Mulberry Street

In a new strange reality, it's difficult to feel content regularly.  So as we adjust and adapt to our new norm we are trying to hold on to moments of contentment.

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.  

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 got my Canon 7D from Craigslist in November of 2011 and it was exciting to transition from my old Rebel XTi.  The 7D isn't a full frame camera, but would take my photography hobby to a new level.  To tell the truth, however, I relied heavily on the Rebel's auto features, particularly the sports setting and it turned out that using a mostly manual camera body was hard and messy and frustrating in a lot of ways.  A few months later I got my first smart phone and deferred to the phone's camera, rather than hauling around my 7D.  Sadly and with the exception of trips, I took more photos with my phone than with my actual camera. Too much time has passed and I find myself needing a hobby that, ahem, doesn't require exercise so I pulled out my camera manual and started messing around.  The timing is helped by the fact that Eric graciously bought me a wide angle lens for Christmas (Canon EF 16-35mm 1:2.8 L II USM) and it is spectacular - I can capture everything I...

Jake   Jewel

Benjamin is in the throes of independence.  It's exhausting.  All the things I wish he would do for himself, he refuses to do.  So naturally, all the things I don't care for him to do, are the exact things he wants to conquer.     Emory is still so sweet and sensitive.  Someday he'll really be heartbroken when a friend teases him too far.  Our attempts to "toughen" him up are not working.  He is a great reader, but would much rather be read to.  He isn't sold on the whole work reaps reward thing. Genevieve is my introvert.  She loves loves loves to read and would rather read alone in her room than engage with others.  Emory begs her to play Legos with him daily.  When she agrees to set down a book and play their imagination is unstoppable.  Her creativity may really take her places someday. I let the kitties out for a few minutes today.  Jake is super curious and would disappear in a moment if I didn'...