Jackson's Feet

I don't know why, but I just find my oldest grandson's feet so interestingly expressive. One can almost tell by these shots what his level of interest in things was at the moment the pictures were taken.

Bug in the Road

Jackson and I went for a walk this afternoon, not a long walk, just down the street from the house, but everything seems to be an adventure! We found a cricket in the road and I managed to get a close-up lens on my phone and get this picture.

The texture of the gravel in the road really seems to come out in this shot, and in contrast to the complexity and color of the exoskeleton of the bug it does provide an interesting background.

We followed the cricket for a while until he got into the grass and became elusive, and then Jackson moved on to other "observations".

Our Geese

One of several flocks of Canada Geese visited the "front" lawn today, swimming to the edge of the water, and then walking up onto the lawn to feed. They spent a good hour and provided plenty of "photo ops"! Here are four of the shots I took. If you would like to see more, please comment on this post and I will post a Flickr link!

Jackson on the Schoolground

I took these a while ago in July, but I thought it would be nice to post them as I begin to prepare for another school year to start. Many things are changing, but the constant is a young child's joy of learning! We should strive to keep that joy alive as students move forward in our public school systems!

These are of Jackson peeking into the school and on the slide at the playground. All taken with iPhone.

Shooting in the Intertidal Zone

I went down to the shore in front of the house this afternoon and thought I would do something and look for something different, so I put my telephoto (75-200mm) lens and a 2X closeup filter on my Sony Alpha and went searching. For some reason I set the camera in shutter priority mode and these should have all been 1/125th of a second, but in hindsight I wish I had set a deeper aperture instead. "Maybe next time!"

I did play with them in iPhoto as they were a bit overexposed, but I liked the result with the bright sun creating textural shadows and such. I am also going to link to my Flickr Album (7 shots) which I don't think I have ever done on this blog before! Here's the link:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/chartlie/sets/72157646205552014/

And here's my favorite from the bunch, I like the composition, lighting, and the flow of the bubbles around the half submerged shell!

Wise Beyond His Weeks

I can't take credit for this image post, because either my son or his wife took the shot, and they both have taken great images of the grandchildren!

What is so fascinating about this image is that it is of an infant only two weeks old, a young man who I am told has already developed a mind of his own. I'm so excited to watch him grow!

One Week Later...

... and little Emerson celebrates (well at least the adults in the family do) his first week birthday. This has been a full week as far as focus around him and his needs, watching him and holding him very carefully as he is such a fragile life. He changes every day, and seeing his expressions develop in both intensity and variety is so precious. Jen and I are so fortunate to be able to spend this time with our grandsons and family, and I'm sure these moments (we have taken plenty of pictures) will last us a long time.

Emerson Allen Johnson

He has finally arrived! His poor Mom was becoming tired of waiting, but that's all we could all do until he was ready to be born, which was early; 12:30 a.m. on this morning! Welcome to the world Emerson!

New Gloucester Blueberries!

Probably it made sense that we would find a treasure trove of blueberries on a street named "Berryfield Lane", but it never occurred to me until yesterday when we found ourselves out in the field by the lawn picking blueberries for all we were worth!

The lighting on these images was just about noon, and when I got them back and uploaded I felt my Sony Alpha had captured what was actually there, so I didn't change a thing on them for this post. I had been playing around with shooting "RAW" images, but really see little advantage except for certain lighting and exposure conditions, and, as it clogged up my laptop pretty well, I am sure I will only use that format when absolutely necessary!

I used a 10X closeup filter on my 28-75 mm lens and played around mostly with the f-stop to control depth-of-field. There are certain images that work well with deep focus and others that don't, but shooting in aperture mode lets me see the effect as soon as I view the shot! Here are three "blueberry" shots I got this morning!

Ahhh... Summer is Here!

After a beautiful weekend I woke up to a most gorgeous day on Flander's Bay. The mirror effect of Cadillac Mountain on the bay this morning was absolutely incredible to the point where I don't believe I have seen it quite like that for a very long time, if ever. I shot several pictures out of the living room window and am posting my favorite.

As I headed out with George, my co-worker and commuting buddy, he pointed out an image of David's boat at the corner of the east side of the house, so I am including that one as well. What a beautiful start to the summer this past weekend!