2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 22,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

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Christmas Goofin’: Mother & Daughter

After developing the first roll of film from Christmas and Christmas Eve, I decided to give the twins the day off. Why? Because I got Sue and Julia (mother and daughter) to pose and got more than I had hoped. I don’t remember catching the expression on Julia’s face because I was concentrating on Sue (my subconscious knows better though).

I used a small electronic flash and bounced the light off the celing to soften the flash. I also taped a small piece of white card stock cut down behind the flash. This arrangement sends most of the light to the ceiling but reflects enough light forward to minimize shadows under chins, etc. giving a natural look. It’s the only way I’ll use a flash.

I have more goodies on this roll including a few of the twins. I also have a 36 exp roll of TX in my Nikon F3HP that still has 6 or 7 frames left. I hope to have that roll done and processed before the end of next week.

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Happy Birthday Times Two

I’m playing catch up with images of our granddaughters. Maddy and Livvy celebrated their fourth birthday early in November. Today’s images come from the same roll of film as last week’s photo of the girls helping Sara celebrate her birthday on Thanksgiving. The same roll that sat on my desk undeveloped for a few weeks.

Happy Birthday Maddy & Livvy

Maddy is the cute kid on the right and Livvy the cute kid on the left. Did I say we think our granddaughters are cuties (all six of them)? As the youngest, Maddy and Livvy get to claim the title of cutest. Here they are with one of their presents. These two play together all the time.

Happy Birthday Maddy & Livvy

This shot is hand held, no flash. I wanted to capture the atmosphere of young children and candle lit birthday cakes.

Happy Birthday Maddy & Livvy

Here’s another shot of the same scene but with both girls smiling. I didn’t have my fastest film loaded but I’m satisfied with the result. I will be taking two cameras with me to our family gatherings on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas Day. I’m even bringing one of my electronic flashes. I will use one of my  flashes in bounce mode. Hoping to get some decent shots and I won’t let the film sit around either. In fact, look to see some new images next week.

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Happy Belated Birthday Sara

We celebrated Sara’s birthday (13) on Thanksgiving, the day before her ‘real’ birthday. The exposed film sat around on my desk for a couple weeks. I finally developed it this morning (that’s the belated part).

Click to enlarge

All the girls got into the picture except Megan. From left to right: Emily, Maddy, Sara, Julia and Livvy.

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Light & Shadow at Play

I was out in my yard on a photo expedition a few years ago. My F3HP was loaded with Fuji Provia color transparency film and I wanted to try out my new Joby pod with my right angle finder. Of course my real motivation was the late afternoon light. It was wonderful, but I had to get down on my hands and knees to capture the image I wanted.

Click to enlarge

As I said, the original is a color slide. I’m reasonably sure I posted the color image at one time. I needed a new monochrome image for this week so I played, converting the color image to B&W. I like it better. Are you surprised?

I probably used my typical macro setup for the shot: F3HP, 75-150mm zoom lens with Nikon 3T close up lens. My right angle finder attachment made the low angle possible, and the shallow depth of field gives the background an ethereal feel.

I created this post using my new toy, ConnectedText. I’ll have more to say about this software later, after I’ve put some miles on and gained some experience.  The new software is loaded on my (new to me) ThinkPad I snagged on that auction site at the end of October for a mere $180 complete with Windows 7 Pro, shipping included. Yeah, I’m using Windows again. More fodder for a future blog post. Stay tuned.

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In the Forest at Ceres

I found an image that I had overlooked. It comes from the same roll of film,  two frames after the Sunlit Web image that I posted on October 21.

Deep shade in the Ceres forest

I remember that morning in the forest at Ceres Nature Preserve. The trees were in full leaf and it was dark in there, perfect for the lovely contrast of light and shadow. This image is one of the reasons I love monochrome photography.

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