The Grandparent Project

That is the working title of my latest personal project. Here is my first instalment. If you know of someone who might be a good candidate for this project, please let me know. Thank you.

Anne, Calgary, AB. Canada.

One day I came across a reading by a psychologist in the US. He said: “The great secret of enjoying life is to learn to love yourself and accept yourself and the rest will just take care of itself” and that was kind of new. From my education, you had to work hard and succeed. You had to work at it. Loving yourself didn’t come into it. 

Tommy Drummond and I used to fight for who was going to be at the top of the class. In Junior High, they posted those you know. 

It’s not over. EVER. As long as you are alive, there is something you can do. 

Appreciate who you are and what you can do. 

I stay pretty active, although my body doesn’t do what I’d like it to do all the time. I get tired. I still sing in the choir. I really have enjoyed a musical career. Of course, I have the kids and the grandkids. There’s lots going on. I’ve been president of the social club a couple of times. And I go to church and I am on a committee there…so I keep busy. I’m a soprano. They need me, too. Sopranos aren’t all over the place these days. .

Nightshooting

These images were taken back when we were in Flathead Lake, Montana. I hate feeling restricted when I shoot. I will often hear other photographers talk about the rules they have for photography...specifically regarding ISO. Boo to that I say. Rules were made to be broken. Embrace using your camera to it's fullest. Night shooting is definitely one way to do that. Even though both of these images were taken at night, the results were created two very different ways.

The first image was taken using a tripod because I knew that it would be impossible to hand hold. I removed myself as much as I could from any lightsources--the green light you see at the bottom is the result of a street light fixture at the boat launch. Obviously, I put the camera on the tripod and pointed it at the sky. I played around with the settings until I got exactly what I was hoping for. I've done this enough to be able to guess a good starting point and then keep trying until I get what I want. In the end, the settings were ISO 2000, F2.8, SS 20seconds.

The second image was taken while Jack was building a campfire. The only two lightsources were the fire and the lamp that Bob is holding. I know from experience that I can hand hold nice and steady to a shutter speed 1/30...any slower than that and I will most likely get camera shake. I opened the aperture to f2.8(as wide as this lens allows) and I played with the ISO until I got the desired results. In this case, the ISO is 10,000. It is hard to believe how clean the image is but today's cameras are truly meant to be pushed. At least, that is my belief ;)

I love taking risks in my photography. Thought I'd share one easy way for you to try and take some risks as well.

~ Dana

Ocean Blue

Love in the Winter

Her glasses kept fogging up whenever they got close :) We trudged through some pretty deep snow(well deep for short me).

And, we laughed a lot.

Winter engagement sessions are not for the weak of heart, but...for those who can embrace the weather and roll with the punches...the pictures can be pretty beautiful.

We had so much fun, I didn't even realize how cold my legs were until I got in the car. hahahahahaha!!! Thanks for being such troopers you two! See you in August!

~ Dana