Nativity Fun

I was setting up my parent's nativity set this week when I had a cool idea. Here it is.

First, we have the whole nativity.


Then, I started taking individual "portraits" of the different statues, starting with the most important.


After the baby Jesus, I did Mary.


And then Joseph.


Now we have the wisemen, in no particular order.





And of course, the wisemen's mode of transportation. "Watch out, they spit!"
Last year, my nephew, Max, called them cows. He was still learning, I guess. But hey, they both start with a C.


And finally, the shepherds and their sheep.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

I finished putting up the Christmas tree Monday night and I thought that I would take some pictures of it since my younger sister Angie did such a fine job decorating it - I put on the lights, though. I guess everybody likes Christmas lights, but I'm especially fond of them, even though for so many years I was the only one who would ever put them on the tree as a kid. Despite the fact that our old tree made putting on the lights an absolute nightmare, I still would put them on every year because I just love the look of it once it's done. Maybe that's why I became a photographer, because I love light! Anyway, it was always a tradition for me to put on the lights while listening to Christmas music. Every time I listen to Traditions of Christmas by Mannheim Steamroller I feel like a little kid again, totally entranced by the hundreds or thousands of lights that gently lit the room. When I say thousands I mean thousands. That's how much I liked those colorful glowing bulbs.

This project was a lot of fun. The exposure times were very long, anywhere from 10-30 seconds, and my ISO was up to 400, but that's what it takes when you're shooting in a room lit only by a Christmas tree. If you want to try taking pictures of your tree and you're using an SLR, be sure to stop your lens down (set an aperture number as high as it will go, say 22-32) and be sure to have a sturdy tripod. Mine would have worked out much better if I had a better ball head for my tripod, but oh well. I guess I'll just have to take some more next year, right?

I really like the picture behind the tree because it shows the real meaning of Christmas. Without Christ, there wouldn't be a Christmas at all. This picture is from the Hill Cumorah Pageant and it's a portrayal of what would have been the first time the Nephites would have seen Christ in person, an event they had anticipated for hundreds of years. While it wasn't on Christmas, it might as well have been because of the significance of the event. Could you imagine such a present for yourself this Christmas?! Yeah, I love this picture and I'm glad that I can see it every time I look at the tree.

Brakes, Stretchers, and iPods

First, let me start by explaining that this post is two or three months past due. Even though I should have written it then, it's very appropriate today. You might be asking yourself what these three items (brakes, stretchers, and iPods) have in common, so I will tell you. About two or three months ago I needed to replace my brakes in order to register my car. Well, I've never changed brakes before and this was a new experience for me. Luckily, I can always turn to my dad, who knows everything about cars. You see, I just have to take a moment to say that my dad is amazing because he can do so many things incredibly well - everything from his career as a professional A/V tech, satellite tech, welder, builder (of anything), designer, and finally, mechanic. It may not seem like much, but he showed me how to change my brake pads and that got my car working, which I desperately needed.

Not only did he help me with my brakes, but he helped me when I needed to build a canvas stretcher. My favorite way of displaying photos is as a gallery wrap canvas, and in order to make one you need a stretcher to stretch (wrap) the canvas around a wooden frame. Well, I knew that it could be built for much less than the least expensive version I had seen online for several hundred dollars. So to whom did I turn to find the help I needed to build my stretcher? Yep, you guessed it - none other than my dad. And help he did. You see, my dad knows exactly where to go for all of the parts, materials, and ideas, so when you need something done, he's the guy to ask. He drew it all up and showed my exactly how to machine the aluminum bars to give me what I needed. It worked out great and now I have two huge (24x36) gallery wraps hanging in my "studio" thanks to the help my dad gave me. He does that a lot, just helps people and that's perhaps the thing that I respect most about my dad. Not only will he help you, he'll go all out when he's doing it. I've seen him help out brothers and sisters, neighbors, work associates, and every time he will do everything that he can (and that's a lot) to make sure you're good to go.

Now to iPods. First I need to thank my dad for the iPod that I already have because it's his old one, and boy is it old. 4 years, to be exact and it's still ticking, thanks to my dad. You might remember my post where I told the story of how my iPod gave me the sad face and stopped working. Well, after my brother helped me fix it once, I broke it again by unknowingly letting it take a long fall onto the cement. Well, I was completely at a loss and just about ready to give up on my 4 year old, fourth generation iPod Photo and accept my fate as an iPod-less member of society. But when I showed it to my dad as a last ditch effort, my spirits were lifted from the proverbial floor when he had the answer. We just had to disconnect the lcd, reconnect it, and leave the battery disconnected for a day and that was it. Now it works like a champ and I couldn't be happier.

These are just a few examples of why I have the coolest dad ever and I wanted to say thanks to him on his birthday. Happy Birthday, Dad! I hope it's one of many, many more we get to share together.

Here are some random pictures of my dad. I have to say that some of them are cell-phone pictures, which I rarely use in posts because they usually are pretty crappy. But some cell-phone pictures is better than no pictures, right?

I told my dad that I needed to post this last picture on my blog and he didn't think that I would do it. And just so you know, he's got a frowny face because we had to throw away those sawhorses that have been around for ever. It was a sad day ;-)

The best part about Halloween

Okay, okay. I admit that there isn't really a good part about Halloween. I mean, think about it. There really isn't any real importance behind it like there are with Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, The Fourth of July, etc. So not only is it an irrelevant holiday, it's also a time where you're bombarded with bags and bags full of high fructose corn syrup. All that candy is really starting to get to me. I can definitely say that all that candy if the last thing that I need!!!

But thankfully, not everything about Halloween isn't totally useless. In fact, it's an awesome excuse to take more pictures of kids. So last Saturday I had fun taking a few pictures of my nieces and nephews. Here they are:

Lily was the cutest little thing with her fairy wings. I love the expression on her face.


Then there's Jacob, who's costume is supposed to be a monkey. I don't know about you, but I was thinking a bear myself.



Brinley was the scary, mermaid, tickle monster. I'll just leave that up to your imagination


I'll bet that all the boys were jealous of Caleb's Iron Man costume. Heck, I was jealous myself. It was awesome!!!

Families in the Fall - Mine

Okay, okay, it's not like these families are mine. What happened was my extended family went to take a group picture and while we were there, I shot some pictures of my nephews, and my two sisters and their "families." So first, my favorite nephews in the world.

Jacob has to be the happiest baby I've ever seen. And can you believe how much he's grown since this?!


Max is a happy kid too, he's just a little camera shy. Well that, and he'd rather be off somewhere reaping havoc. But he wasn't sneaky enough - I got a few good shots of him.




And caleb loved the leaves. I remember when he was one year old we took him to a neighbors house and let him play in the leaves, but he just sat there. Actually, we had to start playing in the leaves for him, and once we started to bury him in the leaves he had had enough. For the record, we didn't actually bury him...just his legs. But look at him now! He's having a grand old time.



And here's my sister Angie and her "family." Yeah, it's just the two of them for now, but we'll see just how long that will last. Any bets?


And last but not least is my sister and her boyfriend, Mitch. He's a good guy, so I decided to take one of the two of them. Believe me, he cleans up really nice. Just kidding! :-P

Families in the Fall - The Neils

I had an amazing shoot with a young family last weekend that Angie and Kyler referred to me. There are two girls and two boys, all between the ages of 6 and 1, so you could say that we had our hands full. Lighting was perfect that afternoon and we came away with some awesome pictures. What I especially liked about this shoot was that we didn't just end up taking traditional family pictures all the time, but we focused a lot on candid shots of the kids, and if you know me, you know that I'm all about the candid shots. They're the ones that will be remembered long after the shoot is over because they're the ones that show real personality. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'd much rather take a picture that will not only show how you looked at a specific moment in time, but also included a bit of your personality. The great thing about including these pictures in your family pictures is you can show how a lot of the family members interacted with each other, like mom playing with her little girl, or dad with the youngest boy on his shoulders. These images are proof of one thing, that this family can do more than smile when they say cheese (or cheescake, for the younger boys sake) - they prove that this is one happy family. Scott and Rachelle, I hope you guys like them.

This little guy was loving those pumpkins!






This little pumpkin became everybody's favorite.





Who didn't love playing in the leaves as a child?






And here's the big family picture. I love when sunlight shines through leaves. It makes them glow, deep red, in this case.



It's hard to focus when your subject is wandering in grass as tall as he is. The camera wants to focus on the grass and not on the subject. If this shot would have been in focus, it would have been my favorite of the day.