LESSON 2 ...
was to have a little bend in the lens. (Lens Baby is on a swivel and you can bend it to the area where you want the sweet spot [area in focus] ) I just could not find the sweet spot. The instructor, said that I may need to adjust my diopter (camera eyepiece). So I had to drag the book out and find out how to do that. STILL...I did not get good results.
Rachael came for a sleepover, finally. Now that she's 15 and has Doug in her life, it's hard to find time for Nana and Poppop (oh, how I remember those days). After taking her to tea (her favorite lunch), we went to Longwood Gardens to capture the summer color on display there. Rachael loves photography as much as I do and I thought it would be a good bonding experience to shoot together. And so it was.
LONGWOOD GARDENS ( A farm purchased in 1906 by Pierre du Pont, who used as a place to entertain friends, creating new area gardens each year - now 1,077 acres with 20 indoor and 20 outdoor gardens, open theaters, water fountain shows fireworks, and a music venue.One of the greatest botannical gardens in all of America.)
It was over 100 degrees and we took a walk down to the Italian Water Gardens - something to see, but not for a Lens Baby. Then we walked up hill to the Conservatory to shoot. I found this Hibiscus there. Not much else on display. Or we were too tired, thirsty and sweaty to care. We all went home afterwards, plopped on the bed face down and let the ceiling fan dry our clothes. While lying there, Rach asked me what movie we were going to watch before bed ( a sleepover tradition). I told her I thought since she's all grown up now, we'd watch a movie about a prostitute. The look on her face was priceless. She said "Oooookkkaaaaaaaayyy!" Like, my Nana has lost her mind, now. The movie, "Cannery Row", (Nick Nolte and Debra Winger). . If you haven't seen it, please, please, please watch it. It is hilarious. So, we put our pillows at the foot of the bed and turned on our tummies to watch. As the jazzy overture was playing, Rach asked me if I'd ever read "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. I got a smile on my face and told her that Cannery Row was written by Steinbeck, also. Anyway we laughed and cried our way through the movie, even though we were both so tired and really wanted sleep badly. It was just too good to turn off without seeing the end. Sorry to digress, but we're building memories here, Folks. Anyway...
Hibiscus
This is the only photo that was even close enough to post for week 2. But still not a great one.
LESSON 3...
I did better this week. The assignment was (1) to shoot one photo wide open, (2) then to try all the apertures and choose your best, (3) then to do a portrait.
Well, you know how it is. Because I'm having difficulty, I procrastinated. I got my wide open shot outside the night before it was due. I had to actually go and buy flowers so that I would have something to shoot. Everything in our yard was in a non-blooming state and I refuse to invade the neighbors again. So I bought some red roses and baby's breath at Trader Joe's Saturday night and got that one out of the way.
Nice bookeh in the background. Shot at dusk outside.
That's the Lens Baby wide open.
Sunday I went outside and played on the tripod with the different appertures. Again, nothing to shoot, so I ended up in a pine tree.
Really nice blur. This one made me a happy camper. One true sweet spot, then blur, lots of blur.
Blur is a GOOD thing. Who knew?
Then around 10:30 pm, after everyone was in bed, with 1.5 hours before deadline, I needed a portrait shot. Dick was in bed and didn't think it was fair to take a sleeping picture. We are currently petless, so no help there. No self portraits, puh-lease. I ended up using Bette Midler as my model for the portrait. Bette is my bear (curly red Mongolian lamb hair - hence the name). I must say, she takes a great photo.
Dear sweet little Bette Midler. I just love her hair.
Now I feel like I'm getting the hang of it.
Off for Lesson 4.
Speak with you soon.
