incremental improvements

I sometimes (ok often) shoot like Austin Powers: clicking madly and erratically while I chat with my subjects. The beautiful photograph below is a direct result. My nephew pulls out the goofiest "camera face" whenever he's conscious of a camera, but he has a wicked knock-your-socks-off smile when he's genuinely happy.



This process does elicit wonderful expressions, but when I'm not looking, I'm not framing. So I shoot and shoot - compensating for the inevitable inaccuracy with an extra frame or five (cringe). This leads to much time wasted cropping. Since I'm not looking for a gig as a paparazzo, I assume I should correct this method of capture. I think I will try a tripod, for group portraits especially. And I will enlist bystanders to relax my subjects so I can focus on the frame.

Shooting in the dark,
C.

decaf mama

So I've officially been off coffee for 2 arduous weeks. Insert sympathy here.

While I breastfed Maggie I hardcore avoided caffeine. Since I've been chasing a 2.5 year old Maggie while breastfeeding baby Jane, I was allowing myself one precious cup per day. Two weeks ago, I admitted there might be a connection between this wonderful morning ritual and Jane's excessive wakings. Sigh.

Initially I replaced my one small coffee with two large teas. Oops. Same caffeine intake. Caffeine is a lovely drug with a biological half-life of approximately 4-6 hours for an average adult. No wonder I could drink a cup of coffee at 8AM (about 200mg of caffeine), continue to feel alert until 2PM (about 100mg left in my body), then not really feel tired until after 8PM! While it might take me 12 hours to eliminate the caffeine from a cup of coffee, it could take my baby up to THIRTY to work that out of her system...so for months she was never free of its effects......... Oi.

Today, I am fully decaffeinated. I'm past the headaches and the bleary exhaustion. I'm drinking decaf Via in the mornings. Expensive? Yes. Delicious and almost as good as the real thing? Good enough. Most significantly, baby Jane is sleeping like a dream. I'll still sneak in an espresso drink here and there because she can handle minor disruptions, but damn I'm glad I got off the bean.

It's all about the baby Janes,
C.

for the love of play

Today was a major transition day. Maggie's cousins left this morning after an amazing week of visiting. On days like this, I step up my game a little. I read many books, employing many ridiculous voices. We ate strawberry walnut yogurt parfaits for lunch (thank you Raquel for that idea!) and ants-on-a-log for snack (I was dismayed to find that, like her father and her grandfather before her, Maggie does not "do" celery). I slapped together some makeshift cracker box architecture for her cars, people and animals (1. thank you Jenny for the inspiration 2. Thin Addictives cookies come in a HOUSE SHAPED BOX!). Now. Here is the slam dunk. I took our homemade play dough OUTSIDE! *cue harp sounds of brilliance* Thank you Internets for the best play idea all summer....for me anyway. Maggie lost interest pretty quickly. Above is the play dough/nature installation "we" built on the sidewalk.

So as I was putting her to bed, when I asked her what the highlight of her day was (a nightly ritual), she did not skip a beat. "My favourite day was watching Franklin, Mommy!" All that, and the best part of her day was watching Franklin Plays Hockey while I ignored her to sweep and edit photos..........................

Keep calm and carry on,
C.

overshooting

Walk with me as I use trial and error to hone my skills with the camera. I will be honest and expose all my flaws (the ones I recognize anyway). I will tag this series of posts "shooting in the dark".

Yes I am a rookie and I do have a heavy trigger finger. To be fair, I have small squirmy children and it seemed that continuous shooting would allow me to "bracket" such that I guaranteed at least one open-eyed, in focus shot per attempt. This does create a heck of a lot of duplicates though -



- and now I have 38, 654 photos to weed through. Oi.

I am learning to wait. Benefits? I feel much more in control and therefore much more proud of the results. I have WAY fewer images to edit so I save time. Photography becomes a much more zen experience; I don't feel rushed or panicked because I have the confidence that I will get at least a few beautiful images.

Here's the result:



I think I dig this slow photography thing. I think single shooting will help me become a better photographer. I think.

Shooting in the dark,
C.

learning from babes

my two year-old has an amazing ability to find joy. while chasing me around the front yard she will yell, "I'm having so much fun!"

good note kid; more yelling in fun, less yelling in anger.

mama needs a vacation...

...and she is so unlikely to get one.

no this is not a pity party. this is reality talking. the reality is that times are tough, money is tight, thrift is trendy and (getting to the heart of the matter) baby wants the boob. i dream of solo camping trips by a lake, single hammocks on tropical beaches and swanky hotel rooms all to myself; emphasis on the "dream". in reality, what can i do for myself to simulate the relaxation this would bring?

enter children's fantasy literature. it's easy. it's fun. it's immersive. head into the world of Harry Potter, Narnia, the Old Ones, or (yes I love myself a little Edward and Bella) Twilight. i recently spent a week devouring Percy Jackson & The Olympians. every free moment was for reading and it literally (har har) felt like i'd taken a holiday when the week was over.

other ways i get that vacation feelin:
-take a cold bubbly beverage, chilled glass of wine, or iced coffee to the bathroom and have a hot shower or soak in the tub. be sure to use delicious smelling soaps or oils.
-once the kids (and the hubby) have been fed and watered, go back to bed and snuggle with the duvet while i catch up on my reader or maybe even let myself fall back to sleep.
-look at photos of past vacations and tell maggie stories about them.

how do you get your relaxing on when time and money are limited?