sun soaked

Every sunny moment is a gift these days, and we're all soaking up the rays when possible. My cat Roxy especially loves snuggling up in a sun-drenched spot and sleeping the day away. And I have to admit that a bright, sunny day inspires me to pick up my camera and start using all the natural light to my advantage. It's refreshing to set the ISO a bit lower and up the shutter speed without worrying about exposure issues. I'm hoping to continue to utilize these rare sunny days to keep my camera warmed up until spring returns.

Are you focusing on sunny spots too? Share them with us and brighten our day!

Capturing the Warmth of a Moment in Sepia Tone

My daughter's been on an indefinite hiatus from piano lessons, yet just recently she expressed an interest in making music again to her teacher/grandmother. "I'm going to play in the recital!" she announced one morning after returning home from a sleepover at Mama Sue's house just a couple of weeks ago. And from that point forward (with no prompting from me), she practiced her "Christmas Waltz" each day to prepare for her moment in the spotlight.

It's a familiar cycle. The entrance, exit, and return of inspiration. The birth of a vision. And the decision to make it real. Acknowledging the need to practice and prepare for the moment when we're meant to stand in the spotlight. Assuming that courage will sustain us despite the presence of fear. I was so proud of her at this moment, I almost forgot to click.

Most of my favorite documentary moments are captured with my super wide 14-24mm lens because it gives me the ability to capture more than less of an experience. This image was shot at 14mm with an aperture setting of f/8 and ISO setting of 200. I used my Nikon Speedlight 900 and fired the flash to bounce off the wall behind me to balance the harsh light streaming in through the windows in the back of the room. Then, in Aperture, I applied a subtle amount of Sepia Tone (something I don't normally do) to soften the bright red Christmas dresses in the audience, and put more visual emphasis on the warmth and gestures of the moment.

Spread some warmth with your sepia tone experiments and discoveries in the comments.

The Daily Practice

I've had a lot of cameras in my life but most of them were point-and-shoot. Right before my son was born, I decided I wanted the new Canon digital SLR.  It was really expensive and I had no photography training at all. I loved taking photos but I didn't know anything about aperture, lenses, or even the settings on an SLR. After months of pondering, I decided I was going to get it. I couldn't stop thinking about it and I knew that was a sign.

Right before I bought the camera, my husband and I went to Venice Beach with his 35mm and he taught me the basics: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. I am a computer programmer, so understanding the technical bits wasn't too hard for me. What I needed to work on is what I call the magic of photography: seeing the light and developing my eye. Over the years, I realized that I was improving but I wasn't consistent and I couldn't tell if my better  photos were due to luck or because I was getting better at photography.

This is when I started the daily practice.

For the last three years, I've been taking photos every single day. Every day. Bar none. Some days it's photos of my children or backyard and other days it's more interesting things like views of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge or the redwood trees. I'll admit that most days it's flowers. I've taken hundreds of photos of flowers. And tens of thousands of photos of my kids. And while the subject matter might be boring to others (and sometimes even for me) it's done much to improve my photography.

The daily practice means that I can notice subtle changes in light better. I take many of my photos in the same area: my house and its vicinity. So, I am quite familiar with it and I can now notice the slight changes in light due to weather, time of day, or other factors. This has helped me figure out how to pay attention to the light. What different types of light does to the photo. It's also meant that I can experiment with different shots at the same light and see what happens.

The daily practice means I can focus on the photography more. I am not just grabbing my camera when I am trying to capture an important moment. When you're trying to "catch" a moment, you don't always have time to play with the settings in your camera. You are focusing on getting the picture, not optimizing the quality of the photo. Whereas, on many days, I am taking my photos during a perfectly ordinary moment. There's no butterfly that's about to fly away. I can slow down and adjust my settings. I can play with the aperture and see the effects of depth of field. I can focus on the photography and not on getting the shot.

The daily practice means I can develop my personal style. I take a lot of photos of my kids. Every night I download these photos and go through them. I notice which shots are technically better than others. But I also notice which shots are more interesting to me. What photo stirs emotions and why. For example, through taking these shots I've discovered that I favor closeups. I like photos where my kids are looking down and there's a hint of a smile or acknowledgment of the photographer but it's not posed.  I favor the right over the left.  Small, subtle differences that make my photos mine. Seeing the pictures night after night helps me notice patterns. Notice changes. Improvements.

I know that the idea of taking photos every day might seem overwhelming and too time-consuming but, like most things, the biggest part is showing up. Just getting up and doing it. Starting the habit of carrying your camera around with you. Choosing a special time in the day to snap the photo. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. You can do more focused efforts like choosing a month to specifically address aperture and another month to do portraits only, etc. Or you can just snap something everyday and look and learn from what you get each night. The most important part is to just do it. Grab that camera and take photographs. Again and again and again.

Until it becomes a daily practice.

On a much more personal and practical note, the daily practice has also meant that I've captured thousands of our ordinary moments. What makes us who we are and the reality of our daily life. I know that regardless of how great I get at photography, I will cherish this more than all else.

Please share with us one of those ordinary day captures from your own life as we celebrate the daily practice. And if you have any tips, tricks, or insights on keeping up with your own photography practice, let's hear them!

Image and words courtesy of Guest Blogger / Honorary Sister Karen Grunberg of Karenika.

sunday school: going slow

There is a time for going slow, and there is a time for moving fast.  And then there is a time for going slow when all around you is moving fast.  I recently realized this when I found myself in a crowd of downtown tourists whizzing by me on all sides from all directions.  I am not a fast walker.  I am a stroller, an ambler, a meanderer, a wanderer, a dilly-dally-er of the highest order.  This is especially true when I have a camera in my hands and music in my ears.

Instead of picking up my pace to keep up with the crowd, I decided to slow it waaaay down, and just stand around as everyone rushed past me.  It was a bright sunny day, and I could have easily snapped sharp images of people as they walked by, but I decided to capture the sense of being surrounded by motion by using a slower shutter speed.  To do this, I decreased my ISO to 100, narrowed my aperture to f/16 and was able to get the shutter down to 1/10 of a second, which was plenty slow to capture all the commotion of the moment. 

Sometimes (or always, in my case) it's a good idea to slow down and let the whirlwind swirl on by.  Your life won't pass you by because it's not in that whirlwind.  It's with you, however long you may dawdle, in this moment, in this place.

Do you like to slow down in the midst of a fast-paced world?  Show us how.  Guide us on a little stroll through your images.

Breaking My Own Rules

I don't like to think of myself as a "by-the-book" photographer.  I never learned "the rules" of photography, mainly because of my inability to read non-fiction.  Over the years that I've been shooting, however, I must admit that I've developed a few unwritten rules for myself when it comes to photography.  One of my big ones is to avoid shooting with an ISO greater than 800, even though my camera is capable of shooting at much higher ISO settings. In fact, I try to shoot at ISO200 or lower if I can.  Sometimes, though, you have to break even your own personal rules to capture the essence of the moment.

The night I took the photo above, I had been shooting all evening with a speedlight at a comfortably low ISO of 200.  However, when I looked across the room and saw my dear friend Amy as she shared a perfect moment with her son, I didn't think that a flash-illuminated shot would do justice to what I was witnessing. I wanted to capture the scene just the way it was--dim but warm lighting and all.  So I took off my flash and cranked the ISO to 1000.  I know that's still low compared to many other people's standards, but to me it was going beyond my ISO comfort zone.  I'm so glad I broke my own rule, though, because this photo will always remind me of the peace and contentment I felt when I looked at the closeness my friend and her son were sharing in that moment.

As we embark on a new year and a new decade, I hope to challenge myself as a photographer by rewriting my own personal photography rules and by breaking the ones I've already set up for myself.  How about you? Do you have rules that you try to follow when you're behind the camera?  And have you ever broken your own rules and surprised yourself with the results?  Please share with us your rule-breaking stories and images.