Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! I hope everyone is surrounded by love, family and warmth as you celebrate. We're snuggled up in our house with family watching feet of snow pile up (well, Joe has been shoveling a great deal of it, too).

Here are a few pictures from last night's celebration. We hosted family and then headed to "midnight" mass at 9:30, where Joe cantored and Truman slept in his stroller/my lap.

I have to thank my family for letting me get in some off-camera flash practice. I set my Vivitar up on lightstand pointed at my white ceiling triggered via pocket wizard and wandered.




















Joe's stunt double — err, brother — James playing Wii with his own doppleganger-nephew Josh:






And the gift-giving:







These slippers Kellie gave Truman are made with recycled sweaters, how cool (and they fit his giant feet):





I did a big knitted Christmas this year, making everyone I thought would enjoy a knitted goody a hat or scarf:






















(p.s.: For those wondering, no, my son is not wearing pants. But when not wearing pants he is potty trained. We accept the trade off. Can you guess what my project in the new year will be? We'll just call it Project Pants.)

Hat and Onesie for Jill

I made these for my friend Jill who is expecting a little girl sometime this month. I can't wait to see her in the hat.

Thanks, Amy, for teaching me the joys of applique.

Elegant Troll Hat

I finished my first cabled hat (well, my first cabled anything) last night. The pattern called for Bulky weight yarn, but I found some really cool Super Bulky weight yarn and figured, "how much bigger can it end up being?"

It turned out a little big, but absolutely beautiful and warmer than it would have been in lighter weight yarn. Joe thinks it looks like something a big forest troll would wear, but the cables make it elegant. It's the Elegant Troll Hat.







I believe this hat's destiny is to live on the head of Marian, my mother-in-law, if she so desires. It is extremely cozy and should be able to keep her head nice and toasty.

Darkness, You Have Met Your Match

I'll start off by saying I love natural light. I would love to shoot in natural light all the live long day and night, but the reality is there just isn't enough light for that. While I've been filled with lighting ideas for some time, I haven't had the equipment to execute them. That changes now.

I begin the year with equipment that's going to help me give darkness a run for its money. I added a second flash to my arsenal, pocket wizards and two Gary Fong Lightspheres, as well as a less exciting, but just as useful, light stand and tripod. I also got my hands on a much longer pc cord, which doesn't sound exciting, but trust me, it is.

I haven't had much time to play with them until last night. I turned off all the lights and lit some portraits of Truman using just my two flashes off-camera using camera settings for broad daylight (ISO 100) — one placed behind him and one coming down from above to the right of the camera.

I sat him on one of his new chairs. He doesn't understand how to get down from them, so sitting him there is like holding him hostage. But he put up with it for a few minutes.








I suppose I'd also like to brag that I knitting him that hat. I'm a little addicted to orange and blue, what can I say?