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.

Will These be the Last?

No. Of course not. Sorry. As much as I hate clickbait headlines, they work. At least I didn't include the typical phrase, "You won't believe what happens next!" The answer is obvious. But, until that baby is here to photograph, there may be a few more of Angie.

 

  Angela- 38 Weeks - 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

Saturday is the due date. Angie cleverly tweeted, "I wonder if punctuality is genetic?" We both hate being late and, if that's the case, it should be Friday or Saturday at the latest. We will see but expect that Angie's signs would need to increase quite a bit tomorrow or Saturday if that is when it's going to be.

 

  Angela - 38 Weeks - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

I still have one more photo in mind that I would like to execute so after a few errands tomorrow, when the sun is in the right position, will see if the last photo can be made. I may also do one last of the series you saw in the last post for the final frames of the full process.

 

  Angela - 38 Weeks - 5 by Jay Scott on 500px

Until we find out, I hope you've enjoyed these photos from a few weeks ago at the University in the shiny new Health Sciences building. She may have said she felt tired but I still think Angie looked great!

 

  Angela - 38 Weeks - 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

Finally, my mom's favourite, the one in black and white. I chose to go black-and-white for this because of the texture and because of the lack of contrasting colour in the light sources, as there was only one light source. There's nothing wrong with that but I demand more of myself except for the cases like this where more would actually be less.

 

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

The Beautiful Brief Lilies

 

  Backyard Pink Lilies by Jay Scott on 500px

As the days continue on, and summer begins to show the signs of its age, the lilies having come in their stunning, short-lived, glory, the birth of our baby draws nearer. We've said to ourselves that there's no point in not living life as usual until the time comes. Staying at home constantly thinking, worrying and being anxious about it does no one any good and, honestly, I'm pretty proud of how well we've done at just carrying on. It's exciting, it's a degree of scary and it's the biggest thing in my life since getting married and building a house. All good things in the process of building a life and the life of a family.

At times we feel comfortably prepared, knowing that there will be an uncertain degree of improvisation, then other times, while just living life, Angie's tummy bumps in the back of the head (sometimes she still isn't aware of how far it sticks out, or so she tells me) and we realize that the time is coming very soon. Today we both agreed that the length of time a woman is pregnant is just about right. Too much shorter and it wouldn't be enough time to let it sink in and prepare, too much longer and the discomfort and growing anxiousness would be difficult.

 

  Orange Backyard Lilies by Jay Scott on 500px

At this moment my biggest concern revolves around a factor I cannot control but believe that with the proper assertiveness I should be able to exercise some degree of influence. That concern is with my care. Being on a regular schedule like I am is best for my health and pushing the limits has significant negative consequences. Add to that a Home Care office that I have a rapidly diminishing faith in and you can see the source of my concern. I do have faith in God and hope that he will have his hands on the perfect timing of everything, including my routine, so that I have the pleasure of witnessing our child's birth without pushing my well-being beyond what is healthy. It would not be the first time that I counted on him to influence those at the Home Care who have the ability to make my life easier.

I will trust Angie's judgment far more than my own, as I'm just a casual observer, but I wonder if today's photo at 39 weeks isn't the last of this series. I suppose we will see soon enough!

Kiwi's Haircut, Summer Disappearing and Our New Addition Getting Closer

 

  Kiwi, Watching Out the Window? No! by Jay Scott on 500px

It has been a little bit busy around here, lately, hasn't it? I guess there has been a small gap in the shooting and baby preparations so I've had time to process photos and post. Summer is passing by s quickly despite my best efforts to make the most of every day and opportunity.

Certainly there are a few more nonessential things left to do but we both feel like we are as prepared as we can be, for the things we have some degree of control over. I have a few picture frames to paint, yet. There is a minor bit of decorating to be done but, like I said, that is not essential. The feeling I have is like that of the approaching winter. By that I mean in preparing while there are minimal restrictions. Every late summer and autumn I find myself trying to get done every last thing I can that is most easily accomplished before there is snow on the ground. What usually ends up happening is that the snow does not interfere nearly as much as I think it does but each year I find myself in preparation mode before the weather adds its additional challenges to everyday life.

Kiwi has had a recent haircut, as shown by the photo above. Next week will be my turn along with a trip for physiotherapy. The thing is, this baby could take up to a month to arrive which would actually be quite a bit of time in the scheme of things. Wow! Every time I say those words it seems a bit surreal. I have moments of complete acceptance of all of the good things about come our way, along with the uncertainty of the changes. Then I have moments like right now when I can't quite believe it, yet.

Angie's friend was commenting on thinking about taking their new son for swimming lessons in the fall but said that maybe she would wait until spring and they could do it together. That was a big reality check for Angie when she thought, "we're going to have a baby!" It's not just about the pregnancy. It's about the rest of our lives. Today, in fact, as I was making my way down the street to make a photo for Challenging Reality, I was thinking how helpful it would've been to have had a little helper for either a push or to carry a piece of gear. I know that won't be for at least a few years but I look forward to the opportunity to teach what I know and have been taught, as well as reap the benefits of a little helper.

I'm sure that our current little helper, pictured above, might have a few jealousy issues. But there's almost no reason she can't be involved in all of our activities. There will be plenty of attention for her and plenty of delicious droppings of food from little hands learning their dexterity. That won't be for a little while, but it will probably be more interesting to our food-driven dog than my lap has been the last while.

I will add to the photo below, as we have additional shots and as time permits. However, with it being as close as it is there is much more reason to post promptly because we just don't know when the last post and last progress photo will be!

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. :-)

Zoo 2014 - 3

Continuing from my previous post, here are some more of the photos from the same trip to the zoo.

This peacock had much nicer plumage than the one from my previous post, but was not as cooperative as the first one. Still, stood still long enough for one nice portrait.

I have been surprised at how nonaggressive the geese have been this year. Most years you get within 30 feet of them and they're hissing like a snake about to attack. This year, even with the gaggle of 15 goslings, they were particularly calm. Maybe it's because there were far fewer noisy children chasing and disrupting their children. Still, cute and fluffy as they get.

Finally, is the date that draws near while the tummy grows larger. Look at the spurt on those last few photos! You can click on the image to enlarge it and get a better side to side scroll view of Angie's progress.

The next post will wrap up this visit to the zoo and the post following that will look at the amazing, beautiful blooming for trees Saskatoon was blessed with this year. There are going to be a lot of crabapples and berries covering the ground this fall.

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.

This Picture is Worth Many More than a Thousand Words

August 9 is the estimated date.

Without a doubt, I'll keep you posted. :)

Welcome, Baby Drayden

I'm received a very positive reception from my photos of Rebecca so I've decided to post a few more.

Along with his coming home outfit, Rebecca had the cutest pair of moccasins that ended up being part of some of my favourite shots from the session.

Rebecca Expecting-4 by Jay Scott

Rebecca Expecting-5 by Jay Scott

Rebecca Expecting-6 by Jay Scott

Her son, Drayden, entered the world Saturday. I hope I have the opportunity to make some photos of him once the time is right. From what I have seen he is cute as a button and would be a lot of fun to photograph.

Stages

The best photo shoot I had ever had was grad photos of Rebecca, Cassie and Kayla. The energy and enthusiasm they had, despite the unbelievable mosquito population was motivating. The comfortable weather, their lovely dresses, hair and makeup all came together to make for one of the best 45 min. of my life. I wish I had three times that much time to work with them but they had ceremonies to get to. :-)

Rebecca's Grad by Jay Scott

That was a few years ago and it still sits in the top number of photo sessions I have ever had. Rebecca is about to enter a new stage in life when she gives birth to her son in a week or less. It was my pleasure to photograph her to help her preserve the memories, hopefully mostly the good ones, of this pregnancy.

Rebecca Expecting - 1 by Jay Scott

Recently on a Facebook page for disabled photographers the question was posed, "what do you use for adaptive equipment?" I thought about it, and aside from the oral shutter release I designed and built for my Pentax, I do not use any adaptive equipment. I am grateful to have found a way to make photos without any additional barriers, that is, relying on more specialized equipment. When we first got our point-and-shoot camera it was wonderful to just have a camera that I could use with my clumsy hands. When the time came to upgrade to a DSLR I, once again, made my decision largely based on what I could use with my hands. Thankfully, I was not able to use that camera in the way I intended because the weight was greater than the demo model I tried in the store which had a lesser lens on it than mine would. I was forced to find a better way to hold the camera because I had already purchased it and surpassed the time frame permitted for a return. Thanks to that I was able to base my next upgrade almost solely on the merits of the camera system and not on what would work for my hands. If I was dependent on a camera body design, had Nikon's next body been what I was looking for, but been redesigned to a shape I could not use, I would be stuck with what I had hoping that their next model would work for me.

My point is that I am thankful I do not require any adaptive technology but, to answer the question posed on the Facebook group, I had to say how greatly appreciative I was of having Angie to assist me as efficiently as she always does so that we can get as much done in two hours as we did. I know most photographers have an assistant and that it makes a huge difference in their ability to work but Angie's efficiency, and familiarity with my style of working, made a huge difference in the final results.

Rebecca Expecting - 3 by Jay Scott

That assistance allowed me to spend more time talking with Rebecca and keeping her in the spotlight and not told to just "wait a minute" while I am adjusting a light or some other small thing. Her mom was there, as well, which helped me to keep the expressions real and make photos that are difficult to make until your talent is comfortable and at ease.

Rebecca Expecting - 2 by Jay Scott

I hope everything goes very well for Rebecca in the coming days and that she will be able to look back on these photos with fondness. I know I certainly will because it was an absolute pleasure to make them with her lovely smile, wonderful personality and easy-going nature. I'm happy to say that now two of my best photo sessions include her.