Killy, 38

Self Portrait, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Posted without comment at this time.

Happy Birthday To The Taggart!

Scenes from Today as of 5:30 p.m.

Scenes from Today as of 5:30 p.m., a photo by killy on Flickr.

What do you see? I see the head of a muppet pig from the "Pigs in Space" sketch from the Muppet Show.

Blueberry Picking

Picking Blueberries, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Saturday was the first official day for picking blueberries. Carol made sure we didn't miss it this year. A couple of years ago, we drove way too far to a grove that had already been picked dry earlier that morning by a church bus. This time we chose a grove that was much closer and much larger. The bushes were bursting with blueberries!

Luckily it wasn't so hot that the kids didn't instantly begin to complain about it. We were prolly there half an hour before they began their drumbeat of, "Can we go home now?" or "Can i got sit in the car with the a/c on?" or the best one "Why are we picking blueberries anyway?"

Art Car Parade, 2011

Art Car Parade, 2011, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Normally, I would have made some comment about Colin, but since he's taken that away from me, here's just another photo of some old dude making sand castles at the Art Car Parade last weekend.

Speaking of Colin, I miss those of you I don't see so frequently: Paul, Colin, Ryan ... where the hell are you?

Babysitting

Babysitting, a photo by killy on Flickr.

On the night that this photo was taken (May 19th), the entire board of my neighborhood civic club resigned with the exception of myself. On this night, opposition to the newly proposed deed restrictions would come to a head at the meeting. I decided that Carol should go to the meeting and I would stay home and watch four kids rather than attend.

I made the best of my evening and got some pretty awesome shots of the kids as they ran around under the lights in the garage.

Wife, Extraordinaire

Carolina Divina, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Today i found out that a co-worker of mine lost his wife to an accident on Friday. He is left with two young daughters. It broke my heart to hear the news, but immediately all i could think about was Carol and how, without her, i would probably fall apart.

Back in the studio again today. I quickly discovered that I had left all my flashes on the last time i was in there so all my batteries were dead. Luckily, I had just charged a second set so - yay me.

Shot Carol with a lot of underused equipment: 80-200mm @ 2.8 handheld, hence the incredible softness of this image; my large diffused beauty dish; and a mostly broken Vivitar bounced off the garage door.

New look - just for Killy.

I finally gave in.

Working Weekend

Variations - Sweetgum Ball, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Three weeks ... or maybe four. That's how long it's been since i've photographed. Finding a balance for all the various parts of my life is not as easy as i want it to be. Family, house, job, gym, photography ... i want to do it all - at the same time - with equal intensity.

After spending the last three months ignoring everything else in my life but photography related items, i had to refocus. So last night after kicking the soccer ball in the cul-de-sac and an impromptu game of sweetgum ball war with the kids, i took a handful of sweetgum balls into the garage for a photo shoot.

I started off slowly. I knew i wanted to use the ring light, so i started off with that. The results were nice, but a little flat. I added a grid and that just really opened things up. I probably shot for an hour or so in the garage, which isn't so long when you are proud of the results.

e-lightenment

Poop poop pee

May

The Bronica is Back, a photo by killy on Flickr.

Didn't realize it was the last day of the month till this evening. I spent my evening going through April's crop of photos. It turns out i've had a pretty productive month. I've managed to collect a crop of new equipment and constructed a DIY softbox, ring light and a black straw grid for the sb-600. I've shot two portraits for the Mangum Manor Civic Group and managed to drag the family out for bluebonnet portraits ... just to name a couple of the shots i've done.

I've also managed to resurrect a couple of pieces of equipment that i thought i'd never use again. Turns out this stuff can be fixed! (insert laugh track).

The Bronica is back in business and i couldn't be happier. This is the first shot for the month of May. I worked this shot as slowly as i could and built it in the strobist fashion - in layers.

Used my big beauty dish with a diffuser as the key light and exposed for the out-of-focus Zenza Bronica up on top. Once i had that solid, i added the fill and decided on simply bouncing flash off a poster board. I thought about using a piece of foam core, but the foam wouldn't bend the way the poster board did. I made sure the flash was pretty closet to the board so that my source would be small and would create noticeable specular highlights. Lastly, i set up a flash with a gel on the back wall for separation. It went surprisingly smooth. I almost dropped a flash only once. Once.

Strobist info: Vivitar 285 with 1/4 CTO gel in big beauty dish with diffuser camera right (1/16th power); sb-600 bounced up-close off of a curved white posterboard for fill with specular highlights (1/32nd power); and lastly, a Vivitar 285 with DIY black straw grid with full CTO gel on a white background.