Chocolate goodness

Everyone loves chocolate. But did you know that there is an art using chocolate? I didn't. At least until my wife told me about her sister's business. Trina designs chocolate art and sells them for looks or as sweets. Only one problem. Those deliciously scrumptious choco masterpieces look too beautiful to touch and holding chocolate in one's hand for too long ends with smudges and residue. The art will not last long if one were to hold those creations in hand. Instead, the owner must choose between two equally good options. On the one hand, the owner of said art can ogle and admire the details and beauty of the chocolate masterpieces. On the other hand, the owner can dismember and destroy the work of many hours to satisfy the taste buds and cravings of a choco-holic.

Once my wife and I opened the package from Trina, we decided to take a middle road in the fight of these two opposing desires. I first took professional-looking pictures (it wasn't until the 150th+ picture that I got what I considered the one picture that I was satisfied with). After all, I wanted to preserve the elegance and creativity of those cavity-inducing delicacies and a simple snapshot just would not do. After taking the photos, the half-life of the chocolate fantasies was a little less than half-an-hour. My stomach may not have been too happy with my tongue for awhile, but in the end the stomach forgave him.

For those interested in acquiring some of Trina's creative edible wares, click here. Of course, you can also check out her blog that details her many new and interesting thoughts from the experiences of a young mother raising two young children.

For those interested in the pictures. The first 150 pictures were taken by myself with no aid from my wife. I had a large shoe-box off-camera flash above with another hot-shoe flash to camera right. After my wife got involved, we held a white sheet behind with a flash firing into the dark chocolate sphere and a snooted flash behind and to the right-side of the chocolate to give depth. We finally also arranged a white and a dark egg-shell side-by-side to get the contrast. Number of pictures taken with wife? Approximately 10. Which one was the best picture? The one I took with my wife's help of course.

Baby pictures

Since I love taking pictures of my family and my baby, I was excited to try my hand at a newborn baby photo session. Prior to this session, I hadn't had the opportunity of taking pictures of other people's babies, but Camaret Clark was gracious enough to give me a chance, especially when my wife traded a photo session for a haircut! So I went over with my wife one afternoon to take newborn / family pictures. There was another photographer there as well who honestly did most of the heavy work of positioning baby and family. I stayed in the shadows and covered the odd angles and interesting pictures when no one was looking. It was an honor to work with Kate Feider and see how she takes family photos. And with her full-frame Nikon camera too! 

At the end of the photo session, I decided I will not do newborn pictures often. It's not that I don't enjoy working with babies, it's just to get the absolute best pictures, the photographer has to physically touch and maneuver the babe to position him or her in the most photogenic position possible. That being the case, women, and especially mothers, just seem to have a natural advantage when handling babies!

All that being said, I absolutely love using off-camera flash and my Nikon D7100 camera to create beautiful family portraits. The older daughter was a hoot. She followed me around and demanded I take her portrait. So I did. The family was a joy to be with. They made my life easy as it is really hard for a mother to look anything but beautiful when holding her new child in her arms. It was an honor to take these pictures.

Boy Scout Campout

Went with the Boy Scouts to the local lake for a campout. The evening sunset was splendid. The food was fantastic. The stories were amazing. The jokes were hilarious. The memories are forever. There's something about being outdoors around a campfire with friends and youth. Something that brings a feeling of nostalgia for another time when technology didn't rule the world and humankind actually interacted with each other in outdoor settings. Of course I wouldn't trade my time now for a time earlier on, but maybe that's why campouts are so much fun--they give you an opportunity to revisit a quieter time away from all the busyness and hecticness of life.

Anyway, the day was warm, the night was cold. I climbed into my sleeping bag and ensured the flap covered everything from my head to my toes. I slept like a baby in my four-man tent by myself. I was warm. And then I woke up needing to relieve myself on a bush. That was not very appealing as I had to leave the confines of my beautifully warm cocoon and enter the frigid, in comparison, air. 

Once morning came around, the Boy Scouts slowly escaped their tents. The fire was relit, hotter and brighter than the night before. Eggs and bacon were thrown on the skillet. Knots and knives were taught. Then we packed and went home. 

There's something about returning to civilization and your wife after being out with the Boy Scouts. I hadn't changed any of my clothes. I had spent the majority of my time around a campfire. And I hadn't brushed my teeth. I felt great to be alive and great to return home to clean up. I missed my wife and child, but oh how I enjoyed the rustic outdoors with those Scouts.

Wichita's Keeper of the Plains

This weekend was the first time our family was able to have our first little vacation together. At first, our baby was cranky as she got in the car, but after 5 minutes or so, she settled down and slept the rest of the way to Wichita, KS. Downtown was surprisingly beautiful. There was this beautiful statue that is lit by a ring of fire every night at 7 p.m. for 15 minutes only. I was feeling a little under the weather, so we got a hotel as soon as possible and rested the rest of the afternoon. The hotel we stayed at had free dinner and breakfast and not a fast food type of meal either. It was much more gourmet style. Anyway, after dinner, we traversed to the riverside and waited the flames. In the meantime, I tested my settings and walked around the area. At the end of the evening as we were walking around ready to head back, we walked over a bridge with a green glow emanating from the grate on the ground. It was a neon-green. As we approached and looked down into the opening below, a giant green-eyed goblin stared back at us! It made Margret jump and me laugh. Baby slept through it all. The next day we woke up late, got ready to go and walked around the park some more. We walked over the bridge and due to the natural lighting, the goblin cannot be seen in the daytime. We laughed and continued walking. There is a beautiful veteran's memorial that memorialized all those Kansans who fought in all America's wars. It made me feel grateful for my life and those who were willing to sacrifice their lives for our freedoms we enjoy. Then we headed home and rested the rest of the day. It was a fun mini-vacation and we got an idea for what our little baby can endure travel wise.

Valentines Day

It's Valentines day. Almost. Tomorrow is. My wife is resting. She is tired. The baby wears her out. But our baby is a beautiful thing to celebrate with on Valentines day. She represents all the love and care that our relationship means for us. Last night, we three went to a Valentines dance at our church. It was wonderful to dance to our wedding playlist. Finally. That's another story. We had the music going at our reception, but as the bride and groom, we weren't dancing that much. Our minds were on other things. Anyway, last night we offered our playlist as the music for the night. It was a wonderful time with the absolute best women in my life, my wife and daughter (in that order). 

The next day I decided to pull out my camera and practice taking pictures of the rose and vase from last night's dinner and dance. The light was off the camera. I used a white balance of tungston with a gel on the flash, which also had a snoot on it. I had the color control on portrait and then moved it to vivid, which did the trick. After that, all I had to do was rotate the view and flash around until I got the picture I wanted.

Wondering Waterfalls

Saturday began with a quest to seek out and find the best waterfalls in the area. Of course, Kansas is flat and shouldn't have any waterfalls, but low and behold, she does. Normally, an excursion such as this wouldn't take too long to get out of the house, but my wife warned me we couldn't go out in the cold with the baby. So we waited till the afternoon. Even then, it was a bit cold, but I was determined to go on an adventure. Besides, we had to go buy some milk anyway, so I figured we'd take a "slight" detour on the way. 

The first part of the journey wasn't too bad, but then we left the freeway and began a five-mile trek across dirt roads, under bridges, and through the countryside. We saw many beautiful out of the way homes that inspired us for where we might want to live someday. 

Then we came to the watering hole. To get to the falls, we had to cross the river. Granted, the water level was low, only a couple inches off the ground, but we had to traverse a good 100 feet of river to get to the other side. I stepped out of the vehicle, asked Margret if she wanted to join me, but the baby was asleep, so she stayed behind as I scouted out the area.

It didn't seem too difficult of terrain to get to where I needed to go. Less than 100 feet away through minimal underbrush. What I didn't see was the mud. Once I got to the tree line, I realized I needed to go down a steep embankment to get to the water below. And then the mud came into play. No matter where I stepped, my tennis shoes slid in and down. As I stepped over the ledge, my feet slid out from under me and I landed bottom first on a 10 foot slide to the water-edge below. 

But there she was. A waterfall expanding across the river to the other side. The sun setting quietly behind it to the west. I stood there in awe. Pulled out my tripod, set my camera on top and began taking pictures.

The journey back to the car wasn't as difficult, but Margret had a good laugh when she saw my behind. As the baby was in the car, we had a baby changing bag too, so Margret pulled out a diaper changing pad, placed it on the front seat, and demanded in no uncertain terms that I must sit on that for the drive home.

What my behind looked like AFTER returning home and cleaning off "most" of the mud...what we do to get that "perfect" photo...

I can't wait to return to this location in the summer time when the foliage will be nice and green. As it was, it was quite beautiful in the cool afternoon of a February day. 

Welcome to our wonder

A long time ago John wanted to become a photographer. Well, he begrudgingly followed in his father's footsteps and learned much about that art medium. Then he sold his equipment and gave it up to pay the bills for school. One year later, he found the love of his life and got married to a gorgeous young lady who loved to be photographed. In the process, he had to suffer from the fact that he could not photograph his own wedding. He knew that no one could take as beautiful of a portrait of his wife as he. So, he took his photographer's camera out of her hands, snapped this photo, and was not surprised at the stunning result. Our wedding photographer was amazing though. Anyone in the Utah area, you should definitely hire Ashley Carter with Paramount Photography...at least till I make it out there...lol jk. Thus John's interest in returning to that art medium reignited and he proceeded to seek out deals to reacquire the tools he had once lost. These tools coupled with the interests and talents of his lovely wife has led them to create this website to fuel their creativity. Welcome to our wondering thoughts and insights. :)

The perfect portrait.