Family Photo Shoot

Angela has been hassling me the last few months to get a family picture. If you follow the blog you will have seen that I have done photo shoots for quite a few different people. Unfortunately that hasn't left much desire to try and rope my own kids in for a formal family shoot. I will say this, the kids did very well for not having anyone taking the pictures. You can't see it but I was triggering the camera with a remote on a 2 second timer. Not really ideal but it seemed to work. Apparently the kids have had a camera stuck in their faces enough times that they know to smile and look at the camera. Also we are not above bribing. I know we shouldn't negotiate with terrorist, but candy goes a long way. There are a few more shots here. Lighting setup was a big softbox camera right with AB 400, shoot through umbrella camera left and rim light for the middle shot right behind Owen and Kaitlyn. Sorry for the lighting info. ~Erik

Some Like to Bounce...

One of the problems that I run into as a photographer is that there usually isn't enough natural light for the lenses that I have. One way to get around this is to add a flash, the problem with an on camera flash is that it can leave the subjects looking washed out. Almost like the paparazzi's just shot them. If you have a flash that has a swivel head just aim it at the ceiling or a big white wall. This will give you smoother lighting that looks much better. In these pictures I used a flash to bounce off the ceiling which made for nice even lighting. The lighting looks pretty natural which is nice. If you are shooting people you have to be careful that you don't get ugly shadows under their eyes. You can aim at a wall or you can shoot from above them looking down. The shots of Angela and Owen below where both bounced off the ceiling but I had them look up. You can see the nice catch light in their eyes. I cheated a bit because I used my off camera flash setup but it works the same as an on camera flash.

Sunday photo shoot

I have been working on some lighting techniques from Strobist. This is a single light setup and can be seen here. I used the white backer board to even out the lighting. The picture of Angela shows a bit of disdain as I made her model when she wasn't feeling to hot. She had the stomach flu in the morning and was still gracious enough to model. The colors worked out nice since Owens outfit matched the wall I was shooting against. Better to be lucky than good. Enjoy the pictures. ~Erik

Camping and Photo Shoot...

We went camping at the beach this weekend with some friends and had a blast! It was cold and windy, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful. The kids loved playing with their friends and all the kids played really well together, especially considering their lack of sleep the night before. The kids loved the four wheelers. Erik borrowed one from his parents along with a trailer to pull the kids behind it. They thought it was so fun! We also enjoyed some great food and fun campfires. Grandma and Grandpa even stopped by to say hi on their motorcycle. All in all, it was a great weekend. Thanks to the Swansons, Ponds and Hansens for letting us tag along.

This next set of pictures is Owen and I. Erik got an umbrella to diffuse the flash a little and was so excited that he wanted to do a photo shoot, so he talked me into getting dressed up and being his model. These are a couple of our favorites. Owen is making his new "cheese" face in the first picture. He likes to say cheese now when we take pictures. The second picture is later the same day after "his brains started squirting out of his head" (as Kaitlyn said). He hit his head on the rocking chair. After the initial shock we wanted to take pictures - he just wanted to stick his finger up his nose. Erik says after major trauma he likes to stick his finger in his happy place.

Owen and Greenhouse...

Last but not least we get to our little monster Owen. One word to describe Owen: WAAAAAAAAAAAAA! He is a mama's boy to the extreme, and even at 13 months he wants to be held constantly or he is screaming. But, look at that cute face - I guess that makes up for it. He also is super cuddly and lovey which is different from how our girls were as babies. He is pretty somber most of the time, but he can get silly along with everyone else. He likes to growl, click his tongue, blow on his mom's tummy and laugh at his "sists" (that's sisters in Owen language). He is a sweet baby, and, hey, I'm sure he'll grow out of this phase of wanting Mom to never leave his side, right? ~Angela


This Saturday we had a photo guild shoot at a local greenhouse. You can see the greenhouse in the first panoramic. It is nice to see some color and flowers even though it was snowing outside. Also I was able to borrow a macro lens from Scott and Tami. Thanks again, Scott. You see that the lens takes very nice pictures. I also took a couple shots around the house. Kaitlyn is my eye model as always. The next shot was some water droplets on a cd.


I have been thinking about taking some shots at work because we have had some terrific sunrises. You can tell from the pictures that it was a nice and clear morning. I think that it was about 10 F outside and my fingers got a bit chilly. I really like my sigma 10-20 lens. Like always, please leave comments and what you like and don't like. ~Erik

Will these Hawaii Posts ever end?

Well we made it home yesterday. When we left Hawaii it was 80 degrees and when we got to Alaska it was -20 F. Yes, that's right, a 100 degree difference; needless to say the family is freezing. I will probably only post about Hawaii one more time with some edited pictures. The last couple days the sun finally came out. We went to Turtle Bay beach. We aren't rich enough to stay at the hotel but we did pay the five bucks to park in the parking lot and walk to the public beach. You can see by the pictures that the water was very clear and the sun was shining. It was also nice that there weren't any thugs at this beach just a lot of rich yuppies. I find that rich yuppies are less likely to steal your camera bag.


I had talked about going on a glider ride because I had seen it on the internet. All I can say is sweeeet! They weren't busy when we went and I got into a plane right away. My pilot took me up in the aerobatic plane even though I only paid for a scenic ride. They strap you in with a parachute and 5 point harness. A small prop plane towed us up to 2000 ft and released us from the tow rope. We flew around for a bit then the pilot got a bit bored and we started doing some aerobatics. The last photo in this series was taken when we were upside down. I didn't last too long doing stunts before I started to get sick. Fortunately the pilot was accommodating and landed shortly afterwards. I would highly recommend taking a glider ride if you are in Hawaii.


Lost again? While we were flying the pilot pointed out some "Lost" spots. You can see the first shot is the same "Others Camp" that Angela was posed in front of. The second shot is the beach where they had the original wreck. I guess they had plane parts all over the beach while they were doing the shooting. The last shot is a lake that they were doing some shooting the last couple months. They build a houseboat and it should be seen in this season. Stay posted and maybe you will see it.

Final thoughts: Kaitlyn's favorite tourist spot was Matsumoto's Shaved Ice in Hale'iwa. She asked to go there everyday. Kali's favorite things were playing at the beach and watching the chickens and baby chicks at the yurts. Owen just liked crawling as fast as possible into the water and dipping his face in it. He also liked eating sand, probably the salty flavor. Angela enjoyed the yurts, for the fact that there was no TV and the kids had to entertain themselves all the time. It was fun to hear the stories and games they made up. She also liked just playing in the water with the family. I liked surfing, glider rides, PCC, our rental house, taking pictures and spending time with the family. All in all we are very pleased with our trip to Hawaii.