My little friend came by to help me make some Mexican Chicken soup last night and he brought a school friend of his…Freddy the Frog.  He was Freddy’s caretaker for a week.  At the end of the week he returns the frog and turns in a one page story about his time with the frog.  So, I took a couple of pictures to help him tell the story.

Sadly, while my little friend was making the soup, the frog apparently got tired of reading the recipe to him and began to slide down the counter.  He’s apparently a rather lazy frog.

Alas, I wore out my little friend with all the cooking and picture taking, so he was a touch grumpy when I suggested he read a quick story to Freddy so I could take the last picture.  It was a tough day of going to school, caring for Freddy and visiting me.  It wears me out just thinking about it.

Yes, today is my husband’s birthday.  Here is a brief primer on him.

He’s very handy and fixes things around the house.

He’s athletic, but never shows off.

He doesn’t mind helping me out with my career, and loves a good adventure.

He doesn’t mind posing for me (I won third prize at the county fair with this one).  He is rather Cary Grantish, isn’t he?

He’s an excellent cook.  Here’s a bit of trivia…he’s interning at a local fine dining restaurant.  He wants to be a chef when he grows up.

And, here is my fabu husband making leaf angels in Vermont.  One of the things I love about him is his playfulness.  Although, I think he misses Minnesota, where he was raised.  You can take the man out of Minnesota, but you can’t take the Minnesota out of the man.

Happy, happy birthday.

(I’m taking a break from the slow moving narrative on Vermont, for which I promise to return.)

Our first lesson involved the different types of light and how they effect our subject. In this first session, the model was placed in direct sunlight with an interesting shadow pattern against a patterned wall. Although the light pattern was interesting, it was not kind to our female model. (Below) I changed the photo to black and white in order to focus attention on the contrast rather than the model. Not the most flattering light, but I like the photo for the hard shadow lines.

In this second photo, a reflector was brought in to show us that we could soften hard light by lightening shadows on her face using a reflector. In this case, although she has an interesting look on her face, the shadows are much softer on her and much more flattering. (Below)

In this last photo, we placed the model under a large tree with no dappled sunlight. The light is very flattering and she looks quite a bit younger and softer. I think all these types of light have a place in photography, but light definitely changes the mood and feel of a photo. The workshop was wonderful and I’m looking forward to the one that will be held in Sacramento in September.