One Dad's Life

Wordless Wednesday - I Can Still Make Her Laugh...

...on very rare occasions!

Photo info:

Subject: My daughter Rebecca after my niece's birthday party.  I kept taking pictures of her and making snide remarks on her expression!  Actually, ALL of her pictures turn out great. She's very photogenic.

Camera: Nikon D60, SB600 flash bounced off the ceiling and probably turned down a stop or so.  18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens.

Critique: Should have used a flash softbox instead of the bounce. I was too close and it resulted in shadows under her face! Learn from my mistakes!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to all the United States citizens out there!

Special thanks to all our veterans and current military personnel as well as the leaders in Washington that have defended and provided our freedom, and the freedom of those in distant lands, over the years.

Photo taken at Jefferson Barracks Park, St. Louis, MO., July 3rd, 2009.  Nikon D60.

Wordless Wednesday - Annie: Day 1

Although "behind the scenes" work has been going on for some time, last night was the first cast rehearsal for this fall's musical from our production company, Christ Memorial Productions. We're doing "Annie" this September (for two weeks - 18th, 19th, 20th, 25th, 26th, 27th!) and boy did the Muny set the bar high this past week! Their production of "Annie" this year was the best I've seen.  Still, I promise that you will not be disappointed with our production.  Anyone who has ever seen one of ours will tell you the same!

Here are a couple of shots I took at the initial cast rehearsal.  You know the drill, all shots available light, Nikon D60, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens.

FDR's wheelchair.  How awesome is that?  As far as you know, this really could BE his wheelchair!

...and here's the cast!  Doing their first read-through.

We got kids!  You wouldn't believe how many talented kids are right here in St. Louis!

A part of the world's greatest tech crew. Someday, they will invent awards just to give them to this group.  How many tech crews show up at the first read through?  OURS! They rock.  Seriously.

Believe it or not, this really is our lighting director, Kristi.  She HAS won an award!  If you look closely at this picture, you can see why she is so awesome at lighting.  She's pretty much a colorful blur!

Wordless Wednesday - Shock City Studios Open House

This wordless post is a continuation of Monday's...but with more pics!  These all come from last Thursday's grand opening celebration at the new Shock City Studios, home of Shock City Music.  I spent some more time there yesterday, and just have to say that if you are a band looking for a studio for your next CD or video project, and you live within 2000 miles of Shock City (or perhaps more), you'd be crazy not to check this place out!

All shots with Nikon D60, available light, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens.

The main video editing suite.

View from one of the vocal isolation booths into the main control room.

The main console in the control room.  For gearheads, this room is nirvana.

Classic keyboards sitting in another isolation booth. These are keys I use every week - but the REAL THING instead of the samples I use on my beloved Kurzweil PC2X.

A couple of Telecasters with cool paint jobs. Never underestimate the power of a cool paint job.

A view of much of the live room from an overlooking balcony.

Shock City Studios are located in St. Louis MO, just south of downtown, and on the northern edge of the Benton Park neighborhood, in the historic Polar Wave Ice and Fuel Company building.

Shock City Studios

My friend Dana, blogger extraordinaire and local radio personality, is just one part of a talented St. Louis family.  Her husband, Chris Loesch, is a talented musician and producer.  Over the past five years, his labor of love has been the rehabbing of an old St. Louis City building, the old Polar Wave Ice and Fuel Company, and the development of new offices and studios for his music company, Shock City Music.  Along with his partners, he has transformed what was essentially a warehouse into a state of the art recording studio call Shock City Studios. 

By state of the art, I mean it was named one of Mix Magazines top new studios IN THE WORLD, for 2009.

This past Thursday night was the official grand opening, though it has been in operation for a number of months now, and my wife Dianne and I were lucky enough to be in attendance for the event.

Congratulations Chris and Dana!  Here is my favorite shot from the evening.  More photos to come on Wednesday.  Enjoy!

 

Wordless Wednesday - Even Dead Roses are Beautiful!

In a complete departure from my recent series of Wordless Wednesday posts which have featured beautiful spring flowers, I bring you - DEAD flowers!  More precisely, these are dead roses that came from an arrangement that was in our bathroom.  They were, however, photographed in our kitchen on their way to the trash.   All photos hand held, Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens, available light.

Blur layer added in GIMP, background is our island counter-top with light reflecting off it from the window over our sink!

Shot from underneath, the background is our CEILING.  My wife is remodeling our kitchen and this ceiling will eventually be a stamped tin ceiling (or a fake stamped tin ceiling).

Background is a sponge-painted wall. I'm not sure how to describe the color, but the base is a textured plaster painted yellow, with a sponged on darker wash over that.  The final effect is that of a wall that hasn't been painted in a long time!  Heh. We're funny like that.  It was a plaster wall to begin with, but in this room had a sand finish.  Dianne (the wife), put another thin layer of plaster over that to eliminate the sand texture and give a more stucco appearance. She's crafty.

Same wall as before in the background!  I like how the light in the room shows through the petals in some areas, and reflects off the petals in others!

Even dead roses are beautiful!

Wordless Wednesday - Flower Garden Goodness

OK, so I've been very one-tracked lately on my photos. Sue me.  It's my website.  However, it is so darn hard to stop taking pictures of the flowers in spring!

For this week's photos, taken this past Sunday, I dug out a small, light, tripod and went with small apertures and long exposure times, to try to get some more sharpness and depth of field out of the shots.  The problem is that anytime I looked through the camera, a mysterious wind would whip up. Weird.   So, perhaps the sharpness didn't improve much from my previous hand held pictures, but the depth of field sure looks nice!

All shots taken in my backyard, with a Nikon D60, 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 kit lens.  Exposure information with each shot, for you technical people!

Lilly, ISO 100, f22 at 1/8 second.

Hydrangea, ISO 200, f11, 1/2.5 seconds.

Painted ferns, ISO 200, f11, 2.2 seconds.

Essentially the same shot (didn't move the tripod), though a different exposure.  This one wasn't as sharp, so I went with the blur and added an extra blurred layer in GIMP to enhance the dreamy look.  ISO 200, f11, 1.5 seconds.

Friday Photos - The Climatron

Last week, I published some pictures that I took for a "Wordless Wednesday" post.  I whined about how, in retrospect, I rushed the work and there wasn't much I like from the session.  I still got some pictures that were decent, and my style, but I still wasn't happy.

So, this past Sunday, I went to the Missouri Botanical Garden with my daughter Rachel and two friends visiting from India.  This time, I was determined to think about what I was doing and pay close attention to shutter speed, aperture, focus areas, color, backgrounds, composition, etc. a LOT more!  While I don't know if the resulting pictures are that much better, I'm happier - by far - with them and instead of struggling to find a few to post, I have MANY that are post-worthy instead of just a couple of marginal shots.  In fact, this week's "Wordless Wednesday" post was from the same trip.  I just looked at those pics again (click here to do the same), and I still like them!

Here are some more.  All taken with Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens, natural lighting, no flash!

Unfortunately, I didn't keep track of what each plant was that I was taking a picture of, so I don't have more info for you.  Click on this to see a bigger version.  I love the wispy petals and color.

I was tempted to make this one black and white, but in the end stuck with color, due to the soft tones and I think the selective focus is more evident on the color version. Click this one for a larger version, too!

I don't even remember what the background on this one was - perhaps a small pond area.  Whatever it was, it turned out looking like a painting to me!  I took several of this to make sure I got it right, and it was hard to pick between them.  That's a good problem to have!

If you are interested in playing around with depth of field, what better subject than a plant that has leaves radiating in all directions, with an interesting focal point?  This one looks really great full-size, but I'm still nervous about posting full-resolution pictures online.

This is VERY similar to a shot I took last winter (click here for comparison), but this time in color.  This is "The Climatron", which is a large dome which contains a mini tropical environment.  You can click on this photo for a slightly larger version, too! 

Most of the pictures this week were taken inside this building and the adjoining "Temperate House" which contains Mediterranean plants.  I liked the interesting clouds, and how the glass of the building is slightly reflecting the sky.  I'm also a pattern person, so the exoskeleton of this building is almost as irresistible to me as the Arch is to Bob Crowe.  Bob is a St. Louis lawyer, and excellent photographer. His other website is the St. Louis Daily Photo website mentioned in my sidebar.  I suggest you check him out!

Also, if you are new here and like the photos, click on the "Photo of the Day" categorie listed on the top left of the page to see a lot more.

Have a great weekend.

Wordless Wednesday - Missouri Botanical Garden

Taken at the Missouri Botanical Garden on Sunday, May 31st, 2009.  Nikon D60, 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens.  It's pretty much my favorite place to take pictures, besides my yard.  More to come later this week!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday - Flowers in the Rain

I'm quite certain I've mentioned it a dozen times, but just in case someone new comes wondering by today I should say that I love taking pictures of flowers!  In fact, I like taking closeups of all kinds of things, because I think that there is just so much to be amazed at in the world that we can't fathom it (and often ignore it), unless we look at one single tiny little 35mm slice at a time!  I seriously need a macro lens for this camera.

OK, so I love taking flower pictures, right?  They are almost irresistible to me. Now, throw in some rain, and I'm running around getting soaked like a 5-year old with a new rain coat! Such was the case Monday morning, when we had flowers AND we had rain.  Unfortunately, we also had breeze and I foolishly rushed through the pictures.  I seriously should have taken it a bit slower, because when it came time to select pictures for today, I discovered MANY problems in focus, composition, etc., etc.

So while a bit sloppy, here is a set of pictures from my yard, taken during the rain on Monday morning.  If you know much about photography, you know that the best time to take pictures of flowers is when it is overcast. The lighting is even and typically the colors come out VERY saturated.  Well, as I was putting these shots together, I was feeling all contrarian, so I dialed back the color to a more subdued level, except for the final iris shot...and I still dialed back the green in the background on that one just a touch.

I'm going to tell you that these were all taken with a Nikon D60, even if they aren't the best add for Nikon this week! I used the 18-55mm, f3.5-5.6 kit lens, which is better than it has to be.

I loved the water droplets on these Daylilly leaves. It was tough getting the droplets in focus with them waving around, I think this was the best of the bunch.

 

I'm not sure what these little flowers are, but they really pop! Let's just call this "soft-focus" shall we?  I really prefer to blur my pictures AFTER I take them, but I liked the subtle colors in the shot, with the yellow really standing out! 

 

We have a million of these. I like them. I took a picture.  I want to say they are called "coral bells" but I think I might be wrong.  Any botanists out there?

 

Here was my single shot from the day I really liked. It looks a bit wacky scaled down, so I've included a little larger one that hopefully looks better in your browser. Click on the photo to see it.  Irises are generally quite colorful, but this example is one of my favorites. For some reason, I forget about it every year, and then it blooms. Yowser!