The Family in New Gloucester...

It has been great spending time with Jackson and his parents in New Gloucester this week, and I took some pictures today that are "people pictures" as well as one of the family pet Nobi, who is finally getting used to the new home and not making noise all night!

Jackson had fun with bubbles and the garden hose this afternoon, and he and his grandmother took a walk to the mailbox.

Four From New Gloucester

This morning there was finally some sunshine, and as I looked out the kitchen windows I saw a cool mist covering the field by the house. The light was challenging as the sun was so low and I had to shoot right towards it, but after playing with shutter and aperture I think I was able to get a few shots that described the morning pretty well. Here are four of them!

Eating Breakfast and Taking Pictures...

Grandson Jackson was busy once he got going this morning after several "wake-ups". I am so fascinated by all his expressions and gestures as he moves about within his world. He was eating breakfast and I took a number of shots of him, and then we got him cleaned up and he wanted to look at my camera, which I didn't mind as his grandmother and I were right next to him and it was fun to watch his curiosity.

It didn't take him long to figure out the camera and where to find the shutter release, and so he became totally engaged in the process of the camera and how it works. He sat quietly for several minutes (highly unusual for him) contemplating the viewing screen and perhaps how it actually represents the objects the camera "sees". He took these two pictures of his Mom and myself after seeming being less than happy with the compositions I had offered.

Charlie's Cooking Tonight!

It doesn't happen that often, but when nobody can think of what to do for supper, I grab the leftovers in the fridge and go to it!

Brakes and Chairs

I spent a big part of the morning finishing up the brakes on the Ranger, so it has all new brake lines, new parking brake cables, and a "well adjusted" transmission linkage. Of course, nothing ever seems to be perfect, so the attitude has to be "well, that was fun!".

During the afternoon I worked on sanding and prepping a table and four chairs for Torrey and Katie's new kitchen. They have a lot of gray and white in the kitchen and wanted something black, so I'm going to paint everything black. I had my phone in the shop after I finished tonight (just before supper) and so I got some shots of the chairs sitting in a row. Here's my favorite.

A Couple of Odd Ones (Three Hours Apart)

The tape measure has been a dominate misstep in my life for the past few weeks, mostly because I seem to be looking for it much of the time. I don't think it is old age and the lack of memory, just that the tape seems to like to "hide" from me. I shot it posing in it's natural position, that of measuring something. In this case it was seventy and one eighth inches long.




The second image was taken one hundred and fifty miles away, on the kitchen table of my son Torrey's new home. The lighting and shadows intrigued me.

Sitting in the Shade

This spell of weather has been so hot that it drags the energy right out of me! One major hassle has been the cars are so hot to get into even just to move them or wind down a window. I've taken to parking the "Super Sonic" under the crab apple tree on the east side of the house. Here's a photo of the car posing with my bike.

Shop Shadow

Low light in the Western sky and the platform hanging on the wall of the shop made the perfect background for this self-portrait shot. Shadows and their flatness add to the importance of color and other elements of an image. It seems to me this is sort of like a blind person having an increased sense of hearing, and the quality of the image is not diminished by shallow depth any more than another image might be diminished by a narrow or limited color scheme. Here's the image, taken yesterday with an iPhone.

Flood Tide

Something grabbed me this morning about the tide coming in, how we (me) often take the tides for granted, and how one might express the flow of the tide up and down the beach or the rocky shores here in Maine. Having a stationary object like the "Wild Thing" sitting and waiting for the tide to come in underneath it is like "becoming". It really isn't a boat until it is floating in the water.

Here my issue became composition and how I would express my thoughts about the tide through composition, so I took numerous points of view and arrangements of the subject and ended up with two that I thought might be topic for comparison and discussion.

If you prefer one over the other, leave a comment and an explanation for your choice!

Some Time With Jackson

Jen, Lynne and I drove to Canton to celebrate Jackson's cousin Dacara's third birthday. We all had a great time with good company and great food! After the party we went to see the new house in New Gloucester, and it is amazing how fast things have gotten done. Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Ten on the Fourth

I took my Sony Alpha with me on my nephew's boat for the fourth. The family was there, Jen and David & Lynne, and, of course, Morgan. We had a great supper cooked on the boat, and then waited for dark and the fireworks to start. It was good company and good conversation, and I shot 191 pictures all together. Here is a tough shot in the dark, and then nine of the fireworks, which were great fun to do!

OK, Grandson Again

I can't help it, I'm completely enamored with my grandson and his spirit. Here's a shot of him at the playground up the street from where he lives.