Christmas : Family Portraits

Merry Christmas Everybody. Here is the Christmas portrait I took of Kerry and I. It took a lot of trial and error trying to set up this shot. Somehow, as nice as the living is, it just isn't terribly conducive to portraits. The final shot below was taken after two days, on and off, of picture taking...couches, lamps, tables, presents, and stockings were all moved around trying to get a nice warm look to the photo...I think we pulled it off.

Also here is the Christmas (COLOR!) portrait of Kerry's side of the family.

Lily

We had a little a Football Sunday Party at my house this weekend, and rather than sticking my camera in the faces of all my adult friends that were present (I am sure by now that they're sick of me and my camera) I turned my lens towards Lily, the ever so photogenic baby. With so many people in the house all vying for her attention, it was tough to get her to look at the camera for longer than 1/2 second...even so, I did manage to get a couple good shots. Thank you to Lily's parents for the verbal model release form. : )

New Haven At Night

Yesterday I took a late afternoon visit to downtown New Haven to scout some spots for an upcoming shoot. Afternoon turned into evening, so I stopped back at my car to grab my tripod to try my hand at some nighttime photos; the results of which are below. Not too bad for my first time shooting at night and I definitely look forward to learning more about it. It is SO much different than shooting daytime or indoor. It's mostly too dark for autofocus to work well, so lesson number one was to manually focus. This quickly lead me to lesson number two: bring a flashlight so I can see the distance scale on my lens enough to allow me to accurately set focus. Anyway, I had a great time wandering about Yale with my camera...it was very relaxing and showed me Yale and the surrounding area in much finer detail than if I had just been passing through.

Yesterday's Fun Photos

Was supposed to shoot some photos of Carl and Kelly in downtown New Haven yesterday. Once we got there, we decided it was too cold and windy. Instead, I spent some time getting to know them better while having some pints in the warmth of Richter's. I did take a couple photos inside Richters, but they were nothing to write home about. A shame. So, in lieu of Carl and Kelly photos, I managed to find some good shots from yesterday to post here.

Wachocostinook Brook - Salisbury, CT

These are some recent photos of Wachocostinook Brook in Salisbury, CT. Nothing like moving water captured with long (>2 second) exposures. It just creates a dreamy quality that can't be reproduced (easily) with image editing software. These were both taken along Mt Riga Rd. A dirt road which leads from the town's main street up to the summit trail of Mt Riga and then actually continues north into Massachusetts. It's a really great place to go and sort of a unique Connecticut experience for any of us who live in the more populated places in the state. I recommend the drive and the hike to the top of Mt Riga. Just make sure to hike up the south side, and down the north side, as the north side is steep, wet, and rocky...which to me, is much more conducive to going down than up. If any would like to know directions, please just send me an email or make a comment requesting the same.

Mark and Claire

Thank you to Mark and Claire for giving up some of their time to indulge me in some engagement photo shoot practice. I learned a lot during this shoot and intend to put into practice what I've learned during my next shoot (of whoever else is kind enough to give up a couple hours of their time to be my guinea pigs). Biggest lesson learned: have them look at and interact with each more than just looking at the camera so much.