Featured: Henry's Blog

Hey, check it out! Two of my images are featured on Henry's Camera blog: The Best of Photo Monday, Part 2.

Year of the Dog

My daughter has been "feeding her brain" with Uncle John's Electrifying Bathroom Reader for Kids Only!. Last night she informed me that I was born in the Year of the Dog. Oh, the irony. I have been having difficulty adjusting to life with a dog. Though I won't say more about that subject, I did take up the gauntlet of building a doghouse (and no, it wasn't for me).

My biggest fear wasn't so much building something, but that I had to use a circular saw (of which I am now an owner - more money in the DeWalt coffers). I haven't used any kind of powered saw since my early teen years when I chopped off bits of fingers on my left hand (another story, another time). But now I had to come to grips (no pun intended) with the dog situation.

Well, I faced my fear and built the house. Some of the wood used was recovered from the local dump, while the plywood was purchased from the lumber store in town. I loosely based the design on one my spouse found online. A neat feature was the space between the inner an outer wall which allows you to put some foam in between for extra climate control (necessary for those cold winter months up here in the north). It still needs to be stained and shingled, but at least it is built. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Yaay?!

Ladybugs

Jo

It rained and snowed yesterday. However, the sun peeked out in the late afternoon with some gorgeous light, so I asked Jo if he could help me with my photography. I wanted to practice rim lighting (placing the sun behind the subject). Jo readily agreed, so we hustled outside, positioned ourselves and I snapped away. After taking a number of shots, I sadly noticed that Jo's hoodie was not a good choice of colour. Oh well (black and white conversion, here we come; see previous post). I couldn't convince him to change his hoodie, so we went back into the house. Two minutes later, Jo says, "Let's try again." He quickly changed into a collared shirt. Out we raced, but the amazing light was already gone. Sigh. I still managed to capture this image, though.

Smile/Smirk

Is it just me, or do I see a hint of Opa here?

Older Sprout

Concentration

The Sprouts played Hangman while waiting for lunch at a local restaurant. The younger Sprout was intensely focussed on creating a puzzle that would stump his older sister.

On the Hill Behind the House

On the Floor

The Sprouts watching a LEGO movie on my spouse's Samsung S4.

Listen: 10,000 Reasons

A Potter Moment...

Fork

Bad Breath

The light was amazing late this afternoon, perfect for capturing a portrait of the Sprouts. Only it didn't happen. They stood together, picture perfect, when the younger Sprout turned to his older sister and breathed on her. Hilarity ensued as said sister exclaimed, "Ew, gross, bad breath!" Once the Sprouts get going, especially Jo, no amount of cajoling can bring them back. Oh well, there is always tomorrow (after the brushing of teeth and a mint or two).

Older Sprout

Younger Sprout

Watch: Toy Boats

I needed to take a break from lesson planning, so went to Vimeo and typed in "time lapse" in the search box. I scrolled through the resulting videos and came across "Toy Boats", a tilt shift video shot in Sydney, Australia. I like toys, I like boats, so I clicked on the video link and watched the short film. I like the miniature look created by tilt shift (whether using a tilt shift lens or done in post). Enjoy!

Goofy

Threes

For a photo challenge: Threes. Click on image to embiggen.