I’ve always loved libraries. I grew up in a small town whose library consisted of one big room. I loved everything about the place. Now I live in a city with quite a few branches within ten minutes of my home. We aren’t faithful to just one of the libraries. We enjoy many. The kids have names for all of them. The photo above is from the Squishy Chair Library.

These are from the Cookie Library. There is often a tray of (very ordinary) cookies in the main room. It’s an old building with these tall windows and lots of beautiful, dark wood.

And finally, the Window Library. It has wonderful window boxes to sit in and this unforgettable chair.

Who loves the libraries? Me? Them? Us? It’s a love I share with them. When I say, “Let’s go to the library,” they get on their coats and shoes. That’s love.

Simple Technical Information: From these photos it may appear that my kids regularly sit themselves down in well lit spots and become engrossed in books. There is some truth in that. They do sit down many times and read. But, there is also some guidance from their camera wielding mother. Most often it’s a suggestion about where to sit. Sometimes, it’s an all out set up. “Here’s a book. Will you sit over by that window and pretend to read it?” This may or may not be followed by a little bribe. “Yes. As soon as we’re done you can look at the DVD’s.”

Worn Out

Sleeping all night is no longer possible. During the day, I try to make up for it. My mind is not as tired as my body and is usually still going at normal speed, noticing all the things that I would like to get done. My body has other ideas. I have to stop, if only for a few minutes.

It’s often said that the sleeplessness of late pregnancy helps mothers prepare for the sleepless nights to come. This always bothered me. Prepare for being tired by being tired? Seems like saving up sleep like a hibernating bear would be a better idea. But there is something true about the irksome comment. I am preparing for a different pace of daily life. One that is driven not by what needs to be done in my eyes but by a very small person’s very basic needs. For now, I have to ask for help doing things that I am used to doing myself and more often than I’m used to say,”No. I can’t do that today.” And put my feet up whenever I can.

Simple Technical Information: A photo like this, with only a small part in focus, is produced by a wide open aperture. (Aperture refers to the size of the opening inside the lens that allows more or less light to get to the sensor as the photo is taken.) When the opening is big, the amount that is in focus is small. The numbers on the camera’s display that refer to aperture are 3.5, 4.0, 45 up to 22 or higher. The smaller numbers mean a wider opening. So, small numbers = small amount in focus. This was taken at 2.0. The smallest number on a lens that comes with a Canon Rebel or Nikon D60 is 3.5. You can still do this, but not as dramatically. If you like the effect, you can buy a different lens that has a larger opening (smaller number).

When I bought my new digital camera three years ago, I made sure it came in time for my oldest girl’s birthday. I wanted to make sure to get lots of pictures of the big day. For some, the camera sits on the shelf most of the time, but not on a birthday. The shutter goes wild while we celebrate.

Blowing out the candles is the moment that can’t be missed.

A Little Help

Wish

And there are the gifts.

Just What I Wanted

And then there are the surprises. 

While doing a photo a day last year, I noticed that some of my favorite pictures from birthdays weren’t about the birthday at all.

Aquarium

This was one of my favorite images of the whole year. It was taken while we were at the zoo on my youngest child’s birthday.

Last week it was my big girl’s birthday. It was unusually warm and we were back at the zoo . Again, my favorite image of the day didn’t happen around the cake. It happened unexpectedly at the zoo.

Enough of the Elephant House

I make sure to have the camera ready when the candles are lit but don’t leave it on the shelf the rest of the day.

Simple Technical Information: Leaving the camera in auto mode will not produce a cake and candle shot that shows the candlelight on your child’s face. In the dark room, the meter will tell the camera that there is not enough light and the flash will pop up. The candles’ light will be overpowered by the flash. If you simply turn off the flash, the camera will still be trying to get the whole frame to be well lit and will set the shutter speed too slow to get a sharp picture. Manual exposure is the answer. The problem is how quickly it happens. Those candles are melting! I make a guess and take some quick shots as the cake is coming out to fine tune. It does take practice and sometimes the moment passes. There’s always next year. 

My son wasn’t the only one excited by our most recent snowfall. I’m often looking for something new to photograph or a new way to photograph something I’ve seen many times before. I love getting out when snow has changed the world and even my backyard has something new to offer. 

When I go out on a morning like this, I hear this poem in my head. My first grade students learned it one winter when I was teaching. 

First Snow

Snow makes whiteness where it falls.

The bushes look like popcorn-balls.

The places where I always play, 

Look like somewhere else today.

Marie Louise Allen

We walked out of the house and he said, “Who took the snow?” He is first suspect was his sister, “Was it Abery?” 

Some unusually warm days left our sledding hill green and muddy. He insisted on taking his sled out anyway. He trudged all the way to the top of the hill and sat down in his sled. When that didn’t work, he ran down the hill with the sled trailing behind. 

Three days later, he was very happy when he looked out the window and saw more snow falling. “Oh, fanks! Oh, fanks!” he said to the sky (not his sister).

“That was great!” 

Baths are practical and simple. A couple of kids in some soap and water and moments like these are common.

These were the moments before things got out of hand. They don’t care about a bathroom flood, but I do. First, I took the camera out into the hall to safety. Then, I returned and shouted, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”

There are no pictures of those sad moments after I ruined the fun.

Six Months

This first photo is from January. It is from the delightful second trimester of pregnancy. 

During this time, the kids would get excited about feeling the baby.  When I would sit down, they would ask, “Is the baby moving now?” Hiccups were fun since they offered more chances at feeling something.  My oldest girl asked what it felt like for me when the baby moved.  I tried to describe it and realized that there is nothing to compare it to.  It is a feeling like nothing else.

From experience, it is a feeling I know I’ll miss.  After our baby is born, I’ll feel some rumbling and think to myself, “There’s the baby.”  Then I’ll look down at the actual baby and think, “No.  Here’s the baby.”

Nine Months

You may have heard it said that after you have three, adding more is not a big deal – just throw them into the already occurring melee. I’ve had four kids for seven weeks now and so far, that has not been my experience. There are four kids to keep safe and fed and intermittently happy. That’s a job. But the baby – she’s the easy part.

To show my childrens’ motion I used a long exposure.  The shutter was open for two seconds.  In a typical photo, the shutter is opened for not more than 1/60 of a second (usually more like 1/250 or 1/500) – much faster.  I tried a few different shutter speeds to figure out what would produce enough blur to show motion but not so much that you couldn’t see the kids. 

I recently bought a 20mm lens and it is a very different lens for me.  I usually use a 50mm and 100mm.  Instead of bringing the subject in close, the 20mm gives a wide view.  For this photo, I was happy to have that lens.  It is good lens for seeing a whole messy scene.

Exif for the curious: Canon 7D, 20mm 2.8, ISO 125, aperture 7.1, 2 seconds