I used my 100mm Canon macro lens for this shot. This is the ring my son Brian presented to Katie. If I had tried to photograph the diamond I gave to Deb, I'd need a super-macro lens.
Princess Bride
This is Katie, of course. This was one of my warm-up photos in the bridal shoot we did. There's nothing about this that says "bride" but I like the portrait anyway.The lighting here is very simple - she is sitting in the opening of the doorway leading to our deck, which, in the late afternoon, is in shadow but which is open to perfect, soft ambient skylight. One of my many assistants was holding a white reflector below the frame of this photo. (I don't actually have many assistants but Katie had a retinue, including a sister, a cousin and her mother.)The light was beautiful and so was Katie.
Runaway Bride
My son, Brian, and my daughter-in-law, Katie, came to town yesterday for a photo session. They were married almost a year and a half ago but they weren't altogether satisfied with the photos they got on the day of their wedding. And so we spent 4 or 5 hours doing a variety of fun things.This photo is one of the last photos I took and it was totally unplanned. Katie wanted to run in her beautiful wedding dress and so, as she ran into the setting sun, I snapped a few photos. This is one of my favorites from the whole day.
A Miniature Forest
in Nature
I was walking away from another flower shoot when I noticed the way the early sunlight was bathing this "grove" of incipient lillies. And so I had to take a few photos. The dew, incidentally, is real - I didn't not have to spray it on.
Standing Out
Here's another example of a photo that found me instead of me finding it. I was going to check out the back yard earlier today and I saw this tableaux illuminated by the rising sun streaming through our patio doors.
Why Not?
Why not post more purple tulips - made mysterious and dark with a secret Photoshop process even I don't remember?
This Is It
in people
On the last day of the first semester of my first year of teaching at Watertown Senior High, a girl raised her hand and said, "Can I ask a personal question?"Curious, I said, "Sure.""Why were your hands shaking so much on the first day of class?" she asked.I laughed and said, "That's easy to answer: I was scared to death."In my 35th year of teaching this year, there were many days that I felt the same fear. There were even a couple days when I parked my truck in the school parking lot, turned it off and took deep breaths to fight off waves of anxiety before picking up my computer bag and walking into the school.What was it that was so scary about teaching? For me the "fear factor" was caused by the belief that what I did every day was essential to the intellectual development and success of a room full of teenagers. Every day I spent at least 2 hours preparing for a 90 minute class because I felt that the future of civilization depended on it. Delusions of grandeur? Not at all. Frankly, I think that every dedicated educator feels the same way.Every day I felt the pressure to have the right questions and the right activities because if I failed, I would be letting down more than just my own standards -- I would be failing on a much grander scale. I happily accepted this sense of mission every day I taught. But, yes, it did cause my hands to shake from time to time.I am writing this today because I am leaving the high school classroom after 35 years. I am not retiring, though. Instead, I am moving to a new full-time job at Lake Area Technical Institute where my primary assignment will be to teach photography.And who are the people in this photo? They are the happy members of my first block Accelerated World History class. I don't normally take a class photo but this was a special day. And this is a special group.Why are they posing with their laptops? In my classroom, the laptop was a central tool in the teaching and learning process. More central than the laptop, of course, was the curiosity and the need to learn that my students brought with them when they entered my classroom.It's been a great gig at Watertown High School. There is very little about my experience there that I won't miss.(Photo by Chris Swiden)
Third In An Informal Series
in Nature
This is another tulip shot, this time in my neighbor's yard. I love the beautiful deep purple of these flowers.Here's the first one I posted a few days ago.And here's the other one.
Almost
Is there something a little sad about a person who publishes two consecutive photos of something that almost happened?Yes!
On the Green
He stood on the tee of the par 3 hole and felt a slight breeze coming from behind. With alacrity and confidence, he quickly made his club selection. (I think it was a 3 iron.) And then with an athleticism and tempo that only a person who plays golf once or twice a year could have, he stroked the ball. He couldn't see the path of the white projectile because it was getting dark. He also needs new bifocals. But one of the younger golfers playing with him said, "I think it's close."And it was.The photo, incidentally, is the first time in two years that a guest photographer has had a photo posted on "A Photo A Day." The photographer is my friend Jack, who told me that he was thinking of the Rule of Thirds when he took this shot.I'm proud of Jack and I'm proud of the golfer for almost making a hole-in-one.
Angels In the Architecture
in Architecture
This is a shot I took at the Getty Center. Are there really angels here? Perhaps if you look closely, though for today's title I was thinking of the Paul Simon lyric that contains that phrase:
He looks around, aroundHe sees angels in the architectureSpinning in infinityHe says Amen! and Hallelujah!
I see many things when I look at the photo. I may even see angels. . . .
The Old Refrigerator
