Mulberry Street

Good things about our field trip today include: stopping to buy rain boots from the thrift store, bringing enough umbrellas and zero crowds.  Also, there was a day camp there with low attendance so they shared their pizza and juice boxes with my kids.  Super generous leaders and I am grateful for their kindness. Some not so good things about our field trip today include: the rain, leaky umbrellas, and falling in the mud.  I also learned how difficult it is to hold an umbrella with one hand and shoot photographs with the other hand. It was raining hard enough that I didn't ever put the umbrella down, just attempted to pin it between my head and shoulder if I needed to use my other hand to get a shot. C'est la vie they say. The kids earned Junior Ranger badges and I managed to get a few good shots which almost makes all the whining worth it.  Next time, I wouldn't mind visiting the aquatic gardens on a sunny day, alone.  

I have a fascination with decaying trees.  Until the layers are peeled back, you wouldn't know that insects had left their mark, chewing through the outer layers and boring holes into the inner layers. ISO 200, f /3.2 at 1/5000, 50mm So much texture and depth is revealed when bark separates from trunks or limbs.  Bark has a tremendous responsibility to protect the tree and I am amazed at its thin, papery feel in my fingers. ISO 200, f/3.5 at 1/500, partial metering, 16-35mm at 16mm It was fascinating to come across an old beaver lodge and examine the felled trees from long ago.  They say a beaver's work is never done and we found evidence that they were still hard at work before they disappeared. ISO 200, f/3.5 at 1/500, partial metering, 16-35mm at 23mm I love watching Benjamin discover nature, wander around, and let his imagination work in this element.  I hope he leaves a positive mark on nature, as it appears to be doing on him.  ISO 200,...

Each day I wonder how Benjamin's sweet countenance transforms into his belligerent self.  Ben seems to finally be growing out of the difficult two/three year old stage that makes every day impossible to get through with my sanity in tact.  I am grateful he's maturing and developing as he should.  His communication has improved drastically in the past year and between his vocabulary and skills, he speaks his mind.  

Genevieve loves to read.  She loves mysteries, comics, novels and everything in between.  This love is so strong that sometimes, it hinders her motivation to get anything else done - especially homework. Since their are worse obsessions out there, I won't worry too much about it and for now I'll enjoy Genevieve's bursts of giggles when she reads Calvin & Hobbes.  

Emory felt really sad after an interaction with a sibling and when I found him on the couch, he was hiding his face, trying his hardest not to cry.  I told him it was okay to feel sad and it was okay to cry.  He let me hug him and hold him for a long time and I relished every second of it.  Emory isn't an affectionate child and I have to ask to hold his hand or give him a hug so to feel him melt into me while I stroked his head was pure bliss.

This week's photo challenge was eyes.   I need to get new subjects because mine are already very, very tired of the camera.  I am pleased with this shot overall, because I successfully captured Benjamin's eyes.  More and more I tell my kids to simply look at the camera, rather than "SMILE!" because that somehow causes them to distort their face.  After playing around in photoshop, I think that I like the black and white version better because the eyes seem to pop just a little more. SOOC, original shot Post Processing, take 1   Post Processing, take 2 ISO 200, f 3.2, at 1/640, partial metering with 50mm lens In photoshop I cropped the photo, adjusted the color for skin tone and highlighted the eyes.  Then I applied the Lomo Effect to create the edge burn around the frame.  For the black and white version I converted it to Portraits Black and White, then adjusted my RGB levels to lighten the photo overall and boost the contrast a ta...

Since we had a two hour delay we rushed outside to play in the snow before the bus came.  You never know if the snow will melt by the time school is out in the afternoon so you have to cash in whenever possible. Jake continues to impress us with his non-cat behavior.  He runs through the snow, climbs trees and follows us through the woods despite the cold and wet.  

Difficult Run Supreme Court US Capitol Marine Corps War Memorial

Between the wrong white balance (tungsten light), the wrong shutter speed (too slow) and whatever else I screwed up, I overexposed this photo of Jewel perched on the porch railing.  Because she is a cat, she jumped off before I could adjust my camera settings and take another shot.  I liked the photo enough that I wanted to salvage it, if possible.  Using Photoshop Elements, I went to work - I straightened and cropped, converted the photo to black and white, and then adjusted the lighting (RGB levels, highlights and contrast) to give Jewel back her lovely stripes.  Granted, the photo is still overexposed, but I think it turned out decent in post processing and I can pretend that I "blew it out" intentionally.  The great thing about shooting in black and white or converting to black and white, is that it generally covers up some of your mistakes.  Black and white shots also puts all the focus on your subject by diminishing competing colors or patterns. SOO...

I dug out some more camera gear and, good news - found the wireless remote for the camera.  In my attempts to get in the frame with the kids I realized it would be much easier to use a remote than what my strategy had been - setting the timer, running across the room and then relaxing...in less than ten seconds.   Benjamin tried out the remote for me and we discovered that it does, in fact, work with my current camera body.  Hooray!

Participating in today's march for women meant a great deal to me. I won't be complicit nor complacent while people face real social problems. I will not allow my children to fear their Mexican heritage. I will not let my little girl grow up in a world where "locker room talk" is acceptable. As a mother, I feel the responsibility to teach my children that: "It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences." — Audre Lorde My family and I have a role to play in this important work.