Just starting to process photos from our hometown adventure to City Garden and the first image I get to is the one above.  (Well, just the one on the left.  The one on the right is the “after” image.)   I bring up the image in Lightroom and look at it.  I want the sky to have a little blue and not be completely blown out and white, but that results in the lettering looking gray and rather blah.  Easy enough to fix, just hit “k” to bring up the adjustment brush and brush in some increased exposure and brightness on the lettering.  With Auto Mask checked, I don’t even have to worry too much about staying in the lines.

About half way through it hits me, “Why do I care?!?!?“

I am often that guy.  The guy who takes his camera at times and to places that most normal people don’t bring a camera.  I’m not talking about a camera phone or a small point and shoot, I am talking about an over sized, SLR with a large lens.  The kind of camera that gets people to comment on how nice that camera is.  I don’t know why size equals quality, but in cameras people often see it that way.    Nonetheless, I was that guy once again on Saturday morning.

On our walk to Bread Co. (a.k.a. Panera) I decided to lug along my camera.   (Yes. the big obnoxious one)  I started the day with a shot of my shoes.  They are new and I like them.  I also thought the contrast between the new, clean canvas and the damp, textured sidewalk looked cool.  Trying to tie that all in with a somewhat wide lens, this image resulted.

It was alright I guess.  What else should I photograph while I waited for the Sparks to meet up at our set corner?  Probably sticking with the cute girl in the stroller would have been a better choice.

But then Olivia asked for the camera and I am glad she did.  She rattled off a number of interesting shots, including the one of her green Chucks at the top of this post.  I guess it was a foot kind of day.

There are a few more  images posted on my Flickr page including some interesting sunflower shots and a giant turtle hiding under a bush.   Just look for the set, “Walking In U City 7/31“

“Life In A Day is a historic global experiment to create a user-generated feature film shot in a single day. On July 24, you have 24 hours to capture a glimpse of your life on camera. The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into a feature film, produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Kevin Macdonald.”

This summer has been a hot one in St. Louis and we have spent a considerable amount of time at the U. City  pool.  Because of that, I figured it would be appropriate for our submission to Life In A Day to be recorded there.  Armed with my handy Flip Video nicely protected in an underwater case, I set out to get something fun.  That day at the pool we ended up meeting up with some friends and spent a large part of our time throwing Olivia and Mia around.  Great fun.  I love the very last clip when Olivia manned the camera and got Mia flying through the air, splashing and then swimming underwater.

While I think we got some good images that will be great to use on their soon to be released website, I have yet to process them all.  However, I did experience their West Coast Reuben (spelling corrected) that was phenomenal!  So I just have to share.  It is pumpernickel rye, oven roasted turkey, smoked gouda, sweet & sour slaw and Jason’s killer mustard.  Served hot and delicious.  If you are ever near St. Charles rock Road and 170 between 11 & 2 Monday through Friday, stop in.  The rubin is typically the Tuesday special, but follow @MariasDeli on Twitter for daily updates.  Yesterday was National Milk Chocolate Day so in addition to having the rubin, cookies were two for one.

What would the end of kindergarten be without a taking a walk to the local park for a picnic?

Enjoy the rest of the picnic photos on my photography site, www.jeffreyphoto.com

The Daisy Troop at Jackson Park School held its bridging ceremony where the girls move from being a Daisy to a Brownie.

Thanks to the leaders of the troop and congratulations to all the girls!  View more photos from the event on jeffreyphoto.com

Being that it is Mother’s Day, we started with breakfast in bed, specially made for a real mom.  But once that was over, we had to decide how to spend the rest of the day.  After photographing in Forest Park last Friday evening, the idea came to us to go on a paddle boat ride in Forest Park.

The timing was great and we walked right up and got on a boat in no time at all.  With ducks keeping us company, we paddled though the small lake and waterways, under bridges until we made it to the Grand Basin of Forest Park with its large fountains and view of the Art Museum.

It was a really great time and Jennifer repeatedly said she was so happy and could not think of a better way to spend her special day.  I am pretty sure Olivia and Mia enjoyed themselves as well.  After peddling back to the dock, we ate at the Boathouse restaurant, on the edge of the lake.  Really a great day.  I cannot believe we have this wonderful park only a few minutes from our home, and we rarely do anything more than stop by the zoo.  If you ever get the chance to take a paddle boat ride, take it.

NOTE:  Once again, all of these photos were made with the camera on my Blackberry and adjusted in Lightroom.  I chose this style of post processing because the history of Forest Park, just calls for this look.  See more images on my Flickr page in the Mother’s Day in Forest Park set.

Taking what many people have said and Chase Jarvis has made gospel to the photography community, the best camera is the one you have with you.  The other evening in Forest Park here in St. Louis, my best camera was a BlackBerry.  The fountain at the base of the World’s Fair Pavilion is a classic location in St. Louis for wedding parties, families and any tourist with a camera to stop and get an image.

On Friday, after the kids going to prom had left, there was a few minutes before the sun went down when there were very few people around and it was a great photo opportunity.

One trick I have found with the not so hot camera on my BlackBerry is that if I change the color setting to sepia or black & white, the resulting images are often much more interesting.  With the tradition of the pavilion, the sepia look works pretty well.  It removes the distracting color and lets the interesting structure be the focus.  It can even work with Mia hiding in the tall grass.

Then at times, black and white together with a moving subject and a moving camera and a slower shutter speed can make for an interesting image.

Unfortunately, I have not found any apps for manipulating images in the BlackBerry, and as Frederick Van Johnson believes, “pixels were born to be punished.”  That is very true of these images.  The exposure, brightness, contrast, fill light, and black levels have all be manipulated in Lightroom.  A vignette has also been added along with some grain to enhance the feel.

Here is before:

and after:

Or when to really have fun an image of a tree can be transformed.

Jennifer likes the before image better than the after image.  I disagree.  I don’t think she likes either of the tree images.  What are your thoughts?