Backyard tourist
Sometimes we forget how beautiful is the place where we live. I took a day off from work and decided to do some backyard tourism. I went to the Flagler Museum in West Palm Beach and tried to look at the place with my tourist eyes. It was a beautiful day and took many pictures despite the harsh light. A perfect date for me and my 7D. I took this picture with my Tamron 10-24 wide-angle lens. A gradient ND filter helped to enhance the sky and clouds.
Ipad dreams a.k.a Follow your gut feeling, follow the light!
Our daily ritual is to play with the “Ipap” every night before we go to bed. I am a reader and before the Ipad we used to read stories… We play with educational apps, lately fragments of movies. I am not too concerned is not a book, they will be around, in electronic format.
I was with Aidan on his bed and I noticed how the light from the Ipad reflected on his face. I though how cool would it be to get a picture of this exact moment, so unique and intimate. Then I thought there is not enough light! I almost discarded the idea then I thought twice… That is why I spent all that money, didn’t I? In any case it wouldn’t be the first time I get a lousy shot. I got my camera and played, and played, and played! Different lenses (I used my nifty fifty thinking 1.8 aperture would help), I changed ISO… He was not looking at me at all, and all from a sudden I got the right combination! The gods of light, technique and composition got together and magic happened!
Canon 7D, Canon 17-55mm f2.8 IS, @ 20mm, 1/15, ISO 3200, f2.8
Sometimes you do not know what you have…
I took this bird shot with my old canon XSi. We went to Magic Kingdom in Orlando and while waiting outside one of the rides Michael and Aidan were feeding some birds. I used one of my favorite lenses, the Canon 55-250mm. It is a great lens for portraits outdoors with lots of light. You cannot beat it for the price! I almost forgot this shot until I uploaded to Flickr yesterday after looking for old shots with this lens. I was so impressed with the quality of the picture! I was getting so used to my XSi camera and getting decent shots. I now have a brand new 7D and this time I am taking the time to know the features and learn to use it. It is such a machine that sometimes I feel like I am riding a wild horse!
Behind bars
I am originally from Venezuela and I visit my family as often as I can. This time I decided not to take my camera and used my brother’s new camera instead. Crime is not joke there, all houses have bars everywhere, some even have electric fences on top of high walls. It is very sad to live in a place where you do not have a basic level of security. Porlamar is better than other cities like Caracas, but little details reminds me the hostility of a place. Even when I was a little girl we had bars in the apartment windows. Home break-in is a common crime there. I just saw my nice standing in front of the bars, such contrast between the softness of a kid and the harsh vertical lines from the bars. It is sad to live behind bars when you have not committed a crime, but sure makes for a nice portrait.
My Life on a Frame 