Six Month Photos

 

  Almost Six Months - 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

I just realized that I had posted these photos to 500px but not to my site. They may have been taken little while before she actually turned six months but we are calling them her six-month photos. We were planning on the messy face photo but didn't really have anything for her to eat right around that six-month anniversary mark that would resulted in a lovely comical messy baby face. Add to that that Angie and Fiona are both currently sick and now is not the optimum time for another photo.

Oh, I have ideas and they will get done but there's plenty of time and no shortage of progress photos to look back upon during this time. Just none that were specifically set up and executed to the extent that her monthly photos have been to this point.

 

  Almost Six Months - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

The last week or so has had a lot of signs of possibly teething and extensive voice exercising. By that I mean ear piercing shrieking and squealing. Oh, she's happy but making it hard on our ears and brains. Poor Kiwi. Fiona does like her attention, and we appreciate that, but the time might be coming for her to learn to be a bit more independent for just a few seconds while we have something needing to be done. I could barely believe I'm saying that because she practically refuses being spoon fed anything, yogurt being the exception, and wants to do everything herself when it comes to meal time.

Add to that how she's able to make it across the living room and almost into the kitchen in about four minutes by rolling and we have one busy girl. I know it will only get worse and by the way that she's pushing herself up she will be crawling in no time, at all.

Time certainly does fly and I'm glad there are a lot of videos and photos to look back upon during these fleeting first months.

Winter Photo Drive

Most of my favorite work is done in a controlled environment, with auxiliary lighting and highly preplanned. Sometimes, though, you just need to get out, photograph what you can see and enjoy the process along with the satisfaction of using the technology at your hands to create something nice.

Unfortunately, much like the arbour above, I don't get to see much at this time of year, with this much snow. Even the roads plowed at the forestry farm were a little bit deep if you got just slightly off the cleared portions. I did leave the plowed parts, in the interest of getting the best angle possible, and was very grateful that I had my winter tires on the van this year. They sure can chew through a lot of snow.

Speaking of snow, it was a nice day when I made these photos but there was something ominous in the forecast. After this little photo drive I met some friends for a meeting of the minds. It was at Moka Coffee Bar in Briarwood. Paul and I each parked in the handicapped spots in front of Shoppers Drug Mart, about a 75 meter wheel on cleared sidewalks to get to the shop. By the time we were done our meeting the snow was coming down heavy and the wind was blowing hard. The last 20 meters was blocked by deep snow banks thanks to a gap in the buildings and the wind whistling through. We plowed as far as we could, got stuck, but thankfully a nice little old lady, using a walker herself, was inside the drugstore, saw us struggling and sent the staff out to help.

Normally I'm not too concerned about getting too cold, being that close to my vehicle, but my thumb actually hurt for a few hours afterward because it got wet from pushing while we were stuck in that brisk wind for just a few minutes. I got pushed to the van and let my ramp down only to realize that it settled on yet another snow bank and, because of my wet rims, couldn't get up onto it. Once I was on my hill climbers would have made sure any progress I made was not lost. The one employee popped back out and got me onto the ramp. Otherwise I might've been a bit of a quad-sickle.

It was nice to just get out and photograph whatever I can find without too much forethought. I decided to do that again following week but, surprise, surprise, we got another huge dump of snow that started just hours after I was done shooting on my second winter photo drive.

Those photos will be coming soon. I hope spring is not too far behind because I'm feeling that ready-to-be-done feeling with this winter.

Aged Tenth Anniversary Roses

 

  Aged Roses - 1 by Jay Scott on 500px

As Angie had said before, roses just don't last as long as most other cut flowers. They certainly smelled nice and were beautiful but one week was definitely the extent of their life. The last two that looked half decent were the subject of these photos but I'm glad I took the opportunity to shoot them one more time before they were time to be disposed of.

 

  Aged Roses - 2 by Jay Scott on 500px

Most of the time when something starts to have areas of being less attractive it's the macro lens and close-up abstracts that tend to look the best so that is what I aimed for. Also, going against my natural tendency, I just used a few reflectors to light these photos. I have nothing against that, it's just that the sun moves quicker than you might think, especially when lighting is so precisely planned out. One five-minute delay to respond to an e-mail and you have to re-position to reflectors to get the same look you had previously.

 

  Aged Roses - 3 by Jay Scott on 500px

I don't think this will be the last bouquet I buy this winter. It's a pretty affordable and enjoyable thing to purchase to brighten up the home and give me something beautiful to make a photograph with.