Don – Page 35 – Post Irony

I’m going off the deep end with this photography thing. There’s this blog by a guy who calls himself the Strobist and I fell for his schtick. I bought a Strobist-approved off-camera light kit that consists of a flash, an umbrella, a cheap set of radio-wave-powered flash triggers and other assorted flash-photography crap. It was my Father’s Day gift to myself.

The Strobist has two programs of exercises designed to teach the fledgling strobist how to use small flashes to create fabulous pictures. They’re quite interesting to dorks like me and, best of all, they’re free. I’ve decided to run through the programs and post the pictures on the blog here. (What the hell else am I gonna do with them.)

All over Flickr you can see photos with these little notes on them: “Strobist info: 580ex into 6×6 softbox camera right, Vivitar 285 HV with gridspot camera left and behind model to light hair, SB26 camera left in shoot-through umbrella at 1/64 for fill and golden foam core just below chin to reflect some golden goodness onto the face.”

The first assignment in the Strobist Bootcamp program is a headshot. I drafted Gina into helping me with this one. She’s really loving it, too, let me tell ya. She might be in for a rude awakening because she’s the only model I really have a chance of lining up to help me.

I used a Strobist suggestion on shooting heads in the corner of a room. The model was seated with a wall to her back just out of the frame. The flash fired at 1/4 power into a silver reflective umbrella at about 45 degrees on camera right. The idea is to use the wall behind the model as a clean background and the wall to the side to reflect some light onto the shadow side of the face. I tweaked the white balance in CS3 and sharpened for the Web.

I like the bottom pose better, but she’s sitting too close to the wall, I think.

I turned the camera over to Gina so she could get in on the fun. I think it looks pretty good considering the glistening skin and the funky hair, courtesy of an earlier treadmill session. I could have used the shot for the yearbook in 1987, except without the wrinkles and with more acne. Oh, and a much lower hairline. And a less fat face. And … oh you get the idea.

Abby Family Fun

The Living Is Easy

By Don on Sunday, June 22, 2008

It’s getting pretty summery in NWA so Gina bought a blow-up back yard pool for Abby to splash in. Gina insists Abby wear the floaties on her arms even though the water’s not deep enough for them to actually keep Abby afloat.

Abby persuaded Mama to get in with her and she had a big time pouring cold water on Mama’s back.

video Yampa River float trip

Maytag!

By Don on Thursday, June 19, 2008

The river was angry that day my friends — like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.

One of the guys on the Yampa float trip shot some video of some of the boats running Warm Springs Rapid. As is generally the case, the video and the pictures don’t do this place justice. It doesn’t look like a whole lot on film, but that big hole was scary. I just watched the video again and it looks scary as hell to me. Consider that the boat it flipped was 16 feet long and God knows how heavy. Also note the hail coming down. Dave Rich of Fairbanks, Alaska, shot the video with his Fuji E-900 digital camera. The video is used here with his permission.

The next clip is my Uncle Dale. It doesn’t even look like he’s trying and he missed the hole completely.

That big hole out there is named Maytag after the washing machine company. The river was running 23,000 cfs, a 20-year high.

Abby Arkansas Eureka Springs Family Fun

Eureka!

By Don on Saturday, June 14, 2008

Abby, Gina and I took a little trip over to Eureka Springs today for a little walking and window shopping. We had Abby in her full tourist get-up. She likes to push Dora the Explora around in her baby stroller. You have to be patient when she’s got that stroller going.

A banjo, a fiddle and dog. Three reasons why Eureka is so much fun. That and cross-dressing bikers. (I didn’t have the gumption to shoot the cross-dresser.)

We took a little rest near the airbrush tattoo stand where these disembodied, yet sexy, legs were kickin’ it.

We watched a middle-aged woman get a butterfly tramp stamp.

The taffy puller at the candy shop was the most interesting thing about the candy shop, but Abby started yelling CANDY! so we had to go in. In order to get Abby out of the candy shop, Gina had to tell her that the candy was in her purse and we’d get it out when we got back to the car. We didn’t actually buy any candy.

We went down to Spring Street to see the Grotto Spring. It was apparently dug out in the late 1800s and a cool stone arch built at the entrance.

Ned in the first reader lives on Spring Street, evidently. We saw several of his trademark works along the sidewalk.

Thornecrown Chapel was out last stop. It’s made mostly of glass so it feels like you’re sitting in the woods at church. Except it’s about 15 degrees cooler and there are no mosquitos. The attendant was a little annoying with his photography rules and shushing the visitors.

Abby

Dr., Dr. Give Me The News

By Don on Friday, June 13, 2008

Abby had her 2-year-old doctor visit today. She weighed 28 pounds, 60th percentile. She was 34 inches tall, 75th percentile.

Dr. Rogers listened to Abby’s heart for a long time and finally pronounced she had a heart murmur. She said it was a benign type called a musical heart. It was so pronounced, she thought Abby was actually humming. She even had another doctor come and listen. They both said it was nothing to worry about. Other than that, she got a clean bill of health.

Camping Vacation Yampa River float trip

Another Yampa Tale

By Don on Friday, June 13, 2008

For those of you interested in Yampa war stories, I found this trip report this morning: Desolation Dory Blog. Lots of great pics and narrative.

I also found a new YouTube video of a raft flipping in Warm Springs on May 30.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQNnFYJJffM&hl=en]

Colorado Hiking Landscape Photography Vacation Yampa River float trip

Ahhhhrrrggg

By Don on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Pikes Peak shot from the dam at Manitou Lake, which is about 7 miles north of Woodland Park, Colo. My photos here turned out pretty noisy because I failed to turn off the auto ISO feature when I switched to manual exposure mode. The camera bumped the ISO to 1600 and I didn’t know it until a couple weeks later. I was pretty bummed because I loved the light and the reflection on the lake. I mean, how many times am I gonna be able to shoot Pikes Peak in such cool light? Lesson learned, I guess.

Abby Birthdays Family Fun

She’ll Never Be 1 Again

By Don on Sunday, June 8, 2008

Abby had a little trouble coping with all the festivities going on for her birthday last weekend.

Camping Colorado Hiking Outdoor fun Photography rafting Vacation Yampa River float trip

The Yampa at 23,000 cfs

By Don on Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Dale in Warm Springs rapid.

When I saw the gaping maw of the hole near the bottom of Warm Springs rapid, it occurred to me that I might be better off not being in any boat that had even a slight chance of going in there.

When the two park rangers recommended we portage two of the boats, watching the carnage from the shore became even more attractive.

When the second boat down the rapid flipped in the hole and the upside-down raft and its captain disappeared around the bend, I knew I would be walking around the beast.

It was day three of rafting the Yampa River in northwestern Colorado. I had taken a brief swim in the chilly, brown water the day before and didn’t want to repeat that experience.

We launched from Deerlodge Park on the eastern tip of Dinosaur National Monument into a river barely contained in its banks. The silty water was the color of heavily creamed coffee and carried trash, lumber, brush, and whole trees even. And dead animals: goats, cows, deer, etc. We had 18 people in 8 boats and would be out five days and four nights, May 21-25.

We spent a day and half in the Deerlodge campground rigging boats and running the shuttle under glorious skies and temperatures in the 70s and 80s. We left the comfy weather and luxurious pit toilets behind when we hit the river.

Abby Family Fun

Bubble Attack

By Don on Friday, May 16, 2008

Aunt Jodie gave Abby a bubble bucket and boy, does it make great bubbles. On Wednesday we blew bubbles and Abby chased them around the yard with a stick. The cat had great fun chasing bubbles, too. If you look closely, you can see the bubble bucket in the pic on the grill.

This doesn’t have anything to do with bubble antics, but I heard one of my favorite song lyrics on the radio yesterday: “She stepped into the alley with a single-shot .410.” I won’t break down why the line is great. Those of you who get it know who you are.