my little apprentice

My brother, nephews and I went to Roosevelt yesterday to visit our grandparents, aunt, and cousin.  When I was getting out of the car, my 6 year old nephew, Evan, saw that I had my camera bag with me and exclaimed that he was becoming a really good photographer.  I smiled big, patted him on the head and told him that maybe I would let him take some pictures later.  Well, after several hours of our visit had gone by, I was getting restless and remembered the offer I made to Evan.  I went and got him and we headed outside to my grandparents backyard.  I set the camera to fully automatic and handed it over.  I was extremely amazed with what he was coming up with!  He carefully composed each shot and skillfully moved around his subject until he was satisfied with what he was seeing in his frame.  After studying the shot for a second longer, he would then snap the picture.  After each shot he would come over to me and meticulously explain what elements he had captured and why they were important in the composition.  Remember….he is SIX years old!

Here are some of my favorites:

We finished off his photo shoot by building his name out of random junk:

two things you should know about elephants…

….they never forget and apparently they are always early! 

The Ringling Bros Circus was in town over the fourth of July weekend and the elephants arrived in downtown Tucson by train the Monday before.  Once I heard that they were going to be arriving and would be walked from the train depot to the convention center through the streets of downtown, I knew it would be a fun photo opportunity.  I let a couple of my photographer friends know about it and we were to meet at 6 pm on Monday afternoon to see what we could capture on our cameras.  To my disappointment, after arriving, my husband called to say that they had arrived a couple of hours early and were already at the convention center.  We were all so bummed but decided to go to dinner together anyway.  It turned out to be a nice evening.

Well, we knew that the elephants had to leave the same way that they arrived and we found out that they would be loading at 3:30 am the next Monday morning.  My good pal Dawn thought we should try to make it down there at that ridiculous hour.  I was the only one remotely interested in the idea.

So Sunday evening rolled around and Dawn and her husband had me and Don over for dinner.  While we were waiting for the food to cook, we had Don call someone from the TCC to verify the time of the elephants departure.  Turns out they moved up their schedule once again and would be loading sometime between 10:30 and 11 THAT NIGHT!  We finished our dinner and Dawn and I headed downtown.  The last circus show just ended and downtown traffic was chaotic!  We found parking, sat on some steps by the convention center, and waited a few minutes…….then we heard a very odd noise.  It was GIANT rain drops falling from the dark sky above!  Within minutes downtown was drenched!!  Don was down there somewhere too and he found out from a police officer that the elephants were being led to their trains no matter what the weather was doing.  So we waited under the overhang of a building wondering out-loud what we would do?  Then we saw them coming.  What an eerie sight!  We shot what we could during their approach and then decided to brave the rain and travel along with them.  Even though they seemed to be moving at a relaxed pace, their steps are four times the length of mine.  I could barely keep up!  And trying to capture a picture with any type of composition or proper exposure was completely out of the question!  So I just shot randomly while running.  The entire trip lasted under 15 minutes.  Once at the train station we could catch our breaths and capture some more shots of their “behinds” from behind a fence. 

Here are a few of my favorites.  I left on the odd orange glow that my camera captured too.  It seems to add to the overall surreal effect.

This next one is my absolute favorite! —>

And here is Dawn.  She is a very talented photographer AND writer!  Read her elephant blog at www.picturedawn.blogspot.com 

the all-american kids

Last weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Gracie, Christian, Jacob and their parents Jeff and Janet.  It was a chaotic and hot Phoenix summer afternoon, but the kids kept their cool and I was able to capture some fun shots.

Wise little Miss Gracie decided we needed to be in the pool for a couple of shots.  I didn’t argue!

Christian was quite the character!

All three kids.  Christian has the look of uncertainty in all of the shots of this pose because he was so sure that his older brother was going to throw him in the water at any time!

image vault

Every so often I like to look back on pictures I have taken over the years and reflect on that event and on how I have evolved as a photographer since then.  When I do so from now on, I will try to share the images and thoughts with all of you.

Here are some of my favorites from my friend Tania’s wedding day in San Diego a couple of years ago:

The temple looks like something straight out of fairy tale.

Pictures on the beach afterwards.

One of my first ‘trash-the-dress” shoots.  I’m hooked!

Not too shabby of a job with my little Canon Rebel and almost no knowledge of photoshop!