A Dance With Dragons

In some cultures, dragonflies represent luck. They're not super rare, but photographing them is tricky; even when you spot one, even if you happen to have a camera with a decent zoom lens handy, good luck in getting them to hold still long enough to shoot properly.

But on this day, there were dragonflies a-plenty, of bright and glorious colours and luck was with me that day, as they all seemed to be as curious about me as I was about them!

The Kidnapping

I've often used the term "stealing" of children when I ask my friends if I can take their kids for a photo session. I didn't realize how much I said it, though, until I was visiting with Marcus's family one day and he straight up came out with, "Auntie Terri, can you steal me?"

Yes, indeed.

A bit of black and white set the mood with this brooding old man soul in a seven year old body.

But it didn't take long before this tough guy in pink was hamming it up

A couple of smiles,

a bit of play,

and all three personalities...

Officially stolen!

Supervisory Position

When you take a break from yard work to shoot some flowers.

But your supervisor's always watching.

Even on his lunch break.

Shoot For the Moon

A brief pause in storytelling for a word on shooting the moon.

Absolutely not my forte, but I'm working on it.

           27mm focal distance                                        18mm focal distance crop  

             f/5                                                                          f/5.6     

    1/2 second exposure                                                 3 minute exposure

The short exposure on the left allows for a nice, crisp moon and sharp, defined waves on the ocean. The stars are barely captured at all, however, and there is much less detail in the shadows of the foreground.

The longer exposure softens the water for a dreamlike quality and captures the detail and even some of the colour in the bushes in the foreground. The movement of the stars in the night sky creates star trails, which I was not going for but are often used purposely for artistic merit. The moon itself is also over-exposed and represented by a very soft ball of light.

Someday, I'll take these two shots and merge them into a double-exposure that combines the qualities of each to my personal taste, but for now it was just neat to see these side by side and the different feelings they inspire.

Set In The West

I grew up on the east coast with the Atlantic Ocean quite literally in my backyard. My childhood smelled like salt water and fish and dry seaweed. I became accustomed to semi-regular  shows delivered by the sun sinking over the horizon of waves each evening.

But this is a tale set in the west, and on the Pacific coast there is no getting accustomed to this. Not for me anyway. There is nothing quite like watching the sun paint the sky every 24 hours or so, as it has done for millions of years, knowing that few on the entire continent are going to see this day fade after you... and it's like the sun knows it too. "Here's one last hurrah for the day," she seems to say.

I have been fortunate enough to celebrate with her a couple of times, in this instance, on August 5th, from the sands of Arizona Beach, Oregon.