That photo up top is, of course, the AfterWork. I took it on Thanksgiving day at the farm. You’re looking at what’s been called The Bottom for eons, and it’s a section of the land Cute Redhead and her family grew up playing in. We’ve quite continued weaving that fabric into the lives of the spawn and their cousins, and Thanksgiving day just isn’t Thanksgiving day without a walk to it.

A few words on how I photograph: first of all, every photo in this post was taken with the iPhone 4S. No flash (I never use the flash. ever.) (Ever.) I have a Canon Rebel XSi, which I consider a brilliant camera for certain work. But the ease and quick access of the iPhone, as well as the image editing apps I use mean that most of what catches my eye also catches me reaching for it…which is always in my pocket.

A few words on what I photograph and why: I have no idea what to tell you lol. Being asked to slow down and think out loud about what happens to capture my eye and interest to where I trip-wire into I Have To Photograph That is like stopping me on the dance floor to analyze how I’m dancing…which only makes me look at my feet. Which makes me mess up. Which is a pain and a bucket of cold water thrown over me. Which I also hate.

Nevertheless, it’s not like I don’t know how I’m doing what I’m doing. It’s just that when I do it, I’m honestly not thinking about how I’m doing. Just doing it. Just giving my soul over to what I have to capture, tilt, angle, stop and backup and checkout that shadow again…never questioning it. Ever. I mean ever. (Who does that??) I can’t even tell you why something captures my eye. Rather, I’m not going to waste time articulating every aspect of every moving part, inside and out, only to demonstrate that I could talk for a day about it and still fail to sum it up.

So it’s not taking a photo. It’s making a photo. And if I have to explain that, trust me…I can’t. And you wouldn’t understand anyway. And neither would I.

The light through the trees and the spreading shadow of the pine trees was nothing more than an obvious composition. *iPhone*point*shoot*done* Cute Redhead is used to me lagging behind, constantly stopping, long ago gave up her Hurry-upping, and left me to start messing with the image to force into the digital what I actually saw in my head when I took it. Which, come to think of it, is me using photography to sculpt, excavate, unearth, or prove in the final piece what I saw in my head.

Which is the real reality (prove that one, left-brainers! ha!)

I used several image editing apps but can’t tell you exactly which ones or in what order or in what combination of filters and effects. It never occurred to me to confine myself to one app or effect any more than I’d confine myself to what pen or paintbrush. So edit here, save the image, open another app, play around there, save it again, turn it upside down, get mad, open another, try this try that, get mad again, remember something about a weird red I remember in something else, love it, apply it, decide I hate it all over again, change my mind, burn that, contrast that corner, straighten it, turn it…and basically keep on Not Thinking until I see finally what I saw in the first place.

Which is the very top photo.

Here are a few other photos I took that day employing the same processes, right down to looking up and wondering where everyone went and how long I’d been standing there in full-on artistic Time Out Of Mind.

And one last Before-And-After I took just this morning when I decided I needed fresh-ground coffee. I slammed the door shut on the car and noticed how the frost looked like trees. I liked the blue I saw inside my head so, naturally, everything had to stop for a few minutes.

And, lastly, here is just one of the apps I use. I promise next time my mind trip-wires into Must.Capture.That, I’ll stop Not Thinking enough to note how I’m doing what I have No Idea How I’m Doing.

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Good friends are hard to find. Good photographers to take pictures of your rowdy, sometimes disobedient toddlers are even harder to find. When you stumble upon good friends who happen to be good photographers, well, we call them keepers!

Brandon and Emily Hale, from E & B Photography are examples of those keepers. Yesterday it was an awesome pleasure to spend an afternoon with E & B and their daughter for a photo shoot and play date for the kids. The weather was beautiful, kids were hyped and ready to play, and it was quite the magical time to witness. For The Kiddos who don’t get to head out for too many play dates, their eyes just lit up while playing with kittens (oh those poor kittens), playing in the playhouse, and frolicking in the leaves down the private road with Brandon and Emily’s daughter. All three of the children just doing what they do best, being children. It was magical, hysterical, and an afternoon I will not soon forget.

Emily and Brandon were there doing what they do best, and capturing the magic of those moments. From the wonderment of throwing leaves, to the gut busting scenes of kittens trying to escape the toddlers, to the moment a boo boo happened. All of the little frames that zoom by our eyes during the day, captured, still frame, by the lenses of talented photographers. An evening of memories to hold for a lifetime, and I cannot thank them both enough for the wonderful time we had, and the amazing shots they captured.

Check out the sneak peak at a few of the pictures from yesterday’s shoot below and head over to the E & B Photography Facebook Page for more samples of their wonderful work, including still life photography. If you live in the southwest Virginia area and would be interested in contacting E & B you can find contact info on the Facebook page as well. I encourage you to check them out, and see why they definitely get The DaddyYo Dude Seal of Approval!

Also, next Wednesday will begin the Great Halloween Mystery!  I will reveal small parts of a photo to see if you can guess what my kids will be for Halloween!

Image: Tehrkot Media

During the time of the Civil War, photography was in its toddlerhood. The age of the daguerreotype and tin type was mostly past, and glass plates were now being developed (no pun intended). People were starting to use photography for more than portraits, documenting things for posterity. Since the Civil War was possibly the first major event in the United States after the invention of photography, it was the perfect time to capture important images.

Mathew Brady was probably the most well-known of the Civil War era photographers, taking pictures of the bloody reality of the war. But Brady wasn’t the only photographer of his time. Alexander Gardner was another photographer who took pictures during the Civil War. Originally published in 1866, his work was gathered into a photographic volume and sold for the price of $150, a huge sum at the time. Fortunately, photography is much cheaper these days, and some of Gardner’s work is now showcased in a new app.

Image: Tehrkot Media

Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War is an app where you page through an antique photo album of 100 photos selected from Gardner’s 3000 original works. The table of contents is divided into the following sections: Cover, Introduction, Vol 1, Vol 2, Extras, Biographies, Postscript, and Credits. The bulk of the book is located in the two volume sections, but the extras are taken from the original album as well and include biographies of Alexander Gardner, Mathew Brady, and Alfred Waud; photographic mysteries; information on what it was like to take photos during the war; and the original introduction. In addition, each individual photo includes a caption listing who made the negative and the positive, along with a short description of what you are seeing. Also, tapping the word “caption” shows you a longer caption for each photo, describing the circumstance for the photo in detail.

Image: Tehrkot Media

The app is put out by Tehrkot Media, which is a historic photographic records company. They included functionality such as being able to set bookmarks, zoom in on the photos, add your own captions, or share over email. You can also buy a print of any of the photos.

Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War costs $4.99, and I recommend it to anyone interested in 1800s photography or the Civil War.

Note: I received a copy of the app for review purposes.

I recently made my graduating son a ‘life book’, and had to dig through the 26 boxes of print photos I took before we broke down and bought a digital camera. Until I was forced to wade through those thousands of pictures, I had kind of assumed that I only really got out of hand, with the volume of pictures I took, the moment I finished reading the instruction manual for my first digital camera. Once I figured out I basically had free, unlimited film to work with, there was no stopping me. No more pausing to decide if a shot was ‘film worthy’. Before digital, there were only 24 chances to catch the right moment, and every click of the camera would cost me twice, once in film, and once in developing. Suddenly I could click all I wanted and not pay a dime more.

Read the rest of Judy Berna’s journey to becoming an excellent photographer over on GeekMom.

(via simply-shelbylynn)

Quote by Joseph Addison

Both are partly cloudy days, except the one on the left is in Colorado, the one on the right is in New York. What's going on here? Photos by Judy Berna, used with permission.

It’s right there in my byline, Geek Moms! “Ask her why the sky is blue at your own risk.”  I say that because sometimes my answers to weather questions might make your eyes roll. I picture that I might look like Brainy Smurf, complete with my right forefinger up in the air, being a serious know-it-all…

GeekMom Judy took the risk in late July, except she didn’t ask “Why is the sky blue?” She asked about why the sky isn’t as blue in New York as it seemed to be in Utah or Colorado. Being the awesome Geek Mom she is, she even presented a very accurate hypothesis:

Someone once told me that the humidity in the air determines how blue the sky is. I always thought that was an old wives’ tale. But the longer I live here, and the more I look at the pictures we took in Colorado recently (on our house hunting trip), the more I’m convinced that the states with low humidity have much bluer skies.

Is this true? Does humidity affect the depth of blue that the sky appears to be? Or am I imagining things and buying into the wives’ tale?

[Find out Patricia's answer over at GeekMom!]