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Posted in Happenings

Nominate a Dad to have his portrait taken!   

Super easy to enter this drawing. 

  1. Enter a Dad’s name in the comment section below (doesn’t have to be your Dad).
  2. At least one sentence or 15 words of appreciation for why you think he is special.

 The winning Dad gets ($280 Value!):

  1. Free ½ hour portrait session on location within Metro DC/MD/VA, Baltimore or Annapolis.
  2. Two poses: 1) Dad alone, and  2) Dad with kids.
  3. One 8×10 print and Four Wallets of each pose.

Nominations will be accepted through Father’s Day on Sunday midnight.  All names will be entered in a drawing and the winner will be announced on Monday, 21 June.  (First Day of Summer, Yay!) 

Important:  In the comment section below, make sure you enter *your name* and * your email* with the nominated Dad’s name and appreciation remarks in the comment section.

For this drawing, a Dad’s name will be entered for as many times as he were nominated by different people.  So if you think he’s a really special dad, get your friends to nominate him also to increase his chances of winning!

I will be contacting the one who submitted the nomination to provide the winner’s details on how to claim their prize.  (The portrait session will be subject to my usual terms and conditions.)

Spread the Love by telling your friends to nominate great Dad’s they know too!   Hurry, there’s not much time!

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s!

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  • Natalie Polzer - June 18, 2010 - 6:19 pm

    I nominate Joseph Stibora. His face lights up when he looks at his precious daughter Catherine!

  • Tom Wieczorek - June 19, 2010 - 5:34 pm

    I would like to nominate Neal Cole. He is a new father, and with his daughter being born three months early, he has really needed to put in a lot of effort early being a good dad!

  • The McKinnon Kids (and Marci McKinnon) - June 20, 2010 - 12:04 pm

    Robert McKinnon — He is special to us because he travels so far for work each day so that we can pay our bills and because he brings home yummy treats from work sometimes. Also because he likes playing video games with us and watching shows with us.

  • Katie Murphy - June 20, 2010 - 9:19 pm

    I would like to nominate Peter Murphy. He such a loving, kind, and sweet Dad! I love to watch him playing with our boys!

  • Renata - June 21, 2010 - 4:47 pm

    And The Winner Is….Peter Murphy!!! Big Congrats to you Peter! Now go and thank your lovely wife for nominating you! 🙂
    Looking forward to scheduling your photo shoot!!

  • Katie Murphy - June 21, 2010 - 9:12 pm

    So glad to hear we won! Looking forward to setting up the details.

Posted in Friday Photo Tips

Steady as She Goes…

Something I always see and feel compelled to comment on, (since I just saw a friend who will remain nameless fall victim to it again this week), is Camera Shake.  Well, you shouldn’t be a victim if you just pay attention to a couple of things:   Shutter Speed and ISO.

Camera Shake happens mostly in low light situations.  You take a picture and the flash doesn’t go off because the auto settings on your camera adjust the Shutter Speed to expose for Middle Grey no matter how dark your overall scene might be.  How thoughtful of your little point and shoot.  However, your point and shoot camera’s brains always assume you’re rock steady, and since most of us are breathing, moving creatures…well…not so thoughtful of your little point and shoot.  Actually, any camera will do the same thing, slow down your Shutter Speed to something you can’t hand hold steady in low light, unless you tell it not to.

Most camera’s come out the box with their ISO setting at their lowest, usually 100.  Most people never even know what that is, so they never think to change it.  Most people also don’t know at what Shutter Speed they can hand hold their camera without Camera Shake.

So here a few things to do:

  • When in low light, switch to a higher ISO.  (Remember the trade off is noise, so use the lowest you can get away with if you don’t have noise reducing software).
  • Hold your camera steady!  Practice bracing your arms against your body, lean against something stable if you can and hold your breath as you take the shot.
  • Set your camera’s Shutter Speed to something you know you can hand hold safely.  If you’re not paying attention at all and swinging your arms, even at 1/100th of a second you’ll get motion blur.  If you’re super careful, you can get away with even ¼ of a second.
  • Make sure you expose correctly.  Most low lit scenes are darker than Middle Grey, so adjust your Exposure Compensation dial to underexpose, or just watch the needle in camera and make sure it’s left of center as needed.
  • Lastly, if you have Image Stabilization as a feature, make sure it’s on.

Good Luck!  Here’s to never being a victim of Camera Shake again!

Shout out to my lovely model, the Blenko Water Bottle in Electric Blue.

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Posted in Happenings,Inspirations

The clouds were looking ominous as the Corpus Christi Procession started in Old Town Alexandria,VA, and some sprinkles did start towards the end, but the major rain held off until after the procession ended. 

It was rather windy, proving a challenge to keep the canopy steady over the monstrance, but it did make me think of the turbulent forces Christ has to deal with as He makes His way through the busy, preoccupied and sometimes seriously sinful figurative streets in our daily lives.  There are those who will follow Him no mater what, and those that will look on in bewilderment, confusion or disinterest.  We encountered people such as these along the procession route yesterday. 

Here are some pictures from the procession that went from St Mary’s to the nearby cemetery where we stopped and prayed a rosary before returning to the church.

For a reflection, I’ll include the end of the Holy Father’s homily at this year’s Corpus Christ Procession in Rome:

“On the feast of Corpus Christi we especially look at the sign of bread. It reminds us of the pilgrimage of Israel during the 40 years in the desert. The Host is our manna whereby the Lord nourishes us – it is truly the bread of heaven, through which he gives himself.

In the procession we follow this sign and in this way we follow Christ himself. And we ask of him: Guide us on the paths of our history! Show the Church and her Pastors again and again the right path! Look at suffering humanity, cautiously seeking a way through so much doubt; look upon the physical and mental hunger that torments it! Give men and women bread for body and soul! Give them work! Give them light! Give them yourself! Purify and sanctify all of us! Make us understand that only through participation in your Passion, through “yes” to the cross, to self-denial, to the purifications that you impose upon us, our lives can mature and arrive at true fulfillment. Gather us together from all corners of the earth. Unite your Church, unite wounded humanity! Give us your salvation!  Amen.”

 

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  • Katie Murphy - June 21, 2010 - 8:38 pm

    Renata, Katie and I have been looking over your website…you photographs are so beautiful. You truly have a gift.

  • Renata - June 22, 2010 - 11:31 pm

    Thank you so much!

  • Jen - July 27, 2010 - 12:32 am

    This is such a great series. I didn’t realize St. Mary’s did this every year! I especially liked the shots you got to include one of the bewildered/perplexed/disinterested onlookers, since the proclamation of Christ is such an integral part of the procession. Beautiful photos!

Posted in Friday Photo Tips

For my Friday Photo Tip this week I thought I write about photographing fireworks.

Over Memorial Day weekend I go my first taste of the season’s fireworks. I must confess I am a bit of a pyrotechnics junkie. I just love them! I love to photograph them as well.

But I’m always amazed to see people attempting to take pictures of fireworks and seeing their flash go off. So here are few tips whether you have a Point and Shoot or an SLR.

What ever you do it’s always important to steady the camera if you want to capture the streaks of light. Tripod is always best, but if you don’t want to lug that around you can get a little gorillapod or even use a monopod (as I did for these images and braced it securely against the concrete, folding chair and my legs). If you have none of that, you can try to simply hand hold it and brace your arms against your body for extra support and don’t breathe while the shutter is open.

Most Point and Shoot cameras these days have a “Fireworks” setting in their Menu. If you don’t want to mess with anything else, at least find that on your camera and select that setting. I’m not sure what their default aperture and shutter speeds setting are, but you may be able to get some usable images that way.

If you have more controls or an SLR, set your ISO to something slow like 100, then choose an aperture anywhere from f6-f16. If you can, select “B” for Bulb mode, meaning the shutter stays open for as long as your finger stays down on the shutter button.  You’ll most likely hold it down anywhere from around a second or longer, depending on how bright each set of bursts are.

The idea is that since the light emitting from the exploding fireworks are so bright, you want to only grab that light and not all of the background, hence the low ISO and small aperture size. You do however want to get the movement of the bursts of light, so you’ll need a slow shutter speed.

Mostly likely your focus will be at infinity so go ahead and set it there and turn off your auto focus so your camera doesn’t waste time searching for something to focus on in the dark.

This does require some experimenting when you first try it. A good place to start is always steady your camera, point it up in the direction of the exploding bursts. If you have tripod, set the aperture closer to f16, so you’ll need longer shutter speeds to compensate for less light. If not, as in my case last weekend, I had the aperture at f6.3 using my monopod. Then take some shots at 1, 2, 3 seconds (shorter for the brighter bursts) and see what you get.  Then make adjustments as needed.

All these fireworks shots here from last weekend were either 1 or 2 second exposures at f6.3 on a very carefully wedged monopod. Good Luck!

{Update:  More fireworks images from 4th of July weekend 2010.}


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Posted in Happenings,Inspirations

In preparation for the Centenary of Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s birth on August 26th, the Missionaries of Charity, the order she founded, brought a variety of relics  to The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC for veneration on June 2, 2010.

The relics were on display all day near the newly dedicated statue of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, in Memorial Hall at the Crypt level of the Shrine. 

They included her crucifix that she wore for her whole life, from her first vows in 1931 to her death in 1997.

The rosary and sandals were those she used at the time of her death.  There was a large piece of cloth from her habit displayed as well.

Also available for veneration were reliquaries containing her blood and fragments of her hair.  At the end we were given a holy card with an image of her shoes.

For the noon Mass, the relics were moved to the Crypt Church where Monsignor Walter R. Rossi preached on the role of relics and shared some personal experiences he had with Mother Teresa.  

He explained the historical traditions of the faithful venerating relics such as the bones of St. Polycarp in 156 AD  as a way to encourage imitation of the saints and seek their intercession.

One story he shared of his experience of Mother was from a conversation he had with her many years ago. (I’ll paraphrase it as best as I can remember.)  He said he asked her, “Why is it that when I try to be holy I always fail?”  She was quick to reply, “You will never be holy, not until you die.”  [An audible chuckle was heard in the packed Crypt Church, quarter of which was occupied by sisters from the Missionaries of Charity.]  He said she went on to explain that, “The important thing is your desire for holiness and that it is in the desire that you achieve your goal.”

I thought about how true those words are.  If our desire for holiness is authentic, then we will do whatever it takes to live in God’s will.  Yes, we can stumble or fail sometimes, but it comes down to the purity of our intention, our desire.  Who are we seeking to please?  A simple, distilled question that works as a great examination of conscience.

I hope these images of her relics inspire you as they did me: to live simply and to love richly.

 

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  • Jen - July 27, 2010 - 12:36 am

    Lovely and moving. I think the most beautiful part of these photos are the Missionaries of Charity themselves. Just as Mother Teresa would have wanted it!

  • Jen - July 29, 2010 - 10:56 am

    Actually, (just to add to my comment), what I most loved visually was the juxtaposition of the stone carving of the folds and drapes of fabric on Mother Teresa, and the soft, beautiful drape of the sisters’ habits and veils, as in the very last picture. For some reason, this is really visually arresting, intentional or not!

  • lena - October 5, 2010 - 3:59 pm

    beautiful pictures. thanks for sharing.
    pax Christi – lena

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