some of the blown-out areas on a duplicate background layer.
And I like the vintage look of the texturized photo better than my original.
Day 170- Yellowstone Baby
And just to prove we are now in Yellowstone- here’s a bison!
Day 169- Adventures in Babysitting!
Our daughter’s family arrived here today, and we are babysitting our grandsons while the parents attend a wedding. So- no time for blogging- it looks like it is diaper changing time again any minute. . .
Here are Papa and Miles sharing a laugh over Tom Cat on my iPhone!
Day 104- Love and Silence
The house is silent today- an empty nest. I thought of photographing the emptiness, but that made me too sad.
When I started this project, I considered that it would be a good way to document some of the family heirlooms, so that my children would remember what they were and which family member had owned them. So here is a photo of my mother’s mother’s Wedgewood. It may even have been my great-grandmother’s- I am not sure. Anyway, it belonged to my grandmother and my mother- and now it is ours. I’ve always thought it was beautiful, even though one piece is cracked.
I used two of Kim Klassen’s textures in post-processing: love and silence.
Day 103- Last Day
Today was our last day with our daughter and her family. It was difficult to choose photos out of the hundred or so shots I took today, so here are a few.
Top left: Henry with his stylish new outfit, featuring a puppy on his behind!
Top right: Henry and Papa mimicking a pose we have of Papa and Henry’s mama when SHE was a baby.
Bottom left: Miles singing songs with puppets from my puppet apron (Caitlin actually took this photo)
Bottom right: Miles playing on the stairs, which have been transformed into Miles’s boat during his stay here. There is usually an arrangement of blocks or toys on each of the steps, depending on what is happening on the boat.
It is so hard to say good-bye to our little family, especially to these little boys who will be so much bigger when we see them next.
Day 100 ! ! !
Day 96- Pixieland
What did you say? My brother is doing WHAT?
No way!
WOW!!!
When is it MY turn???
BTW, this is the same 3 year old that screamed in fright on the cable car yesterday . . .
Day 95- Starfish
A fun day playing tourist with the grandbabies in San Francisco yielded a full SD card, but no outstanding photos- the “focus” was on the family, not photography. We took the ferry from Vallejo to the Embarcadero, BART up to Powell Street, and the cable car down to Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39. The logistical challenge of the day was finding elevators in each of those places, because we had two strollers. The emotional challenge was realizing all too late that Miles was terrified of the cable car- he screamed loudly for the first part of the ride, his cries only increasing in volume as each group of tourists boarded the car. The carousel and aquarium at Pier 39 were Miles’s favorite moments of the day (and ours too)- especially when he got to touch a starfish. I chose an image of a starfish as my photo of the day.
f/1.6, 1/50, ISO 800, 35mm
Day 93- Milestone
Last night Henry rolled over (from tummy to back) for the first time! Until this week, he didn’t particularly enjoy tummy time. But last night, he was especially rambunctious and not only rolled over twice, but looked like he was going to take off crawling.
I snapped this photo this morning. Unfortunately, Henry was not in the mood for rolling over, but he was very interested in his octopus.
melinda anderson photography 