Photos at LAF

Young children and adults gather at the United Church of Christ on Wednesday evenings for their LAF program. LAF is an acronym for 'Loaves and Fishes' and is in place of Sunday school each weekend.

I haven't been involved with the program much, I don't yet have children. Though it would be a wonderful volunteer opportunity. One Sunday I noticed an announcement in the church bulletin looking for individuals who would loan their digital camera to they children to use. The posting also asked if anyone would like to accompany their camera and help the kids.



Anyone who knows me understands two things: I don't like cameras nor do I like children. Wait a minute, scratch that - I AM a big kid who is cool working with children and I do enjoy photography. So, of course it seemed like something to do.

These children (that I helped with) are preschool age. I wondered how one would present photography to children. Hinduism is the religion that all children at LAF have been learning about for the last couple of weeks. Photography would be used to demonstrate how to see God in everything.

In this photo Pastor Steve is teaching the children to greet each other by using the phrase "Namaste". If I recall his explanation he said that it's a good way to say, "The God in me recognizes the God in you." I hope that I paraphrased that correctly.



Jason Askew, a local photographer and memeber of the UCC, brought his computer to the group to show images that he thought were beautiful. He does a lot of work with HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. You can check out his website here.

We really only got about ten minutes with the kids to go and look for things that they find interesting in the church. I was paired with Liam and his mom. Here are a couple of photos that he took:





You may or may not be able to see that the children in the above photo are learning how to do yoga. They were children aged 5 and above. We went downstairs, I thought to take some photos of them.

This young man thought that he might like to try to do yoga and that it might be more fun than taking pictures. So, he handed the camera to his mom and joined the kids on the floor.

Really, who can blame him? I enjoy yoga when I get around to doing it. And really the goal is just to create a positive experience in church.

Click on the "People That You Meet" photo along the right to view the photographs that I snapped at LAF.

Photo Safari in Yankton and Clay Counties

In general I have many hobbies, though I'm mainly pre-occupied with two: cycling and photography. Cycling hasn't been happening so much lately, but a few of my bicycling friends are also into photography.

We've decided to form a small photography club and have been giving ourselves weekly assignments. A few weeks ago three of us got together to search out photographic subjects in Yankton, Utica and rural Wakonda.

First, we stopped by the Sacred Heart Convent Cemetery.

We visited a couple spots along the river before heading to Utica. Admittedly this isn't the best photo ever, but I liked the blue truck in front of a yellow house.



There was also a stone structure across the street. I didn't take a photo of it, but I thought that it was an interesting frame for Cathy. She was photographing the old fire station in Utica.


You may view additional photos from our outing as well as other scenic images here.

Photographer's Assistant

Today I was on the ground making this photograph:


Then, I got a visitor. I felt a fuzzy monkey hop onto my back. This little guy thought that he'd supervise.

Playing with Flashlights

Here is the result from my work on this weeks self imposed photography assignment as part of the Camera Clickin' Cyclist group on Facebook. Our task: Home. No other parameters. I thought that I'd like to try actually drawing in a photograph instead of just writing. I thought that it might be an alright way to put a spin on the 'American Gothic' idea.

This morning I got up and had a bit of time before it became light out, so I made a few attempts at an image.


Well, I wanted to try the same image - but at night. I got a spotlight and I wanted to try to illuminate the house myself. So, I used the same timing from the morning for the interior lights, turned them off after the appropriate amount of time. I did the drawing and then I went around the house to light the structure and the visible trees.

This photo is what was taken inside of the camera. In the interest of full disclosure, I did tweak what's supposed to be a heart. I copied a portion of the photograph before this one to make the segment look more heart like.

The heart is still a bit wonky, but it'll do. I was working with a freaking laser pointer. :D Laser beams are fine to attach to the heads of killer sharks so that ... Read Moreevery creature can have a hot meal (says Dr. Evil), but they're not super useful drawing tools.

I'm pleased. Is that okay to admit? I hope so.

Macro Photography

A few of my cycling friends are photo enthusiasts as well. We all have other interests too, but cycling and photography are definately common bonds. We can relate as we each dive further and further into these potentially spendy hobbies.
:-)

The nice thing about both is that they each allow room for personal growth. Cycling improves one's health and both contribute to one's mental health and well being.

Since this is a photography blog, I'll focus on that. There are so many things to learn and relearn with photography. My friends have recently (in the last couple of years) acquired DSLR cameras. I studied photography in college and have had a film SLR camera. I purchased a DSLR model this summer. We all want to get more familiar with our cameras.

I think that my friends and I benefit from structured learning, in a way. We wanted to give ourselves assignments to practice things that we've learned in classes past and present, or have read about online.

We'll have weekly tasks to practice and then report back to a Facebook group (Camera Clicking Cyclists) with the results. I think that we'll be able to see some improvement as we work along.

This week was macro photography.

Here's a slide show that includes photos that I created for the task, plus a couple that just add to the series.

I have a Canon 40D and a Canon 430 Flash which I used on camera, set to 0 or -1 for most of these images. I also had a bounce card reflecter attached to the flash. The subjects were so close that the flash would bypass them, I needed the card to reflect the light down for a bit of front light. I also have a small Promaster flash that I have hooked to an optical slave. I handheld that and pointed it toward the background so that the light would bounce and backlight the fruit. Exposure was typically 1/200 (maybe a little slower on an image or two) and the fstop was typically between 16 and 22.

MS 150 Weekend

Hmmm... Do I put this entry on my cycling blog or on my photo blog?

Photo blog it is!!

I did my best to announce the riders as they crossed the line. I had hoped to be able to have my camera on a tripod so that I could snap a photo as riders came in. Even with a shutter release cable, it just didn't work. The camera didn't focus on the riders on its own and I couldn't flip the switch and hold the rider list with numbers AND the microphone AND try to identify anyone at the same time. Sorry.

I did have company later in the afternoon.



This little girl came over and asked me if she may take my picture. She was a cutie. She photographed me, I took a picture of her, she took a picture of me looking at her stuffed doggie. I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said a picture taker. I said, "Oh, you want to be a photographer, that's great!" She asked, "What's a toe-phog-rapher?" I said a picture taker. :D She soon ran out of film on her disposable camera, so she helped me check for numbers on the riders. Her daddy was a rider this weekend. Gotta love kids. They're a lot of fun.

Sunday morning Nick and I got up, made coffee and went to watch the riders pass by. We live on the route, so figured we may as well cheer our friends on! I brought my camera to document the occasion since I wasn't riding it this year. I plan to send a disc to the chapter office in case they'd like any of the shots. So many people take pictures over the weekend. I'm sure that they have plenty documenting every angle of the ride.

There are more pictures of Sunday's ride here.

On our way home we watched two riders accompany each other into the ditch right by our driveway. We stopped. Everyone was fine. I still really hate watching people crash. The handle bars on one of the bikes got tweaked pretty well, so we gave her a ride to the next pit stop. She was from Madison, though I've forgotten her name. Donna, I think. She said that she felt bad that we had to drive so far (like 5 miles). I assured her that I've depended on the kindness of strangers before and it was no problem to help her out. Cyclists are so nice. Everyone is eager to help each other out. I think that'd be the same in any other sport/hobby though too.

Storms over Iowa

The best lightening storm is one that's miles away. I should've moved around the yard a bit to snag a few more photos. But, the mosquitoes were feasting on my ankles. I love photography, but some nights I don't like it quite that much. :-)

July 4th, Beresford Fireworks

Sioux City Fireworks

Okay, I'll admit that I didn't double check my gear bag last night. While I don't want to admit some of the mistakes that I make in a public forum, I think that it's good to explore things that go wrong and how a person may try to make something else work. Because let's face it, if something can go wrong due to human or mechanical error - it will.

I brought my tripod with me to Sioux City in order to take some longer exposure fireworks shots. I walked with my husband to the 4th Street area, tripod in hand. However, when I went to set up the shot, no wedge plate to attach my camera to the tripod. Rats.

However, I thought that with the flash and with some luck, I may be able to freeze the people in the shot and still get some of the explosions in the background.

They may not be perfect, but I liked these two pictures the best.

Putting up Hay

One night I delivered food to my husband as he was working late baling hay. I didn't want him to starve, it's nice to visit him out in the field AND I thought that there might be some opportunities for a photo or two.

Green Acres is the Place For Me

There are many mornings that I wake up, look out the window, grab my camera, shoes and rush out the door. This was one of those mornings.

Our cows were out eating breakfast while the sun was rising behind them.

Kid Race at Bike-a-Palooza

Kids of all ages gathered at Monk's House of Ale Repute in Sioux Falls for a biking charity event. Money generated from the event went toward the purchase of bicycles for kids who were in need of one. There was an excellent turnout, and I hope that it becomes an annual event. A few bands played and there were cycling events for children and adults.

I hung out to watch the kids run a race through a cone course. They pedaled to the end of the course and then had to weave through the cones in each direction and then race back to the finish line.

That's the event that I have photos for. To my fellow Lanehog bloggers: I tried to get pictures of everyone's kids, I'm sorry if I missed one. I think that I may have. I counted and didn't reach the total of junior bloggers that I was aware of.

Later in the day there were activities for adult enthusiasts. I left before they started, so hopefully I can take that in next year and wait for photos from others who were there. Events included a bicycle jousting competition, a clunker crit, a bicycle toss and more.

One person's trash is another's treasure.

I accompanied my husband to a you pull it junk yard north of Sioux Falls. We were going to run some other errands, so of course I didn't mind tagging along. He thinks that I just did it to humor him and get a lunch out. Well, that may be part of it. It should be noted, however, that I am easily amused and do generally like to hang out with him, whatever the project. :-)

But I digress. I did have my camera along and a few more shots of film to burn on a roll. It was a damp day. Nick went to pull a fuel line. I went to look for an interesting shot or two.

Slide show here.

A Salute to my Grandfather

In such a sad moment, there are beautiful images. These photos maybe aren't exactly perfect, but I like them.



Second image here.

Keiser Farm Auction

I know some of the individuals in these photos. Hopefully the ones that I don't know won't mind that I'm sharing their image with you. I think that auctions in general are great people watching events. Buyers are out to find a deal and socialize with neighbors. They truly are things to experience.

Tulip Festival

There are a couple more Tulip Festival 2009 photos in the people album. You can find a link to it along the right.

At the End of the Day

Our Nation's Mascot

I've been trying for several years to capture a stellar image of the bald eagle. Our area seems to be in their path for migration. Yesterday I snagged a few images that I like, though I'm far from throwing in the towel. Even if I don't have success every time I raise the camera to my eye, they are a lot of fun to watch.

I will create an album with animal shots in it here. You will also find additional eagle images in that location

Mader Family Christmas

I didn't have as many images turn out as I'd hoped. I didn't want to use a flash, I hoped to not interrupt anyone. It was dark in the home, and this family moves FAST. Still, I was able to capture a few images that I like with existing light. There are more images in the people album of my photobucket. Click here.

A Few Images from our Capital