Chairs and Nostalgia

At the beginning of this week's assignment I would not have thought that the topic of chairs would invoke intense feelings of nostalgia.  What I realize now is that #1, we do a lot of important things sitting down, and #2 you really can tell a story through a simple picture. 

Image By: Erin Hautop

 

When Vicki made the assignment last week, I thought that I would struggle with finding something to photograph. I am not particularly creative (hence the need for these challenges :) and how do you photograph a chair and make it relevant? I then realized that I have been sitting in the same chair since Aug 1st, and this would be my last week sitting in that chair from the sidelines of football practice. For any parent (or former player) out there who is familiar with Pop Warner football, I am sure that you will all sympathize with my sadness (and joy) in the passing of the season. The boys played their bowl game this Saturday. It was an awesome game and I expected everyone to be thrilled and happy at the end...man was I wrong! The boys collectively cried, not because the team had lost (we tied against a much higher ranked team) but because the season was over! Despite the daily two hour long practices in the heat for the entire month of August, despite the bruises and cuts from learning to hit in their first season in pads, despite grueling conditioning, and despite the intense commitment they all were so very sad for it to be over! I still am not sure, as a mother, what I think about the fact that I let my 6 year old play tackle football but I can tell you that both he and the rest of the kids on the team LOVED it. My husband says that there is something about the bond on a football team that is so strong...something about going into "battle" together or some other gibberish, but whatever it is it happens at a very early age. I would like to say that it has more to do with the amazing kids, coaches, and parents on our team! All I know is that, like my son, I will also miss sitting on the sidelines in my camping chair watching these practices. Thanks for a great season and wonderful memories...Bulldogs Tiny Mite Black!!

 

 

Images By:  Vicki Hautop





 

The clock in my son's room reads 2am when my ideas for this week's challenge came to me.  I had already taken what I thought would be my "chair" picture.  I wasn't thrilled with it; it lacked emotion.  As I am rocking the littlest Hautop back to sleep my mind is running through ways to make it work.  One thought leads to another and then to the realization that you can't force emotion into a photograph.  You have to photograph the emotion in its natural state.  Now this first picture of my rocking chair may not scream of feelings to everyone.  But for me, it is the chair that I have spent more time in than any other over the past 4 and a half years.  It is the chair that I have slept in, laughed in, cried in, dreamed in, sang in....the list goes on.  It encompasses more personal emotion than any other.  I look over and the clock says 3:30am.  And I now have a flood of ideas to scribble down.  Apparently, this is also the chair where I do my best thinking.

My second picture this week is a bit silly, but a scene that plays out almost every night at dinner.  "All little ghosts and witches to the table!"  And as if he were a circus elephant for Barnum & Bailey, Charleston hops right up.  I suppose I have treated him like my first born.  So why wouldn't I also be talking to him?  The kids laugh and eat a little faster with big brother close by.  I don't think he has a preference for any one chair.  He'll pretty much do this any chance he gets. 

 

 

 

Ok readers, here we are again at the beginning of the week.  For challenge #3 we are borrowing an exercise from click it up a notch; one subject, many vantage points. So, you will see several pictures next week :-)  Thanks again for reading!  Comment below or send us an email with suggestions!  hautopblog@gmail.com.  We would love to hear from you!

 

 

A grandparent's love!

As many of you know, I have an absolutely amazing family!  And by amazing, I mean that the whole extended family gets along better than I could have ever dreamed possible.  My parents, my in-laws and my sister-in-law's in laws (goodness that's a mouth full:) all get together for beach trips.  At Thanksgiving we take the whole crew (around 25 of us) to the beach for  a week long crazy fest!!  It is a blast!  So, that makes me super lucky to have so many willing, and beautiful subjects to photograph as I practice my photography.  Last week I met up with my nieces and nephew with their incredibly loving grandparents, Joe and Michele, at a neighborhood lake!  We had so much fun playing at the lake and watching the children's innocence and joy!  Thanks guys for the chance to capture this moment!

The Beauty of Orange

It's another beautiful Monday morning and Vicki and and I are excited to share our week long adventure capturing the color orange. 

The images above were taken by the very talented Vicki and here is what she had to say..

For this week's topic (the color orange) I enlisted the help of the kids.  They're good at "I Spy" so why not incorporate a little family fun into Mommy's weekly challenge.  And as you can imagine, asking someone to spy the color orange this time of year usually begins with a pumpkin.  They are everywhere so it's an easy target.  Hence my first picture, the pumpkin.  :)  Remembering my lesson from last week I decided to shoot from a low perspective.   You know, it's just a large piece of fruit.  Yes that right, fruit.  I had to google this but since pumpkins grow on a vine and have seeds, they are fruit.   You really can learn something new every day.  Back to the picture.  So I like the low angle of this picture.  It looks like you can actually feel the warm afternoon sun beating down.  My f2.8 lens is still fairly new to me so I also wanted to practice with depth of field.  For this I focused on the top of the pumpkin's skin hoping to blur out my over grown grass in front and my neighbor's house in back.   For the second picture I wanted something a little less obvious.  So I had the kids walk around and try to find something that was a smaller representation of the color orange.  Leaves, no.  Flowers, no.  Neighbor's pumpkin, no.  Car headlights, YES!  The littlest Hautop brought this to my attention as being the color "lellow".  He's still working on his color recognition and pronunciation of most words.  Cute, but hopefully a stage he moves through quickly.  My days are like a never ending game of 20 questions.  So picture #2.  I liked his idea of of the headlight.  It gave me a different shape to photograph and it was a bit of a challenge to not see a reflection of my camera in the glass.  I like the detail in the light and his tiny little fingers.  Again I kept a f2.8 focus to bring your eyes straight to the point at which he is touching the light.  Certainly not the coolest picture I've ever taken but I like the way it turned out. 

The above images were taken by Erin, and here is what I have to say...

This week is actually an exercise in selfishness rather than one in creativity.  I spent the week trying to take that fun and creative shot but in the end decided that what I wanted more than anything were some pictures of my children in this beautiful fall weather, wearing orange of course!  My decision was influenced by a conversation I had with the wife of a very talented photographer.  She told me that her husband stays so busy with his clients that he has very little time to photograph their children and most often she resorts to using her iPhone to capture their precious moments.  I was surprised, but at the same time I could understand how easily that can happen.  So, once again I am subjecting you to seeing pictures of my children :-)  Both shots were taken in the evening in our backyard.  I love the way that early morning and late afternoon light glows. 

Thanks for spending a few minutes ignoring work and checking out the blog!  Next week's topic is chairs.  Inside, outside, upside-down....said in my best Dr. Seuss rhyming voice.   Until next time, if anyone out there has a weekly challenge suggestion or wants to submit a photo just send us an email. hautopblog@gmail.com.  We would love to hear from you!

Mountcastle, party of 3!

There is nothing more exciting than the arrival of a new baby.  It is the most precious little gift anyone can receive.  I was beyond excited to have Kristin and Dustin ask me to photograph Miss Ella at only 3 weeks old.  She has already proven to be a calm and sweet baby.  And did I mention she is gorgeous?!? 

K&D, I wish you many happy nights of lullaby singing and days filled with laughter.  Thank you for letting me join you on this morning.  It was truly a special treat!  xoxo, Vicki

 

 

 

A mother, her son, and new granddaughter.

 

 

A push towards creativity!!

Good Monday morning to you!  Things around here are certainly buzzing, as I'm sure they are for you.  I actually always like Monday mornings.  A fresh start to a new week, a new outfit (or two) to wear from a weekend of shopping, and let's be honest....my kids are back in school from what is usually a very long Saturday and Sunday.  :)  

After our photography workshop with the very talented Abigail Seymour, Erin and I decided to add a new piece to the blog.  We feel we need to "up our game" in the creativity category.  It is very easy to find yourself taking pictures that are often composed in the same light and style.  That being said, we are starting a weekly challenge that should take our images to the next level!  Each week we will take a new look at how we snap photos; putting on our thinking caps and getting out of our comfort zone. 

This week we focused on taking images from a low perspective.  Instead of standing at eye-level we took our pictures from the ground up!  Here's what we came up with.....

Above images taken by Erin.  Here's what she had to say....
I was so excited about starting this new challenge and ready to grab my camera and get out there and start clicking away. Sadly, life managed to get in the way this week so here I am Sunday night finishing my pictures! Ugh! Despite all the hang ups, I really do think that I managed to learn a lot from the assignment this week. I wanted to learn more about photography because I want better pictures of my family and friends. I want to create memories that I will hold onto and cherish, and I want them to be worthy of hanging on the wall :-) But when I first picked up the camera this week, I went out and started taking pictures of all sorts of things in the backyard. Like the first one of the kids rock climbing wall, although I do love the effect using the low f stop (2.8) had on the image. But, I finally had to stop myself and remember that I want to create memories. So while the kids were playing in the front yard I decided to take my chance to grab the camera and click away. These images, while not perfect, are them doing the things they love! In the image of my daughter, I love that getting low to the ground (scratch that, I was laying belly down on the ground with her on a little hill), made her look even larger than life as she stretched to the sky. I also took some time to goof around in photoshop to try and figure out how to make the sky look a little more blue. Not sure that I love it but you have to start somewhere or you will never learn!! As for the one of my son, he LOVES to climb the tree and I have never taken a chance to photograph him doing this favorite activity. Then I used a free photoshop action that I downloaded from the pioneer lady (70's effect) and thought it made the image a little more fun.  

Above images taken by Vicki.  Here's what I have to say.  :)
Man, oh man do I need these weekly challenges.  I would like to self-identify as an aspiring, creative type.  Thanks to Pinterest and this blog, I'm headed in the right direction.  My favorite thing about photography is that it is a record of life.  So my pictures are reflections of how I spent my time this week.  The first picture is of my little munchkins.  They were watching the landscapers outside and for some reason felt the need to try and climb up the window?!  So rather than stop them or rush to help, I naturally grabbed my camera.  Not sure what that says about my parenting skills, thankfully this isn't that kind of blog.  Anyway, I really like the light coming in through the window and the overall playfulness of the scene.  The next picture was taken at one of my favorite places, my beloved hair salon.  :)  I'm sure you can just picture the chatter and laughter going on!  I love how this is the only place where it is completely acceptable to talk about nothing for hours.  If you're in the Charlotte area and looking to get 'yo hair did, check out Lisa, Sara, or Dennis.   As for the technical aspects of my pics this week....nothing too crazy.  No editing or filters were applied. 

Ok guys, that's it for this post!  Week #2 starts today and is focused on the color orange.  That shouldn't be too hard given the time of year.  :)  Tune in next Monday to check out what we've done!  And in the meantime, if anyone out there has a weekly challenge suggestion or wants to submit a photo just send us an email.  hautopblog@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!!

My sister's beautiful family

I had fun playing with my awesome niece and nephew at a park and taking some fun pictures at the same time.  Also took the chance to try a few new things with photoshop and fell in love with a pretty faded look.  Here are just a few of my favorites...

Erin