Farmington Canyon with Friends

A few weeks ago, Julie and I spent a night with friends in the ranger station in Farmington Canyon.  You can see their posts and pictures from the weekend here (the Greens – you can only see their blog if you are invited) and here (the Waters).  You can see our pictures here (photoset and slideshow).

After dropping off the kids on Friday afternoon, we stopped at the UofU’s outdoor recreation program (great place to rent all kinds of outdoor equipment) to rent some gaiters and snowshoes (I got some snowshoes as well because I left the split snowboard that I borrowed from a friend at home – ugh)!  I was so mad! 

We got up to the ranger station just before nightfall, got set up, and then started working on food.  After a lengthy and philosophical discussion on whether the breadsticks or pizza should be cooked first, we got the breadsticks cooking.  We then ran into a problem, the pizza was too large in diameter to fit into the compact oven in the ranger station.  It was snug and the paper tray touched the sides of the oven.  There was a warning against letting the paper tray touch the sides of the oven; however, I convinced the others to squeeze the pizza in anyway (what could possible happen right?) .  Well, a few minutes later (I can’t remember if it was Julie or Michelle that first noticed), but smoke was coming from the oven!  We opened the door and the edges of the paper tray were very toasty, blacked, and smokey!  Yikes!  We cut the pizza in half (it was a stuffed pizza so the filling oozed out everywhere) and baked each half separately.  

We then spent the rest of the night talking and playing some fun games.  We played phase 10 (dice edition) and let’s just say I didn’t do very well (OK, OK, I came in dead last place by a long shot and Julie won the game)!  It was a blast to hang out into the wee hours of the morning.  Finally we crashed and slept in a little longer than planned the next morning.  The next morning we all had a sweet breakfast with pancakes, bacon, and eggs.  We had both real and fake maple syrup to put on our pancakes; unfortunately, the fake stuff trumped the real stuff in popularity.  After a quick cleanup we got ready to do some shoe shoeing and photography.  In hindsight we really should have taken some fun photos inside the night before but it didn’t occur to me at the time (bummer). 

The sky was cloudy which made it a lot easier to get nice even exposures in a snowy environment.  For the first half of our hike we didn’t get snowed on; however, the storm moved in and we started getting pounded so we started heading back.  We had never been snowshoeing before and both really enjoyed it.  Thanks to Tyson and Diane for putting the whole thing together. 

“Madeleine Walks” Video

Here is proof of Madeleine’s triumph over gravity…mostly.

Foto Friday – Sky Lake

I took this picture at Jensen Nature Park in Syracuse, UT yesterday afternoon.  I actually went there to try and get some sunset pictures because we really get some amazingly colorful sunsets here many nights.  Unfortunately, the sky was too overcast to catch one. But I’ll try again.

This is a cute little lake where people go to canoe and fish. There really isn’t anything west of this park except open farmland and the mountains in the distance. It feels so far away from anything, even though all you have to do is turn around and there are neighborhoods and the rest of Davis County right across the street.

I love the glory of the sky in this shot. To get it, I had the camera on Aperture Priority, shot at ISO 400, f/4.2, 1/1250 of a second.  Then I upped the blacks and yellows slightly, and made it a little sharper.

Here are a few other interesting pictures I took, but I’m saving a couple for possible future wallpapers and Foto Fridays.             

Any Winners???

Here are a few photos from our visit to Zion National Park last fall.  Oh it was so nice there and I miss the warm weather so much!  We had such a great time hiking with the kids. 

My purpose here is to receive input on which of these photos are good enough to sell.  Please let me know what you think and what impressions you have.  The winners will make it into the portfolio section of our photography website and eventually be available for purchase.  Thanks for your input in advance.  Here is a link to the photo set.  You can add comments here or in flickr (if you use flickr). 

Denter HVAC

If anyone needs of the following, my brother-in-law, Troy, is looking for new customers. 

*Furnace Change-out

*Furnace and Air Conditioning Service

*Humidifier Installation

*In-Duct Air Purifier

*Air Duct Cleaning

*Water Heater Replacement

*Air Conditioner Installation

*Green Sticker

Troy has worked for a couple of the big HVAC companies in Utah and disliked their dishonesty and unfairness in pricing so much that he started his own business.  You really won’t find better prices anywhere.

http://www.denterhvac.com

There's No News Like Snow News

A lot has been going on lately. Here's the news:


Rob

His current church calling is YM Priest Quorum Advisor. He's never had a calling with the Young Men before and is enjoying getting to know the boys, teaching, and planning fun activities. They are currently taking CERT classes for their Tuesday night activity. He's excited for the High Adventure outings they will have this summer.

He's thoroughly involved in his current passion: photography. He listens to podcasts, studies techniques and other photographers' work, practices, works on the webpage, and talks about photography pretty much constantly. When he wants to learn something new, he learns it inside-out and upside-down. Much to my (and others') advantage.


Julie

It's been really busy around here with the normal stuff of keeping up with the kids and keeping the house in order. But on top of that I'm still working a few hours a week at home for my brother-in-law's HVAC business. It's year-end and tax time, which is always very busy. Plus, trying to keep Rob leashed in on his aforementioned passion is a full-time job itself! But I do enjoy photography very much also and am getting things in order for this little side-job of ours.

My current church calling is cubmaster and it is so much fun! I was a girl scout and have always enjoyed learning new things and all that cool stuff. The boys are great and make me really happy when they recruit their non-member friends into scouting. It's an inspired program and does much good for boys and families.


Nathan

After many difficult months, we finally found out why Nate's been acting up so much. After seeing a pediatrician, two audiologists, and an otorlaryngologist, we found out that for at least the last year (since his first known ear infection) he's only been hearing at a level HALF of what is normal. Put your fingers in your ears and that's how he hears when people speak to him. Put in some background noise and he hardly hears at all.

To further illustrate, I did my own test with the tv volume today. I normally have the volume at a level of 35 so I turned it down to 17 and I had to really listen to hear what was going on. I then turned it up to 70 and his little face lit right up and he laughed!! It just about made me cry! It was so loud to my ears, that I can hardly stand to be in the same room. When I didn't know this was a problem for him, if I thought it was too loud, I'd tell him so and then turn it way down. So for the last year he's been watching tv and/or movies without hardly a sound!!! It's just incredible! But I've been turning it up loud for him all day and he's repeating everything they say and laughing more.

Him not being able to hear is why he acted up so much both at home and in social situations. He always seemed bored (DUH!) and ambivalent (DUH!). His favorite thing to do was to run around screaming and making all kinds of really loud noise. He would seem ignorant or defiant when given instructions. Before Rob and I knew, we'd often get to the point of frustration with him and raise our voices and that's when he finally listened. Not because we were upset, but because that's just at the point he could hear us! It BREAKS my heart to know that so many times we'd be frustrated with him and he didn't know why!!

We now talk very loudly directly to him or (or talk quieter right into his ear when surroundings require it) and he understands and obeys perfectly. His behavior has been so much better already.

Thankfully, the problem is easily fixed with tubes in his ears and his adenoids taken out. Since this all happened during such a critical stage of speech development he may have to see a speech pathologist. Another clue that he wasn't hearing was delayed, mumbled, barely understandable speech (which we didn't worry about too much because of similar speech of some of his cousins. They just grew out of it on their own).

His surgery is happening at the end of the week. If you see him before then, please remember to talk so he can hear you. We're so excited for him to be able to hear all the things he's been missing out on!! He won't feel so isolated and bored and frustrated. He will be able to hear music, conversation, trains, animals, toys, his favorite movies, instructions, compliments, and so many other wonderful things.

We love Nathan so much and are so sorry he's had to miss out on so much this last year. We promise we'll make it up to him.


Madeleine

Okay, now on to some news that doesn't make me cry. Madeleine learned how to walk this week!! After practicing for 2 months, she can do it at only 10 months old without any coaxing from her parents. She didn't need any. Her big brother was her inspiration. How else will she ever be able to keep up with him? She was very motivated and just did it all on her own. While she was practicing she'd fall over and over again but it never deterred her. She never cried but just got right back up and went for it again. It's sooooo cute to see her little body stepping forward with both arms straight out at her side. We love it.



I told you a lot has been going on lately! Thanks for all your love and friendship. I'm very grateful to my Heavenly Father for all my blessings. My little family means the world to me. They are my first priority. I pray that I will be worthy of and heed the guiding spirit so I can help lead them back home. Nate and Madeleine are such sweet children of God. Rob is my best friend in the world and I can't believe I get to spend the rest of eternity with him. I love you all!

Here are a couple snapshots from last Sunday's playtime.

Foto Friday – Urban Nonchalance

Taken with the Nikon D40 in Salt Lake City, Utah on January 10, 2009. Manual Exposure Mode, 50mm, 1/100 sec at f/4, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format converted to Adobe DNG format. Edited in Lightroom 2.2.

After we rented a few nice lenses for the recent wedding we shot, I did a little personal photowalk around the hills above SLC to spend some more time with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lens (freaking awesome lens by the way). I stumbled upon this scene just off of main street (I almost missed it). I was so excited!! How I love expressions of urban culture. 

The texture in the wood, smooth lines of the moto, and the fascinating look of the pavement (love the ice-melt) really jump out in my mind.  I tweeked the colors slightly (adding vibrance while dropping the overall saturation) to give the photo a little more retro look and kicked up the contrast using the contrast slider and the tone curve.  I fixed the vertical lines in photoshop too.  I copied some screen clippings of the panels below if anyone cares.  Is that useful to anyone?

The tone curve   The basic adjustment panel

Please send any questions in the comments.  I hope you enjoy this photo and hope you enjoy yourself behind the lens! 

RJSnowPhotography Exposure Workshop

Are your photos too dark?  Do you have trouble with the blur associated with camera shake or subject movement?  Do you want to learn exposure to further control the creative process and break yourself free from the automatic camera modes?  If you have an SLR type camera and want to learn more then sign up for the RJSnowPhotography Exposure Workshop.  You’ll learn a ton, have amazing fun, and best of all it is free (with the exception of buying your own lunch). 

Shannon from Lasting Moments Photography and the Mommy Going Crazy blog will team teach the class with Rob.  Shannon is a wedding and family photographer and also a Canon shooter (let’s not hold this against her).  She will also be present during the photowalk portion of the workshop to help the other Canon shooters figure out their cameras and Rob will be there to help the Nikon shooters.  

This workshop is for people with SLR type cameras that really want to learn the nuts and bolts of photography or just hone their skills. 

The workshop will cover the following subjects:

• Shutter speed and aperture defined and “why do I care?”
• Control depth of field (advanced subject)
• Exposure using Manual Mode
• Exposure using Aperture Priority Mode
• Exposure control on “Your” camera
• Q & A
• Photowalk

The workshop will be held in Salt Lake City on Saturday February 28th at 11AM.  We’ll eat lunch at a restaurant (TBA) and discuss exposure control. Expect this portion of the workshop to take less than an hour.  Following lunch we’ll wander the streets of SLC practicing what we learned about exposure.  We estimate that the photowalk portion of the workshop will take around an hour and maybe longer if everyone is having fun (but don’t worry, you can leave at any time).

Shannon and Rob will be available to help others figure out their cameras.  We believe that this photowalk segment of the workshop will be very valuable to everyone.  For those that have exposure figured out, the emphasis will be control and creative use of depth of field.

Similar to our last photowalk, we can share our work in a flickr group that will be created specifically for our workshop.  We are probably going to limit participation to about 25 people so sign up quickly by commenting to this post or sending me an email using this form with Exposure Workshop in the Subject field.  Hope to hear from you soon! 

Questionnaire - Family Edition

I thought I'd do a little family questionnaire as a fun way to write down some of our current interests/dislikes, etc. Feel free to copy this and post it on your blog!

What website do you spend the most time on?
Rob: rjsnowphotography
Julie: blogger
Nathan: pbs kids
Madeleine: Same as mom and dad's

On a limitless menu, what would you order?
Rob: A real French baguette
Julie: University Grill's gyro
Nathan: Cookies and chocolate milk
Madeleine: Cookies

What was the last book you read?
Rob: The Princess Bride
Julie: Geography textbook
Nathan: I'm Dirty!
Madeleine: Little People's Firefighters

What is your most embarrassing habit?
Rob: Letting my nose hairs get too long
Julie: Chomping on my gum
Nathan: Licking people and things
Madeleine: Puking on others

If you could trade places with anyone for 1 week, who would it be?
Rob: Carter Beauford, Dave Matthews Band drummer
Julie: Wendy Perrin, from Conde Nast Travel Magazine
Nathan: Curious George
Madeleine: Nathan

What's your favorite movie song?
Rob: Axel F, from Beverly Hills Cop
Julie: Theme from Pride and Prejudice
Nathan: Thomas the Tank Engine theme song
Madeleine: Curious George theme song

If you could have any superpower, what would it be?
Rob: Software writing
Julie: Read people's minds
Nathan: Run faster than fast
Madeleine: Rubber arms so I could reach anything I want

If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money?
Rob: Pay off debt and buy a new camera
Julie: Pay off debt and travel the world
Nathan: Buy all the cookies at the store and lots of Disney movies
Madeleine: Throw it and chew on it a little

What makes you angry?
Rob: When technology doesn't work
Julie: Not feeling like I'm accomplishing my goals
Nathan: Madeleine playing with my toys when I'm not feeling generous
Madeleine: Nathan not sharing his cookies

How would you describe yourself in 3 words (or phrases)?
Rob: Happy, obsessive, easily distracted
Julie: Hard worker, moody, curious
Nathan: Fun, loud, cuddly
Madeleine: Explorer, impatient, smiley

Foto Friday - Parisian Postcard

Like Rob explained earlier, our computer has been down most of the week so I obviously couldn't work on any photos. I looked through our past pictures and found this in our Paris set. We only have a few photos in this set because when we took this trip 4 years ago, we had a film Nikon SLR...not digital. These are the few photos that we scanned before giving up because it took so long.

Since I took this photo with a manual SLR, there are no edits. It was taken on black and white film and then printed on black and white paper. Many people may not know that if you shoot or edit your pictures to be black and white, unless you specify to have them printed on black and white photo paper, they're printed on color paper. When we had ours developed, Inkley's, who we used at the time, accidentally printed ours first on color paper and then correctly printed them on black and white paper. The difference is amazing. When printed on color paper, there is a very noticeable warm tone to them. Not bad, just not black and white. Remember to have your black and white photos developed by a company that prints on the correct paper.

Back to the subject of the photo...Notre Dame. I specifically remember taking this shot. It was my second time in Paris so I was familiar with the city and knew where I wanted to visit and take Rob. Here we were crossing the Seine on our way to visit the famous cathedral. This shot I took is very "postcardy". In fact, I think I may even have a real postcard just like this in color. But I wanted to take the picture anyway because it looked like a postcard. Paris is just one perfect shot after another. We all grow up seeing these images on tv and in books, etc. but to be there in person is incredible. There is such a vibe that is so difficult to express. It's very "old world," cosmopolitan, cliche, vivid, legendary, inspiring, memorable, quaint, and quintessential. I really cannot describe it perfectly. Every good thing people say about it is true. And that's why we'll go back again and again.