The winter landscape can be messy, especially in forested areas hit hard by the ice storms of recent years, but it can also be more interesting with the foliage no longer hiding the contents of the forest from view.

Probably the most annoying thing about winter is scraping frost off my windshield in the morning. I absolutely hate that!

I recently borrowed a friend’s flash just to play around with it and I’ve been really enjoying it. I don’t like the flat in your face flash snapshot look, so I usually point the flash at the ceiling or a wall, which usually gives me nice, or at least interesting results. If I ever decide to buy a flash, I’ll probably also buy or make some diffusion to go along with it. I’ve already envisioned a device that would bounce a little bit of the flash straight at the subject while letting most of the flash hit the ceiling or walls for indirect light.

Here is an shot where I was playing around with the flash. It’s mainly just an excuse to show off my cute baby girl.

Settings:
1/100sec @ f/1.4, 35mm, ISO 100.

Lens: 24-105 f/4L @ 35mm, f/5.6, ISO 500, 1/10sec.

As it turned out, the fog was so dense that I couldn’t see anything other than this tree until well after 10am, at which point the magical morning light was long gone. I didn’t get the shot I wanted, but I did get a pretty neat photo of something unplanned. That is the way it often works with nature photography. I rarely get what I expect or intend to get. Nature always throws a curve ball, but if I’m lucky I still manage to get something worthwhile. Even when I don’t, I still enjoy the pursuit of captivating images.

Over the last several weeks there have been tons of photoshoots here at the farm taking advantage of our “Sugar Maple Alley” and various backdrops. It has been fun to compare what all the photographers use, the locations and angles they select, and just the different style each has.

It dawned on me that if everyone else takes photos out here, maybe I should take a stab at photoing my loved ones (minus Emma, she was at the zoo with Nonna and Papa)! So here is my attempt, you can click on the image for a larger version…

For those of you interested in how I did this shot, here are the settings I used:

• 35mm @ f/1.4
• 1/1000 sec
• ISO 100
• Circular Polarizer Filter

Most of the shots I’ve seen done here were more of a longer perspective looking down the row of trees, but since I had a wide angle lens on the camera, I opted to do more of a side angle. I think it worked pretty nice!

The weather was a bit chilly the first few days but that didn’t stop us from getting outside…

Steph and Emma

Eily wore her bear coat when we went for a walk.

Emma rode around on her tricycle. She's getting pretty good at it!

One morning Emma and I went for a hike at a nearby conservation area. Emma hiked 2 miles all on her own! I was so proud! Some stray dogs tagged along.

A small stream near a spring.

Hayes Spring, from which this conservation area gets its name.

One of the dogs jumped into the spring and couldn't get out so I had to extract it. Emma was excited to tell Steph how we saved the doggy.

I asked Emma where she wanted to eat lunch and she said "under the big (pine) tree!". To which I responded, "thats my girl!" Ha!

I have always wanted to check out the historic "Y Bridge" in Galena so we took a quick detour and walked across it.

Nice view of the James River, which is quite clean and clear here.

Eily Beth enjoyed her time at the lakehouse.

Eily snuggling up to daddy before bedtime.

We went to Silver Dollar City on friday. Emma had a good time doing some new rides.

Emma rode the teacups and enjoyed it immensely. She's becoming such a big girl!

I rode the 'big swings' with her.

Nonna and Papa came for a visit at the end of our trip.

A nice sunset over the lake at the end of our vacation! Good times!

I’ve done tons of 16×24 prints, and quite a few 20×30 prints. But the one pictured is my first 30×40. I would not have guessed this image to be my first to print so large, mainly because no one has ever bought this image. In fact, I’ve never taken this image to a show and it’s not even in my catalog. But when I showed it to a customer as an alternate waterfall photo it turned out to be the one she wanted. Now that I see it printed, it does look quite good!

For those who are curious, the waterfall in the photo is Natural Falls in NE Oklahoma, from a day trip we took a couple years ago. Its right off highway 412 near the Arkansas state line. It was taken with my beloved 35mm f/1.4 prime. Somehow I was able to handhold it steady enough to get some streaks in the waterfall without severely blurring the image.

As with many people, fall is my favorite time of year. It’s when we generally experience the best weather of the year, the trees start turning colors, and there is just a nice feeling in the air. Fall is also the time of year when we have football games. Come to think of it, there are lots of reasons I like fall.

Here are the girls in the little area they had setup for people to take photos like this. Though I can't imagine many others got a shot as cute as this one.

Jaylee hangin' onto little bro while the ride on the wagon.

I think it's funny to watch Levi interact with his older sister and cousin. He can't quite keep up with them but sure likes to be a part of the fun!

At first I really struggled to get anything other than junk. But the more I experimented, the more I figured out what worked and what didn’t. Most of the time I was using my 35mm lens, which is probably a bit unconventional to use on a newborn, but I like some of the shots and the effect.

Eily playing in the grass. About time she spent some time out in nature.

Here is a shot with a more conventional portraiture focal length (100mm).

I think she likes being outside!

The 35mm lens has such nice background blur...very bubbly, just like my subject!

And last but not least, my lovely wife and daughter. Also with the 100mm.