Baby Photography, My Kids and the Ultimate Love

Go Get'em Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:02:00 +0000

So many photos to choose from, so little time to write. This week's candidates were:a pretty darn good photo of garbage which would have made a catchy title "Making Garbage Look Great" (but it was used on my wife's blog recently)the sunset over our miniature golf game (you can see it on twitter along as part of my daily fun shot)Zoe getting potty trained (figured no one needed to see this, though she did look adorable)...and Aidan maturing as a champion soccer player. In the beginning of the season, we...

Rise and Shine in the Ultimate Home

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

It's 8:15am and I'm already behind for the day:because this post is late and should have been posted last nightbecause I couldn't get the track lighting installed last nightbecause I couldn't find the stud finder which is somewhere amongst our unpacked boxeswhich ultimately killed my movie night with my lovely wifeleaving me a bit grumpy even now... but for all the stress, I find comfort that with the ultimate love comes the ultimate home. By God's abounding grace, none of the above matters for I am (as we...

Photographing Dash in 10 Minutes or Less

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Whether you're photographing Dash, the super fast boy in the movie the Incredibles, or your own kid on the move, here are some quick tips to getting studio shots in a jiffy. It helped that we're mostly unpacked (needed access to my strobes) in our new home which has wonderful photography backdrops. The beauty of theses shots is nearly identical lighting setups were used with only the power outputs and modifier on the key light changing. For our friend Dash, a darker, mysterious and super pose was in...

Little Cat "Z"

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 03:04:00 +0000

In Dr Seuss' "The Cat in the Hat", we are introduced to Little Cat A who subsequently unveils Little Cat B from under his hat to help him clean up a wonderful pink mess. Not to ruin the end of the story, but ultimately after cats A through Y make failed attempts, it's teeny tiny Little Cat Z with her magical Voom that cleans up the gigantic pink mess that's spread all over Dr Seuss' imaginary wonderland. So it was with much jubilee that I bumped into my very own Little Cat Z at Zoe's Halloween parade....

The Heavy Lifting

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:57:00 +0000

We're amazed that we had accumulated enough toys, miniature furniture and pint sized sporting equipment to fill a 24 foot truck. This move is in stark contrast to when all our worldly belongings fit into an SUV for a cross country drive from New York to the San Francisco Bay Area. Without hesitation, we called the fighting Irish over at Pat Ryan's moving company to do the heavy lifting this time - including moving a piano down a flight of stairs. The latter involved a near death experience and some...

Our New Home

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:51:00 +0000

We got the keys at 6:45pm this evening. Too late to take any photos outside, but not too late for the kids to celebrate inside. The video makes the house look about 200 square feet small, but it's still our home. Special thanks to our agent Sia who got us in despite our offer being the lowest of three, our mortgage broker Lynn who some how found a bank willing to lend to us without having to sacrifice our first (or second) born, all our family and friends who listened to us rant throughout the...

Zany Zoe: Act 1, Scene 1

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:15:00 +0000

The storyboards aren't quite done, but I've been waiting two weeks for a good time to film the first scene - a nice sunrise in Foster City. Every morning has either been foggy or perfectly clear and I was hoping for some light cloud cover. Saturday morning was my chance, but not exactly in the way I expected. Aidan woke up early and did a Chinese fire drill (or that's what it sounded like) around his room. Naturally, Zoe woke up next. As my eyes drowsily opened, a very tired wifey lay beside me. So I...

Story Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

... actually, more like storyboards. First step in doing things right is to do a little planning. For photography, I just close my eyes and nod off - I mean brainstorm. In film, storyboards are used to film only the necessary scenes and save a lot of crying (from the kids), complaints (from the wife) and time. In prior years, physical index cards were used but this year we went digital. Given our impending move, using physical cards seemed like a recipe for disaster. Images of Aidan hiding them in...

Must Focus

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Zoe is yelling "pee pee" (you know the whole potty training thing) and Aidan is ricocheting his Bakugan balls off the wall making it a little difficult to think. Still, you got to use your head both in parenting and photography. Michelle was nice enough to give me a few minutes to myself to unwind and focus on what to do next (almost like a grown up time out). It was good though, otherwise the next step would have been pulling out my hair and losing my mind. Most of my photography falls into the photo...

Zany Zoe, Take 1

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:23:00 +0000

When Aidan was born we did a whole series of Agent Aidan videos. The idea was to ship a DVD (like a Netflix) for our "Christmas card". The film's plot (Aidan being a secret agent) would provide entertainment, but would also provide an update on what our kids could do and as well as what we were up to, to our family and friends. The following scene was from the two of them driving off to infiltrate Daddy's headquarters after failing to get the stroller and child backpack unfolded. While the last video...

Technique Aside, It's All About Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 22:11:00 +0000

While the technical aspects of photography are the easiest to write about, it's really the intangibles that make a great photograph. There's always room for improvement but here are three things I do with every photo shoot:Make it fun. Making the baby and subjects at ease is the biggest part of my job. The only way I know how to do that is to make people and kids alike laugh. Beautiful photographs follow naturally. I guess I could also use ice cream...Make it real. While it's easier to get a more...

Pucker Up... and Smooch

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:11:00 +0000

Last week's post on post-processing discussed color post-processing. Today we'll talk about black and white photography. Frankly, I don't do a lot of b&w photography since it generally seems like a shame not to capture a baby's bright blue eyes, the wonderful glow of the sun backlighting junior's head and the vibrance inherit in childhood. Still b&w photography has it's place and when done right, packs an emotional punch. There are three occasions to go b&w:When color doesn't add anything,...

Client Week Continues

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:22:00 +0000

a.k.a. I'm still really busy. The good news is that our new house may close early so we can settle down and get to business sooner. In the meantime, I leave you with "K". This photograph is the first one taken by me and was intended to be a lighting test. However, I found the stunned look worth keeping. She was surprisingly mobile but here you'll notice her beautiful eyes. Technical Photography Note: Taken with the 50mm L which shows that when you get a good hit (once in a blue moon until you get used...

This Weekend, Go For a Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:15:00 +0000

The Bay Area is a beautiful place, so go for a walk, run or hike. I'd like to wrap up client "week" (it'll probably go on longer than a week) with this lovely family. "C" is so energetic that the edgier "Ecstatic" look complimented the boy who could barely be contained within the boundaries of this Burlingame park. One thing to note about family portraits - they don't always have to be with everyone sitting stiff looking at the camera. We had a great time during the photo shoot and C was quite the ham...

Good Things Come in Threes

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:05:00 +0000

The three stooges, the Trinity and the rule of thirds are all great things that come in threes. The saying quickly breaks down if I apply it to the number of kids I can effectively raise. So today, I wanted to talk about the exciting world of post-processing. Film based photography relies on a series of third eye inducing chemicals whereas digital based photography provides a broader array of techniques performed from the safety of the computer. The same flexibility though can be intimidating or spell...

Let's Kick Off Client Week

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:06:00 +0000

For the next week (or till we feel like our pending move is under control), this blog will feature recent Phat Baby Photography clients. There are a multitude of reasons for this but here are a few:My clients are the reason I'm here and this is one way to express my gratitude.My readers (i.e. you) could probably use a break from seeing A and Z (as much as I love the tiny tots).My professional work does differ from my personal work. Given that my website won't be revamped till early next year, this is a...

This Weekend, Buy a House

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:15:00 +0000

Okay, most people aren't going to buy a house but we're so excited over here that we might have a chance to get a new home. After making six offers and being outbid six times, it turns out that our favorite prospect fell out of escrow and we are next in line. We love the house since it has: "A Hockey Ring" - i.e. a long, relatively flat driveway"A bicycle race course" - i.e. a cul-de-sac with little vehicular traffic"A soccer field" - i.e. nearby park "Airport Tower" - i.e. it's in the SFO flight path...

Hyper Kids Require HyperSync

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:15:00 +0000

Anyone know of one or more hyper kids? Yeah, I thought so. Eighty percent of my photography utilizes natural light, but once the kids settle into their groove, I break out the lights to pack a little more oomph into our photo sessions. Enter the PocketWizards. The old PocketWizard Plus II is still my work horse, but I've been giving the latest generation Flex 5 a spin this past month. The Flex 5 makes major improvement on Canon's high speed sync through a technology called HyperSync. High speed sync...

Ending with a Clap

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Thunderous clap that is. There is nothing like having hundreds of kids, in the middle of a wide open field, while lightning flashes around you, to end the AYSO season kick-off festivities. It also killed our lunch time picnic plans. Oh well, with two kids you learn to live with unpredictable events: losing soccer socks, getting stuck behind hundreds of other parents trying to drive out on the single lane street to freedom and craving sleep during every waking hour. Oh wait, I guess that last one isn't...

This Weekend Go To Yosemite

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:09:00 +0000

Actually, it's probably a horrible idea. The kids are in year round school which is better for learning and as a side benefit, makes it easier to vacation on the off season. So we're looking at everything from cruises to a road trip to Yosemite. The former is still too pricey for this photographer but camping with the kids has a certain appeal. Unfortunately, even though it's the off season, Yosemite seems to be a natural wonderland version of Disneyland and accommodations are a bit sparse. Has anyone...

Something's Fishy Here

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Continuing with the fish theme... What do you do if you want to photograph how much time you and the kids spend watching Sponge Bob, Veggie Tales or any number of other cartoons? If your living room is setup like ours, then your couch is about 10-15 feet back from the television and it's up against a wall. You can plop your kids really close to the television but then they'd be looking straight up. You can move the couch up a bit and then take a picture from behind so that you capture a silhouette of...

Look What I Caught

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:22:00 +0000

So going into Labor Day Weekend, I indicated that I was "gone fishing", but little did I know I'd actually get a shot of one. There are many great rides at Gilroy Gardens, but the flying fish seems to be one of Zoe's favorite. Aidan enjoyed the roller coasters. Since there were no lines, we rode the Quicksilver Express Mine Coaster five times and never had to get out of our seats. Well, I take that back, we moved from the front to the back because Aidan wanted to "experience different things". The...

Gone Fishing...

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:35:00 +0000

... figuratively speaking. In the spirit of Labor Day, I'm going to keep this and Sunday's post on the lighter (read shorter) side. The wife and I are looking forward to doing a few road trips with the kids and sleeping. Ahhhh, sleep - remember that thing we used to do before having kids. Have a relaxing, fun and safe weekend.

Monster in the Bathroom

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:31:00 +0000

Actually the exact words were more like, "Mommy, there's a monster in the bathroom!!!" I suppose a soft box on an 8 foot stand can be intimidating for someone whose stature is all of 40" (plus or minus). Aidan absolutely loves his c00l auntie Monica from New York. So when she dropped by for a brief visit this past Sunday, it seemed like a shame not to capture the moment. Our family room was a mess (how unusual), so we improvised and used the staircase. It had the benefit of being a height equalizer,...

Getting Schooled

noreply@blogger.com (Phat Baby Photographer) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I thought Kindergarten was going to be a breeze, but Aidan already has had his share of homework incidents including: Share day where the object to be shared is supposed to be in a brown bag along with three written clues. I forgot so we ended up using Aidan's lunch and writing three clues on a piece of scrap paper with a crayon in his classroom: it's squeezable, it explodes and it's sweet. Good luck guessing what it was.Drawing assignments where Aidan was an outcast because he forgot to color in the...