Plowing through winter into spring

There hasn't been much that happened between winter and spring, so really my photographs weren't ... inspired. Mostly I just took my camera and if something catches my eye, I snap. If nothing caught my eye, I just force my eye to look for something! I guess in the midst of the tedium of work and the bam-bam-bam rhythm of having three kids at home, I just wanted to kindle that photographic spark and not let it peter out.

I tried to join a few photo projects over one of my favorite forums seriouscompacts.com, and one of those was capturing an image for a favorite album. Of course the first album that comes to mind is Amy Winehouse's Back to Black (I think my iPod classic finally died just because of how much I played that album), and here's my attempt:

As you can see, it's pretty much still inside the house. Ugh.

Once, I even had to ask my kids to think of something silly that we haven't tried before. We experimented with lots of poses, and my phone quickly filled up with silly faces. All very funny (and I kept them all - maybe to show during their wedding? Haha!) but nothing new. Until we came up with this:

Once it warmed up I tried to revisit parts of my adopted city during breaks, and took a few snaps with my X100s.

I was just happy to be out at that time. Though, Boston being Boston, the sun shines just enough to thaw you out, and then hides again for a few days.

So it is no surprise I was positively giddy when a few of my long-time friends way back from college decided to converge in Boston. Will write about it next time.

Tense

I forgot what the kids were watching though. 

2014 is here, and I'm aaaalive!!!

I almost forgot I had this blog! Can't believe it's been 2 years since my last post! Some rut, huh. I can't even remember what changed from then! 

Let's see ... I'm pretty sure I bought an E-PL3 after the E-PL2, dabbled in Nex via the C3, gave in to the Fuji bug via X-E1, traded it for an X100s... Whew! And that doesn't even include the lenses!! 

Oh wait .. you wanted to know about what's been up with me, not my gear? Then in the words of Marvin Gaye, let's get it on! 

Let's start to let the pictures do the talking, starting with this tsunami of a change:

Play time

Lately the urge to shoot hasn’t really been there, but last weekend we went to a kids’ party, and I thought I got a few interesting ones – apart from the usual party snapshots.

Snow, Day 2

So finally New England got a dose of “normal” snowfall and accumulation. And there’s just something about snow and kids – so off the two kiddos went, and really enjoyed their share of snow.

I posted a few pictures yesterday of my eldest, and the next two below is my youngest.

And this is one of my favorites from this afternoon’s “session”:

Finally snow

Winter’s been really mild here in New England. I’m not complaining – it’s just that playing with a little bit of snow is one of the few things we look forward to in winter.

So finally we’ve had some overnight accumulation, may 2 or 3 inches? As soon as Justine woke up and saw the snow, she went out and played. And of course, off I went and grabbed my camera.

(All shot with XSi and 50mm.)

 

 

 

Starting to Fall

Or... Fall is starting. :-)

But yes, I am starting to finally appreciate and fall for the Panasonic G3.

My biggest gripe with the Panasonic G3 was the relatively high incidence of dark subject/blown background. It doesn't happen indoors, and it only happens if I happen to include a bigger portion of the bright sky in the picture. So I know it probably has to do with its AE lock. I half-press it (thus having AF/AE lock) and recompose the shot, but even with the shutter half-pressed, it still recomputes the exposure. This got me frustrated a number of times. But I finally figured out how to work it - I removed the AF/AE from the shutter, put it on Fn1 button, and held the Fn1 button while pressing the shutter.

Anyway, I brought it with me on a recent birthday party at a farm together with my E-PL1 (at that time I didn't figure the G3 yet so I was not confident in bringing only that). The Panasonic 20mm stayed on the G3, and the E-PL1 had either the 17mm or the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4. Here are some shots that I really like.

Some portraits:

With the 50mm





With the 20mm




With the 17mm




Etc.

Never too young

Ever since I got the G3, my daughter Justine has taken to calling the E-PL1 as “my camera.” She loves taking photos – good thing we are already in the digital age. I cannot imagine me spending all those $$$ for film!!

Anyway, here she is, and I love her expression in this picture. I think she’s starting to develop that “pro” look, don’t you think?

(Taken with the G3 and Sigma 55-200 for Canon EOS.)

And here’s the snapshot she took of me:

I think she’s even got the rule of thirds down pat, don’t you think?

Did I tell you about …

my new gear?  

I got myself a Panasonic G3 a few weeks ago. I know, I’ve grown up with Olympus. I have always preferred Olympus (and at this point, I still do), but the G3’s viewfinder + swivel screen + faster AF is worth the jump. I am still in the getting-to-know-you stage, and there haven’t been much chances really to go out there and shoot. Two jobs, two kids, a wife , a new house – life can really get to you!

Anyway, I brought it one day when the kids and I went to the playground. Since the RAW files were not yet recognized by LR then, I took the images as JPGs. Not being familiar with Panasonic colors, I thought starting out with Natural settings was the way to go. However, I made some Lightroom adjustments afterwards, and here are a few initial pics I took with the new toy. Lenses used include the kit lens, Oly 17mm and Panny 20mm.

(I do have a big problem with the image above. Part of the hair turned blue! Must be because it’s JPEG – maybe a JPEG artefact? I hope it is, and once I take a similar shot in RAW, I hope it will disappear!)

 

 

You can see a few more on my flickr page.

No pixel-peeper here, but I really like the images I am getting. I might stick with JPG for a while, and use RAW (not that LR update is available) only on tricky lighting situations. I love the swivel screen, so much so that I don’t use the EVF as much (which, ironically, was my primary reason to get the G3).

I haven’t used two bodies at the same time – I am thinking that might raise some eyebrows among my family and friends – but I think I will, one of these days. Panny 20mm on the G3, the Oly 45mm 9which I have yet to buy) on the E-PL1. And I’ll be in gear heaven.

Woohoo!

Yes, this is a bit late, but …

I MADE IT TO THE TOP 12 !!!

I know, I know, I didn’t win. But c’mon – Top 12 out of about 250 entries? That has got to count for something. Baby steps, man, and I’ll get there.

But seriously, more than the “good pat on the back” feeling, this is a confirmation for me personally that I am getting good at this photography thing. Not “AWESOME!!!”, just better.

Here’s my “winning” shot, again.

First of two

 

Six Flags

As soon as we got a summer-y weekend, my family hied off to Six Flags New England in Agawam, MA. I expected there will be a lot of people, but not that many! The space in front of the entrance was literally packed with people, and it took as 30 minutes at least before we got through. Anyway, as usual, we had fun in spit of the heat and the prices.

New toy!

No, not the pre-ordered G3 (I wish!), but discovered something new to do with Photoshop. This might take a lot of my time in the next few days.

It’s summer, but …

where are the kids?

At the first sign of warmth …

Spring has finally (!!) sprung here in New England. However, as soon as the air got warmer than winter and the sun was out (even before we got temps in the 60s), my kids and I already were out basking in the sunshine.

Here are some of the images I took – profiles of my two dearest daughters.