Photo 52: Within the Frame

Color Theory:  Complementary Colors {Week 32}

This week we continue our month-long study of color with complimentary colors.  Complimentary colors are opposite each other on the color wheel, such as blue-orange, violet-yellow, or red-green.  These color schemes are a great place to start with color theory, as they are easy to understand, fun to use and create pleasing compositions. They generally work well in straightforward compositions where the vivid and vibrant color combinations are the main contrast.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog site, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Color Theory: Monochromatic | Analogous {Week 31}

Spring has finally sprung and Photo 52 is kicking off its month long study of color.  For our first week's assignment we focused on creating images with either an analogous color scheme (colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel) or a monochromatic one - varying tones of the same underlying color.  On the color wheel, analogous colors are quite harmonious - and the red-orange-yellow combination in my images below are both warm and rather pleasing to the eye. 

Our family recently dined in a restaurant bathed in the most beautiful window light - it was a photographer's dream. The folks seated to my right were captive to my lens, with the lines of the tables leading right to them.  Of course there was another subject right across the table, in a daydream, transfixed as well by the gorgeous light coming through the windows.   

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.     

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Tonality:  Split Toning {Week 30}

Split toning is a creative technique that goes back to the days of the darkroom, but In today’s world of digital photography, split toning can either by done in camera or with editing software programs such as Photoshop or Lightroom.  It involves tinting the highlights to create a color cast to the image, while the “split” part of the technique means the color cast can be isolated to highlights without affecting the mid-tones or shadows, and vice versa.  The result is a cross-processed look or a duotone effect that can give a little extra punch to a monochromatic image.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.

Rock formation along Chileno Bay Beach in Los Cabos, Mexico

 

Sunrise over Pedregal, Cabos

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Tonality: Mid Key {Week 29}

This week we continue to experiment with tone and mood in our compositions.  While high key images are created with bright light tones and low key photographs rely on shadowy dark tones, mid key images are created by isolating the mid level tones.  It may be subtle and pleasing rather than dramatic and often appears better in color than a monochromatic scheme. Colors can be complimentary and yet the same key, so although in black and white everything would blend, in color it works. One of the issues to keep in mind when playing in mid key is that although consistency of tone can help your subject and their surroundings appear well-aligned, the trick is to make sure your subject doesn't get lost.

During a recent family vacation to Mexico, my son's favorite activities included combing the beach for shells and chasing after seagulls.  It was particularly overcast in the mornings, and since my son's skin tone nearly matches the surrounding rocks and sand, I was able to get a couple of interesting mid key beach shots. 

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.  

Letters to our sons | April

***I am so thankful to be a part of this blog circle "Letters to our Sons" with so many amazing photographers and moms.  In honor of our love for our little boys, we are posting a monthly image(s) along with a corresponding, heartfelt letter.  After reading my post, please click HERE to continue around the circle, starting with the very talented Jennifer Nichols James.

My dearest Cash,

Lounging around with Monkey

I think it's safe to say that Monkey is your best friend. You met him when you were 10 months old and he soon became the one thing you took along with you everywhere.  During your short three years on this earth so far, you have reached for Monkey when feeling playful to dance with and toss around, to hide behind when feeling shy, to brush against your face when sleepy, and of course, collect your tears when feeling sad.  I have countless memories of you curled up on the sofa, in your bed, and before that in your crib, drinking milk and cuddling with Monkey.  He was there with you when you started teetering upright on your two legs, and a comfort to you when you inevitably tumbled to the ground.  He rode with you on your first plane ride to Southern California when you were 13 months old and has since traveled with you by plane, train and car to places like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Central America.  With so many photos of you with Monkey in your clutches, wide awake or slumped over in your car seat, there is no denying he is your best buddy.      

Under the weather with Monkey

It's no wonder that you absolutely WILL NOT go to sleep without him.  When you were younger, if Monkey was looking tattered and needed cleaning, I would have to sneak him off to the laundromat for a "bath", crossing my fingers that you wouldn't need him until he was finished drying.  As you got a little older, we would make a field trip out of taking Monkey to the laundromat, watching him spin around in the soapy suds, coming back 20 minutes later to put his sopping wet furriness into the dryer to "get warm".  In a confessional moment, Monkey you have today is actually your second Monkey.  The first one had become a rag of holes from which stuffing was steadily coming out, deflating over time any semblance of its former primate self.  It was such a relief when you received Monkey #2 that you never knew the difference.  In your eyes he had just gotten the best bath of his life.  Phew!          

Monkey's portrait

When you had your first real heavy duty 24-hour fever and could only lie around on the sofa all day  - who was there?  Monkey of course.  He also went with you every day of your first year of preschool, the perfect companion during a time of great transition.  Teacher Rachel designated a special basket in the classroom for monkey to sleep in until circle time when you would retrieve him to sing songs and listen to stories with your new friends.  

After you turned three and got a little, shall we say, more rowdy? energetic?… you started an incessant pastime of throwing Monkey around the house.  It actually drives Daddy and me crazy.  You'll throw him into the air, narrowly missing a piece of furniture or knocking things off the table or pictures off the wall as you dive to catch him.  In actuality I suppose you are just playing catch with your best friend, but still it's a bit wearing on your dear mother and father.  Not for your baby brother though.  He loves when you toss Monkey high in the air, squealing in delight as he falls from the sky into your embrace.  Ahhhh.    

Buddies

This past week New York City has had some gorgeous spring days and whenever we've gone out to enjoy them, you've told me that Monkey wants to come too.  I say that's fine but that you are responsible for him.  You oblige and carry him throughout the day with love and care, telling me he's "magical" and always making sure his furry paws don't drag on the ground.

I love you very much son and your beautiful friendship with Monkey.

Mom

Some recent snapshots of you and your furry pal

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Tonality:  Low Key {Week 28}

While high key images are created by bright, light tones and whites, low key photographs feature the opposite.  Relying on shadows, deep blacks and dark tones, they contain very few mid-tones and whites, and as a result, are mysterious, dramatic, and even ominous in their mood.  A small light source such as a lamp, flashlight, or candle along with a dark or black background are the simplest way to create a low key effect.  You can also shoot at night with street lamps or car headlights as a main light source, making sure to keep the light off of your dark backdrop and on your subject.  The dark tones and strong shadows inevitably direct the viewer's attention to the subject, creatively and with drama.

Below is a photograph of my husband saying goodnight and goodbye to our oldest son.  Working a lot more with his new job and often times late into the evenings, my husband treasures these little moments.  The expression on my son's face, illuminated by just his little nightlight, not only adds feeling to the image but also tugs on my heartstrings.  

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place. 

Goodnight, Goodbye Daddy

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Tonality:  High Key {Week 27}

It’s a new month for photo 52: Within the Frame and we will be delving into tonality as a means to create or enhance the mood of our images.  Tonality includes the amount of contrast as well as the highlight and shadow qualities within an image that is affected primarily by the type of light available.  For this first week we will be working with high key lighting which creates images that are mostly bright, with hardly any blacks and very few mid-tones.  Originally developed for film and television, and primarily done with studio lighting, high key images have since become an artistic choice amongst photographers.  They can either be achieved indoors by using a bright backdrop or plain white wall, or outdoors on a day with flat light.   

High Key photography with its bright, white background creates images that are  upbeat, modern and distraction-free - the goal of any portrait photographer.  Tones that generally would have been mid-range become much brighter, near white tones become bright and white tones remain white.  And of course, as we mentioned already, very little darks or shadows are present.  It’s very important however, when shooting high key that you have just enough mid-tones and shadows to give the image depth, otherwise your photo is washed out and just plain overexposed.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place. 

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Conceptual Contrast:  Old vs. new, big vs. small, etc. {Week 25}

Last week, we examined contrast in its traditional sense in photography: light versus dark.  This week however, we played with the contrast of oppositional elements which can be interpreted much more broadly.  My image includes two contrasts: my husband's giant (and darker) hand next to our baby's much smaller (and lighter) one.  

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.

Letters to our sons | March

***I am so thankful to be a part of this blog circle "Letters to our Sons" with so many amazing photographers and moms.  In honor of our love for our little boys, we are posting a monthly image(s) along with a corresponding, heartfelt letter.  After reading my post, please click HERE to continue around the circle, starting with the very talented Jennifer Nichols James. 

My beloved Grey Grey,

You are such a yummy age right now.  My favorite in fact.  At nine months old you are learning so many new things, consistently reaching for the gold with your attempts to crawl, stand and dance - especially alongside your older brother. I can tell you desperately want to catch up to him as your eyes follow his every movement from room to room, squealing and giggling every time he comes into your view and whipping your head around to find him when he's not.  It seems as if that is your goal each day - to get up and play with him despite his occasional bullying.  Ha!   

On the other hand, I can definitely wait.  I don't want you to grow up just yet.  Secretly I'd prefer if you didn't start crawling for a little longer.  You are such a happy baby who amazes loved ones and strangers alike with your cool demeanor and sweet little soul.  Like a cherub with your pink lips, perpetually rosy cheeks and multitude of creases on your arms and legs (some of which is now starting to disappear), you make me want to slow down the hands of time and snuggle you more often and tightly before you transform into a lanky toddler boy which I know will happen way too soon.  One day you'll be mortified to learn this, but I've been known to occasionally strip you "nekkid" and show whomever is present your chubby little baby tushie.  Okay, many times.  I'm sorry, I just can't help myself.  Really Grey, I can't.  I refer to you as my "bonus baby" (coined by a dear friend) because for awhile Daddy and I weren't planning to have any more children after your brother.  But then as you know, God changed my heart on that matter and here you are, glorious and beautiful.    

The sounds you have started making this past month are so delightful - raspberry sounds with your lips, little growls and high-pitched squeals that you like to have mimicked back to you, "Bah" sounds and clucks with your tongue.  Your favorite game is the one where you do something like shake your head or clap your hands and I'll copy you.  We'll go back and forth doing this for the longest time, cracking each other up.  When you started clapping your hands last month, the whole family joined in the celebration.  You were so happy to have learned this and below is a photo of you relishing in your latest achievement.  Your smile (with your four bottom chiclet teeth showing) couldn't be any bigger, a tell-tale sign of your amazement.  

This past month we spent a week at Grandma and Pow Pow's house and, since they have these great big windows in their house, I took the opportunity to set up a little photo shoot with you.  They have this old milk crate that Aunt Gail gave them for Christmas with our family name "ROEMER" embossed on the sides and it was Pow Pow's idea to photograph you inside it.  Perfectly snug inside the small box, we had a great time playing around and taking photos.  This is the last time you will ever fit in a container so small, so I was happy to capture some photos to remind me of when you were so little.  

Though you may be little in size your sense of humor is grand in scale.  I love your laugh and more than that, what makes you laugh.  It's actually your brother (no surprise!) who can get you to laugh the hardest.  It's absolutely contagious -- and I find myself laughing when listening to the two of you crack each other up.  I predict we will share joy and laughter in so many things, together and as a family, as the years go by.

 

[Click each image below to view full size and advance slideshow]

These days your loves include doing frog jumps and twirls in your swing, banging spoons on pots and pans, sitting in a big cardboard box, splashing the water in the tub, grabbing your toes, watching shadows move along the wall, the music of Ray Charles, having a blanket parachuted above you, watching your brother dance and playing with his curly hair.  You have a zest for life, a smile that can't be matched and a curiosity that just won't quit.  As Grandma and Pow Pow said while we were visiting, "He really is such an adorable baby."  That you are.  My truly irresistible love.    

Always and forever,

Mom     

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Traditional Contrast :  Light vs. Dark  {Week 24}

For the rest of March, Photo 52 is shifting its focus to contrast.  A broad definition of contrast is the juxtaposition of opposite elements, the most well-known being the degree of difference between darkness and lightness.  During a playful game of peek-a-boo with the bathroom door, I captured my older son in split contrast within a split frame composition.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.   

Peek - a - Boo

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Patterns and Contrast: Broken Patterns {Week 23}

Last week we sought patterns to bring a sense of rhythm and harmony to our photos.  However, patterns on their own can feel somewhat lacking.  Breaking the pattern in an unexpected way can add the tension and vitality that transforms a scene from interesting to captivating.  

My goal this week was to stumble upon a broken pattern in the environment rather than create one, so I carried my camera with me almost every day.  During a family trip to the boogie down Bronx to run some errands, I came across a broken pattern that I felt had real New York City personality.  The empty coffee cups were stuffed in the crevice of an elevated subway beam, most likely from the construction workers on site, creating a line of white lids broken up by a single black lid, as if it were entirely intentional.  The yellow is just the extra POP in a snapshot of urban life.

Click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place. 

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Patterns & Contrast: Isolating Patterns in the Environment {Week 22}

This week Photo 52 is beginning a new month on patterns and contrast.  Our goal is to recognize patterns in our everyday surroundings and see how we can incorporate them into our imagery. For this challenge, I decided to photograph the quintessential New York City bathroom tile (I think all three of my apartments have had this same tile) - a pattern so familiar and so treasured.  It's literally a little piece of home, from a different angle.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, and see all of our images in one place.  

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Camera Position : Shooting from Below {Week 21}

Pointing the camera in a direction other than head-on often yields intriguing results, simply because we typically engage with the world at eye level. Or do we? Last week we focused on a downward perspective, which as seen from many of our photographs, is a familiar angle for parents interacting with their small ones. This week, we are shooting upward - this perspective can make something (or someone) small look disproportionately big, or if pointed high enough, may capture the wonder of vast skies or tall buildings. 

I figured that while we were in Pittsburgh visiting Grandma and Pow-Pow for the past week, there was no greater landmark to shoot from below than Heinz Field where the beloved Steelers play.  After several days of cloudy skies and MORE snow, the sun made its debut.  Swirling clouds and a vast blue sky made the perfect backdrop for the great stadium in a city filled with die-hard fans -- one of which was standing on the ground below.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.

Heinz Field

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Camera Position:  Shooting from Above {Week 20}

Our journey through the concepts of perspective is drawing to a close. After weeks of considering what are perhaps less traditional concepts of perspective - wide angle and long lenses, aspect ratio - we are spending our final two weeks on physical perspective in the form of camera position. This week, we are shooting from above. From standing atop buildings to standing over children, this is a fun assignment with a lot of room to be creative as we capture what all there is to see when looking down.

When the camera angle is located above the eyeline, often times the figure or object appears vulnerable while the image itself is more dramatic.  Below is a photograph of my son during our first trip to the dentist, so I guess you could say he was a bit vulnerable that day.  Shooting from above, I captured him resting his head against my leg, looking up, as if to say, "It's going to be okay, right Mom?".

My dear friend and fellow Photo 52 member, Jessie Wixon, pointed out that it was also a excellent photo for Valentine's Day since the both his eyebrows and his hairline make a perfect heart shaped face!

Happy Valentine's Day All!

Click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place. 

Letters to our sons | February

***I am so thankful to be a part of this blog circle "Letters to our Sons" with so many amazing photographers and moms.  In honor of our love for our little boys, we are posting a monthly image(s) along with a corresponding, heartfelt letter.  After reading my post, please click HERE to continue around the circle, starting with my very talented and good friend Jill Cassara.

"So, how many hats does Cash have?'" 

This is a question Pow-Pow often asks when we go and visit him and Grandma.  

"Well," I say, "quite a lot." 

 

Dear Cash, my son and wearer of many hats ~

You have been wearing hats since before you could walk --- heck, before you could talk!  At six months old you wore your first one; it was a newsboy hat and it was white, for your baptism.  I don't recall you keeping it on all that long that particular day, but by the time summer arrived three months later, you were hardly out and about without one.  On your first birthday that September, a family friend gave you a plaid newsboy hat that looked just like the Kangols Daddy always wears.  To this day, one of my all time favorite photos and the inspiration for me to dust off my camera and delve into photography again, is of you and Daddy in Central Park wearing your newsboy hats.  It makes my heart swoon.     

Just after your first birthday we made a trip to southern California.  By then you had several newsboy hats - plaid, houndstooth and pinstriped.  During a stroll through the village of San Clemente, we came across a black gingham porkpie that would become your signature hat - above all others.  From that point on you didn't go anywhere without your porkpie, drawing smiles and comments from passersby everywhere.  You have gingham, plaid and blue wooly ones for the the colder months and blue/white and black/grey straw ones for the warmer months.  Dad and I are still surprised to this day how attached you have become to your hats and how you fuss when someone takes it off your head.  It's no wonder that Jon Klassen's book,"I Want My Hat Back",  about a bear who has lost his hat and desperately wants it back, is one of your favorites.  Equally amusing to you is Klassen's sequel to the book, "This Is Not My Hat", about a fish that stole a hat and will probably get away with it, that Santa put under the tree for you this Christmas.

Christmas Eve 2013

"A hat is a flag, a shield, a bit of armor, and the badge of masculinity. A hat is the difference between wearing clothes and wearing a costume; it's the difference between being dressed and being dressed up; it's the difference between looking adequate and looking your best. A hat is to be stylish in, to glow under, to flirt beneath, and to make all others seem jealous over.  A piece of magic is a hat."   ~ M. Sliter

Above is a collage of photos of you wearing various hats throughout your first three years of life, which by the way, was an absolute joy to create.  To the left is the photo of you and Daddy that I cherish most of all, for reasons already mentioned.  Framed and prominently placed on our bookshelf, I find myself looking at it all the time.  

You are my little dapper don, my pint-sized aficionado whose hat wearing is a vital part of your personality and style.  Who knows if your little brother will become such a fan, but it was just this month that he started wearing your white newsboy hat - the first one you ever wore.

Hats off to you my son!  May you always be king of your own swagger.     

Love always and forever, 

Mom

Photo 52: Within the Frame

Perspective | Aspect Ratio 1:1 {Week 19}

The traditional square format is one of my favorite aspect ratios.  It is mostly used by medium format film cameras such as Hasselblads and toy cameras like the Holga and Diana.  A couple of manufacturers created square 35mm cameras with a negative size of 24mm x 24mm in the 1930's and 1940's, but the idea never caught on.  

Even though there are no square format digital cameras on the market, it has become quite a popular aspect ratio due in part to Instagram, iphoneography and the ease of post-process cropping.  Being an avid Instagrammer has really helped me in my ability to envision an image within a square when shooting with my digital camera.

Below are two of my favorites.  I think the contrast of my son's long limbs, balanced by negative space and all within the small square frame, works quite well.

Please click HERE to visit our collective blog, Who We Become, to see all of our images in one place.