Mom's 70th

My mother turned 70 today. I took some portraits of her this past weekend at her birthday party. I taught her how to do the "cool girl" pose all the 13 year olds like to do at the Bar Mitzvahs I photograph.

After seeing how well the Vanity Fair/Annie Liebowitz photos of Miley Cyrus turned out, I tried to duplicate them. As you can see, she was a bit nervous and will probably claim, as did Miley, that she was tricked into the exposed back shot.

Happy birthday mom!

Dafodils after the rain today

I really need to get to work!... oh wait, this is my work

New Sigma 30 1.4 lens

Just got a new lens yesterday and am really excited about it. It's a Sigma 30 1.4, which on a cropped sensor equals a standard 50 lens. It will enable me to capture more images without using flash. I was testing it wide open and got this shot of my son's friend Blake. My son of course jumped in and made a face. It does show the extreme lack of depth of field when shooting at an aperature of 1.4. Look at how out of focus TJ is, even though his eyes are only 5 inches behind Blake's. If you've shot with me in the past and I've done natural light shots, you now know why I make sure your eyes are lined up evenly with your partner.
Do you remember being 12 years old? Funny age...

4-3-08 COLD track meet

Vernon Hills had their first track meet of the season. It was SOOO cold! The meet was cut short by lightning, and I must admit, I was grateful to get into my warm car. The girls ran their hearts out despite the weather.

An Early Spring Walk

I decided to take my camera with me on my power walk yesterday. I now remember why I don't do that- I end up spending more time shooting than I do walking. I am happy with the shots I got though. This time of year is often neglected by nature photographers, myself included. However, last year's pale fall colors make kind of a nice soft backdrop, before the darker Spring greens take over.

A little late to be releasing seeds

This little guy was about 1/2 the size of a grain of rice.

What would be Mother Nature's purpose to entrap this fallen Oak leaf?

My walk South along the DesPlaines river trail was cut short by some flooding on the path. I thought maybe I could take the trail North. WRONG. There is normally a pathway under this RT. 60 bridge tall enough to accomodate horses. That's a handrail in the water!

With my walk cut short, I stopped in at Tea Harbor to visit my friends Sandy and Hank. If you're a tea lover, or need to purchase a present for someone who is, Tea Harbor is the place to go. They are very knowledgable about their dozens of loose teas stored in beautiful silver bins. I always let Sandy choose which tea I should have, and it's always delicious. If you're in the Vernon Hills area, stop in. Tea Harbor is located on the North end of River Tree mall, by the Canoe store facing Rt. 60. This was one of the teas featured the day I stopped in. It is called White Rose Tea.

I told Sandy to look at me "NO PICTURES!" she laughed and covered her face. I kept snapping away and told her "If you just look at me for one picture, I'll stop." I think it's a great shot of her. http://www.teaharbor.com/ When I got home, I noticed my tulips are popping up and getting those neat little red tips on the leaves. I love the graceful lines of emerging tulips.
'till next time,

Tell