Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Weekly Header Challenge - Group Portrait

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!


"Headbanger" Participants
Imac 


I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.
Click on the other participants' blogs to see
what they've come up with!


Theme ~ Group Portrait

Chosen by Craver VII.


Oops!  Is all I can say.  I'm cruising through my Wednesday, when a call from my little brother got us talking about photography.  Which then reminded me about this blog post!!  So once again, my words will be few.  Thank the Lord I had all my images, including my header, ready to go!

Here's my wacky group portrait, in full:


It was taken right after their normal portrait--or, I should say, the most normal I could get these wiggly, super-fun-loving children to sit still with a happy 11-day-old brother!  Here it is:


I had asked the mom if I could take Little A's picture after he was born, and although 11 days old is a teensy-weensy late for a newborn portrait (it's best within the first 10 days, for the sleepy and moldable factor), I took whatever I could get.  He wasn't cooperative, and the other siblings were chatty and excited and bouncing around, but I thought I could settle them down for at least one pose together.  They willingly obliged, so we also had to do a silly pose, which everyone ended up absolutely loving!  And it became today's header.

Here is that family, just a few weeks before Little A was born.  This awesome family starts with Little A's grandpa and grandma, who commissioned me to take pictures of their entire family--their five children, plus spouses and all the grandchildren.  It took an entire hour to get all the poses that they wanted, so we didn't do anything extra.  For their portrait, I stood up on a ladder--another trick of the trade!  It helps the angle, and it helps everyone from front to back look the same size.  Here is their group portrait below:


With the portraits above and below, I also learned that triangle shapes are the most pleasing for a bunch of people, so I was careful to pose everyone in that simple shape--some standing, some kneeling or sitting, and some on the ground.  I think they turned out great!


I was the photographer for Thomas' 2013 math team, Alpha Omega, and here is the set-up for their group portrait, below.  I stood on a second floor walkway and looked down.


Below is a better shot, with me still on the second floor.  These two poses were the 2013 math team.


For the 2014 team, below, there wasn't as much time to play around with posing, so I lined them up in two rows and shot quickly, putting the girl who forgot her team shirt in the center to balance the image, lol.


At the state finals, Alpha Omega received several awards, including fifth in state as a team!  This shot below was taken just after they exited the stage and the next team was on stage receiving their award.  Time was of the essence!  One quick shot and it was back to their seats.


After the awards ceremony, we headed outdoors to take some better group shots.  I got the below, with the team coordinator holding the fifth place trophy.


As others took their picture, the team members got a little silly.  Mrs. M had no idea what the kids were doing around her!


You've already read about Jacob's graduation, and of course we got some group poses then.  The below is one where you hand your camera off (with all the correct settings) to Jacob's friend, and hope she takes a good shot.  I had to crop it, but she got a decent shot.  Poor Joseph is hiding a bit.  :)


For our "with parents and grandparents" shot, I handed my camera off to Danny, a bit more experienced at taking pictures.  Here's what he captured:


Okay, on to a graduation image that I actually took!  I decided to set up the tripod on the lawn in front of Sherman Hall (very pretty building) at WIU for a family shot with my parents; the end result is going to be our Christmas picture--which is why I won't feature it here.  Below is one of the images that I took in preparation for the "good" shot--I'm setting up the camera, angle, depth of field, perspective, shutter speed, etc. etc.  When Danny (on the right) saw me taking pre-pictures, he hammed it up a bit with a goofy expression.  Thomas (left) was just stretching, but doesn't it seem he's checking for BO?  I thought that was funny.


Finally, here is the most recent group portrait I took.  We (on the left) hadn't seen our friends (on the right) in over 26 years!!  They were in town last weekend, and we were available, so we drove an hour or so north and met them at a mall, where we spent the entire afternoon talking and getting caught up.  We had a fantastic time, and Duane and Connie suggested we get a group shot before parting ways.  I had my camera with me, fortunately, since I had done photography for the Crusaders football team all morning (I have the sunburn to prove it, too!).

However, when one doesn't have her tripod with her (didn't think she needed it), one must improvise.  Therefore, my camera was propped on top of Duane's truck hood, with the camera strap propping up the lens.  The angle is crooked, but for a last-minute group shot, and for a shot of us together after 26 years, it's priceless!


Whew--I actually typed a ton; didn't mean to do that as I know this post is behind schedule.  Here I go publishing...  "See" you all on your blogs real soon!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Weekly Header Challenge - Celebration

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!


"Headbanger" Participants
Imac 


I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.
Click on the other participants' blogs to see
what they've come up with!


Theme ~ Celebration

Chosen by Tom FG.


Perfect theme; thanks, Tom!!  We've been celebrating lots of things lately, but this one is the biggest:  Our son Jacob graduated from college!  That's him in the header, which was taken right as the graduates walked to their seats and were still standing.  My 70-300mm lens was focused on Jacob, and I was ready to snap away when he looked over and up at us.  It ended up being a perfect shot!

Rather than lots of words, and since I love to tell a story with my images, here's our weekend of celebration.

Friday - The Honors Convocation


Jacob received two medallions--one for completing Honors College requirements,
and one for graduating Magna Cum Laude.




Saturday - The Graduation

Driving from our hotel to the WIU campus; greeted by purple and gold banners!


Jacob spent the night in his old dorm with some buddies.

Taken by Fernando--Jacob gave me several names of friends to take pics of!


The full image of my header.



Moving the tassel--that's Jacob's friend Corey's triumphant face!

Hug from his proud dad.


Sunday - The Celebration

Just a couple of images from our afternoon/evening party!

A celebration must-have--I made two cakes!

Brothers and friends (and a photobomb!) celebrate together.

Can't wait to visit your blogs and celebrate with you!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Weekly Header Challenge - Nature

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!


"Headbanger" Participants
Imac 


I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.
Click on the other participants' blogs to see
what they've come up with!


Theme ~ Nature

Chosen by Tom W.


I'm so happy that I didn't have to dig through my image archives for this week's theme!  I've been out shooting a lot lately and have lots of new images to choose from.  This week's images are from a little over a week ago, and have never been seen in public.  Until now.  Lucky you.  ;)

I doubt my single header image of a bird will win a medal this week; there are likely far more interesting Nature images among my fellow headbangers.  However, I was excited to share not just the header, but the complete story behind this bird, which acted out an amazing display of nature a mere two feet in front of me!

Behind the Scenes

Our family went to a church picnic at a park a couple of Sundays ago, and I had two chances to wander with my camera.  On the second wandering, we (one of my "borrowed daughters" accompanied me) came across this bird as soon as we stepped off the path and onto the grass leading up to a footbridge over a road.  As we kept going, the bird kept coming closer, squawking, flapping her wings (I'm of the opinion it was the mama), even lying on her back, or so it looked.

Sarah and I wondered what in the world she was doing!  I snapped several pictures, and we continued on our walk.  On the way back, this same bird did the same thing, when it suddenly struck me--we were getting too close to her nest!  She was feigning a broken wing, tempting us to follow her to try to capture her, while leading us away from her nest.

I later learned that this bird is a killdeer, which are ground nesters, and both male and female are famous for the broken wing routine we were witnessing.  I had just never seen it up close and personal!  I prefer to think this killdeer was the mama, being a good mama by luring us away from her nest.  Sarah, younger and sharper of eye, spotted the nest first, and I'm glad she did--I never would have found it, lol.  We devised a plan wherein Sarah would follow Mama Killdeer so I could get close to the nest and snap some more pics.  Poor Mama K. was probably frantic seeing that she had split up her enemy and had lured only one away, but I was quick with the camera and she settled down as soon as we left.

Enough of the written story!  Here is the photojournalism you've been waiting for, and the story starts with the header image.  Be thankful I didn't include every image I took and kept--there are several more!  I'll let these below show the story.















Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Weekly Header Challenge - Strings

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!


"Headbanger" Participants
Imac 


I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.
Click on the other participants' blogs to see
what they've come up with!


Theme ~ Strings

Chosen by Kathy.


Below is the full image of my header--look at all those strings!

Detail of harp strings.

I almost went for the literal interpretation, which would be the below image.


But, I went with the musical connotation of strings.  Here are two harpists playing their strings.



The violin is also a beautiful stringed instrument.


When you combine certain strings, you get a bluegrass band!


This is the Atkinson family bluegrass band.  I blogged about them after a summer trip to my beloved Lake Bonaparte.


You have to dance to this music, or at least tap your toe.  If you're not moving while this music plays, you're pretty much dead.  ;)

Dancin' to bluegrass.

From the Atkinson's in New York I take you to the Winton family from California!  This family came to a church near us, and we went at a friend's invitation.


The above is one of the two brothers; when he was 16, he was the champion banjo picker for the whole state of California.  Needless to say, their music was phenomenal.


He also plays the dobro, below.


On to the guitar!  This young man is Andy Kenway, and you can listen to many of his own songs at this link.  He has a great passion for music, learning the guitar in a mere three weeks.



He also plays the mandolin, one of my favorite bluegrass instruments.


His brother Dan is no slacker when it comes to music.  Below, Dan plays his hand-made fiddle.


When Andy and Dan and a few of their musical friends get together, children tend to get up and dance.  See?

Dancin' in my living room!

These young men are very personable, too!  Below, Dan's and Andy's friend Dale helps Elijah play his violin.  They're all pretty special.


I hope you've "strung" together some great images of strings!  Can't wait to visit you all to see!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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