Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Everyone looks at everything different. As you all know, I LOVE a good piece of metal. Give me something dirty, rusty, gross and I'm in love. The depth of the imperfections astounds me and I find myself drawn in.
Yesterday Sara captured something classically beautiful. Who doesn't love a beautiful blond haired little girl? Everyone (myself included) is drawn to pictures of beautiful things. But, as my daughter reminded me this morning the things we usually find "ugly" or "offensive" can be beautiful as well.
Our lawn hadn't been mowed yet this season and when my almost four year old opened her blinds this morning she squealed with delight.
"Mommy look at all those beautiful flowers. This whole place is filled with them."

Nikon D300s with Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 @66mm
natural light
ISO 200
Aperture f/2.8
Shutter speed 1/2000sec

I don't think a yard filled with dandelions is classically beautiful like Sara's daughter but I do think the flowers serves as an ample tie-in.

WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER
Before I announce this weeks winner of Wordless Wednesday (or Talkless Thursday as the case may be) I should share the tie in and the story behind the photo... it's my job.
Click here for the picture.
My tie in was "sleeping like a log". Except my girl wasn't sleeping. She was pretending to sleep Easter morning so I could take a picture of her amidst her "mouse" friends.
The winner this week is... Sharon. Great guess Sharon. You were correct (not that that matters). Contact us at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com and we'll make the necessary arrangements.

Find the beauty around you.
xoxo,
Brandi

Surprise!

Hey there Kids! Time to run and hide, Brandi's back!

Before I get down to business, I want to take a moment and thank everyone for the overwhelming support, love, prayers and positive thoughts that you have sent to my family. Losing someone you love is never easy. The support and care my daughter and I have received in the past couple weeks has been such a blessing.
Scott (my husband not the Dude) was my not only my biggest fan he was my biggest cheerleader. He was the main reason I got my new camera gear. I just wish I had gotten it sooner so I could show him what I can really do with it.

He inspired me everyday he was here and it is in his honor that I carry on.

In order to have Jay'me's picture tie into my picture I had to use our good friend YouTube.


This song about fish was played (in part) on this.

Nikon D300s
Nikor 24-70 f/2.8 @ 58mm
ISO 250
Shutter speed 1/4000sec
Aperture f/2.8

I know we've already done the musical instruments thing and I apologize for bringing it up again. I've been obsessed with depth of field shots at f/2.8 on my new lens and this guitar was just screaming to have it's picture taken yesterday. I didn't even know that I would be sharing it when I snapped it. Hell, I didn't even know I would be sharing it until 2 hours ago.

So there you have it. I'm back. Scott can resume his place following me tomorrow. Sere will be here on Tuesday and Jay'me (who is rocking the D40) will be here on Wednesday.

Love one another.

xoxo,
Brandi

Pull it

You all know how much I love machines, gear and such. I'm so glad the trend stayed so I could post my own photo. I had huge ambitions today. Far to lofty for me to actually tackle on a dark, gloomy, Chicago winter day.
I had to box away my lofty goals for today. Tuck them away for the glorious spring time that will be coming soon (hopefully).

As a result, I had to pull something from the achieves today. Good thing I have lots and lots of photos with gear and such in them. I chose this one because I think this chain is beautiful, just like Scott's picture. Call me strange but I've been in love with this photo since the moment I took it.


Nikon d40 kit lens @34mm
shutter speed 1/1250sec
aperture f/4.5
natural light

Here again is that "sweet spot" on my lens. The perfect balance of bokah and crisp depth of field. This picture makes it look like I know what I'm doing. I assure you I do not.

Considering more than half of the United States is covered in snow and ice, I'm wondering what everyone is taking photos of. There is only so long you can stand outside and freeze to death taking a photo of snow covered foliage before the roar of a fire and the need for hot chocolate takes over. Tell me what you're taking photos of. Oh and please chastise me for not getting a Speedlight before the eternal darkness fell upon us.

MmmmKay... Thanks.... Bye....
Brandi

Squishy Face Friday - reader beware

This is your caution, the below picture is so ridiculously cute you will find yourself wanting a baby. While I want everyone to look at every picture posted here if you cannot handle a severe case of the "I wanna baby"ies please do not move forward. I'll give you a moment to decide if you can handle it.



Here is another warning. I'll keep talking to you for a few moments to allow you to make a good decision. Oh, I should mention this is Brandi. Scott and his wife and two young boys are traveling by car from the Chicago area to Denver to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family. Don't worry Scott will be posting tomorrow once they are settled in Denver. Your prayers for Scott and his wife are appreciated. Can't imagine traveling that far with a 2 year old and a 4 year old, even though both his boys are terrific.

Have I given you enough time yet? Have you made the right choice?

Here goes... last chance....

Nikon D40 kit lens
f/5.0
Shutter speed 1/400sec
ISO 800
manual
natural light

This is Ryan. He's a dear friends youngest boy. They came over for a play date today and Ryan was my perfect model. Well, as perfect as a one year old, that just learned to walk and is a crazy crawler can be.
His happy little face is simply contagious.

I wish I could have closed up my aperture (higher f stop number) so I could have gotten a little better focus on his eyes as well as the block. Unfortunately, I had to keep my shutter speed high to keep up with his fast movement which meant moving up (lower number fstop) to keep proper exposure.
As I've lamented before my camera does horrible with high ISO. Normally with a camera that can handle higher ISO, you could have bumped that up (maybe to 1200ish) to allow the shutter speed and aperture to be more to my liking. Alas, I didn't get that option.
I'm still really happy with this photo. He's a beautiful little boy and I really feel his contagious smile through the picture.
My tie in to Jay'me's wooden spindles is the wood block that Ryan is holding. Weak, I know, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

One more day to try to get in on this weeks Wordless Wednesday. Scratch that I'm making an executive decision, two more days. Sere will post the winner with her post on Sunday.
We're still looking for Kevin McQuire. Paging, Kevin McQuire. Kevin McQuire please check in at 3chicks1dudephoto@gmail.com. You won, now you just have to claim your prize.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. Scott will be here tomorrow with something fantastic from Denver!

Friday Faces & Ducks are Cool!

border="0" />Canon 30D
Canon EF 75-300mm f/3.5-5.6
Shutter Speed 1/400
Aperture f/7.1
ISO 400
Manual Mode
Natural Light

I have a thing with ducks. Northern Illinois University has the Kishwaukee River running through it. Every day for 3 years I had to cross that river and every day I was greeted by several ducks. I swear they would talk back to me as I muttered my "good morning!" Since those years I've always had a soft spot for ducks, humble and unassuming as they are.

This guy was taking an afternoon siesta on the Fox River in St. Charles. There were probably around 20 ducks in all, half sleeping and the other half practicing their synchronized swimming routines as they plunged their heads into the water over and over. It was fun just watching them.

The reason I spent so much time with the ducks is because once again, I chickened out when it came time to photographing a stranger. I'm just a big wimp! I had my chances! There was the guy that looked like a beat up version of Joaquin Phoenix (think last appearance on Letterman - if you haven't seen it, youtube it). There were the 4 waitresses taking a smoke break from the fancy Italian place on the river. They were very pretty and yet they were obviously letting their hair down for about 5 minutes. The light was great, my camera was set-up, it was a fantastic setting, and I sat there like a 6th grade boy trying to get up the nerve to ask the popular girl to dance with me. There was also the two friends sitting on a park bench obviously catching up after a long separation. They would have been thrilled to be photographed most likely and I could have shared the photo via email. I just completely wimped out.

But when I saw the ducks I made a B-line right too them and they gladly approached to be photographed. I'm no fool, they thought I had food. I can handle that.

At first, I got as close to the surface of the water as I could to get eye to eye with the lovelies. I got one shot in particular where this beautiful female is looking at me with one eye, almost feigning sleep. There is another one with a male walking towards me, dripping water from his head as he investigates my presence. In the end, I walked over to a bridge that was directly over some sleeping ducks. They were lazing in the shallows and I got this birds eye view.

This guy was just waking up and shaking out his wings giving me a full view of the fantastic patterns and colors his plumage provides. What a beauty! Because of the dark setting it was necessary to shoot in manual mode to ensure proper exposure. This is an example of needing to underexpose. With it being so dark the camera's meter is fooled into thinking there isn't enough light. Using an ISO of 400 allowed me to use a fast enough shutter speed to stop the action (he was really doing the jitterbug!). Plus, I could use an aperture of f/7.1 to ensure sharpness. This was particularly important because the lens I used is really soft at wide open settings.

My connection to Jay'me is tenuous I'll admit, but we were both outdoors when we shot our photos. I had other things in mind like the fall colors, maybe a butterfly, or maybe my friend Mike eating a leaf. But this photo was too hard to resist, especially seeing as I asked Brandi to randomly pick a number from 1-14 to decide for me (I couldn't choose! Don't judge!). Thanks for checking us out and I promise to continue my efforts at asking the popular girl to dance with me.

Scott