Around The Horn

I’ve been wanting a zoom lens after shooting with the Nifty Fifty (and before that, the Thrifty Fifty) for about two years. The focus on the Nifty appears to have gotten less and less sharp over time. The new lens does not have that problem. I also don’t have to go into the kitchen to take a picture of Landry sitting in the living room.

Landry is closing out month 9. We’re speed-crawling, crawling on steps/fireplace hearths, and pulling to standing. She actually let go of the end table the other night, held her balance for a couple of seconds, and then sat down. I’m completely terrified of what’s coming next!

We got real, live internet at the new house today. Finally! I have eleventy million pictures to edit and post but I’m chasing a crawler and trying to unpack. But surely these will hold you over for now

I love contrasty black and white photos. While it’s clearly personal preference, I think they make some of the best baby photos. Converting a photo to black and white can make me pull my hair out. I know just enough about what I’m doing to be dangerous. I’m not very good at it yet. I fight with getting the whites white enough and the blacks black enough… all while trying to avoid a dull, gray picture.

I use Lightroom to organize and tweak photos for white balance, contrast, etc. I moved from shooting aperture priority to full-out manual earlier this year. Nothing like having a baby to make you really want to figure out what your camera does

Some B&Ws that I don’t hate:

And Landry in full color:

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Sandy (Landry’s greats) came to visit all the way from northeast Texas. 4 generations in one room, and I didn’t get a group shot. Oh well. Next time. Maybe Aunt Angie will even make the trip one day!

It gave me the chance to try out my new toy: the Lightscoop. It bounces the light from your onboard flash on the ceiling and walls behind you, lighting your subject much less harshly than the flash alone does and reducing those ugly shadows. Let me show you:

No Flash

Flash Without Lightscoop

Flash With Lightscoop

Pretty neat, huh? It was a much more cost-efficient purchase than a fancy Speedlite. That said, the next time I find myself with a severely over-watered money tree, I’m buying a Speedlite. And Santa has already been put on notice

Landry loves to eat books it when you read to her. When she sees a book – any book – she begins wildly flapping her arms. The arms don’t stop until the book is in her mouth hands. Some books are tastier than others.

She has one.

Really, she probably has seven personalities. Don’t like her current mood? Stick it out for two minutes to see which Landry makes an appearance next. She likes to mix it up. Keeps us on our toes!

Landry does “Squinty Face Baby” when she sees the camera now. It’s like she knows she’s supposed to do something when the camera comes out… so she channels Chandler Bing and Chucky.

Plain peas were not a hit. She has since eaten them with a little lemon and grated parmesan. But plain peas? No:

I shoot a lot of pictures, trying to catch those pretty blue eyes. In just the right lighting. Both open. And in focus. You can probably gauge my success rate by the number of pictures that make it on the blog.

This week’s new food was blueberries. Landry has gone through plums and prunes, peaches and bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. Chicken with homemade basil pesto (don’t ask). And she seems to like them all – especially the plums. I think the blueberries garnered the most unfavorable reaction. But not a total fail. After she got passed the gagging, dramatic retching, and yelling, she actually polished them off.

Of all of the foods that Landry has tried, peaches are clearly her favorite. I can’t reload her spoon fast enough. It’s the only food that she’ll eat two servings of and then yell and pound her high chair tray when she realizes that there’s not any left. If I let her, she’d probably choose to live off of nothing but peaches.

We’ll work on those table manners later.