11 Months Old

 

  11 Months - 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

Wow! How time flies. Fiona turned 11 months old today so we thought we would carry on with the monthly photo tradition by showing off her latest favorite thing, standing on our bed, looking in the mirror and dancing with her reflection.

 

  11 Months - 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

Last week she discovered the flashlight I keep in the pouch of my wheelchair. If that wasn't treasure to a little girl, and testament to her being my daughter with both of us loving lights so much, I don't know what would be. She is getting at the age that when it's time to take something away though it is a very big deal. We try to replace whatever we have to take away with something good, but it will be a learning experience for all of us to both put our foot down and her not be quite so dramatic about the little things. She is an infant, yet, so were not trying to expect too much.

 

  11 Months - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

After all, she still does hilarious things like this:

Nine Months Later

 

  Angela - 38 Weeks - 4 by Jay Scott on 500px

You may remember the above photo from last August. The one below is from yesterday, nine months later.

 

  9 Months Later 1 BW by Jay Scott on 500px

The colour version can be seen here.

Our little pumpkin trying to crawl to me, unaware of the ledge before her. She's a bright girl, but babies really need their parents' protection from unrealized consequences to actions. She's understanding correction and warnings quite well. We weren't sure when a child can understand "no" but I guess we know now.

 

  9 Months Later 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

When Paul and I were out for exercise this past Victoria Day, I stumbled upon a great little cove on campus. I'd not gone down there before due to the steep ramp. We were feeling strong and confident in our hill climbers so, down we went. Without a camera bag on my lap to slow my progress, we made it up the ramp but it was pretty difficult. However, going down was worth it. What an incredible little hideaway one building over from my previous favorite place to shoot. With some patience and wheelchair technology I will definitely go back there on future sessions.

 

  9 Months Later 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

After seeing that spot I knew I had to make some portraits there in the very near future. So, that's where we ended up since Fiona was still doing well after our photos in the Health Sciences building. The first was with some added light, the second was just finding that right spot, fill light bouncing off the sidewalk, shade for the soft side light and slightly darker in the background to make certain my girls were the literal and figurative bright spot of the photo.

 

  9 Months Later 4 by Jay Scott on 500px

I keep talking about it but I really think that it's time for a daddy and daughter photo next. I have the concept. Now, to find the time.

Mommy and Me

 

  My Girls at Easter by Jay Scott on 500px

It took me way, way, too long to make a portrait of my two girls. Together, that is. I know that Angie wanted to feel that she was looking good on the day that I made the photo. We all know that Fiona always looks good. :-) At least for the five minutes that I have her attention and then it starts to drift. That's okay. As long as I'm set up and ready to get her during her best times following eating when she is just full of smiles.

This wasn't her best time and I missed focus on the best smiles because she so consistently wiggly but it's alright. I love her smiles but a little more serious face is good, also. Angie has her giggling up a storm in the living room right now. She didn't have the best nap this afternoon and that's always when it's easiest to get her giggling. For that matter, Angie and I laugh at our own silly jokes the hardest when we are very tired, before bed.

And, what would a photo session be without a nice outtake that shows her mid-laugh with those two cute little teeth showing in the bottom? I think she is working on a few more. She has been eating like a little horse, enjoying all of her milk as well as the feast she enjoyed at Easter dinner. She also had a very generous portion of the spicy pasta sauce we made the other night. I hope she continues to enjoy eating all of those delicious and adventurous things that Angie and I enjoy so much. I'm prepared to cook differently, if necessary, but it would be nice if she stayed interested in the intense flavors that Angie and I typically enjoy.

Little Lady Bugs

I've been meaning to share these photos of Fiona in one of the favourite outfits she's been given. Passifiers aren't that interesting to her, but she certainly has found her fists.

Beneath the cuffs of her pants are black bows on the socks. I didn't think I'd be so interested in the cute ensembles Angie put her in. The below shot was a tricky one because those legs just never stop kicking.

Red bum ruffles. Only a baby can get away with those.

She was a little tired after freshly waking up from a nap but I really enjoy the increasing number of expressions she shows us.

Since these photos she has had a visit from grandma and grandpa, grown so much, giggled to a degree that could melt the Grinch's heart and just continues to captivate us with her first experiences and developing personality.

For those tired of baby photos, I have more family shots and some other subjects coming, soon. Until then, Challenging Reality has been revived. Just in time, too. It will be featured in the next issue of Parascope, the Saskatchewan branch of the Canadian Paraplegic Association's quarterly magazine. I'll share a link to the PDF once it's out. The site updates will not be quite as regular as before but I've carved out time to commit to it so there are few excuses for it to not continue forward.

Finally, Help-Portrait is upon us in a few weeks. We've worked hard and it's looking good, except for donations. Last year we were flush with cash but had no location confirmation and few committed volunteers. This year we have plenty of people, but could use more money to ensure we can afford printing consumables as well as food. Each bit that has trickled in has helped. However, if you feel compelled to support us, please email me at jayscottphotography AT gmail.com or b.johnson AT sasktel.net. Next year we will try additional fundraising methods including auctioning or raffling off our work, steak nights or other things that give the donor more than just a warm feeling.

The Prequel is Complete

This post has sat here incomplete for a few days because the rate at which time passes these days astonishes me. A day with only two or three things that I want to get done seems to fly by with maybe one or two being tackled. It's all good. Sleep has been a bit better the last few days, thanks in part to my mother-in-law. But there are days when I just can't believe how quickly it has come and gone.

Granted, there have been a lot of days with scheduled appointments and things to do and when you are timing an outing around a baby's schedule it may not take longer to complete but it may need to be hurried up to leave sooner or postponed to leave a bit later. Thankfully few things trump just trying to live life with the occasional event or outing but I must admit that it felt really good to make a photo for my project the other day just feel a little bit like the routine we knew as normal a few weeks ago.

The prequel I spoke of in the title of this post is the series of photos we did throughout Angie's pregnancy. You've seen most of them but this is the complete version including a final shot of mother and child. Each individual photo can be clicked on to see in a much higher resolution so that you can enjoy the time, effort and quality I attempted to put into each image.

I think I will take the opportunity to go to bed early tonight to get as much good sleep as possible. I will have some more interesting, unique photos for you in a few days.

Ma & Pa

 

  My Folks by Jay Scott on 500px

A couple of weekends ago mom and dad came up to visit as a likely last visit together before our baby arrives. The plan was that on Saturday dad and I would go fishing at the Forestry Farm in the morning then mom, Angie and Angie's family would join us for a picnic. After our lunch I was planning to set up a few lights and make some nice photos of our family in which to decorate our baby's room with. Unfortunately, the weather would let us have no part of it and we had a week of rain before my parents arrived, and then a dreary day on the Saturday we planned all of this for. At least we were able to take mom and dad out to the Berry Barn for a nice supper.

It wasn't terribly rainy that Saturday but I had been through the park the day before and the puddles in the picnic area must've been three inches deep. There was no way that they were going to drain by the time we wanted to have lunch there the next day. Because of this I did the best I could with the tools of my disposal and made the photo of my parents you see above. I just needed a portion of our living room to complete the job. We will need to be proactive about completing the other photos but at least those other family members live in the city.

Though I am not at liberty to share them, yet, we had our maternity/family photos done last week and, from what we have seen of the preview, are very happy with them. It helps that we knew our photographer quite well, are confident in her style and easy-going nature and that all of us involved were pretty laid back about the process. She has an immeasurably greater amount of experience working with people than I do so I was taking mental notes the whole time. She also offered me the opportunity to shadow her on some of her shoots in the future, which I intend to capitalize upon because observing a professional work like that is invaluable experience and education.

Here's one BTS  shot from the session:

Love that tree (from 2012):

I have been continuing on with Angie's biweekly photos. Below you'll see her at 34 weeks, the photo we made just this past Monday. She had to change outfits from the original series because those early maternity clothes just were no longer fitting the ever-growing tummy. We will be continuing the regular photos but probably switch to weekly as her growth will be that much faster in these last few weeks. I will post a new series of photos in the next little while.

From here on down is just camera talk. If you're interested in me and what I'm interested in you will probably want to keep reading. If you only came for the photos you won't miss much if you stop reading right here.

On a different note, it was 3 1/2 years ago that I bought my D700. The model was a few years old at that time and has been a fine camera. It was replaced two years ago by its big brother, the D800, which was actually in a higher category than the D700, was a hugely popular camera with image quality rivaling cameras 10-20 times its cost. The announcement was made last week to replace it with some significant and some less significant improvements and upgrades. I've been saving my pennies, balancing the budget, and have decided to move forward with this new body, the D810.

Normally I'm not an early adopter of technology. I like the things to come out, the problems be found and fixed, then I'm ready to buy in if it's the right technology for me. Because this is not a complete overhaul, but some additions and improvements, I feel confident that it is not going to be something that needs the bugs worked out. Some of the newer technology, that had me pull back, I learned has been implemented by other companies with smaller systems. Nikon has simply scaled it up for this body. It's not that there isn't room for problems but I feel that Nikon will look after their customers, especially after some widespread problems with a previous body. It took a bit of yelling by the customers but Nikon came through. I don't think it should have taken them as long to fix the problem as it did, but I believe they learned their lesson.

Hopefully it's here in time to begin the recording of priceless memories as soon as they begin with the arrival of our baby. I'm sure she won't mind a small mortgage of her education fund in the short term for dad to have a new toy/tool to preserve the memories of her growth. :-)

It's Zoo Season and Four Months to Go

After another prolonged winter, and slower melt than I would like to see, I finally had the opportunity to go to the zoo for some photos and more real-life exercise than what I get at the track. Unfortunately, there were still many piles of ice that were just soft enough that I could not wheel through or over them. Where the snow had been cleared in the winter there was heavy machinery for annual tree trimming. Because of that I really only got a few photos of the bears, a few of the lynx on the new platform in their habitat, and some decent opportunities to photograph some geese.

 Being prior to their hissy-fit stage, which occurs when the babies arrive, this one was kind enough to waddle up on top of a snow mound which provided me a much more interesting background than I normally can get from my seated position. There wasn't much I could do about the seeds and sand on its beak.

Normally I think more of geese with a goofy expression like the one pictured above, or steaming on a platter accompanied by mashed potatoes. But, when they are friendly and easy-going I like them a lot more.

It was interesting to watch the geese walking and stomping on the ice trying to break it up. They had made a few holes for swimming in but I doubt there was much in there to eat, yet. I'm sure that after yesterday's wind and tomorrow evening's rain it will advance the melt a lot quicker.

What was more interesting to me was watching them walk and fall through the snow banks that are still around. A video posted by The Camera Store TV today had some B roll of exactly that, a goose walking on snow and breaking through up to its belly. I guess Calgary isn't that much more melted than we are.

Lastly, before I decided I had seen all that I was able to get to for the day, were the lynx. Their new platform gives them both a better view out and visitors a better view of them. With the snow receding I should be able to get a better angle, with less fence in the foreground (but the red branches of the red bush against the fence were intentional). Early mornings will be the best time to find the cats sitting up there looking out.

But, the biggest news is of course that Angie is due in a mere four months. I'm still trying to wrap my head around that but feeling our baby kick for the first time the other night brought me one step closer to it sinking in to my brain. We will continue with the regular series of photos and post a new composite periodically.

For those interested in the technicals of the above photos, it varies from each session to session, but the location is the same (hence the entertainment center in our snug living room creeping into the bottom left corner of each frame) and the light sources, though the power may vary from one to the other, are the same each time. The key light on camera left is a 90 cm soft box with the equivalent of a one quarter cut of CTO, the fill on the right is a small Pringles-can strip light with a one half cut of CTO, and one hair light at rear camera right with a full cut of CTO and a 20° grid spot. For each I was at about 90mm, shooting between f/4.5 and f/5.6, ISO 200, no ambient influencing the photo.

I don't know if I've ever received so many "shares" or "likes" on Facebook and I'm appreciative of how much people enjoy the photos. However, I have a feeling nagging in the back of my mind. I am almost as passionate and dedicated to Challenging Reality, and have been posting photos there for over a year, pouring much effort, emotion, time and money into that, trying to express how much it means to me to those who view it, but cannot seem to get the word out the way I am hoping to. So, next time you take a look at that site or see a post on Facebook, could you remember how much it means to me and take the time to share it, or even create your own new post linking to the site or article.

Thank you.

Light Blaster Cuteness

Help-Portrait planning is well underway and my hopes of using my new tool, the Light Blaster, as a part of the CPA event, is looking better. We will give participants the option of having an interesting portrait made but, of course, we will offer a standard studio style portrait if that is what they're interested. It is my hope that we can surpass the common look of a standard studio portrait that has been around for decades. Sure, they look nice, but they have been done billions of times. Unique is where it is at, in my opinion.

So, who do you think were my test subjects? Of course they were Kiwi and Angie. Posing as nicely as they always do for me while I tweak and adjust and struggle to get the look I want.

I know a lot of people have told me I am wrong when I say this, but I do not feel terribly creative. It has taken a lot of time thinking about how to use this tool to create unique photos. The top photo is the best example of what it is capable of. The slide I chose was one of a nebula. I fired it from the back of the chair onto the back of my subjects. You can see the pattern of the slide best on the chair next Kiwi's left side (camera right).

I'm not saying that these photos were the best use of this tool but the more I use it and the more I think about it the more I am beginning to understand its capabilities and get some ideas of how to use it in an original way.

As for taking Kiwi back to her original groomer, I think it was the right choice. She was shaved down perfectly this time, done faster than usual and it is only 10 blocks away instead of across the city.

Just look at those silky smooth shaved down flappy ears. :-) I can't get enough of them.

Finally, I got the chance to try out a new lens to make these photos. Sometimes I hate the idea of buying or selling on Kijiji. You can never be certain what you are getting or who you will be getting it from. This time I hit gold, though. Slightly above the fair market value, I bought a barely used lens to dedicate to the Light Blaster. Just like a slide projector you can use a lens to zoom in or zoom out there by concentrating or widening the projection thrown. Definitely not the quality of lens that I am used to using, but it is in mint condition, with the box with all the manuals and the case. Heck, he even gave it to me in the original bag he brought it home in from Don's Photo. A nice 75-year-old guy, which I did not expect because of how computer savvy he was in our communications, with stories to tell, a big smile and a firm handshake. Those are the type of people I like to deal with on Kijiji. He was not so different from the guy I bought my last flash from a few months ago.

2012 Vacation - Reptile World - 7

We made a second lap after the most dangerous creature section so you may see some of the same creatures as in earlier posts.

 Angie held Brittany this year. I didn't feel like it, I was more interested in making a nice, creepy, photo of Angie.

If I ever were to own a reptile it would be a gecko of the colourful variety.