Week 32: Trick-or-Treat!

Boy, we had a fun night tonight! We are in Pittsburgh for business and visiting some old friends. Our friends Joe, Suzanne, Joey and Sophie invited us over to go trick-or-treating in their neighborhood and we were eager to take them up on it. Jonah had never been trick-or-treating before tonight; it's just not something that really happens in the same way in NYC. Large apartment buildings will organize within their building, but we live in a very small building. Most kids just go to Halloween parties. Suzanne had been talking up how much fun their neighborhood was at Halloween - she was right. Think something straight out of ET - all of the streets are filled with kids in costumes walking door to door, having a great time.

We had to prep Jonah for this new experience. He really didn't have a clue what we were talking about when we described it to him. He wasn't looking very certain about the whole thing. Then we told him he would get chocolate and that sealed the deal. Up until this point he hadn't wanted to wear his costume - just hold it like a stuffed animal. He was pretty eager to get into it tonight! He went door to door and was a little shy about it at first. Sophie, who is around 8 years old, stayed with Jonah and coached him along. About six houses in he was a pro; he knew just what to say and was very cute in the process. He was yelling "wait for me honey!" ahead to Sophie when she would get ahead of him!

He ended up with a nice stash of candy and treats and had a very good time in the process. So did mom and dad.

Photo - this is my 24mm lens at f/4. There is a flash in a small umbrella up and slightly camera right. Ambient is under exposed by 2 stops.

Bonus photo - here's a shot of Joey, Sophie and their friend Robby. (same setup)

Week 31: Central Park

Central Park, to me, is the single most brilliant idea conceived while people were "planning" New York City. Granted, when the land was set aside for the park, it may as well have been the country as the city pretty much stopped at Greenwich Village at that point, as I understand it. However, the land was set aside and people had the foresight to protect it. For those not really familiar with the sheer scope of it, the road that runs around the outer edges inside the park is 6 miles roundtrip. Roughly, the park is 3 miles long and a mile and a half wide (I know that's not exact). Figure an apartment in Manhattan sells for about an average of $1,200 per square foot. . . . do the math. That's some VALUABLE land. Manhattan is 8 miles long in total. However, to me, the City would not really be livable without Central Park. It would be too overwhelming and too dense. You enter Central Park and the City melts away. There are areas in the North Wood where you'd never even know you were in Manhattan.

We're fortunate to live fairly close to Central Park. I love to run there, but moreover, I love to take Jonah there. There's a nice park and playground about 1/2 block from our apartment, but if we have time and the weather is nice enough, I choose Central Park every time. Jonah does too. There's a small zoo, a carousel, countless playgrounds, many open areas to run around, the list just goes on and on. The Park is particularly nice in the spring and autumn, too.

This past Saturday we went to Central Park to enjoy the nice weather and take Jonah to the zoo. He has a giraffe costume cued up for Halloween (check back next week - I intend for that photo to be next) and he insisted on taking it along, not to wear but to carry like a stuffed animal. We never made it to the zoo. Instead, we first got distracted by the statue of Beethoven, then the live jazz combo, then the "water mountain" (Bethesda Fountain), then the boats by the boat house, then the leaves in the water, then the ducks (where this photo comes in). . . . you get the idea. There's just so much to do and see that you can go and get lost in the Park. It really does give you a chance to escape from the City for a bit while never leaving the island. 

Photo - this is my 24mm lens at f/4 and nice autumn late morning sun.

Week 30: Growing Up Digital

It absolutely amazes me to watch Jonah interact with technology; it just makes sense to him. iPhone - not a problem. Remote for the television - not a problem. DVD player - not a problem. I know it makes me sound old, but technology has advanced so much during my lifetime, let alone Jonah's grandparents' lifetimes. I can't fathom what he'll be using when he reflects back and has these same thoughts some day.

One of the beautiful things, technology-wise, that we take advantage of is Skype and video conferencing. I was a bit concerned when Jonah was born. I spent every weekend at my Grandparents' house as a child; how was Jonah going to get to know his Grandparents living halfway across the country? Well, Skype to the rescue! The wonderful people at Apple had the foresight to build video cameras into their laptops; install some free software; buy a webcam for the Grandparents' computer and away we go! We Skype often enough that Jonah often goes to the laptop and asks to talk to Grandma and Grandpa. In fact, when we call them on the (gasp) cell phone to see if they are available to Skype, Jonah gets upset and lets us know that he doesn't want to talk on the phone - he wants to talk on the computer!

Jonah certainly knows his Grandparents well, despite my early fears. Skype has certainly been a large part of that. I knew that this photo needed to find its way into this project.

Photo: This is a small Canon Speedlight in a 28" softbox on a boom stand out over the computer, camera right. This is that wonderful rented 35mm 1.4L lens (which sadly has to go back to its rightful owners in the morning) at f/5.6.

Week 29: A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

What a busy week! On Friday I took the day off work to accompany Jonah on a field trip to the farm museum in Queens. Jonah got to ride a school bus! Oh, and he got to go to the farm museum, ride a pony, take a hay ride, pet chickens. . . . but he got to take a ride on a school bus! He was pretty excited and we had a really good time!

Friday night, after Jonah was asleep, Grandma Connie and Grandpa Jack (my parents) arrived for a visit. Jonah was excited that Grandma and Grandpa were coming and woke up first thing on Saturday and, without being reminded that they were here, asked to go wake them up. They returned home this morning and Jonah cried and cried when they left. They got in a car to go to the airport and the three of us went straight to the subway to go to school and work. People on the train platform were looking at us rather inquisitively as Jonah wailed down the platform. Needless to say, it was great visit and we all had a good time. 

My intent for this week's photo was to get a nice portrait of Jonah with Grandma and Grandpa, but we were so busy with activities that I never had a chance. My next thought was to get a portrait of just Grandma and Grandpa after Jonah was in bed - but we were so busy that even that didn't happen. So, I knew which photo I wanted as my Plan C. 

Above - Grandma has been wanting to visit Governors Island. Sunday was a beautiful day in NYC, so we decided to go. Governors Island is very much a work in progress, but it's still a great place to go, have a picnic and enjoy the views and the history. Mom, Grandma and Grandpa were getting lunch from a food cart while Jonah and I went to reserve our picnic table. He sat down in this beautiful pool of light with the red table nicely contrasting with the green trees and blue sky. Perfect. 

The photo is the rented 35mm lens (yep - going to have to buy one some day) at f/2 and sunlight. 

And. . . just to give Grandma and Grandpa a little spotlight - here are a couple from our walk along the East River getting to the ferry to Governors Island:

Week 28: Morning

There's not really a clever story or insightful moment to share this week. This week is just a documentation of one of my favorite times of day - assuming it's the correct time and not too early!

Jonah's a pretty cute kid all of the time (yes, I recognize my bias), but he's particularly cute in the morning when he first wakes up. The fuzzy hair and bleary eyes combined with him being sleepy and snuggly make for a cute boy. So, I decided to try and catch him in his fresh faced state.

This one took some pre-planning. I set the seamless paper and light up the night before; had the camera set; took a few test shots with Kristi crouching in for Jonah. I wasn't sure what to expect. This photo is taken downstairs - which can be problematic with all of this toys drawing his attention away from the task at hand. Moreover, Jonah just hasn't been very patient with me while taking photos lately. He's just not interested. The morning attack worked out perfectly! He was happy to sit, look at me and let me take some photos. Granted, I'm not going to be able to pose him for several more years, but this was one of the easier attempts in awhile. My camera skills are less than polished at 6:30 AM, but I got through. Several shots are not quite in sharp focus and there are some shots where I clipped his hand with the edge of the frame. Guess I'll need to finish that first cup of coffee before picking up the camera in the future.

There were several shots I really liked and it was tough to choose. I settled in on this one because he's really looking at me. I feel a connection in this shot that's not easy to come by. I'm reading a book by Annie Leibowitz right now in which she briefly discusses why, in most of her photos, her subjects are not smiling. She doesn't ask people to smile and feels it is contrived and a false representation of the person to ask. If they have a genuine smile, great, but otherwise she doesn't ask. That resonated with me when I saw this shot. Here are the other few selects from this morning if you are interested.

Photo - this is my 135mm at f/2.8. It is lit by a Profoto head in a 53" Octabank on camera right.