Week 13: Welcome Summer

Summer has officially arrived in NYC! OK, it's officially arrived everywhere and it seems most of us are "enjoying" some extra hot temperatures to kick off the season. It was in the upper 90's here this past weekend when we went out to see the "water mountains" (water fountains) in Central Park. So, between that and the Solstice, I decided this week's photo should be devoted to the childhood joys of summer.

Our lives are not yet drastically altered by the arrival of summer, but I know those days will be before we know it. So far, it's pretty much life as usual - just warmer. Mom and Dad still go to work and Jonah goes to the same preschool year round. The city, however, adds a few treats! The water features come on at the playgrounds (stay tuned for that one), the Mr. Softee ice cream truck starts filling the streets with music and the Central Park cart vendors bring out the freezers full of ice cream. We were all pretty hot after running around - well, Jonah running around and Mom and Dad running after him, so we stopped for a treat and to cool down.

Photowise - this is pretty straight forward. 50mm at f/5.6 and straight up late afternoon sun.

Week 12: Story Time

As with most children, we have set a bedtime routine with Jonah. We set it a long time ago and it was one of the best parenting decisions we've made so far. When we get home from work and school Jonah plays while we make him dinner (on a good night we make everyone dinner - but those nights are sadly few and far between). After dinner is bath, followed by up to three books in mom and dad's bed, milk, and then off to his bed. I knew this was a shot that I wanted to get sometime within my 52 weeks of photos, but was not expecting to get it this week.

See, I set out, yet again, trying to get this elusive bear photo (see last week's post). I thought I had it figured out. Jonah won't sit still downstairs and about the only other place I can set up the lights and backdrop I need is on our bed. I thought, if I turned on a Pooh or Big Bird movie, it will hold his attention enough for me to get the shot I want. I'll position the camera close to being in front of the television and set the lights accordingly. It worked! The movie held his attention alright! I couldn't get a single shot with him looking at the camera (attempts are here - if you are interested: http://web.me.com/rwdavi/rwdavi/Albums/Pages/Bear_Photo,_Take_2.html) I think I may have a shot at it on our bed - just have to leave the television off next time.

So, Kristi was kind enough to let me try and get the above shot of bedtime since I already had the lights upstairs. Kristi got to the end of the story and when the very hungry caterpillar came out of his cocoon he . . . "bumped his head!" (Jonah) Silliness ensued because Mom and Dad cracked up.

This is a studio strobe in a 3x4' softbox camera left. (I love my new lights. Just sayin') 24-70mm at 24mm and f/4.

Week 11: Two Year Portraits: Take Two

I have a standing request to get a shot of Jonah holding his Pooh Bear. It randomly turns out that Kristi and I have the same photo with the same "Pooh" from when we were around 1 year old. I tried this week - didn't happen - Jonah was not interested. More on that later, but you'll hopefully see the set of three photos up here very soon.

SO, with a blown attempt at that shot, I did get a chance to Get a couple more portraits of Jonah at age 2. I really liked this one as it shows his personality quite well and, it was the lighting scheme that I was going for.

I have a bit of a challenge with taking portraits of Jonah in a "studio" environment. See, my "studio" is our downstairs family room. Which, for living in Manhattan, I am endlessly fortunate to have. However, Jonah sees that space as his play room. Namely, that's where his trains live. So, when Daddy invades his space and sets up these enormous flashing things, he's not very patient. He's not angry - he's just silly and does not want to sit still. He runs off to get various toys, jumps around, and basically acts like a two year old boy. So, I set up a shot, try my best, but Jonah runs the show. It's a bit like shooting a very small, very fast fish in a very large barrel with a BB gun - there are a LOT of misses. Jonah had great fun this time jumping into the background fabric - which is lit here with two lights to make it go white. There are plenty of shots with him blown completely out. I'm so thankful I spent the money for a proper background stand, because the rigged thing I was using before (two light stands with a metal closet rod attached as a crossbar by bungee cords) would have come crashing down on his head.

Here are the very few other "keepers" from two days of trying - if you are interested:
http://web.me.com/rwdavi/rwdavi/Albums/Pages/A_Better_Use_of_Light.html

About this shot - Daddy got his Fathers Day present early. I stumbled into a very good deal on a set of two Profoto studio strobes and I've been having a very good time getting to know them. My photographer friends out there will understand what the previous sentence means. For everyone else - while it's an entry level model, I got something akin to a Mercedes in studio light terms. This is actually only one of them. This is my 24-70mm at f/8 with one Profoto camera right in a 60" softlighter umbrella. There is a silver reflector camera left. The background is lit by two speedlights - one camera left and one camera right.