December 2009 Theme

Thanks for a beautiful November theme, ladies!! I loved seeing all of your autumn work. Now it's time to start a new theme for December:

{Holiday Spirit}

Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!! We'll kick this off today and it will go through December 31.

Autumn {Michelle F.}

One of our favorite traditions is our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. It was a perfect sunny, crisp fall day. We came home with great pumpkins and wonderful memories! Camera: Canon 20D Aperature:f/4.0 Focal length: 200 mm ISO: 800 no flash

{Autumn} Kristi

Shutter Speed: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: +2/3 EV




Shutter Speed: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/2.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: +2/3 EV

We had beautiful Fall leaves this year in Chicago. The leaves seemed to all turn colors at the same time and they seemed to all cover the ground at the same time too. I took both of these photos of my girls at a forest preserve behind a historic mansion where they have a music class. I brought a chair that belonged to my grandmother with us and dragged it through the woods -- I am not sure how photographers get whole couches outside -- and just let the girls play. It was a really fun day!

Cindy's {autumn}

Well, you haven't heard the last of me. I never got around to posting for the last theme. I had a really darling photo to share, but I'll save it for another time. Much of the reason I never found time was due to the fact that my two oldest daughters are members of one of the best high school marching bands in the nation. I can say that because, after months of preparation, an average of 30 hours a week practicing and competing, marching in the summer heat, pouring rain and freezing cold...not to mention going to school and staying up late doing homework after practice...our band and guard competed with over 90 bands from across the country to achieve an 8th place finish in the Bands of America Grand National Finals.

Nikon D50...Manual...Focal Length 130mm...Aperture f/4.5...Exposure 1/1000...ISO 200

My name is Cindy. And I am a band mom. As fall arrives, I find myself immersed in this addictively consuming culture. It was inevitable, really. Over the last couple of years, autumn has come to mean, for me, being there in the stands every weekend, cheering on my amazing girls and the rest of our talented band and guard. It inspires me to see the dedication in these young people...teenagers who give up plenty of their summer, every school afternoon and most Saturdays to be part of this phenomena called marching band. They memorize a minimum of 12 minutes of challenging music, up to 80 charts of drill and stunning choreography to complete the performance. It blows my mind at a time in my life when multi-tasking is increasingly difficult and the memory is, well...when I remember I'll let you know. Believe me, though, when I say that it is nothing like the marching bands we grew up with! And might I add, in case you're wondering if it's really worth the sacrifice, that kids involved in such disciplined performing arts as marching band display a strong sense of purpose, earn higher grades and graduation rates than the national average and learn invaluable life skills such as time management. Jumping off my "band" wagon, now...

The photo above is of my freshman daughter, Abby, a member of the guard. I took this photo back in September on one this fall's few beautiful balmy Saturday performances. I love the colors of the uniform, and I love remembering that first day they wore their new uniforms and the way it caught my breath to see my daughter looking so grown-up and comfortable in her abilities. Click here to see a photo of my oldest daughter, Mindy, and a few of my favorites from this season. Mindy marches in the drumline and played bass drum this year. And she did it with a majorly sprained ankle most of the season, topping it off with a round of the flu a couple of weeks ago. She's tough and talented, and I'm so proud of both of my girls!

If you'll indulge me, I'll brag just a tad bit more on our band...they were last year's State Champion (second this year), third in Nationals and won the Fiesta Bowl National Championship on New Year's Day in Phoenix. If you're a former band geek (and I use that term lovingly) or I've piqued your interest, here are a couple of short clips of this year's show...click here and here. These were taken early on in the season, before much of the "drill cleaning" was done. As the season progresses and the shows improve, we have more and more limitations on what we can video.

Nikon D50...Manual...Focal Length 50mm...Aperture f/2.8...Exposure 1/1600...ISO 200

Moving on...I had a photo shoot cancel on me a couple of weeks ago, and I hated to waste a beautiful afternoon (totally not kidding when I say they were in short supply around here this fall). So I grabbed the camera and took Caroline on a leaf hunt. She was all about it and took her leaf-hunting responsibilities seriously. Most of my favorites are completely candid. I did get some darling shots of her sweet little face, but I loved this one. She was posing ever so perfectly for me on this bridge in our neighborhood, and then a leaf she just couldn't resist caught her eye and she sprang into action. If you'd like to see the rest of this shoot, click on over to my blog post. All of the images from this shoot are SOOC, which is a step out of my comfort zone. I usually feel compelled to mess with every image in some way before I post it, but I decided to brave it with these.

I've enjoyed this month's postings...you all are incredibly talented photographers! It goes beyond talent, though...what comes through over and over again is the passion we all share for capturing a moment in time. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

{Autumn} Jessica

A few of my favorite autumn images this year. :)

Canon 5D

24-70 mm lens

ISO 200

f/3.5

1/2500

35mm

Canon 5D
50 mm 1.8 lens
ISO 100
f/2.2
1/640
50mm

{Autumn} ~ Kate

I have been enjoying this month's theme so much...no doubt in part because Autumn is my favorite season. While I enjoy my carefree summers, I really do look forward to the days there is a little chill in the air, the saturated reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves...and the promise of holidays just around the corner.

I decided one weekend that I would like to try my hand at photographing BOYS in all their glory and convinced my little family to join me at a midget football game. I had visions of getting down and gritty...and secretly hoped for some mud and a little water (I was really thinking of puddles!). I learned two important things that day.

1) Be careful what you wish for. We endured torrential downpours to cheer on our friend, William, in a VERY competitive playoff game.

2) Midget football is BIG SERIOUS BUSINESS. Yikes...I actually had a hard time listening to the "pep talks" the coaches gave those little guys. I wanted to bring them all home and give them hugs and cookies!! :-)

I managed to get a few shots in between the wind and rain...and because football is such a big part of Autumn for so many, I thought I would share this shot. It is the first time I tried my hand with sports...and really out of my comfort zone!!




Exposure: 1/200
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO: 200

The second photo is of my daughter (big shocker!). She is very much a reluctant model these days...and I am always happy for any shot I can get! She surprised me one afternoon by agreeing to a little camera time...but was much more interested in examining the leaves, sticks, pond...and just about everything else! I always enjoy just watching her...especially through the camera lens...and the resulting images are always priceless to me for the memories they hold.




Exposure: 1/15
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO: 200
Processed with Florabella Textures

{autumn} by M3

Here's Ro, fooling around in the backyard, with some leaves that the girls and I collected on a leaf hunt. Yes, that's right, we had to import leaves to make it look like fall around our house...



In this next one, Ree is on the top and Ro is on the bottom. Kind of a twin autumn sandwich. :-)



Both pictures were taken on November 17 around 3:15pm in our shaded but bright backyard with my Nikon D300, Nikon 30mm lens, no flash, 1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 640, with color tweaking and other minor corrections done in Lightroom. (Disclaimer: My husband just brought home a huge, new monitor, which is wonderful, but the color calibration is giving me fits... hope these pics look ok...)

If you'd like the see the other autumn pics I took, I posted them on our blog "Do They Have Salsa in China?"

Autumn (Denise)

Ok, let's try this again. I had originally posted another picture, but after seeing it on here I really did not like the quality of it. I am going to play around with it some more. You can see it here and make any suggestions on my photography blog if you want to. And maybe I am just being too critical...
This picture was taken last month of my daugher on the day we went to the apple orchard and I loved it. I played around with it in Lightroom a bit, but I would love some help with brightening up those beautiful dark eyes.



Camera:Sony A700
Exposure:0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:f/13.0
Focal Length:70 mm
Exposure:+0.48
ISO Speed:200

This next picture doesn't really say Fall, but it was taken in October so I am going with it! We were at a friend's birthday party on their farm. This little boy was taking Maggie over to the tire swing and I caught this moment. Of course, I had to play in Lightroom and I am pretty sure that I used one of Rebecca's presets...maybe Retro World...I can't remember. Anyway, it is a bit oversatured, but I liked it that way.



Camera:Sony A700
Exposure:0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture:f/5.6
Focal Length:300 mm
Exposure:+0.25
ISO Speed:400

{Autumn} Jen

Here are my choices for fall.


Nikon D300
ISO 100
f/4
1/80 s
50mm




Nikon D300
ISO 100
f/4
1/160 s
50mm