Look Up//Look Down #38: Going to College (and blog break)

I'm up in Oregon, getting Henry settled into college. This week's look up//look down pair (for the meme started by Helena) features a view looking up at his dorm and a view looking down at the packing we were doing last week at home. As I get him settled, I'm going to take a few days off from posting to my blog. I'm also giving myself blog amnesty on commenting on all your wonderful blogs (other than the scavenger hunt posts, which I'm still enjoying). I'll be back and active after the weekend.

2013 Scavenger Hunt Winners and Final Thoughts

Well, summer is officially over, and it's time to say a fond farewell to the 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. . . . but not before I name a few winners and post a few concluding thoughts.
First, the winners!
Congratulations to BJ of ccraftcorner and sky-blu-pink! 
Please email me at rinda1961 (at) yahoo (dot) com, and you can select your prize. You'll be able to select a photography book from my list of favorites, and I'll have Amazon send it directly to you.
Also, I still owe Susan her June prize, which is some really fun summery washi tape.
Next, I want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated this year. I really enjoyed seeing all the scavenger hunt blog posts during the summer and the incredible turnout for the linkies. Besides seeing wonderful windmills, funny signs and, uh, inventive cloud interpretations, the real pay off for me was reading the stories behind the pictures. I loved hearing about the special trips you took to cross an item off the list, the heartfelt meaning behind some of your photos and the camaraderie you developed with family and friends while on the hunt. I am also touched by how the scavenger hunt helps people dealing with difficult times and am forever grateful when they choose to share this type of message with me. I feel like there's a scavenger hunt community which develops every summer, and its members are all over the globe. They hunt in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Canada, the United States and all over the United Kingdom. Be sure to come back next summer when we do it all over again!

Look Up/Look Down #37: Seasons Change

The view off my deck this week. It really feels like summer is truly over, with the shift in the weather. Even when it's sunny, it's much cooler these days. And we have many more days like this - drippy, cool and grey. Another sign of the change in seasons - as the college kids have all gone away, their beer pong table (it's a drinking game - don't ask) has been pushed aside.  Looking up at the neighbor's house (previously captured here) ; looking down at our back deck.  Posted as part of the look up//look down challenge started by Helena.
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And it's last call to visit yesterday's post and link up your final summer scavenger hunt post and leave a comment letting you know how many of the items you found. I'll pick a winner and post the results tomorrow. THANK YOU so much for playing along this year. I'm having such fun looking through all the links!

Final Scavenger Hunt Check-in and Linkie

Well, today is the last day of summer and this weekend marks the end of the 2013 Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. Thank you to everyone who has joined in this year. There's been a terrific turn out this year, and I have loved seeing everyone's posts.  Today, I'm posting my item #21 a photograph with an artistic tool. I have found that I use my iphone more and more often in my photography, so I took this selfie with it.

Today, I would like you to post a comment telling me how many of the 21 items you found.  I will award two prizes.  One randomly selected from those who have found all 21 items and one from everyone who participated and found any at all. I'd also love you to add a link below to a post about the scavenger hunt.  It can be one you put up this weekend with some new finds. Or it can be to an older, favorite post. I also ask that you visit a few other participants to see what they found this summer.

Thank you again soooo much for participating! I'll leave this post up all weekend and pick winners sometime early next week.

Let's Talk . . . Family Portrait Sessions

Hope to see you all back this weekend for the final Scavenger Hunt link-up! That's when you'll let me know how many items you found and be entered in the final prize give-away (there's two prizes . . . one open to people who found all the items and one open to everyone who participated, regardless of how many items you found).

On Sunday afternoon, my friend, the amazing professional photographer Becky Ruppel came over to our house to take some family portraits. The main occasion was to capture a belated "senior portrait" of Henry before he leaves for University, but she also took portraits of Clara and some family groupings. The session got me thinking about all the family portrait sessions in my life. 
The very first portraits I remember having taken were taken in a Foremost mobile studio truck/van that would drive through our neighborhood and have families take portraits. There was also a person who brought a pony around, dressed the kids up in cowboy gear and took portraits. These two experiences are the only formal portraits my family every took when we were children. 
One of my very first jobs (the summer after I graduated from college) was working for Olan Mills Studio selling portrait packages. My sister and I were living in Boulder, Colorado, and we even got some of the studio portraits taken. They had your standard studio backdrops and the poses were pretty mundane.
When the children were babies, I tried to take them to a mall portrait store front (Picture People, maybe) every few months to capture their growth. The backdrops, props and poses were a bit better than Olan Mills, but still nothing really special.
When Henry was two, we took him to a nice photography studio in town and had a series of gorgeous black and white portraits done. They were beautiful and classic.  
A few years later, we had a photographer come out to our house and take portraits of the children. These remain my all time favorite portraits.  
Finally, about ten years ago, we had a major portrait session with the local photographer. But this time we went outdoors. It was also the first digital portraits we ever had done. Some of the portraits were stunning, but I never really loved the big family photograph she did.
So, this time when I set up the portrait session, I asked Becky to come out to the house. I snapped the photo up top of Clara on my iphone when Becky asked Clara to hold her camera. I loved the pose which Becky set up of Clara in the big chair.  I also took this candid of Clara and Aria in instagram:

I love how Aria naturally sat at Clara's feet, how they are both looking in the same direction and the interesting parallel they present. It's interesting to compare the two photographs (from a composition standpoint, not a technical one) because I like both of them as portraits. The first one is a little quirky, but still pretty and has the advantage of Clara looking directly into my camera.  The second one, on the other hand, tells more of a story. . . of a teenage girl and her dog. If I had to pick just one as a portrait, I'm not sure which one I would choose!
I feel really good about the portrait session with Becky and can't wait for the proofs. Which got me thinking about family portrait sessions and what I wanted with them at this point in my life. I wanted portraits that capture us as we are now - not dressed too fancy or matchy-matchy, but in our regular clothes (okay, so we all showered and put on clean clothes). I wanted a photographer who would take the time to get to know us and would try to capture our personalities in the photos (with Becky, this was easy because she knows us all pretty well). I wanted a photographer who was an excellent technical photographer - one who knows light and has the right equipment (reflectors, diffusers, etc.). It's telling that Becky asked me to snap a few photos of my living room and backyard at the times I wanted her to come and send them to her in advance so she could get an idea of what lighting she would need. Finally, I wanted someone who takes pride in their work and would not be willing to give me something that she didn't love. I feel like I got all this (and more) with Becky! She even asked to meet Henry on another afternoon to get a few more shots because she had some ideas that she wanted to try out. I'm glad I set the location for our living room and back yard (but also happy that Becky took Henry out to the "enchanted forest" as well). I know these portraits will be more meaningful because they were taken in our home; the only home the kids have ever known. And I'm really glad that there were not a cheesey backdrops in sight!
So, now, I'm curious. Let's talk family portrait sessions. What has been your experience with them? Good? Bad?  Have you gone to a studio, had the photographer come to your house, or gone on location? What would you do differently? What would you do the same? Of the two portraits of Clara posted today, which would you choose and why? All opinions welcome!
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"Let's Talk" is a semi-regular series designed to inspire frank discussion and sharing of information on issues relating to photography, art and blogging. 

5 in 5: Boxer Stadium

Hope to see you all back this weekend for the final Scavenger Hunt link-up! That's when you'll let me know how many items you found and be entered in the final prize give-away (there's two prizes . . . one open to people who found all the items and one open to everyone who participated, regardless of how many items you found).
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My blog friend Sandie is hosting a monthly photo challenge where you take photographs in one location for five minutes and then select and edit your favorite five from the shoot. You can see the September participants at this link.  This month I took photographs at Boxer Stadium while waiting for my son's soccer game to start:

This doorway is what first caught my eye and started my five minutes.

Stairway aisle

Still life created by drain, cigarette and ivy

Bleachers, looking up

Ivy, climbing down the wall.

This is the second time I have participated in this practice (you can see my first 5in5 here), and I have found it a very helpful. In five short minutes (plus selection and editing time), I feel like I learn something about photography and editing. For most of these shots, I took multiple images of the item, moving around to capture different perspectives and to see how the light fell from different angles and different sides. I also explored many different areas of the stadium, truly seeing and noticing parts of it which I would have passed by otherwise. In editing the photos, I thought hard about how to crop them for maximum impact.  Finally, in the selection process, I tried to come up with a balanced grouping that had a similar feel and color palette. I think texture is a big theme in these photos.

If you're a photographer of any level, I urge you to give this meme a try. I think you will improve your photography skills each month! Is anyone else up for the challenge? What do you think of my choice of venue and photos this month?  Got a favorite?

Hello Busy!

Hello Monday Tuesday of a very busy week . . . haven't had a chance to update my blog lately or get round to visit/comment on others. Because I've been so busy saying hello to lots of things . . . 
Hello Aria dog . . . helping me check out the afternoon light in the living room in preparation for a family portrait session with the amazing Becky Ruppel. She came over on Sunday; I can't wait to see the photographs she took.
Hello packing . . . only four more nights before Henry heads off to college. I'll be driving him up on Saturday and staying in Oregon for about a week. I'll be doing some work projects, taking some interesting photographs and working on my faces/LSNED art journal.  He'll be training with the club soccer team before he moves into the dorm on the 26th.
Hello work . . . I've signed up for a lot of conferences this academic year and committed to writing several articles/book chapters. It feels good to be getting back into my academic side, but it is a lot of work.
Hello work2 . . . there also seems to be an inordinate amount of committee meetings and administrative projects. Sigh.

Hello to preparing for the end of the 2013 Summertime Photograph Scavenger Hunt and the final link-up coming this weekend . . . I'm thinking I'm not going to have time to get to the zoo, so I'm posting this substitute item (person wearing an item that symbolizes your country). I'm thinking this gentleman symbolizes my country in oh so many ways! LOL!
Hello laundry, laundry and more laundry. . .  It piles up when I'm really busy.
Hello to more cross-country meets and success for my awesome girl Clara . . . tomorrow is the third meet in eight days!!! She ran in a huge invitational over the weekend and came in 4th overall for the frosh-soph division (out of 465 runners). As she said, "Mom, who knew I was actually good at this?" Her frosh-soph team placed first as well.  After this, she gets a break for about ten days and then participates in meets about once a week for the rest of the season. 
Hello to obedience classes for the dogs (two more left), still volunteering at the humane society once a week, and lots of homework for the girl . . . no wonder I'm so busy!
Hello to LSNED on instagram . . . I haven't been able to keep up in my art journal but have been taking snaps and writing down lessons. And I feel okay with that!
Hope to see you all back this weekend for the final Scavenger Hunt link-up! That's when you'll let me know how many items you found and be entered in the final prize give-away (there's two prizes . . . one open to people who found all the items and one open to everyone who participated, regardless of how many items you found).