OUR COMMON HOURS

Kelli Ann Wilson May 8, 2014

19 // 52

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Lillia: This week at school was riddled with drama — mean girls and mean teachers. You are so hard on yourself when you cry at school, but your big heart is one of your best qualities. I know this situation well, as I was once the little girl who cried a lot at school (now I’m the adult who still cries more than most other adults, but I’m okay with it). The good news is that most people are unlikely to remember much of anything about their elementary years, let alone whether or not you happened to cry often. It will get easier to contain as you get older, but you’ll probably always have very strong feelings, and that’s not a bad thing. The world needs compassion and empathy more than it needs anything else.

Zane: This week you got to come with me to the car dealership to have my car inspected. That was a pretty exciting adventure for someone who loves anything that has a motor. We got to see a tow truck really close-up and you were surprised to learn that they weren’t moving a car, but a very big tool box! When you’re a little bigger, I bet your uncle (who works there) will let you come and look around the shop.

Kelli Ann Wilson May 8, 2014

playing with tilt-shift

I’m not a huge fan of photography gimmicks. If an image can’t stand on its own without tons of Photoshopping & weird filters, then it’s probably not a great photo. I used to use a lot of filters to cover up the fact that my photos just weren’t very good. I’m still learning, and I wouldn’t say my photos are awesome yet. But, I am MUCH more confident in my skills and I find that, aside from tweaking white balance and exposure or making them black & white, I don’t have to do much to make my photos look the way I want. That having been said, I think that it’s really important to play with my photos sometimes.

I recently discovered that Adobe CS6 has a built in filter called “tilt-shift”, which is often applied in the world of photography in such a way that it makes buildings and landscapes look miniaturized. I also downloaded a tilt-shift action for Photoshop from AJ Troxell. While none of my scenes really look “miniature,” I do think that the tilt-shift effect (when applied sparingly) can actually make a photo look more dynamic and interesting. The first photo I used the CS6 filter, and for the others I used the action. The action made my photos super-saturated, but I toned it down quite a bit because I’m just not a huge fan of that look.

Kelli Ann Wilson May 4, 2014

please excuse the mess

It’s been almost three years since I started this blog, and my purpose for blogging has changed quite a bit in that time. I started out blogging in a fairly traditional way, with lots of text and some supporting photos. Over time I wrote less and relied more on my photos to tell my story. I think that most visitors would agree that photography is now the main focus here. With that in mind, I decided to bring the images front and center by making them larger and getting rid of the gobbledy-gook in the sidebar. I’m really pleased with the change, but in order to bring all of my posts in line with the new aesthetics I have to resize all of my photos. This is going to take me some time, so thank you in advance for your patience.

I’m always interested in feedback, positive or negative. If something is not working for you, or if you have suggestions on how the reader’s experience could be improved, please let me know! kelli@monadnockmama.com

Kelli Ann Wilson May 2, 2014

prisming

I know I’m super-late to the prisming party, but I just learned about it this week! Prisming is exactly what it sounds like: using a prism to create reflections & interesting images in photos. You can see some great examples here, or read about it on Sam Hurd’s website. Sometimes it’s really nice to work on something that you don’t have a lot invested in, emotionally. I don’t care if I’m terrible at prisming because I’m just doing it for fun. As with most things photography-related, practice is required. Here are just a few of my first attempts (these were all taken indoors on a cloudy day):

The cool thing about this technique is that it doesn’t require fancy or expensive equipment. You could easily do it with your phone or a point-and-shoot camera, too, so give it a shot (pun intended)! This photo was taken with my Galaxy S4, the VSCO app, and a prism:

I would like to get a longer prism so that I don’t have to worry about getting my fingers in the photo. Sam Hurd recommends this one. I can’t wait to try it outside on a sunny day. Here is my lovely model & assistant holding our prism:

Kelli Ann Wilson May 2, 2014

18 // 52

“A portrait of my children once a week, every week, in 2014.”

Lillia: This week you had a big field trip to our state capital, Concord. You got to meet some politicians and learn about their jobs. You told me that our local representatives only make $200 a year which, you quipped, “Makes their jobs really intense volunteer work!” I think you would make an excellent politician: you are very passionate about your ideas; you love to argue; and you have a very well-developed sense of justice.

Zane: You are getting to be such a big boy! This week I decided that it was finally time to start getting serious about potty training. You’ve been able to go on command for awhile now, but you were having trouble realizing you had to go until it was too late. Yesterday, you stayed dry ALL DAY, including during a short nap in the car! Most of me is so excited for you (and happy not to have to buy so many diapers!), but part of me is also really sad. It’s hard to believe that you’re going to be three years-old in just a few months…you’re really not a baby anymore.