Snowy in Baumholder

Like I said in the last post, we've been having a lot of snow lately. While Catherine took the kids sledding, I took the opportunity to wander around Baumholder. It was still snowing, and the wind was blowing - but I had a very nice time just wandering.

Along the way I "found" the wall that surrounded the old city several hundred years ago. This little shed used to be a tower along the wall, but this is all that remains.

And then, to finish it all off - a random photo of the kids dancing before they went to bed. I can't remember exactly why they were dancing, I'm just glad I grabbed the camera in time before the music stopped.

Tschuss!

More fun with a Speedlite

Since we were snowed in today (you can't tell I shoveled earlier today) I decided to improvise a softbox and play around with my flash a little bit. Everybody was fair game!

Ian while he was playing MarioKart Wii. He loves that game.

Leah while she was painting.

And I even managed to get a nice shot of Catherine! She's normally a tough one to get in front of a camera - and I don't think she particularly enjoyed the bright lights of the flash. But there will be more . . .

I hope all is well out there with everyone. I'll try to post some photos of the snow here tomorrow. I'm planning on taking a walk through Baumholder looking for some nice photo ops.

Cheers!

Marc

Snowed In

We were originally going to head over to Schweinfurt Germany this weekend for a Ball - a reunion of sorts with the unit I deployed to Iraq with. We only had two problems:

First - I had written down the wrong date! They had it on a Thursday night, not the Friday night I had written down. That really stinks!

Second - we've been having a ton of snow and even if the Ball had been on Friday we wouldn't have been able to get there.

So, by popular demand, I thought I'd include a photo of the kids standing next to our couch so you all can see how tall they are (compared to our couch).

I hope all is well out there!

Marc

Having Fun With My Flash

Like I said in the last post - I've been reading up on flash photography and have slowly been buying some of the necessities. This evening while the kids were playing on the Wii (learning how to drive, and poorly I might add!) I broke out the flash and started snapping away.

Ian is a tough one to distract when he's on a subject that he is really in to - in this case his game.

Leah on the other hand, just ask for a smile . . .

And of course the obligatory "group" photo.

I hope all is well with everyone out there!

Marc

Leah's 4th Birthday Party

Happy Birthday Leah!

She turned 4 years old a couple of weeks ago. Due to our late vacation after my deployment, we decided to have Leah's birthday party this weekend to give her friends (parents really) a little advance warning/time to prepare.

Catherine as always keeps the kids in interesting clothes appropriate to the time and season. Here Leah is showing off her birthday girl shirt with a cute skirt complete with sparkle-y (just ask her) buttons and ribbons. The shirt doesn't lie!

I'm a big fan of this photo - probably my favorite of the bunch. We took a bunch with her blowing on her noisemaker, but this one really captured her enthusiasm and joy for the moment. In my mind at least.

I hope all is well out there with everyone!

Cheers,

Marc

Learning to Light

Hey everybody - this post is just kind of a heads up of what to expect in the future. I've been reading a lot about flash photography, mostly since most of my photos are basically portraits. I've been limited by natural light, which is fantastic, but as things get dark here early in the winter it gives me a narrow window of opportunity with the kids.

So I'm teaching myself off-camera flash. It's a lot to learn, but I've got nothing but time really. Expect quite a few not so good photos as I learn to control the light (technically speaking not quite so good anyways - the subjects are always good to look at, in my humble opinion!)

I hope everything is well with everyone out there!

Cheers!

Marc

Drei Schonheiten

I was getting a bit stir crazy during this long weekend. And virtually exploring the area around here on Google Earth was pretty fun, but I wanted to get out and see some of the highlights.

I found these three trees, and thanks to the magic of the GPS, we all climbed in the car and made our way there. It wasn't an optimal time, photographically, but it was a useful scouting trip.

We also drove to another area even further out from Baumholder, but none of the photos turned out well. However, it was a beautiful area that I am looking forward to exploring in more depth this spring, once things brighten up a little.

We had a nice Christmas and New Years. Very quiet, and a nice time spent with our little family. I wish everyone a blessed New Year - may it be one filled with health, happiness, and prosperity. Cheers!

Marc