Day 12: Shave Ice

On Friday evenings during the summer, we like to hit up the concert in the park for a little free entertainment.  This time we picked up a pizza to take with us and Paul got the girls a shave ice for dessert.  Shave ice isn't really my thing, but I love that it is theirs.  A girl needs traditions like this with her dad. 

 

32 mm, ISO 400, f/4, SS 1/800

Day 11: Twirling

Some afternoons while your sister is sleeping, you just have to put on your twirliest dress and spin.

 

35 mm, ISO 1000, f/4.5, SS 1/60

45 mm, ISO 1000, f/4.5, SS 1/60

Day 10: Beach

The light was just too, too lovely at the beach today.  And practicing frozen action is seriously so much fun.  I am LOVING freezing water droplets.  It feels like magic and it is kind of the coolest.  This is at Crown Memorial Beach in Alameda and was perfect for the girls because it has no waves since it is in the bay.  In fact, the day was so clear that we could even see the city and both the Bay and Golden Gate bridges. 

 

80 mm, ISO 400, f/5, SS 1/1600

35 mm, ISO 400, f/5, SS 1/1600

I also went tried to focus on portrait work and paying attention to light metering and shutter speeds, implementing some of the feedback I just got this morning from Sarah, who is teaching the Mastering Manual class I am taking, and I loved how these next three images came out both technically and compositionally.  These are almost SOOC shots, which is exciting for me.

 

80 mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, SS 1/1250

55 mm, ISO 400, f/4.5, SS 1/1250

50 mm, ISO 400, f/6.3, SS 1/1250

Day 9: Bubbles

After a super frustrating day yesterday trying to figure out how to work shutter speeds for panning and implied motion, I decided to work on frozen action today.  I felt like it was a bit easier and these images came out pretty well, although I don't quite understand why or how my ISO jumped to 1250 on these, which I didn't even notice until I went to post them here.  But I'm mostly happy with how sharp the bubbles came out, especially since it was a breezy day and they were blowing away from the bubble wand pretty fast.



105 mm, ISO 1250, f/9, SS 1/800

105 mm, ISO 1250, f/9, SS 1/800



Day 8: Costco and Carousel

I took my camera into Costco today with the idea of doing two images using an f/4 aperture where my subjects were closer to the camera in one shot and set farther back from the camera in the other shot to see how depth of field compared.  I love that both girls had their legs crossed at the ankle without me posing or coaching them or anything.  When we were driving home and the girls were munching on bunches of grapes, I get a little choked up thinking about how I won't remember these mundane experiences for long.  I won't remember the feel of getting those carts moving when they are loaded up with my two girls and a cart full of groceries.  I'll forget the wake of smiles we leave in the aisles as we pass older shoppers who are charmed as Clara and Rose smile and wave and chat and sing.  The memories of how Rose likes to pull me close and randomly give me hugs while we rumble between shelves of spices and pasta and cereal will fade with time.  I hope that I can remember to not just capture the "beautiful" images but to try to hold onto these precious, regular, special-in-an-ordinary-everyday-kind-of-way moments through this 365 project. 

 

32 mm, ISO 400, f/5, SS 1/25

60 mm, ISO 400, f/5, SS 1/25

After Rose's nap, I took the girls to Tilden Regional Park to check out the merry-go-round.  I have been meaning to take the girls there for ages but have just never made it there because it is about 45 minutes away.  But since week 2 of Mastering Manual deals with movement and I wanted to give panning and implied motion a try I decided to go for it.  I need to review the lesson about changing shutter speeds and panning because this was a LOT harder than I thought it would be and I could not get my camera settings quite right.  The shots I liked best were honestly more fluke than anything, but at least it is a start.  We had such a fun time on this antique carousel that we might head back again this week to try again when Paul can come with us. 

24 mm, ISO 400, f/10, SS 1/3

24 mm, ISO 400, f/11, SS 1/4

24 mm, ISO 400, f/11, SS 1/4

Day 7: Twin Lakes

I know, another lake shot.  But today was spent driving home and these were the only photos that I took.  Twin Lakes was probably the most traditionally beautiful mountain lake spot that we saw in Mammoth and these pictures are just from the parking lot since the girls were in the car seats and we were packed and headed home.  I finally felt like I was getting a teensy bit more comfortable shooting with a higher aperture but I definitely need to keep practicing and thinking of other settings where I might enjoy using it.

 

24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/80

24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/80

Day 6: Convict Lake and Mono Lake South Tufas

Part of my homework for the first week of the Mastering Manual photography class I am taking is to practice shooting in manual using an f/18 or f/22 aperture to get the entire image in focus and sharp.  So we headed to Convict Lake in the morning to check out the views and try to get in some shots of the mountains reflecting off the water while things were still calm.

 

24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/100

24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/125

In the evening, we drove to Mono Lake to try to capture some sunset images of these cool rock formations called "tufas".  Honestly, I struggled with lighting in these so much!  I couldn't get the dynamic colors of the sky without totally darkening the rock formations that were sort of the whole point of the shoot.  Argh.  Anyway, it was at least a good experience to practice and try to implement some of the things I have been learning about light metering and aperture settings, even if I didn't get what I was hoping for.  And the tufas were so beautiful and odd and otherworldly that it was amazing to see and we will definitely try to go back again some day.

24 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/15

32 mm, ISO 400, f/22, SS 1/6