More Than A Hobby?

Over the past twelve months I have come to love my camera. I enjoy the creativity involved in capturing the daily adventures of our lives through the camera lens.

I think I take decent photos. Candid potraits of my children and my husband and my friends and nature and, of course, my children. My style has become one of capturing the moment rather than poses.

I am under no illusion that I am a brilliant photographer. I am in awe of photographers like Jay Reilly and Tara Whitney who are so incredibly talented that they can create a career out of their art. But, I think I take a decent picture.

So I have decided to take my photography to the next level. I am going to start slowly and begin offering candid photo sessions to friends. I thought it might be fun to hang out with a family for a couple of hours – at the park or some other relaxed setting – and just take a series of photos. I would charge a small fee and promise 20 digital shots that they can then go ahead and print in any way they wish.

I need to start with friends because, frankly, I’m nervous. My photos up until now have be reliant on having two little models in close proximity who I can just shoot any time I see a moment. This venture would mean creating an environment – and relying on the weather… and my photography skills. That’s why I’m starting with friends. I need people who are willing to forgive if for some reason it doesn’t work out.

Here are the steps I’m taking:

Think of a business name – I think we have one but I’m letting it grow on me.
Learn more about my camera – I began with a two day intensive photography course last weekend and now I am in practice mode.
Practice, Practice, Practice – until Aperture and Shutter Speed and ISO are a second language.
Wait until the weather gets better and set up a few sessions. I have a couple of friends who have already expressed interest so now I need to follow through.
Overcome my nerves and concerns about not being good enough.

So there you have it. Of course I need to make time for all of this as well, but Kei is very supportive. In fact he has grander designs for our little business but we need to start small.

Now it’s in writing and I would look pretty silly if I didn’t at least try to make this happen…Right?

Wish me luck

The Goatee – JANUARY 14TH 2009

Photo taken before Kei shave off the Goatee – well half of it anyway. I actually like Kei with a little facial hair, although it is awfully prickly, which is not ideal when you want to kiss your kids… or your wife.

So part of the goatee remains. The bottom part in case you were wondering.

MOTHER OF THE YEAR – JANUARY 13TH 2009

Look at him. So fresh and clean and content… Well, he was. What you don’t see is that immediately after I took this picture, Samuel fell forward and hit his mouth on the floor. There was a lot of screaming and quite a bit of blood.

My baby experienced his first fat lip… and all because his mother was taking a photo and let him fall on his face. Of course I also had to take a photo of the fat lip…

THE LATEST OBSESSION – JANUARY 11TH 2009

A couple of weeks ago, Kei declared Christmas over and packed away the Santa hat. So what does a kid do when he can’t be santa anymore? He thinks of another occupation. When someone gives you a fire hat then you go with it. And it just so happens that Santa has a lot in common with Firefighters – they both wear boots and button up shirts. There is one thing that firefighters can do that Santa doesn’t though, and that’s shoot water from a hose – in this case a vacuum cleaner hose.

TOGETHER – JANUARY 8TH 2009

As much as I already miss my baby, it is so nice now that Samuel is old enough to “play” with Thomas. They keep each other occupied while I get ready for work by doing things like… lying on the floor and banging on the heating vent. Yup – that killed a whole 10 minutes.

ALL PLAY, NO WORK – JANUARY 7TH 2009

I took advantage of my day off to hang out with a couple of work friends who were also off work in the middle of the week. It’s a rare event that we are able to catch up like this away from the stress and craziness of the office – and even rarer that we get to see each others’ children.

My friend Wendy loves to bake and she certainly delivered a tasty brunch – with, I’m sure, more calories than I need to know about.

Then we talked about work and being parents (and juggling work with being parents) and just let the kids play. It was a lot of fun and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with two fabulous ladies without the stress of pinging email in the background.

The gift – JANUARY 6TH 2009

Santa purchased presents for Thomas months before Christmas – way back in August. So of course he didn’t really know what Thomas wanted for Christmas. Until December when Santa met Thomas and he clearly said he wanted Slinky dog for Christmas. And then he repeated that wish over and over and over again.

So it was clear that if Thomas was a good boy then Santa should bring him Slinky Dog. And Santa definitely planned to get a Slinky Dog for Thomas in time for a Christmas delivery. On Christmas eve Thomas reinforced his excitement about Santa’s imminent arrival as well as that of his very own slinky dog.

Unfortunately a winter snowstorm in Portland and a sudden rush on slinky dogs in city made that goal difficult to achieve. So Thomas woke up on Christmas morning to a letter from Santa with a picture of slinky dog, saying that the elves were disorganized this year and a special package was due to arrive in a couple of weeks.

Finally that package from Santa arrived and Slinky Dog meets all expectations. The only problem is that Samuel likes it just as much as Thomas. We have witnessed the early onset of sibling rivalry.

Just like Daddy – JANUARY 4th 2009

A little story

Kei was putting Thomas to bed a couple of nights ago and they were reading a book about space.
At the end of the book Thomas said “I would like to go into space one day.” and Kei said “Thomas, if you work hard enough, you can do anything you want to do, including becoming an astronaut.”
Thomas: “I think I would like to be Santa when I grow up.”
Kei: “If you work hard and you’re a good person then you can even be Santa if you want to be.”
Kei turned off the light and Thomas lay in the dark until his eyes adjusted.
Thomas: “Dad? Dad?”
Kei: “Yes Thomas?”
Thomas reached out and took Kei’s face in his hands and said “I want to be you when I grow up.”

And a photo of some bubbles – because I like photos of bubbles.

JANUARY 3rd 2009

Kei picked up the camera.

And I tried to act like it wasn’t aimed at me.

Enough Already – January 2nd 2009

It’s snowing again as I type this. Seriously. Yes, it’s beautiful and fun and all that and I’m sure there is someone living right near the equator somewhere who wishes they had just one cold snowy day they could enjoy, but I am now officially over it.

Not that you would know from these photos. We had some fun walking around in the snow on Saturday. And I have to admit that it was just the right amount of snow. Not so much that it would prevent us from driving or walking, and just enough that it looked pretty and we could scrape together enough to build a decent snowman (well Thomas and Kei did anyway. I am not really into getting my hands cold and wet).