I ran and grabbed my camera and took a few shots through the boy’s bedroom windows. My subject moved a few houses down the road. “Hey, Benjamin, I need to go outside for a better look. You want to come with me?”
“Yes.”
“You need to put on some shoes.”
“Well, I’ll just watch you from here in my room.”
I dashed outside, but before I got to the right house, I heard a familiar voice from behind me. “Daddy,” Benjamin whispered. I signaled for him to come along, but quietly.
The photos I post on this site are un-cropped, unless otherwise noted. All three of the images today are versions of the same picture I shot through my son’s bedroom window.
I’m a firm believer in saving time by composing the shot on the front end rather than later, and the purist in me is a bit obsessive about it. My first 20 years of learning photography, the only cropping I got was whatever the lab needed to make it fit the print size proportions, and that got frustrating at times.
To get the full frame as I shot it, and to avoid unwelcome adjustments to light and color made during printing, I started shooting my “serious” stuff strictly with slide film. Gone were the days of the lab staff (or the printing machine) deciding what I intended when I tripped the shutter. This helped me learn.
On closer study, I believe this should be Deere in the Mist, but the title’s already out there. I snapped this on my way to work back on 12/16/2009, while waiting at a red light.
Nikon D50
Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5 – 4.5D ED IF
f/4.5
0.5 seconds
Manual Exposure
This is the view south from our backyard Saturday evening. Specifically, it is the view from atop the retaining wall border between our backyard and the former cornfield behind it.
Notice the distance to the nearest large trees (lower right corner), and the lack of dimension in the landscape. As someone who grew up in and lived most of his adult life in the Ozark foothills (where the altitude never pokes above the tree line), I can both appreciate and loathe the wide open spaces prevalent in what is, in effect, our son’s hometown.
That black ring holds the front element of an older lens that broke a few years ago, and it practically begged me to distinguish its view from the rest of the photo. Yes, Christmas decorations are still in place, but I took this picture on 1/5/2010.
I also used bounce flash to achieve this — my hand and the lens would have blocked a direct flash.
Somewhere in my head there’s a corny line about my world not having color unless my wife is in it, but I’ll not resort to that. What appears to be a black oil slick on the carpet is actually our dog with her back legs spread out flat behind her.
Nikon D50
Nikon 18-35mm f/3.5 – 4.5D ED IF
f/8
1/60 sec
Aperture Priority
Spot Metering
Flash, Auto-Mode, Return light detected
As one who brings his lunch to work, I rarely get out of the office until quitting time. When the weather’s right, however, I can be found wandering away from work. I have made a few discoveries along the way.
I saw this on a walk back from my mechanic’s garage, the same day that I captured WAW Five. It made me wonder how many other countries so revere their flag that they carefully document how to display it, care for it, and dispose of it. The Veterans of Foreign Wars no doubt could teach all of us a lot about respect for country.
Nikon D50
Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5 – 5.6G AF-S ED DX
f/8
1/3200 sec
Aperture Priority
Spot Metering
Thanks to their perch, these photographers at the Dallas White Rock Marathon finish line were about the only things I could see besides the spectators. (click pic to enlarge)
Nikon D50
200mm Nikkor manual focus
f/4 (best guess)
1/1600 sec
Manual Exposure
It’s a wonder when your child enjoys reading and is so proud of it that he reads aloud to his cousins. An equal wonder is each teenager listening patiently until he finishes.
Below he reads to himself on Christmas Day 2009. (click pic to enlarge)
Nikon D50
50mm Nikkor AF
f/2.8
1/30 sec
Aperture Priority
Spot Metering
Our dog, Cassie, sleeps on the couch next to Shannon’s slippered feet, on Christmas Day. Neither of those ladies wanted to play in the snow during our Texas white Christmas, so Benjamin and I had all the fun for them. (click pic to enlarge)
Nikon D50
50mm Nikkor AF
f/3.2
1/50 sec
Manual Exposure
Benjamin enjoys his backyard slide on Christmas Day 2009. (click any pic to enlarge)
