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. 

Selfie #1

Reflection on an iMac by the window

(I know, I should get the screen cleaned!!)

That black foamie thing ...

So I've always wondered what's the deal with that black foamie thingy, and how different is it really from just flash pointing up.

Being a real newb as far as flash is concerned, I spent some time figuring out how to setup the Nissin di466 (Micro Four Thirds mount) to pair with my X100s. I was finally able to make them work by:

(a) Setting up my X100s to fire the flash as a "master";
(b) Setting up my Nissin to the S2 mode;
(c) holding the Nissin in front of me where it can "receive" the fire flashed by the X100s.

As far as the black foamie thingy -- I bought a $0.99 8x11 piece of black foam in an arts and crafts store, and cut a roughly 4x6 piece and attached it to the flash head pointing up. When I fired the flash with the foam attachment, it is facing me as the Nissin does not have a swiveling head.

The results speak for themselves! (Images are all OOC, ISO 200, f/2.8)