Bluebonnets!!

Every Spring the great Texas tradition is to have photos made of your family, kids, friends, and pets in the beautiful blue (or purple as my kiddo has decided) fields of flowers. All along Texas highways you can see families hopping out of the family truckster and tip toeing to the perfect spot in the middle of the flowers. Usually someone has been before them so there is already an empty space where the flowers have been trampled for a picture. Not sure this is really the best approach to this tradition.

Making a pretty picture of your kid in the bluebonnets seems like a simple thing to do, plop them down, get them to smile and snappity snap!

The reality is more like bribe the child to sit into the middle of the flowers where there are certain to be fire ants or bees. Having found a bug free spot, you need to then tell you child, if they are old enough to understand you, not to pick the flowers or not to eat them if they are under two. The child is now wondering why he is sitting there in the middle of itchy flowers with mom and dad trying to make him smile.

As a photographer and a mother, I have learned that patience is key, yet you have to be ready for that instant when a smile appears. Miss it and mom and dad are annoyed that they have to keep trying to make Mr.Fussypants laugh or smile. Of course they are keeping a brave face for you, the photographer, because they do not want you to know that their child is anything but lovely, smart and happy all the time.

I take my own shots of my kiddo. I also let him take some of me. He shot a good one last year! We trade and it makes him feel like it is a game for both of us. Since digital cameras are so small, easy to use and have tons of memory, there really is no such thing as a wasted picture. Remember that sometimes the "no smile" pics are cute too. Have them try a silly face. Be a clown. Be a princess. Use your surprise face! All fun for little ones to try. I try to get him closer to me so I can actually see his face, then I can fill the frame with flowers.

My other tricks include not going to the side of the highway. It is dangerous: traffic, snakes, fire ants. Look around neighborhoods and parks. The Wildflower Center has a designated spot to help you out. I also heard that the Mueller Development has some lovely areas.

My neighborhood has a bunch blooming along the easements. I can frame the shot so they look endless. You can alway plant your own patch as well but think ahead. Plant this Fall for possible blooms in Spring. I have found that the second year is usually better.

As for a diversions...yes, bring bribes, bubbles work will too or a ball to toss. Anything to keep those little eyes up.

Oooohhh the Light!

The sunrise is one of the simple pleasures I enjoy in the morning. I try to wait to feed the horses until the sun is rising so I can see the sunrise. My favorite ones are when the clouds turn pink and are rimmed with gray. I try to remember my art history education to think which painter painted these sorts of clouds. Then I try to identify how many colors I actually see instead of what common sense tells me I should be seeing. I do this with kiddo too. I ask him to name every color he sees during a sunrise or sunset. I try very hard not to negate anything he says. it is subjective and I want him to see what he sees.

We see the sunset from the front porch. Sometimes it looks better from the bedroom because we can see over the tree tops. I love right before the sun sinks in the horizon. The light is golden and it filters through the trees in shimmery beams. I can see the light dancing off the wings of the insects buzzing in the pasture. The horses are rimmed in the light as they lazily swish their tails at the flies. I want to play in this light. I want to capture it in a photo. I want to hold onto those moments in that light that bring me such peace. As the sun disappears, the sky turns orangey red. It is almost angry compared to the sweet, golden light from just moments before. I still love the intense color and the way the blue sky become purple peaking through the magenta clouds.

Late at night the stars are thick in the sky. There is not much light pollution so we can sit in the Adirondack chairs on the front lawn with a drink and just stare at the sky. Sometimes I am treated to a shooting star. I feel lucky those nights.

Promotion!

Thanks to my terminal addiction to Facebook, everyone already knows that I got promoted today to Assistant Director of Photography at the Austin American-Statesman. I honestly never thought I would get this far because of the slow turnover rate in our department. We have a talented staff and it makes you want to stick around. My duties will not be any different because I have been doing the job without the title for 9 months now anyway.

I am touched by how many well wishes I have gotten. Working somewhere you are appreciated by your peers makes a difference. The promotion says to me that the bosses are aware of what I am doing as well. Naively, I always thought I was a worker who flew under the radar, just doing my job without causing a fuss.

I will still continue to shoot on the side. Come Spring, I will have more time because of no class. I really want to start shooting more Senior portraits for high school kids. They are fun and excited. I think it would be a good direction to go as I get older. I think husband should get into it a bit because he could charge more because of his photographic reputation. What boy would not want his senior picture shot by a Sports Illustrated photographer!!