Happy belated Mother's Day! We spent the day at my cousin Tom's house. He and his wife just welcomed their third son into the world, so it was a special Mother's Day in the family this year.
I love getting together as a family. The guys usually find their way outside to the patio, to grill the food, drink some beer, relax, and drink more beer. The best part is talking story....just catching up on old times.
Our family get-togethers are always relaxed and low-key. You can usually identify the non-family members....they are the ones wearing nice clothes and shoes. The rest of us will be wearing shorts and t-shirts. If we need to dress up for an evening get-together, I'll throw on a nice t-shirt and jeans.
Above is a picture of Tom and his dad, Uncle Tom, hanging out on the patio. Our kids call Tom Sr. "Big Uncle Tom" and Tom Jr. "Little Uncle Tom."
Below is a picture of Kami's softball team, doing calisthenics before their game. They are doing an exercise called "picking up pineapples." That's what we called it in Hawaii, but I'm not sure what they call it up here on the mainland.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Family
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Nice Game
The Thunder played a really nice game today. The pitching and defense were tough and the bats came alive. The team won, 7-1.
Kami was the starting pitcher and threw two great innings. She also made some awesome defensive plays at pitcher and shortstop. At shortstop, she snagged a line drive out of the air and made a heads-up play to complete a game ending double play.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Practice Makes Patience
My 365 photo project gave me a lot of experience with my Nikon D80 digital SLR and I feel very comfortable shooting it. Now that I am shooting B&W film in my "new" Nikon FM-2 manual camera, I have a new learning curve to overcome.
I'm gaining experience with the camera and film ever so slowly. I am learning that this film seems to do better slightly over-exposed rather than slightly under-exposed. Obtaining the "perfect" exposure is a little more challenging than on my D80 because the FM-2 only allows exposure changes in one stop increments. The D80 allowed changes in 1/3 stops. I am feeling a bit more comfortable with the FM-2, although my manual focusing abilities are still a tad slow.
The learning curve on film is much more challenging than on digital. With digital, I can shoot several frames a day and gain instant feedback via the LCD screen. With film, the feedback loop could take days or weeks. For example, my last roll of 24 exposures took two weeks from the day I loaded the film in the camera to the day I received the final results. However, I love when I snap what I think is a winner, but having the uncertainty of not knowing for sure until the film is developed.
I probably need to shoot a dozen more rolls of film before I really start to feel comfortable and confident with the FM-2. It's going to be a slow process, but one I will enjoy.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone!
Little kids are great. They find large amounts of joy in the simplest of things. No iPad, iPod, iTouch, iMac, iBrow, X-Box, etc. is needed....just a cheap plastic egg filled with some goodies.
I think we can all learn something from little kids. Do we really need all those expensive material goods? Do we really need an expensive kitchen make-over, with new cabinets, granite counter tops, etc.? Well, my parents do, but that's another story.
Something to ponder....perhaps we shouldn't think so much about the fancy things we don't have and should start looking at the blessing we do have.
I feel really blessed. God's given me a great family, a warm, dry, and comfortable home, and food on the table. I don't need much more than that. I'll take a great son over a bass boat any day!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Youth Sports Photography
After photographing the high school Freshman basketball season earlier in the school year, I have moved onto high school track and girl's softball. I've never really considered myself a sports photographer, but I am slowing evolving into one.
I helped coach my daughter's softball team the last two years, so I really hadn't had an opportunity to photograph the games. The team manager this year already had a pair of assistant coaches, so I volunteered to be the team photographer instead (although I still help out at the practices and games). The girls are getting used to me sticking my camera in their noses. They are even pretty patient as I fiddle with the manual focus on my FM2 camera. I hope to get more proficient at manually focusing the lens as the season progresses.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Surprise!
Debbie arranged a surprise 50th birthday party for her husband, Patrick.
On Sunday, we took Patrick on a hike to Las Trampas Regional Wilderness, in San Ramon, California. This gave Debbie an opportunity to get their house ready for the party.
The weather was wonderful for a hike. The fog kept the temperatures moderate, although the wind was howling once we reached the top of the ridge. The East Bay hills are pretty in the spring because the grassland is green, instead of the yellowish, brown tones in the summer months.
I dropped off Patrick at his house after the hike and when he opened the front door.....SURPRISE! He was definitely caught off-guard by the roomful of friends and was truly surprised.
Happy Birthday Patrick!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Big Win
The Thunder pulled out another big win on Saturday!
After trailing 3-0, they scored five runs to take the lead. The other team then scored two runs to tie the game. The Thunder scored two runs in the top of the last inning to take the lead. In the bottom of the inning, the other team scored a run and was threatening to win, with one out and the bases loaded. However, the Thunder would not quit and executed a game-ending double play.
Wow, what an exciting game!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
When in Rome
About ten years ago, I was in Fruitland, Idaho, managing the deployment of a CDMA wireless network for the local telephone company. I took the customer out to lunch at the local mom and pop restaurant, and I decided to have the salmon.
Big mistake! Never order seafood (from the ocean) in the middle of the country, especially outside of major metropolitan areas. I bet the steak, chicken, pork chops, or rainbow trout in Fruitland was incredible, but definitely not the salmon. Lesson learned, when in Rome, eat pasta.
I'm in Dallas, Texas this week and there's a Barnes and Noble bookseller at the mall across the street from the hotel, with a semi-decent photography section.
I decided to grab a quick bite at the food court before heading to the bookstore. I noticed a Panda Express and a Japanese place named Sarku opened up since the last time I was here. Panda Express is a chain, so it's a known quantity....I'd get greasy, 2000 calorie, Americanized Chinese food there, like every other Panda Express in the world (but the orange chicken is so good!). The Japanese place intrigued me. I remembered the salmon in Fruitland, Idaho, but I decided to give it a try anyway. Well, let me just say I should have gone to Chick-Fil-A.
So, why am I blogging about this? Well, if my poisoned, rigor mortised, dead body is found by the hotel maid tomorrow morning, I want all three of you loyal blog readers to have the coroner test me for toxic teriyaki chicken, tepid tempura, and hazardous California roll.
About the picture:
I had to dig into the archives for a photo today. This is a photo from a Boy Scout trip, hiking up Mount Dana in Yosemite (2009).
I have about 50 digital pictures from yesterday's softball game and a roll of B&W film to develop. I'm looking forward to processing both when I return home at the end of the week.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Happy Birthday Kami
Happy Birthday Kami! Wow, I'm getting old! I mean, wow, she's growing up quickly and becoming a lovely young lady!
Kami got a nice birthday surprise from Mom when she woke up this morning...doughnuts!
Friday, April 8, 2011
Don’t Upgrade, Just Slow Down
Only three things in life are certain; death, taxes, and Moore’s Law. Technology improves at an incredible rate. Entry level digital SLR cameras today produce better image quality than the top digital cameras from 5-7 years ago. It’s easy to get drawn into an endless upgrade cycle. Photographers often rationalize new equipment purchases, frequently blaming their existing equipment for poor photos.
“I photographed my son’s baseball game at noon at ISO 1600 and the photos came out terrible….I need the high ISO performance of the Nikon D3s.”
“My handheld photos of the full moon shot at ISO 100 weren’t sharp….I need Canon L-series glass.”
Truth is, we don’t need new anything…our existing gear works great! In fact, every digital SLR camera introduced in the last few years, by any manufacturer, is capable of incredible images. Most just need an adjustment to the nut on the back of the camera. If you need help finding it, check the manual or drop me a note.
As some of you know, I recently purchased a Nikon FM2 (manual focus, manual exposure, film camera) This is an amazingly simple camera. The photographer loads the film, sets the ISO dial, sets the f-stop, sets the shutter speed, focuses the lens, and snaps the picture. The only thing the camera does is meter, the rest is up to the photographer. Isn’t that beautiful? No more blaming the camera. Every bad image is 99.99% the fault of the photographer.
The best thing about the FM2 is it forces me to slow down. It literally takes me 30 seconds to capture a single frame. Part of it is the manual nature of the camera. The other part is the price. It costs me 52 cents every time I snap a picture, so I spend a lot more time ensuring my exposure is correct and more importantly, ensuring my composition is the way I want it. I can’t afford to shoot twenty frames from a dozen different perspectives, so I do all of my thinking before I snap the picture.
I strongly believe each of us can benefit from slowing down. Look at your scene. What do you like about it? What mood do you want to convey? What’s the best perspective to capture it? Once you’ve thought through all of this, set-up the camera to achieve your vision, carefully compose the image, and snap the picture. Slowing down and thinking about each image before you press the shutter release will give you more quality photos than any new camera or lens.
Don’t worry about the equipment, whatever you have is perfect…..just adjust the nut on the back of the camera.
Now dear, about that D700 I saw for sale….
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Here are a few shots from the film archives.
