Teton Canyon Part III: The Nature

Not a cloud in the deep blue sky...still plenty of snow at higher elevations.

I wish you could hear the sound of the gently running water too.

I love all of the textures of the lichen, wood and grass.

Next year's pine tree?

The thousands of yellow flowers and green blue sage colored the landscape.

Still waiting on the aspens to leaf-out. Their white bark stands out against the deep blue sky.

Teton Canyon Part II: The Pups

Kolbe and Clementine also enjoyed their day in the sun. This was Clementine's first trip to the canyon. I think it may have been the best day of her life, thus far...

Noble Kolbe

Clementine exercising her lab half...unfortunately she doesn't have the nice otter-like coat, but the soft, soaking wet collie fur.

After romping in the water, she was full of energy and attacked Kolbe the entire way back to the car.

Teton Canyon Part I: The Fam

Saturday finally brought to us the weather and dry land for an afternoon in Teton Canyon. First we picnic lunched by the creek, and then took a hike down a little ways into the canyon. Everyone's spirits were lifted to be out and about on such a beautiful day!

My Beautiful Wife--sorry guys, she's taken!

Somehow, Issy still managed to get sunburn on her cheeks...

Isaac really wasn't as into this bonding time as the photo suggests.

Some mama-Liam lovin. He was pretty warn out after our walk.

A Non-Post

Sorry my faithful readers, I had intended to post something good this evening, but got Lost. Like...5 episodes of Lost.
I will be returning tomorrow with more pictures, thoughts and um....stuff.

Peace out!

Photography: Of Critical Sharpness

Alright. Here's my confession to all of you of my obsessive behavior....in regards to my photography. For those of you unfamiliar with my creative past, I worked as a production artist ON digital photos for a good while before taking up the photography trade/hobby/passion myself.

So it is perhaps because of the 100's of hours I have spent looking at photos full-zoom 100%/200%/300%+ on my screen that I am completely obsessive about the sharpness of the intended focal point of my photos.

Allow me to demonstrate what I mean:

The intended focal point, the eyes, are in sharp focus. (100% crop)

Not so much here... (100% crop)

Okay, so you can see why I would want a photo to be focused as intended, but once you stop looking at the images at a 100% pixel level and start to view them as a whole, does it really, really matter that much? Probably not.

Let's take another look, this time at the images as a whole:

Eyes in Focus- Whole Image

Eyes Out of Focus- Whole Image
(Ok, so he was looking a little dorkier in this picture, too)

I have deleted so many decent photos because they didn't meet my standards for sharpness. Because if I printed this image at 20x16", it would be apparent. But in truth, I don't ever print that large, and many more of my photos will only be viewed at MUCH smaller size and resolution on the web.

Am I going to stop being anal about this? Not likely...
No one have ever accused me of being a perfectionist, but even if no one else will ever know that an image didn't meet my standards, I will.

S-A-T-U-R D-A-Y! NIGHT!

Our friend Elizabeth gave us a heads-up on an open house at the local nursery. Plant nursery, that is. There were some activities for the kids, including planting some sort of illicit plant. They are now sitting in the window sill in the kitchen. Isaac checks to see if they have grown yet every couple of hours.

This picture of Isabelle is from this afternoon while we were all hanging out outside. The pose and composition don't do a darn thing for me. But she's just so darn pretty!

Another example of table shooting. This time, Liam is enjoying a snack of raisins. I think I caught him mid-chew. He's going through a very photogenic eating stage.

Clementine has been doing a little growing. We had to replace her collar with the next size up. Kolbe is finally accepting his role as a mother-figure.

Every night Erin and I ask each other if we have "HP's". HP is of course short for "Hot Plans" (saving us exactly no syllables). Usually, this consists of Erin knitting and Joe on his computer. However, I bought some Pina Colada mix, so we might get really wild and....knit and sit at the computer buzzed.

I'll probably update again later this evening with something more thoughtful. If you want a teaser, it'll be regarding overcoming an obsession of mine, for the greater good. Intrigued, aren't you?

Meal-time Portraits

My kids don't really sit still....ever....particularly Liam. But at meal time, I can gain the upper-hand. Limur gets strapped in, and the other two are at least reasonably contained.

I've made a habit of setting my camera on the corner of the kitchen counter, and thus have had my camera in reach to capture the beautiful mugs of my little cretins, albeit with an occasional sauce stained mouth or milk mustache.

Enjoy~

I think we'll be okay until she realizes how cute she is....oh wait...

Mom gave him gum, AND took this photo-she's got a good eye!

Liam sits by me. My right arm is often covered in food. Go figure.

Joe Blogger

She made me do it. She makes me do all kinds of weird, new things.

Like organic milk. It's from cows that have not had surgically altered utters.

And cloth diapering. I wasn't in to it at first, but I really do find them much more comfortable than my adult Pampers®.

So now I'm blogging. Because SHE made me do it. All of her sisters and girlfriends are doing it, so now I suppose her husband must as well. Because what is good for the goose is good for the gander. (Thank you, Charlotte's Web.)

I did the usual hour of agonizing over a blog title. I was trying to think of something clever, yet not so witty that I had to pull my brain muscle. My thoughts suddenly swept back in time to a purple dragon. No, Barney fans, I'm not confused with a purple dinosaur, but a purple dragon that existed long before that scary, annoying corrupter of children. His name is Figment, and he is the brainchild of an awesome, blissfully surreal Disney of ages long past. Figment is a character from the original Journey to Imagination ride in EPCOT Center.

Eat Your Heart Out, Barney! (No, really, please!)

He is my most favoritist Disney character ever. Goofy is great, Mickey, ho-hum, but Figment? Oh, Figment! You embody the best part of my childhood! The hours and hours everyday that I spent in my world of imagination...


...but now I'm adult, and while my imagination is surely still more active than in your average male specimen, I have had to embrace the cold honesty that is reality, hence the name of my blog.

So there you have it. Next up, table pictures!