Peekaboo

I was in the garden with the camera. I had gone to take photos of the toad lilies that had just started to bloom, at a time when everything else started to die or at least seemed to have stopped growing for the year.
That's when a little voice started talking from the other side of the fence: "Hello." "Zachary, I can't see you. Where are you?" A little hand showed up thru the crack in the fence where a falling tree limb had damaged a plank a couple of months ago.
We were right in the middle of a conversation when it struck me: The light was beautiful and you could just see enough of him to know it was Zack and to know that he really wanted to come over. And I had my camera right there ... what was I waiting for?
Took the picture, and asked him if he wanted to come over to see the flowers ...

Playing around with Photoshop

I am playing around with Photoshop and I am discovering stuff I really like.



I love how this filter works with the energy in Esk's face (above) or with the textures below.

Oh when the saints go marching in ....

... they may get sand between their toes.

The Studio of Life

I have had a long and beautiful summer, and I have not been as creative as I had hoped.
However, I have been taking pictures of my peeps - not in the studio but in the studio of their lives.
I think you all know what I photograph the most!

I am not an action photographer ...

... but last weekend as some kite surfers were zipping by all around me as I was enjoying myself in the water, I just couldn't help myself. I got totally carried away photographing them.



The sun was only occasionally peaking out from behind some pretty damn impressive clouds, but the water - believe it or not - was warm. Warm in this case is obviously a flexible adjective, and considering that we are talking New England and I was wearing my brand spanking new wet suite, we are probably looking at 65°F.





I do hope that the surfers contact me. I gave them my email address. I would love for them to see these photos.

Old Friends

Oh … this is hard.
Do I really have to decide which of the photos to publish here?



I just met up with my ‘old’ friend Kelly. Kelly and I go back all the way to my very first job in the US. And now there is Alex. I was dying to meet her … and I did today. I enjoyed a great three hours catching up with Kelly and flirting with Alex.
But now I have to decide which of the photos to put up here, and I am having a REAL hard time …



So, there are a few more pictures here than I usually put up.

Alex, girl, you work on that walking thing.
I know Mommy is not too crazy about you starting to walk, but I promise, you'll LOVE it. ;)

The Computer my playground

Started playing around in the computer with some images. I love this one. Just sent it to her Mom, hope she likes it as much as I do ... or maybe even a little more.

Girls will be Girls

This one really needs no further comment ...

ETA: Two Weeks from now

Yeah, we made it! ETA for Anna is two weeks from now, and I was a little worried that we might run out of time. But she is a very patient baby. She was getting a little excited when mommy was prettying up for the shoot, but seemed to like the studio flashes going off. At least she was not complaining, and we all had a ball in the studio.

I can’t wait to see the little lady for her second portraiture session, this time outside of mommy’s belly.

The long way ... oder: Omi wäre stolz

About a year ago when I was visiting my parents, I found my grandmother’s camera in the attic. She had bought the camera – an AGFA Billy Compur - when my mother was born in 39, and I have quite a few photographs that were taken with it.



Soon I learned that the lubricant that had once made for smooth turning of the rings had – over the many years – turned into solid glue and the shutter and the focusing where frozen. It took me several attempts but finally I found someone who could fix it: Zacks Camera Repair in Providence, RI did a wonderful job. Three weeks ago I loaded my first roll, and Billy and I traveled to Ireland.



We still have to get used to each other. Billy is all about manual everything … exposure and focusing. (He made me dig out my light meter). I love the 6x9 cm format of the negative, but I hate that I only get 8 shots out of a roll. And he has to stop sheading dust from inside his leather bellows and tossing it on the film. Or at least I suspect that he doing that. Like I said, we have to get used to each other. We have an exciting way ahead of us. I wonder how he feels about trying out a roll of modern Kodak Portra 400 …

Across the Atlantic ... to see Family

TO A CHILD DANCING IN THE WIND

DANCE there upon the shore;
What need have you to care
For wind or water's roar?
And tumble out your hair
That the salt drops have wet;
Being young you have not known
The fool's triumph, nor yet
Love lost as soon as won,
Nor the best labourer dead
And all the sheaves to bind.
What need have you to dread
The monstrous crying of wind?

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)