watching like a hawk...

Was driving through downtown Greenville this morning looking for picture opportunities and something caught my eye.  I pulled over, got out of my Land Rover and approached the bird.  Originally I thought someone had "propped up" a dead bird on the sidewalk so I thought I would take a couple of low vantage point shots.  As I got close and kneeled down to take the shot, the bird's head quickly turned right towards me and the eyes opened!  My heart skipped a couple of beats...  After I settled down, I approached slowly with my M8 and took a few shots from several directions.  Afterwards, I couldn't resist.  I took one shot with my latest camera (the Polaroid 250 Land Camera).  I hope to scan some of these photos later and end up with a neat post from the Polaroids.  Later determined that the bird is probably a baby hawk.  Look at those feet/talons and look at those eyes.  I think you can see that he was watching me like a hawk...

the bathtub...

A little self conscious of posting a picture of Pyper in the bathtub.  But this picture is so incredibly cute...  Amazing that this picture started with a Leica camera, processed through Aperture, emailed to my iPhone, processed in My Sketch App, emailed back to my computer and then brought into a blog post.  Not exactly the best way to keep up the image quality, but I wanted to make sure that the post was not something that Pyper would say "really, you had to post that" later...

my polaroid project...

So Tyler (tylertyndell.blogspot.com) bought a Polaroid camera at a garage sale last week.  We both were so excited to try something so basic that we bought some PX 600 Silver Shade film from the-impossible-project.com.  Thought it would be as easy as it was when I was a kid when we used to get Polaroid film for Christmas morning or on our birthday.  Took my first picture this morning and figured out something right away.  It is not easy getting a good picture with the film that is available now.  This is actually a good thing.  It has challenged me to think about what I am taking a picture of and how much light I really need to avoid overexposing the image.  The camera has a flash that always fires.  This has proved to be a challenge for the 600 ISO film.  It is hard to not overexpose the entire picture, but it is near impossible (no pun intended) to do the same for the subject that is near the camera.  The second picture is a prime example.  It wasn't as easy as just taking the picture and shaking it until it finished developing (you are not suppose to shake it at all).  Had to immediately cover the picture and protect it from any light and place it in the original box for 10 minutes to let it finish developing.  Over the course of the day, I took the remaining 7 pictures (8 total).  With every picture all I could think about was how much each one cost ($3.00 each).  I guess learning something new is not free.  I have two more cartridges left.  Can't wait to get them in the camera and "learn" some more.  However, more than anything, this makes me appreciate the pictures from my Leica M8...


**update**  see additional polaroids at my latest blog by clicking the "instant photos" link in My Other Blogs above.

caught up in the moment...

It is the desire of most people who take pictures to always take "the perfect picture".  The reality is a large number of the pictures that we take will never end up posted, printed or ever looked at again.  Sometimes the composition is great but many times, for me, it is less than "perfect".  When I become caught up in capturing the moment, I sometimes get the composition a little off.  This is one of those pictures.  Concentrating on getting a picture of Pyper, I missed the fact that I cut off part of Sherri's head.  Some may say that this would be a reason to delete the picture.  Others may say that I should crop it tighter to just show Pyper's face.  To me, this is one of those opportunities to break the rules.  The head is cut off, but the essence of the emotion is still there.  What a moment to remember!  Pyper was starting to get sleepy, she lays her head on Sherri's shoulder and smiles.  I'll always take a moment with a story over any posed photo...