Randomness

Aiden's first soccer game of the year.  It was getting dark and my camera was maxed out at 3200 iso, so a little blurry, but some great action going on here.  He blocked the goal!!

Getting ready to kick-off.  I finally just had to put my camera away.  It got too dark :(

Today's action shots  were a little better - I was only at 800 iso and I had my 50 mm lens, so I could open my aperture to f/1.4

I'm still frustrated with focus.  She's holding still here, and she's blurry.  Cute, but blurry

Saturday Hike to Delicate Arch and A Photography Assignment

 Jill had a precious Saturday off from the hospital, and I had a white balance photography assignment due, so we headed to Arches for a hike to Delicate Arch

 These pictures are in no  particular order, so this is Jill, and Dave carrying Capri on his shoulders, on the way back from the arch. 

                                                       Jill and Capri under Delicate Arch

 We hiked down into the bowl, which was quite a feat, and played around under the arch for a while.

 Aiden and I hiked back down much faster than the rest, mostly due to the fact that Capri wanted to play in every bit of sand we crossed, so he played in the wet sand by the scummy little pond below the bridge while we waited for the Mom with the car keys.

 These photos were part of my assignment.  The photo above was taken with a custom white balance I set using a gray card.  Aiden was trying to start a fire by rubbing two rocks together.

 This was a preset white balance called Color Temperature Enhancement.  It is supposed to enhance color casts instead of trying to eliminate them.  Not bad, but I still like the custom white balance better.

Aiden has pretty much had it with being my photography assignment subject.  I had to sneak this photo in, and, in my hurry, got the arch in focus and Aiden blurred.  But this is Aiden and Delicate Arch looking through the little window arch just before you turn the corner and Delicate Arch, in all it's beautiful glory, comes into view.  Fun hike, gorgeous scenery, and great company made for a really good day.

Not For Sale

I'm not much into selfies, and I have a most unattractive hand, (but I'm not trading in it because it's my Dad's hand) so this was somewhat out of my comfort zone. But a smart, talented lady I admire and whom I am currently taking a photography class from brought this to my attention today, and I couldn't let it just slide by. 

I have ranted against very few things in my life, especially on my blog, which I usually reserve for family posts and photos. But once in a while I realize that I can't go on claiming to have faith in God, wearing my CTR (Choose The Right) ring, and do nothing to try and change what is evil in the world.  I don't know much about this issue, except that human beings have always enslaved other human beings, but I really thought that, in the United States, at least, that ended with emancipation.  Apparently I was wrong and millions of people are still being used as slaves.  And that is just wrong.  But worse, many, if not most of those millions are innocent children.  And that is more than wrong. 

This is near to my heart because, but for a few hundred years, I have grandchildren that could very likely have been slaves.  Beautiful, smart, wonderful children that, a hundred years ago, would have been counted as 3/5ths of a human being.  And it took a war to overcome that kind of thinking.

In a book I am currently reading, "The Storyteller" by Jodie Picoult, one character, Sage, says, "Can you blame the Nazi who was born into an anti-Semitic country and given an anti-Semitic education, who then grows up and slaughters five thousand Jews?  Yes. Yes you can."  Evil is evil, no matter how you paint it, and nothing changes if we are unaware that a change needs to be made.  Here is a link to my photography teacher's weblog where you can learn more.  http://www.karenrussell.typepad.com/   

The BEST Valentines Day

                                  Is spent with your grandkids.  And we got all the Moab ones. 

              Aiden spent the night and he and Grandpa worked on the tree house on Saturday morning

 And I got him to sit in the tree for about a second and a half while I worked on some of my photography assignment. One thing I've learned is not to worry about a blown out sky, because you can't have your cake and eat it, too.

 This was Friday night.  Capri was playing with the tape measure, very focused on keeping it in the air while at the same time saying, "Take a picture Gramma."  So I did.

                                        We got to keep cute little Charlie.  Such a sweetheart :) 

                          And this?  Well, this is a very vivid reminder of why I don't like dogs.

Basketball Skills

 After the Lady Antebellum concert, which lasted until 11:30 that night, we went to Kimbrey's to spend the night.  The next day Chase just happened to have a basketball game, and WE got to go watch it, 

 There are quite a few skills you have to master in order to play the game of basketball.  You have to master the dribbling of the ball,

And team work, and passing . .

                                                      .

And shooting.  He shoots . . .he scores!!!  Well, not this time, but he DID score a basket in this game.  And I even took a picture, but there were so many little people guarding him, you couldn't even see Chase.  Even so, he made that basket!!

   

 Dribbling . . .dribbling . . this is the hardest.  And Chase does it SO well.  

 

And hustling down the court.  Chase is a good hustler. 

                           

             This is a tricky one.  You have to know this.  You NEVER take the ball away from your own teammate. 

Basketball skills . . Chaser has 'em!!

Lady Antebellum

This was our Lady A crew this year.  At our first Lady Antebellum concert several years ago, when they were actually the pre concert band for Tim McGraw, there were just three of us.  We are growing!  It's appropriate that Darleen is in the middle, flanked by three of us on each side of her.  She is responsible for every one of us being there.  She is the Lady A follower, knows when they are coming to Utah, became a fan club member so we could get pre-sale tickets and spent her days off jumping through Lady A web page hoops getting enough points so she could qualify for enough tickets for everyone.  The rest of us just showed up at the concert.  Kimbrey got roped into the concert this year when Darleen bought three tickets for seats on the floor, then realized she wanted to be in the pit, and so did her girls. Because of that, she had an extra ticket.  So, I called Kimbrey and asked her if she wanted to buy a Lady Antebellum concert ticket, promising that we were a fun group and she wouldn't regret it.  Although you can't tell from the picture, she woke up with pink eye Friday morning and was faced with wasting the price of a ticket or coming to the concert with pink eye.  I think she made the right decision.  But, if we all come down with pink eye . .

Great show Lady A!!!!

The Love of Learning Week One

 Photography Class week 1 - I have learned that:  A photo that you shot too much on an angle . . .

 Can still be straightened.  Although you loose the pretty mountain scenery, you get to keep the cute girl eating snow. 

Filling the frame can be overdone, but you get a lot of detail in your photo.  And if the subject is cute enough, who cares?

 Your grandson may think you are crazy as, during piano lessons, you climb on chairs, lay on the floor, and kneel down by his side, constantly hitting that shutter button, but if it gets you this expression, well, Priceless!

 And actual evidence of a musical boy.   Aiden made sure to let me know he was NOT going to grow up to be a piano player.  We'll see, kiddo.  We'll see.

And this shot, totally cropped to the new guidelines of composition that I've been studying this week, Aiden and his Mom on a sunny day, sledding in the mountains.  Good memories.   Bring it on week two!