SchneeWorld

Big Air

Parenting

 A couple of months ago (maybe a year ago), the family and I tooled around Austin and we found the 9th Street BMX Trail, located on 9th Street near Lamar. Very close to our house. I flagged the site as some place I wanted to bring a camera to sometime. That time was Sunday.

Not really thinking about the BMX trail, I recently set up a very small jump for Jack in our street. Very small. He went over it a few times and seemed to have some fun, but I think he enjoyed watching me more. Kathleen had the brilliant idea (no snark, brilliant) for me to take the boys to the BMX trail on Sunday for an outing. I packed my camera gear and Jack's bike and we headed out. With the boys in tow, I didn't really think I'd get the opportunity to bust out the camera gear, but wanted to have it 'just in case'.

We watched the riders for a bit while Jack screwed up his courage. He got on his bike (not a BMX) and started over the smaller bumps. That did not go too well. 30 minutes of intensive parenting later, I managed to convince Jack to stay and watch the other riders (he never did get back on the bike). I also pulled out the camera gear. We watched one guy in particular for over an hour. I think it was a good lesson for the boys to see some more "extreme" sports, since it is unlikely that I'll be catching any big air on a bike anytime. Ever. Ben was really excited, and Jack seemed to get over the negative feedback that the fall provided. Maybe next time he will get on his bike.

Photography

I noticed a woman taking photographs of a rider. He was doing some visually interesting jumps so I asked to join in the photo-fun, which would keep my boys entertained. I got a big "no problem" from Rick and Jenn and proceeded to set up everything. I found the biggest jump and took a couple of practice shots:

That image establishes the 'studio'. I  moved to the landing berm and snapped a couple of available light photos.

Compositionally fine, but the image lacks definition. The subject (Rick) should stand out more. I broke out the off-camera flash and the Pocket Wizards and took a couple of test photos (using some random bystanders) to get the exposure dialed-in. I hadn't done the off-camera thing for a while and forgot that my camera's sync speed is 1/200 - I was shooting 1/250. That mistake is the cause of the horizontal shadow in the first test image. Whoops. But it worked out OK.

Now I was ready to rock. Rick was a good great sport - he suggested places for me to stand to get the good visuals. I suspected he'd done this sort of thing before.

Artistically, the money shot is that last image.  The sun in the upper right peaking through the clouds kicks butt. However, the preceding image shows Rick much better and would work for a publicity photo. All the images are located on my Flickr stream, handily collected into a set.

"Rick" is one "Rick Wetherald", a recent transplant to Austin, TX from Durango Colorado. The woman taking pictures of him is Jennifer (I think they are sweet on each other, but I'm not sure). Rick used to race professionally and seems to be jumping into the Texas cycling scene since moving here. Of course, he has a blog.

Boot to the head

Jack is signed up for martial arts, kung-fu in the Shaolin-Do style. He had not shown much interest in physical activity - uninterested in soccer, tee-ball, biking, ... - until martial arts. Kathleen and I discussed it and decided that we could try. It is a bit expensive, but we'll still try. The study and practice will hopefully help with his coordination and perhaps lead to other sports.

He's learning the 10 sparing forms right now. They probably have fancy names like "monkey takes eggs" or "smashing star fist", but Jack and I know them as "one", "two", ... "ten". We'll learn the proper names someday. Jack has a gi (the white uniform) and is currently a white belt. He was showing us his "moves" last night - kicks and punches. Ben was emulating him. Anna was watching and decided to get into the act. She assumed a three point stance and proceeded to repeatedly kick out her left leg. It was pretty funny. No camera in hand.

More boots, more walkin

We have another walker.

Anna decided that she had had enough of this crawling / bear crawling and after 16 months, her mom and dad had had enough as well. We learned that trying to rush things just doesn't work, but our expectations were set with Jack walking at 12 months and Ben at 14. Surely Anna would come in there somewhere.

Well, she finally got ready and we got the camera out. She's pretty much a full walker now - slow, not very steady, but getter better every day.

Beauty Salon

Back in March, Anna had her first haircut.

First Haircut

Her hair was getting a little scraggly so we needed to do something about it. We took her to where we usually get the boys' cuts, Cool Cuts 4 Kids. One conveniently exists in the local Toys R Us near the homestead. Personally, I'd like to see the kids get cuts at Bird's Barbershop, a funky  little place that has a  pretty cool music-theme to it (Walk in, Rock out). But the kids like Cool Cuts.

Anna started off pretty good...

but then quickly decided that she didn't like what was going on.

Once we got back home, she had calmed down and decided that she really likes her new 'do.

Anna Turns One

Anna B Day

Way back in January, almost two months ago, Anna turned one. It was a pretty fun time - we had her Godparents (and family) over, Calvin, Laura and the girls and Ben's best buddy Jonas. Click on the image to get to the photos.

Stung on the Tongue!

Jack went camping with his buddy Nico this past weekend. He was on Spring Break and I guess wanted to have one last lost weekend before returning to Kindergarten. Kathleen took him and his brother and sister out there on Friday and they all played. Jack stayed behind. Nico's parents were sort of planning on coming back on Saturday, but were also thinking of staying until Sunday.

On Saturday, we got a phone call from Shannon, Nico's mom. "Is Jack allergic to bee stings? 'Cause he got stung on the tongue". He was eating a peanut and jelly sandwich and a bee flew into his mouth. And nailed his tongue. And then he swallowed the bee.

I talked to him on the phone and he was pretty shaken up. But he shook it off after a bit and had a good time the rest of the time. Yay Jack!


 

Christmas Light-ing

and

Notice the quality of light between those two images? They were taken about 3 weeks apart, but in the same room. Same camera, and basically the same exposure. The only difference? The placement of the flash(es). The 2nd image is the prototype and was taken when we were decorating our Christmas tree. I knew that I needed to figure out a nice and user-friendly approach to lighting for Christmas and decided I'd do a trial run when we decorated the tree.

The tree-decoration lighting is direct and hard. I had a flash located camera-left, triggered wirelessly via a Pocket Wizard. It was not bounced or otherwise diffused and consequentially, it provides very sharp shadows. It is very dramatic. If you click on the image, you can navigate around to others.

The first image was taken on Christmas, after I decided that I did not want hard light. I knew that I need even light and a setup that would allow me to take images from various vantage points in the room. Here is an image of my lighting setup.

Notice the two flashes, camera-left and -right? They are pointed back away from the center of the room, and bounce the light from walls and corners of the room. The bounce light provides diffused illumination, coming from two opposite places in the room. Combined, they provide even lighting to the areas where the subjects are likely to be (near the tree and the loot). When a subject is to the left of the room, the left light is the main light and the right light provides the fill. The opposite is true when the subject moves to the right of the room. All-in-all, the setup was convenient, and I did not have to worry about lighting or exposure. I shot a few images at f/8 @ 1/60s and then switched to f/10 @ 1/60s when I decided that f/8 was too hot. Point-and-shoot is easy once you design the lighting.

All the Christmas photos can be found by clicking on the album below. See if you can tell when I had both flashes firing and when I changed the lighting.

Christmas 2007

Incidentally, this is almost exactly what Strobist suggested in the Christmas Game Plan lighting setup. Nice to know that I'm on the same wave as David Hobby, the guy behind Strobist.com.

Whole Mess o' Photos

Here's a whole mess of photos of the family in the lead up to the holidays. 

Kids Pre-Xmas

Jack's Birthday

Sorry about the delay and the brevity. Here are some photos:

Jack's Bday

I had intended to caption each one, but I really am struggling to find time.

Oh, and yesterday, I ate lunch with a spork! 

What Happened To Rock and Roll?

Every year for the past six years, Austin has hosted the "Austin City Limits Music Festival", or "ACLFest". This year, Kathleen got me a three-day pass to attend for my birthday. I'm not a big fan of live music - I like studio recordings better. Still, I was excited to go and since it was in our backyard, it was easy to get to. With the three-day pass, I had in-and-out access, and kids could attend for free.

On the Sunday, Kathleen scored a one-day pass and we took the whole family down.

They had an "Austin Kiddie Limits" section - a small stage playing kid-friendly music (Ziggy Marley was there for a bit), the Austin School of Rock Petting Zoo (real electric guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, drum sets), and other interactive displays. Jack had a good time with that, but Ben was a little stand-offish (uncharacteristically). Anna was just happy to figure out how to drink from the Camelback bite-valve.

It was eventually time for the kids to go and I was designated Sherpa. With Anna on my back, I loaded Ben and Jack into the stroller and trekked the 2 miles back to our house.

On the way there, the music faded out and Ben asked "What happened to Rock and Roll?" My answer:

"Well Ben, one likes to believe
In the freedom of music
But glittering prizes
And endless compromises
Shatter the illusion
Of integrity"

Jack and Ben enjoy music. One of their favorite activities is to head into the computer room and have me crank up (LOUD) David Essex's Rock On. Ben will sing "Blue Jean, Baby queen, prettiest girl I ever seen" as he goes to sleep. If they aren't listening to Rock On, they like to hear the Cars soundtrack, which I find exposes them to a nice variety of music.

And that's good.

I got my new toy

Instead of using it to do what my job wants me to do, I took a bunch of photos of the kids. I tell myself that I'm just learning how to use it, but really, I'm slacking off.

The transition to kids in school has been a little rough - without Jack to play with, Ben is focusing a lot of attention on Anna. That's not a good thing - Kathleen caught him the other day wrapping ribbon around her neck. Jack has reverted to being an extremely picky eater. Frustratingly so. But we press on.

Oh, and the toy? A really nice digital SLR.

Big couple of weeks

Last week, Jack started riding a bike. That was nice. Anna worked really hard to get a tooth through - not quite yet, but soon.

This week, Anna is crawling. She goes four or five "steps" at a time. Jack is learning to read phonetically. There's some website that helps him through it and he's doing a good job associating pictures of a boat with the spelling of "b-o-a-t". And, Ben is drawing rocket ships. Yep, recognizable rocket ships - tail fins, pointy nose, fire coming out of the back and some sort of emblem. He's either been possessed by our soon-to-be Extraterrestrial Overlords, or he's pretty advanced in terms of fine motor skills.
 

Some more summertime images

Some more photos taking during Graduation Day. I noticed that my scanner is getting dark - the thing is 8 years old. Maybe time to get a new one. Sheesh!

The kids and the dad.

Jack in flight, celebrating being a graduate!

Ben mugging for the camera. 

Rock On

Kathleen and I sort of independently decided that the children aren't getting enough music in their lives. Part of it is due to our very slow CD player - it takes forever to load it up. Part of it is due to...well, I don't know what it is due to.

Kathleen is going to sign Jack up for piano lessons in the Fall. We'll use our neighbor's piano to practice. That should really help. Jack is pretty smart and seems to grasp geometric concepts easily. Visual geometry may or may not indicate mathematic ability. And mathematics may or may not correlate to music.

For my part, I'm teaching the boys how to sing David Essex's rock anthem "Rock On". All I have to do is say "Ben, Rock On!" and he'll respond with a "Jimmy Dean" and then, lowering his voice "James Dean".

 Where do we go from here? Three Dog Night?

Some summertime photos

Jack graduated from preschool last month. While I don't have any photos scanned from the actual ceremony, we needed to load a new roll of film during the event. The roll of Fuji NPZ 800 was developed at Costco, which provides relatively inexpensive scans of decent quality. Costco doesn't process slide film, which was used during the ceremony. Scanning that takes time since I have to do it myself. And time is of short supply, unfortunately.

 
Here's Ben screwing around in a tire-based playscape. This is on the grounds of Jack's old preschool. Fortunately for Ben, he'll be going there in the Fall.

More Ben and the Tires. He seems to enjoy them.

Ben has moved onto a swinging tube. This is a really good candid photography. Almost as if I placed Ben in the tube and told him to look at me.

Jack and his good friend from preschool Sam. They are playing with a water faucet. As I type this, it occurs to me that this was the last time they are likely to play together in this location. Sam will not be going to Jack's school in the Fall, but they've played on the same soccer team and have gotten together in the for playdates and birthday parties and the like.

Ben, looking like he is having fun

Jack, showing me that he has learned to swing by himself.

Jack and Ben on the swingset.

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