As I sit at my desk ready to plunge into some wedding album designs. My mind has been wandering towards a coffee break. As in the kind I had in Costa Rica after a tour of the Finca Rosa Blanca Coffee Plantation and Inn. It was a really fascinating look into the world of organic, shade grown, micro coffee production. Most of the coffee had already been picked but there was a few beans left on the plants as we walked through. Organic farming is really quite an undertaking.
Below is a short clip about the Coffee Plantation that aired on the Live Well HD Network.
That would be me. It is taking me forever to get through my photos from Costa Rica.
Below is my rather disappointing photo of the 3 toed mama sloth with baby in Parque Nacional Braulio Carrillo. Disappointing because of the fact that I was shooting with a rather dark lens. And well, the rain forest is rather dark to begin with so my detail is quite lacking.
3 toed sloth with baby
This was the only shot I managed where one could still make out the baby clinging to her mamas belly. But I kind of like it none the less. And it worked much better in black and white. There are more to come. I swear. If I could only get these 5 fingers working faster and my 2 babies dis-attached from my body. Although cuddly kids are never anything to complain about.
Griffin will find the way. Previous to his above mission to illuminate the livingroom, I found him with his red toy tub upside down on the dining room chair…so as to better be able to reach the lollipop I put up on top of the fridge for later.
For a few weeks I had been cursing the beautiful step stool we had been given by our friends. It managed to give our children access to a world previously 1 inch less unattainable to them. This toy tub adds 6 inches. All previously safe objects on counter tops and dressers are quivering with fear.
At least my children are independent, problem solvers. Sigh.
Below was him last summer figuring out how to get in and out of our neighbors cat door. I would expect NASA to start recruiting soon. If they need someone to build a tower of household items to reach Mars for exploration, they may have their man. Can’t get much worse than many of their previous missions.
I get asked this question a lot. What are the best little cameras? I have to admit that I have hardly a clue. When it comes to camera purchases for myself, I lean towards the purchace of big, black cameras that have the word Canon on the front. They are the ones that feel like family in my hands. HOWEVER. I have learned over the years that great photos have far less to do with the camera model than with the model of person behind it. The most important upgrade you can make on photography will almost always be upgrading your own knowledge base. A 80$ evening class will almost definately do you far better than a 80$ peice of equipment.
That being said, I found this NYT 300$ camera round up video of new consumer cameras by the New York Times last week. I hope it might help if you are in the market for a new camera.
Here is a Comparison Chart
One thing I would like to mention is that hardly anyone actually uses those gimiky features. Lean towards a good zoom and faster response time. The faster your camera responds to you when you hit the shutter button, the happier people will look on the other side of the lens and the less frustrated you will be with the photos.
Other than that just keep taking photos and try to slow down so you learn from the process!
Yup. Christmas is long and gone. But little boys who can’t read the calendar don’t know the difference. This project was one that came incredibly close to not being completed. Let me give a little bit of the family back history. Kelby and I have decided that our kids receive and consume plenty and that for the holidays we want most to pass on the spirit of giving and thoughtful making and crafting of gifts. So we embarked on only making gifts for each other for Christmas a few years back.
The problem arises from the fact that the time during the holiday season is in SHORT supply. The Fall is the busiest for my photo business not to mention that the flu season and H1N1 hit hard this year. Add in a few unforeseeable life events and some family visits and the sand in the hour glass spilled out making gift making time short and procrastination abundant. So this is the “little homemade train table” that almost became the “Purchased from Amazon with Overnight Delivery train table” and finally became the “Big-Gift-Homemade-Train-table-that-knew-no-Calendar” and was assembled the week after the Christmas with the “help” of big sister elf.
Here Dunedin has dressed herself up to give Griffin his partially finished gift and make it “Christmas” sometime last week.
Griffin’s excitement and their exploration of the tunnel and removable lake trap door lake made up for the fact that the parts and labor ended up costing far more than if we had ordered that table and had it hand shipped by reindeer overnight from Amazon.
The last step is to paint and finish it… If that ever gets done!
