***my internet and phone have been down for almost 24 hrs and are now only working intermittently, sorry for any delay in responding to emails!!!***
Our family time is pretty limited due to opposing work schedules, so when we do have a full family day where neither parent has to go to work, it's a pretty special occasion. And with my husband's line of work, he pretty much always ends up working all the major holidays. We've spent YEARS now explaining to the kids that yes, santa does sometimes come a day early for those whose daddies have to work on Christmas day. We figure by the time they stop believing in Santa they'll be stoked to be able to celebrate it a day earlier than all their peers. So far, we have not had too many hard questions. It is especially rough though when dad is gone for Thanksgiving and Halloween and Christmas etc.... but it's all we've ever known as a family unit so we are pretty used to it by now. On the rare occasion that my husband IS off on a major holiday we definitely want to celebrate that day to the fullest! It just so happened that he was off this 4th of July so we planned for the Firecracker race (see previous post) followed by a fun afternoon at the local SV festivities and then capped off with a fireworks show to end the night with a "bang"! :)
As is the case with every precious family day outing, the same debate always happens: to bring or not to bring? My husband HATES that I bring my camera along everywhere and so I try my best to leave it at home. Having said that, I always tend to regret it later when I don't bring it. So, as a compromise for this 4th of July, I brought the camera but left behind the tripod and cable switch thereby excluding any possibility of me taking pictures of the fireworks. I've done plenty of fireworks shooting before with tripod and all the gear and set up etc... and so it's not like I wanted/needed to try some something new for the first time. My fireworks shots that I have taken in the past used to sell quite well back when I was doing stock photography so I have some really nice shots that I've taken of that kind of stuff. I figured I'd probably just end up getting shots that looked like my old shots so I decided to leave the heavy duty gear at home.
The biggest quandary behind all of this of course, and the one I battle with the most is: should I LIVE in the moment or should I DOCUMENT the moment? Because even if I am physically there, if I am behind the camera, I am not truthfully not fully living it or engaged in it. I am in "Photographer" mode and, as any photographer will tell you, when you are in that "place" you are interacting with the environment/world in a completely different way than if you didn't have a camera in your hands. You are constantly evaluating the direction of the light, the quality of the light, watching the background, deconstructing the composition you want in your head while figuring out the exposure settings you wish to plug in. It's just not the same thing as being fully invested EMOTIONALLY in the situation at hand. Which is why I've made a HUGE effort the last few years NOT to bring my camera along to my kids' own birthday parties. I'd rather be a part of the event over documenting it photographically. I'll take a handful of P&S shots here and there or videotape portions but I take off the photog hat and make it a point to just be MOM that day. It's not always easy, especially when I see a scene or moment that I wish I could have captured on film, but I know my kids appreciate it and that's all that matters.
So, back to the 4th. I did bring the camera (much to my husband's dismay) but I decided to take a different approach with the documentation. For starters I didn't take any pictures of them playing around at all the activities and booths and ice cream indulging and so on. I only pulled it out when they went to the petting zoo and then once again at the very end when we were hanging out on our lawn chairs as the sun was setting, waiting for the fireworks to start. So, let's start with the petting zoo. Gavin and Ellie are both really into animals and as many of you know Gavin is a vegetarian who wants to be a Veterinarian later in life. He ADORES animals and is such a sweet, gentle and tender boy when it comes to interacting with them. I knew they'd really love the petting zoo portion and I was not remotely surprised when they decided they wanted to spend most of their allotment of tickets just on that one activity. The light was disappearing fast and everything for this set was shot at ISO 1600.
I usually know right away if I prefer an image in color or B&W but occasionally I will have a hard time picking...like here... which one do you guys prefer?
After the petting zoo and a quick ice cream cone (a must!) we headed back to our spot on the lawn and hung out until showtime. The light was almost completely gone and I was shooting everything at 3200 ISO, which is just amazing to me when you think about that considering a few years ago they didn't even make cameras that could shoot at that level, much less with any degree of quality that could be remotely useable. As part of my little experiment, I literally plugged in my settings and then rested the camera on my lap and played around with the whole "shoot from the hip" approach to photography. Basically what that means is you do not bring the camera up to your face to compose the shot or pick your focal point. You aim and you press the shutter and you leave your camera at your hip (if you are standing) or in your lap (if you are sitting down, as I was). Instead of having my face behind the camera I continued to interact/engage with my kids and just kept pressing the shutter when I thought it was an opportune time to do so.
I had no idea what kind of shots I was getting and made a concerted effort to not cheat by looking at the LCD either other than an occasional quick check to make sure my exposure was in the right ballpark. I wanted to be totally surprised (pleasantly or not) by what I captured when I downloaded the images later on at home.
Here are a few gems from that. Remember, the camera was in my lap and I was just pointing it at what I wanted and clicking the shutter. I *highly* recommend this just as a FUN activity. Clearly, not something you would do on a REAL shoot of course!!!
That's the MOON in the background. Gorgeous.
Now, of course when the fireworks show started and I saw the amazing backlighting from the moon and the smoke and the vibrant lights I felt massive pangs of regret for not bringing all my tripod gear etc... BUT as I felt my daughter's warm little body pressing into me and looked over at my son cuddled in his dad's lap and was able to spend the entire show focusing on not only the show but also their faces and reactions, well, I knew I'd made the right decision. It was a joy to experience along with them their happiness and excitement.
All in all, a wonderful 4th of July. Of course, I would be remiss in not thanking all those who came before us and fought to guarantee our independence and all those who are currently out there safeguarding it for us. I may not be a fan of the war we are in but I am and always will be a supporter of those brave men and women who are out there doing their job under such intense, dangerous and challenging conditions.
Addendum#1 - The family sitting behind us left a MOUNTAIN of trash behind as they left after the show.
That's a major pet peeve of mine. Come on, folks, pick up after yourselves!! Gavin, bless his little heart, grabbed as much as he could in his arms to throw away on our way out. Love that kid.
Addendum #2 - Gavin has his very first super wiggly tooth and we are all placing bets on whether or not it will fall out before his 7th birthday this Saturday!
Addendum #3 - Just in case you thought my kids were always sweet little angels and willing to pose for the camera any time I asked them too and all I ever get are wonderful shots of my kids, let me share with you my attempt at imagery as we were heading out the door for the SV festivities. I wanted to document their cute, festive little outfits and get a nice sibling shot. FAILED.
