Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. ~Henry David Thoreau

I watched a video the other day by Bryan Peterson on Adorama TV about using flash for contrast. It [...]]]>

Nature will bear the closest inspection.
She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf,
and take an insect view of its plain. ~Henry David Thoreau

I watched a video the other day by Bryan Peterson on Adorama TV about using flash for contrast. It looked fun so I thought I’d give it a whirl. The leaves in the images above are simple house plants, but I used a macro to get in close and then lit the plant from behind using a Speedlight. Leaves are amazing when you look at them from close up. There is so much detail in a small space. Some of these photos remind me of looking down at farmland from an airplane above.

The first photo is for Kellie since it’s Valentines season again and she is doing her annual “14 days of Valentines” for me.  Love you, Kellie.

There is an art, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. ~Douglas Adams

Nathan Sperry and I got up early yesterday and drove up to Farmington Bay hoping to photograph some eagles. We only [...]]]>

There is an art, or rather a knack to flying.
The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
~Douglas Adams

Nathan Sperry and I got up early yesterday and drove up to Farmington Bay hoping to photograph some eagles. We only saw three or four, and from a distance of 75 to 100 yards at that. We ran into several other people trying to do the same thing we were.  One gentleman said he thought we were too early in the year by a month or so. But it was a beautiful, albeit cold morning so we took photos of other birds and of the scenery.  We saw several hawks at a much closer distance and a family of mud hens (which I discovered are called American Coots.) Nathan was sporting his new Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 lens and Wimberly gimball tripod head. He definitely looked the part, not that I was jealous or anything.

Maybe we’ll head up there to try our luck again in a few weeks.

And finally Winter, with its bitin’, whinin’ wind, and all the land will be mantled with snow. ~Roy Bean

Winter has been slow in coming this year. We finally got a little snow this weekend so I decided to have a little fun with the ice. I’m [...]]]>

And finally Winter, with its bitin’, whinin’ wind,
and all the land will be mantled with snow.
~Roy Bean

Winter has been slow in coming this year. We finally got a little snow this weekend so I decided to have a little fun with the ice. I’m not a big fan of the short days and long nights of Winter, but a frozen landscape offers many treasures.

I’m looking forward to heading out to Farmington Bay soon with a neighbor friend, Nathan Sperry, to see if we can find eagles and other wildlife to photograph. I’ve been there once a few years ago, but Nathan knows the area well so it should be a lot of fun.

A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances. ~Robert Baden-Powell

My good friend and neighbor, Darin Furnell, “roped” me into taking photos at the University of Scouting event that was held yesterday up at the LDS Institute building on the University of Utah campus. I’m not much of a [...]]]>

A Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances. ~Robert Baden-Powell

My good friend and neighbor, Darin Furnell, “roped” me into taking photos at the University of Scouting event that was held yesterday up at the LDS Institute building on the University of Utah campus. I’m not much of a Scouter but this was a great event. Darin tells me there were around 600 to 700 people in attendance. I even ran into my sister-in-law, Sylvia.

The highlight of the opening ceremony was an emotional presentation of the U.S. flag that flew over the USS Utah in Pearl Harbor when it was sunk on 7 December 1941. It was fun to be so close to an important piece of history. The remainder of the day the attendees went to classes and workshops on various Scouting-related skills and topics. My two favorites were probably the dutch oven cooking and knot tying classes.

Taking photos was fun and challenging. The fluorescent lighting was pretty poor most of the time. I found myself wanting some nice fast zoom lenses sometimes but it worked pretty well to use my 35 mm and 105 mm prime lenses on two camera bodies. Using two bodies was a lot better than trying to swap lenses out all the time.

One note: I am trying out a new photo gallery viewer in this blog post. Click on any of the images above to see a larger version of the photo.

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

I don’t know if Beethoven really said that but a tasty soup is, well, good for the soul. One of my favorite meals is homemade chicken or turkey soup with noodles made from scratch. This [...]]]>

Only the pure in heart can make a good soup. ~Ludwig van Beethoven

I don’t know if Beethoven really said that but a tasty soup is, well, good for the soul. One of my favorite meals is homemade chicken or turkey soup with noodles made from scratch. This is one of the family ‘traditions’ that has been passed down from Kellie’s mom to our family. We made chicken soup yesterday so I thought I’d play around with a few macros of the ingredients and a photo of the final results. I freely admit Kellie did most of the work preparing everything. I just put it all together and cooked it. But it was delicious nonetheless. We always seem to make way more than we can eat in a single meal.

Click on the image above to see the short gallery of photos. (Food photography is not my forte as you can see.)

This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best! ~William Arthur Ward

Our family enjoyed great Christmas and New Year celebrations. Click on the image above to see a few [...]]]>

This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
~William Arthur Ward

Our family enjoyed great Christmas and New Year celebrations. Click on the image above to see a few photos from the surprises of Christmas morning.

2011 was a great year overall. Like every year there were ups an downs. It was hard to say goodbye to Gerrie Tadd and Gae Beckstrom. We will miss them very much. But our little family is learning and growing and happy. We had a great time going to Southern Utah and Sun Valley on vacation. The kids did very well in their studies at school. They are so smart! They take after their mom who is also brilliant and graduated with her master’s degree from SUU. Work was good to Kellie and I and even Christopher found a good job. We enjoyed many blessings so there’s plenty to be happy about.

2012 will bring with it many anticipated changes. Christopher will be graduating from Copper Hills High School. Wow! We look forward to college and/or an LDS mission by the end of the new year. Courtney is already learning how to drive and will be entering High School. Nathan will start his last year of Elementary School. I’m sure there will be many surprises along the way but I look forward to the fun and all the challenges. I won’t spell out all my resolutions here but will share a few thoughts. As a parent I’m going to need to learn to let go a little more this year, especially as Christopher moves on to the next stages of life. I also want to have a more positive outlook and dig into new opportunities and challenges that come along. This will be a good year to stretch myself. Of course reading, exercise and healthy eating are on the list. I’d like to do more running like I started last year. I also want to develop better personal relationships.

Given this blog is a photo journal I’ll add that I look forward to learning and improving my photography skills. I read a suggestion somewhere that rather than buying a lot of gear we might choose to go somewhere fun and use the gear we’ve got. I’d like to take that approach this year. I’ll be working on lighting, composition, post processing and just having fun.

I hope your 2012 is happy and successful!

Copper Hills 4th Ward 2011 Christmas Party

Nikon D7000 18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @ 42 mm 1/200 sec @ f/4.8, ISO 800

You better watch out You better not cry Better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town

I recently [...]]]>

Copper Hills 4th Ward 2011 Christmas Party

Nikon D7000
18.0-105.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 lens @ 42 mm
1/200 sec @ f/4.8, ISO 800

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town

I recently had the fun opportunity to take photos of Santa and the children at our annual 4th Ward Christmas party. Mr. and Mrs. Claus were great. The kids (young and old)  really enjoyed themselves. I picked a few photos to post as this week’s photo gallery.  Just click on the image above to see them.

Nikon D7000 105.0 mm f/2.8 lens @ 105 mm 1/200 sec @ f/4, ISO 2000

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.  ~Terri Guillemets

As we approach Christmas it is that time of year again for recitals and performances. This series of images are [...]]]>

Nikon D7000
105.0 mm f/2.8 lens @ 105 mm
1/200 sec @ f/4, ISO 2000

Dancing faces you towards Heaven, whichever direction you turn.  ~Terri Guillemets

As we approach Christmas it is that time of year again for recitals and performances. This series of images are from Courtney’s recent Christmas Dance programs. She’s grown up a lot from when she first started dancing. Click on the image above to see the photo gallery of Courtney and her friends bringing in the holiday season.

Nikon D90 35.0 mm f/1.8 lens @ 35 mm 1/200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

O Tanenbaum O Tanenbaum

On December 1st we performed our regular tradition of putting up the Christmas tree on my birthday. This year was special because it could be one of [...]]]>

Nikon D90
35.0 mm f/1.8 lens @ 35 mm
1/200 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 800

O Tanenbaum O Tanenbaum

On December 1st we performed our regular tradition of putting up the Christmas tree on my birthday. This year was special because it could be one of Christopher’s last Christmases at home, if not the last. To commemorate the occasion we had him install the final decoration on top of the tree. Click on the image above to see the gallery of photos from this year’s tree raising.

Nikon D7000 105.0 mm f/2.8 lens @ 105 mm 1/1000 sec @ f/8, ISO 200

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, – November! ~ Thomas Hood 

With these few photos I was messing around using [...]]]>

Nikon D7000
105.0 mm f/2.8 lens @ 105 mm
1/1000 sec @ f/8, ISO 200

No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, – November!
~ Thomas Hood 

With these few photos I was messing around using a remote flash and high speed sync to overpower the sun and create my own lighting. November is a drab month this year.  We haven’t gotten much snow yet. The garden is going into hibernation and most of the summer colors are gone so I thought I’d look for some interesting detail.  Click on the image above to see the photo gallery.