A Baker's Dozen: Daily Life in a Large Family

Shooting the Photog

Just the other day we got a little glimpse of spring...it was almost, well, warm outside. So out I went with my camera, only to discover another photographer in my woods...

So I shot her.

And she shot me.

Though the pics of me must be pretty bad, because I haven't seen them yet. 

Oh well. Tilly's a whole lot cuter than me anyway!

I had already planned to post these pictures today, when I woke up to see this email in my inbox:

I have to ask you, what camera you take your beautiful pictures with? 

My 8 year old daughter has a durable Kodak and helps me capture all those baby moments when I've got my hands full (literally). I've had a couple different brands/models but I am ready for an upgrade and was so impressed with the detail and color of your photos compared to mine! Though could it be the photographer not the camera?....

I just (like two weeks ago!) upgraded my camera to a Canon 5D. Up until then I've been shooting with a Canon 30D. My every day lens is 50mm 1.8. I also own a 50mm 1.4 and an 85mm 1.8. Tilly shoots with a Canon Rebel and often my 50mm 1.8 lens. For someone who just wants better photos of their kids/family and isn't looking to dedicate all of their spare time to photography, I usually recommend a Rebel and 50mm. My husband would be the first to tell you he can't take a decent snapshot with either of my cameras. And it's true. 

I also process all of my photos with Photoshop CS3. Here is a blog post I did showing a SOOC (straight out of camera) photo and then my final edit. This post also has SOOC vs. final edits. I sometimes hesitate to mention the part post-processing of photos plays in a beautiful image. Often times someone new to the game will decide they can just "photoshop" a picture and make it beautiful. Eye-pops, sharpening, selective color, actions...it can be easy to go a little crazy. But with out a good well exposed image to start with, you aren't going to end up with a beautiful photo. I always, always try to get my photo right in-camera, then process it cleanly. You can probably tell from my blog, I'm not big on over the top processing. Occasionally, for fun I will "push" an image in Photoshop, but I prefer clean and simple.

 

Blurb Books

They have arrived! The two Blurb books I ordered. The big one is an 8x10 book with the photos the day Apollo came home from the hospital and the little one a 7x7 paper back book of my Thanksgiving picture. This isn't the first time I've ordered from Blurb and each time I've been completely satisfied with the results. They may not be the cheapest photo books out there, but they're the  nicest ones I've seen.

Digital Scrapbooking and Photobooks

Mordecai circa 2009...Photo by Tilly

The sun is beginning to show itself here in my neck of the woods. Despite the groundhog's prediction of an early spring, we are just now seeing and hearing the signs....birds singing, frogs croaking...the sun actually feeling a bit warm.

I don't do well in the winter. I feel tired and sluggish and unmotivated. I've always felt solar powered-like I'm coming out of hibernation every spring. In the past it was probably in large part due to vitamin D deficiency. When I had my levels checked (for the first time ever) during Apollo's pregnancy I was at a 7- the lowest level my midiwife had ever seen in a patient. I now take vitamin D daily, as do my children. 

All that to say, I am now in the midst of several projects- decluttering and preparing for Adalia's garage sale (a fund raiser for her trip), sorting homeschool supplies...and catching up on my digital photos. 

For years I scrapbooked traditionally and it was a great outlet for my creativity...then I began to spend my free time improving my photography and that left less time for scrapbooking. For a while digital scrapbooking seemed like the perfect solution: no clutter, no mess, no waiting for photos to be developed. Now however I am very seriously considering moving primarily to photo books. I have made a couple in the past. I have the first four months of my blog in print, through Blurb.

So, in an effort to clear photos off of my computer, I've been uploading them to Blurb and starting photos books. I store my photos on an external  hard drive, but keep on my computer the ones I intend to print or scrapbook - but these add up quickly until I have hundreds of photos waiting to be "dealt with". It's these photos I've been sorting through. In one evening I completed Solid Rock Family Camp 2010. Last night I made a 7x7 album Thanksgiving 2010- this isn't something I normally even scrapbook, but this year we had a large snowfall and I have great photos of my children playing in the snow that I wanted to display. Last night I also made Apollo Comes Home, a photo book with photos my friend Bridget took when we brought Apollo home from the hospital. I had so many photos (Apollo with each sibling) that I didn't want them "buried" in his scrapbook. I am currently working on School 2010-2011...as soon as we complete our last day of school I will order that one. 

I will post photos when my books arrive in the mail. I can hardly wait!

Another reason for my switch to photo books is space- they take up so much less room than a traditional scrapbook and can be stored on a standard book shelf. I plan to go this route for family albums and "theme" albums but am not quite sure how I will deal with the children's individual albums-each one treasures their scrapbooks.

And on a side note...my computer is a MacBook Pro. When I "delete" a photo or move it into the trash I later have to actually "empty" it or the photos stay on the computer, but just hidden. The other day I was sorting through photos on iPhoto (where Tilly stores her photos and I used to store mine) and found the "empty trash" button. I'd never seen that before! So I emptied it...and deleted 14,002 photos. Oops, looks like I need to empty the trash a little more often.

Three Photographers, Three Babies

Tilly and Apollo, Kalina and Talia, Jewels and Juliet

I got to spend yesterday hanging out with Emily Weaver Brown and Talia and Jewels and Juliet. If you haven't checked out their websites already you should!

It was Juliet's exciting birth that I photographed back in October. Juliet spent a month down at Seattle Children's Hospital after she aspirated meconium. Because she can't get sick, this visit had to take place while all 19 children were healthy! And we actually pulled it off.

We talked a little shop, but mostly talked about our three beautiful babies. And while those little girls may be nearly the same size as Apollo (they're two months younger) he out moves them :)

Apollo, Tilly and I will be away this weekend and a women's retreat, so I won't be updating my blog until Monday.

Oh, and go check out the YouTube video Isaiah's dad made of his birth. He combined his video footage with my photos to tell the  beautiful story of his birth.

Two Babies: Take Two

Follow up to Monday's post: Blog reader Misty mentioned the fact that aperture isn't not the only thing that effects the depth of field, which is of course absolutely true. I chose to focus on that aspect yesterday because I was answering a specific question someone asked about the photo of Mordecai. In that case, it was the light shining through the trees and the narrow depth of field that gave it such a cool "effect". If you were interested in Monday's post, please go back and read the comments, some readers left some great info and resources there.

I wasn't able to publish the comments sooner, or post on my blog yesterday because I was busy shooting a birth! I hope to share some of those photos with you later. I don't show any birth photos until the specific photos have been seen by the parents and they give me permission to show them. No one wants to see a "sneak peek" of their birth on the internet!

And now on to our regularly scheduled post...

I was present at Calvin's birth:

I did his newborn photos:

I stuffed him in a beanbag with Apollo...and he tried to eat him:

And Monday I invited him (and his mom, Sarah) over for a little lesson in tie-dying.

And we crammed them in the beanbag once again:

Only they didn't fit quite as well this time.

And they wouldn't look at the camera at the same time...

And I only had about one minute of "cooperation" to snap these photos.

Don't we grow them extra adorable here in the Northwest?

Um, and yes, Calvin is now nearly as big as Apollo...only a few ounces difference in weight. 

Tie dye photos to come later, when I finally get a chance to photograph them...

Aperture and Why it Matters

I'm a completely self-taught photographer. By that I mean, I have never taken a photography class or gone to school for photography. Everything I have learned has come from books, other photographers and practice. Because of that my explanation of things may not be perfect, but it's photography as I understand it. 

Photography is all about letting the light in. In fact, I know from homeschooling my children that photos is the Greek word for light and graph the Greek work for to draw or write. So photography is "drawing with light". Aperture is only one piece of the puzzle, but a very important one. Aperture controls depth of field. Here is a great, more technical, explanation than I am about to give. Put simply, a "narrow depth of field" gives you the "blurry background" that so many people love. 

Enough technical stuff, you can research it on your own if you like. Here are some examples of photos I took yesterday. I put my camera in aperture priority, set the aperture, and let the camera do the rest. Here are the results:

Notice the difference in the background of these photos? Now, I don't normally shoot in aperture priority. I shoot in full manuel, but aperture priority is a good start for anyone looking to improve their photo skills. 

Obviously, these are not portraits, but it gives you a good real-life example of how aperture affects depth of field. 

So, if the background looks so great and "blurry" at 1.8, why not shoot at 1.8 all the time? Because when you use a narrow depth of field, you also have a much smaller area that is in focus.

If you look at this photo, Tucker's eyes are tack sharp, but out of focus at his bangs, nose, mouth, etc. I happen to love this type of photo. Its my favorite look for a close up portrait. It doesn't work so well for a photo with two or more people, however. It also takes some practice to be able to nail focus at this aperture. While teaching Tilly, I had her begin at and aperture of 3.2 so she could learn to nail focus there before shooting more wide open.

And now to answer the question that inspired this post. I had a reader ask, "what I did" to get the cool effect in this photo of Mordecai:

The only thing I "did" was shoot at an aperture of 2.2. The "effect" you see is simply the light shining through the leaves and trees. This is what we call "bokeh". 

I did of course post-process this photo, as I do  to most of my photos.

Here's the SOOC (straight out of camera) version. Well, not quite straight out of camera. I converted it to a jpeg (I shoot in RAW) and resized for the web, but that's it.

As you can see, the bokeh is there in the SOOC image. I simply cropped, brought out the color already presen,t and did the adjustments I normally make to my photos.

One of the big advantages to custom photography is just this. Each image is adjusted to look make it the very best photo possible. This is exactly why I sell choose prodominately prints and not digital files. There is so much art and creativity that goes into making a portrait. Post processing truly is an art form in and of itself. 

And because I know you're going to ask, here are some of my favorite photography resources:

I process my photos with Photoshop CS3. Nearly everything I've learned about post processing has come from this book of Scott Kelby's. 

I get asked constantly to recommend books for beginner photographers. My first bit of advice is read your camera manuel. Yes it's boring. Read it anyway. Mine is falling apart it's been read so much.

I love the book National Geographic Photography Guide for Kids. Unfortunately it's now out of print, so it costs a fortune! I like it because since it's written for kids, it's easy to understand! If I find a new favorite, I'll let you know.

Happy shooting!

 

Lost and Found

Tucker in June, 2008

Oh my, how I miss that boy. My two year old Tucker. With his thick blonde hair and dark, dark eyes. It is possible he's gone forever? Is it possible that Apollo will some day be two years old?

This is where my passion for photography comes from. Once the moment is gone, its gone. I found this photo buried on my external hard drive. When I took it, it was just a snapshot. Nothing thrilling about it. I never even had it printed..but now? Now, it brings back memories. It reminds me of how quickly time passes...Now its getting printed and place in his album. 

I have two births and two newborn shoots in December and I can hardly wait. I have never regretted a penny spent on photos. My only regrets are the photos I didn't take.

One Year Ago {Bellingham Birth Photographer}

One year ago today, in the early morning, I found out I was pregnant with Apollo. I took the test before I headed to Starbucks for my weekly school planning. I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face.

Early this morning, I had the privilege to photograph the birth of Juliet. 

Juliet has had a bit of a rough start. You can read about it here. I know her parents would appreciate all the prayers they can get.

Just Hanging Out

Adalia (14) and long-suffering Apollo (3 months) just hanging out.

Adalia is madly in love her baby brother. She loves to hold, rock and change him. She asked for prints of these photos for her own scrapbook.

Oh, Apollo, we just can't get over those expressive eyebrows!

So, I thought about using these photos for a Wordless Wednesday post. But something's been bothering me. A lot. It really bothers me that I post photos under the heading "Wordless Wednesday" but always post a caption, such as {Kiss}. Because you know, if I caption it, it's not wordless. And I'm putting a word in my title, right after typing "wordless". I know its wrong. So wrong....

And yet I feel completely powerless and unable to post the photo with out a caption. 

*sigh*

I could title it "One Word Wednesday" but that just doesn't have the same ring.

So every Wednesday I have an internal struggle: Do I post a Wordless Wednesday post with a word? Or skip it all together?

Such a dilemma. 

In other news, Adalia and I are waiting to be called to our next birth...she as the doula and me as photographer. I can't wait! Unless I get called at 3 AM that is. And have to wake Apollo and nurse him, load him in the carseat, wake up Hilary and Tilly to watch him, etc...then perhaps I'll be a bit less enthusiastic. As a result of being on call I've been having photographic nightmares. Lenses that malfunction, parents of unruly toddlers who want "newborn" shoots, showing up to shoots with my camera bag but no camera etc.

Ah, the life of a neurotic photographer. Sounds like a movie. A really bad one.

And sorry for the disjointed rambling. I haven't had any coffee yet. Off to remedy that and get my children moving.

Cheers!

Carrie, Newell and Olivia {Bellingham Family Photographer}

Along with being a beautiful woman inside and out, Carrie Stone is an author and inspirational speaker. When she asked me to do head shots I jumped at the chance, and asked if I could capture some of her gorgeous children as well. The love between these three was tangible and it was so much fun to capture them.