One happy baby enjoying his first day out in a snow covered, winter wonderland.

Back Story

After an unplanned “mental health” break last weekend, I was back behind the camera this past Saturday as the ‘ohana ventured out into the snow for our first winter snow portrait session.

And with the nearly unprecedented lack of snow so far this winter here in Chicago, it’s been a long wait to get out there do a shoot like this. While we were only shooting for 15 minutes, we had a blast and there were a ton of images to go through and edit afterwards.

All told, it was a great time that I can’t wait to do again. However, less than 72 hours after we were blessed with all this snow, the temps jumped above 40, the rains came and washed it all away – literally overnight. Bummer.

Guess it’s time to stalk the 10-day forecast again.

52 to Two Project

The above photo and the two below were also included as part of my weekly 52 to Two project.

Half Snow Angel

In the Bushes

Photo Shoot Photos

In addition to the photos added to the 52 to Two project, you can also see the rest of the images from this shoot in the Winter Snow Portraits gallery.

Here’s to wishing for the next big snowstorm and coming up with ideas for this week’s photo shoot as well.

– Kris

Taking a short break from walking through the hallway in our building.

Back Story

In addition to being the start of the new year, Sunday was also the latest edition in my 52 to Two project.

And it wasn’t much longer after last week’s photo shoot was over before I already knew what I wanted to shoot this week – our son’s new found skill of walking all on his own.

So after a week of watching him run circles around our condo, it was clear we didn’t have enough room to do a shoot for his walking talents. It would have been great to chase him around a park somewhere, but it was the middle of winter – that wasn’t going to happen. The hallway outside our unit was the best compromise we could come up with.

It was great having the extra room to use my 70-200mm f/2.8L lens again, and it turns out that extra stop of light was very necessary. The light in our hallway wasn’t as bright as I had thought it would be, so these shots were taken at ISO 1600 and f/2.8 using only the available light on the walls and ceiling.

The One That Got Away

I went to bed Saturday night envisioning a way to capture our son’s triumph over gravity in motion by deciding to shoot a composite of frames with him in full stride.

In order to go wider, I switched back to my 24-105mm f/4L lens, so I was already losing a stop of light there. Next, I had to dial down the aperture further in order of widen the depth of field, which brought me to f/10. To compensate for that, I maxed out the ISO at 6400, and well, the final result fell short of my expectations:

Outtake Image

I still like the concept, and am contemplating re-shooting this piece before walking becomes second nature to him. In order to pull it off, however, I imagine one or two continuous lights would be needed and that’s not in the budget this early in the year.

But we’ll see how creative I can be in the weeks ahead.

The wrapping paper flies as presents are revealed X-mas morning.

Back Story

As part of Week 03 of my 52 to Two project this week, I set to capture images of our son opening presents on his first X-mas morning. Well, technically he was 3 weeks old last year at X-mas, but you get the point.

The hope was to shoot with natural light because our tree was setup right next to the balcony doors. However, with the room facing south, we didn’t receive enough light at 10am to get the images I wanted. So it was time to close the blinds and bounce the flash.

You can find the chosen shots for this week in the 52 to Two image galley, and see the rest of the shoot over at the X-mas Morning photoset on Flickr.

New Photography Goodies

In addition to our son expanding his stockpile of toys, I also scored a few photography related gifts on Sunday that will certainly come in handy with this project and my other work in the new year:

• X-Rite ColorChecker Passport [ Adorama ]
• Expoimaging Rogue FlashBender [ Adorama ]

The ColorChecker Passport has been on my radar for while, after watching Episode 209 of Digital Photography on AdoramaTV. I’ve had a few cases where my subject was wearing his traditional red Blackhawks gear on game night, and the reds were just throwing me off in post. Using something like the passport, I hope to drastically improve how those colors fit into the rest of my images.

The FlashBender just seemed pretty neat after reading a few reviews on it, and it should also fit well into this weekly project of mine. Having a reliable way to bounce flash in many different rooms, settings, or even outdoors feels like a strategic advantage too good not to try. We’ll see how it goes as I factor it into my shoots.

Your Gifts?

Did you get any neat photography gifts this season? Do share…

– Kris

A little peck on the cheek from Mama and Christian is all smiles.

Back Story

These photos were actually “forgotten” until recently when I was going through photos from our Door County trip in June. Once I saw them, I knew I wanted to share them. Taken only one week after the Naperville Riverwalk portraits on his six month birthday, so it’s amazing to see how he looks now compared to back then.

Silly Face

Smile

Door County Prints

Remember I said I rediscovered these when going through photos from past Door County trips? Well, those are being edited and added to the Door County print gallery over at my online print store.

Take a look around if you visited “The Door” before or even if you haven’t and wanted to see what it’s like through my lens. And check back often – more images are being posted throughout the week.

– Kris

A child’s nursery is his kingdom.

Back Story

As part of my yet-to-be-announced weekly project for capturing our son’s 2nd year, he and I spent 30 minutes playing in his nursery Sunday morning for a little playtime. Or, now that he’s one year old, should we stop calling it a nursery? (I’ll ask the wife).

More details on the new project coming this week, and if you’d like to see more photos from the shoot, check out the Nursery Playtime Shoot gallery.

– Kris

Our son checking out the remaining presents at his party.

Back Story

After successfully surviving our first year of parenthood, we were excited to host our own baby luau for our son’s first birthday party. It was a little hectic at the moment pulling everything together that during that week, and then playing “host” and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. But in the end, everyone had a great time and our son handled everything like a champ.

From a photography standpoint, just about all of these were shot with on camera flash, bouncing light whenever I could. There were a few were I tried to bump the ISO up to 3200 on my 5DMKII and reduced noise in Lightroom, but that was only for a few shots that made it.

Also, these shots were from four different rooms during they party, each with their own lighting challenges. The was the same house (my aunt’s house) that I shot my wife’s baby shower last year – except that was during the day and we had great daylight coming in the windows. This party was at night, and I could certainly see a difference, even in the same room as last year!

Photo Gallery

If you want to see more, check out the First Birthday Party gallery in the Photo Shoots section.

Grabbing a hold of Grandma’s hands while playing at the dinner table.

Back Story

With less than two weeks before our son’s first birthday, it was time to carve the turkey with my wife’s extended family as we’ve done for so many years past.

With my mom tagging along as well, she had her turn to play with our little guy, and I captured this image during that little exchange. May be one of my favorites from the day, if not the favorite.

You can check out the rest of the photos from the holiday in the Turkey Day gallery, and let me know which one you like the most.

Posing for a quick little head shot.

Back Story

Taken a few weeks back, my son and I did a photo shoot in our living room while giving Mama a break. We started out playing with one of my older camera bodies, but it wasn’t soon before he traded it for one of his stuffed toys, and then just started moving all over the place.

We shot around mid-afternoon, which is when the sun makes its way over our the side of our building where our balcony is. I decided to bump up my ISO to 800 and shoot with natural light rather than breakout the speedlight.

To see more photos from the rest of the shoot, visit the Home Shoot, Nov. 2011 gallery.

A great holiday image in front of a festive, decorated tree.

Back Story

As we try to do every year, we made our way to the mall on Sunday to start our holiday shopping before the madness begins after Thanksgiving.

While we were there, we spent about 10 minutes to shoot holiday photos in front of the 3-story tree they have in one of the courtyards. Even in such a limited time, I still managed to get a few keepers that are just itching to compete for the title of Holiday Card this year. We’ll see how that goes, with so many candidates of our young family taken this year.

You can see more photos from Sunday in the new gallery page – Old Orchard Holiday, Nov. 2011

– Kris

Christian enjoying some down time on the ground in between car rides.

Back Story

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month already, but this photo was from our weekend in Door County, WI at the end of October. It was our third road trip with Christian, and now that he’s getting bigger and more mobile, staying buckled into his car seat while on the road makes him a little impatient at times.

That just means once he’s out and roaming around, he’s that much happier. As you can see here.

Too see more photos from this weekend, visit the Door County, Oct. 2011 gallery, or click on the photo below.