Holden's First Christmas

The other night my wife was on Pinterest, and like most users of Pinterest, she saw an idea and had to execute it. In the past, and sadly like most, we were victim of Pinterest-Fail.

She was looking for some creative ideas to celebrate our son's First Christmas and came across ideas of babies in baskets in front of a tree. She went out the next day to find a basket and ten o'clock at night she's painting and gluing. The next day she starts her attempt at Pinterest-Success.

Holden got dressed and stuffed into the basket and away we went. I must say, he was very cooperative and had fun. He made this look easy. We got many photos of him but a few stood out from the rest. One particular... He has what I am describing as a Mona Lisa smile. He's happy, maybe, either way I think he looks adorable. I really like how taking out the color for the most part makes him and the tree stand out in.

Hope you enjoy the photo and Merry Christmas!

Holden... Just Holden

So since I last posted on September 13, my wife and I were fortunate to have welcomed our newest family member to the world, Holden Jackson.

Holden was born on September 16th, 2017 at 11:29 in the morning. He is welcomed by Mom, Data, and three older siblings (big brothers Chase [9] and Blake [5] and big sister Kendall [4]). While mom and dad are overjoyed with Holden, the older siblings claim to be happy.

Holden fun facts

• Born at 8.7 lbs and 20.25 inches long, he is the largest (by weight) of my four kids.
• Holden enjoys screaming when not sleeping (though he is hopefully growing out of that)
• Master at quickly waking up his parents just as they pass out for the day.
• He dislikes rides in his car seat
• Has a sensitive tummy, try keeping his from spitting up.
• Has the best hair I have ever seen on a new born.
• A really cool fact is that Holden shares a birthday with is first cousin Kelli. What makes this such a cool fact is that Holden sister, Kendall, shares a birthday with Kelli's brother Frankie (February 22)

Look forward to more photos of Holden the future!

SummeRain, and the rainin' is easy

The Summer season brings as much fun as it does rain around here. Rain showers exit as quickly as they enter. Some a bit strong then others. When they come with a force, the little ones get a little worried, but are easily calmed with the thought of a rainbow shortly after the last cloud rolls out. This is the type of weather that can make for amazing photographs. The overcast of the clouds yes the sun still letting you know he is there.

Just as this storm cleared out, I grabbed my camera and ran outside to see if the rainbow promise I made to my kids could be fulfilled.. minimally. The rainbow as quickly as it appeared, started to fade. Although the rainbow failed to impress, the strong storm that just passed left a few of its friends on my storm door. As the wind was picking up, I knew these drops won't last for long...Click goes the shutter.

Series: Wildwood | Part 2

In part two of my Wildwood, NJ Series, I will shift focus slightly to Cape May. As we have done in the past, my family and I went on a dolphin sight-seeing cruise. We leave out of Wildwood Crest and head south to New Jersey most southern point, Cape May. Along the way, we say dolphins (obviously otherwise the titled cruise "Dolphin Sight Seeing Cruise" would have been a let down). I also spotted a horse shoe crab in the water, not sure if it was dead or alive, and being so far south, you can even see the shore line of Delaware.

While in Cape May waters, you'll pass by Sunset Beach, legendary hotels, the famous Cape May Lighthouse and you can even see an the SS Atlantis, an old WWI concrete ship decaying in the salt water. Each time we go, I try to capture the Cape May Lighthouse in different angles. At the right angle, you can catch the Saint Mary's by the Sea retreat house, a summer retreat house for the Sisters of St. Joseph, lining up perfectly with the lighthouse. When you see it, you'll say "oh yeah, I've seen that before" while not realizing what it was. I tried to capture that image as best I can, moving on a boat, I got close to perfect alignment I was hoping for, but not exact.

So that is it for part 2 in the Wildwood series. Hope you enjoyed it.

Series: Wildwood | Part 1

I thought it would be fun to do something a bit different. Instead of posting a talking about a random photo, I figured I put a series together and maybe do more in the future. A few weeks ago, my family and I headed down to Wildwood, NJ. To read my write up on Wildwood, head here. We had a great time with great weather. While down there, I took some photos that allowed me to be creative with. Over the course of then next week or so, I will highlight a new photo.

First up... this is actually a photo I took on our last trip in 2015. But it went unnoticed until now. As far as editing to goes, this is really the first time I put words, filters and borders together. While waiting on a boat for our dolphin cruise to being, I was in awe at the surround landscape between the docks, nature and homes. I really like how the editing of this photo came out with the blue and the grain filter. Hope you like it as well.

Keep an eye out for more photos as part of my Wildwood Series.

Sweetest Sweet 16!

March 30th, 2001... It was the day my first niece was born. Gianna Marie. I am fortunate enough to call this beautiful baby my God Daughter.

In April, family and friends gathered for a Sweet 16 party for Gianna. Of course I attended with camera in hand and was ready for the night. Between my brother and I, we capture the night with our Canon's. This is one of my favorite photos captured. If I recall, I caught Gianna off guard and quickly snapped the photo.

As a baby she was adorable, as a young woman she is beautiful!

Hope you enjoy!

First Holy Communion

It is that time of the year again. The cold weather subsides (well at least it attempts to. It's been a pretty chilly start to Spring here in New Jersey), the grass is getting greener, flowers waking up. It is also that time of year for little boys and girls to make their First Holy Communion. This year, I was asked by some friends if I would take photos of their daughter before hand. I was honor and thrilled to do so.

I was where able to get some really great photos both inside and out. I put this collage together to showcase a few.

Enjoy!

Baby boy on the way

Come September 2017, there will be another one of me running around. Until then, I get to take fun pics like this one of my kids as we look forward to the new arrival. On March 25th, 2017 we threw a gender-reveal party for our family and friends to share the moment when we all find out the sex of our fourth child. It was a surprise not only to our family and friends but ourselves as well. We had a cake made by a local bakery. The cake was to be filled with either a blue or pink middle layer of frosting, obviously the color would represent the gender, blue for a boy or pink for a girl.

Before our guest arrived, we wanted to take some pictures of us and our kids with some colored balloons. We attempted to take the photos in our front yard, but with the seasons changed from really cold to just bearably cold and a snow storm just a little while ago, the scenery was not very satisfying. So we quickly jumped in the car, I grabbed my photo equipment and the balloons and we headed to a nearby park.

My wife chose the location of the bridge, which I agree was a great location. I not being one to like holding people up trying to cross the bridge, I quickly attempted to get all the photos done. We took a few photos with pink balloons and some with blue. At this point we still have not cut out cake so we did not know what we were having. When all was said and done, cake was cut we found out we will be having a boy. This will make it 3 boys to 1 girl in the house. May youngest son was ecstatic while my daughter was a bit upset that she will remain the only girl. I have a great photo showing the my son's "victory is sweet" reaction versus my daughters "the agony of defeat" reaction. I'll have to post that one day.

While I was going through the shots of the kids on the bridge with the balloon, I was focused mainly on the "blue balloon" photos, as that was more relevant at this time. None of those came out as well as the "pink balloon" photo did. I figured this is where creativity needs to play. The photo below is actually a photo of the kids holding a pink balloon. With color replacement tools in Paint Shop Pro, i was able to make the pink balloons blue.

Hope you enjoy my photo and its story

Stalks in the Blur

I got my Canon T5 in the summer of 2015. When I first got my camera I took it to work with me the building I work in has a nice pond in the front and a walking path around the pond. On my lunch break, I headed out with my camera to see what I can capture. Along the end of the pond, there is numerous plants and stalks. As I was looking straight on toward my building, I stalk sticking straight up. I opened up my aperture and shot away. I was amazed with what the stock lens was able to capture. There was not blurred added this this photo post-shot. This photo was taken in 2015 and still remains one of my favorite shots.

Hope you enjoy it!

All Along the Watertower

This photo was take some time ago... I was on my way to work and I have cross over a bridge. Not a long bridge less than a football field long. Underneath that bridge is an unused railway. The bridge is constructed from concrete and steel. At one end of the bridge is a busy intersection and at the other end is a traffic light, so odds are you when crossing it, you will be stopped along the way. when I was stopped just as the incline of the road met the flattened out segment, I looked to the left and see this picturesque view. The only camera I had on me at the time was my iPhone 6. Just before I had to advance the traffic behind me I was able to take a quick photo of my view. Utilizing some iOS software I was able to enhance the photo to what you see below. This may be not be typical New Jersey photo some would expect from seeing typical New Jersey photos.

Hope you enjoy todays post!

Blurry is Beautiful

A rule of photography is to always keep your subject focused if nothing else. But you know what they say about rules, they are meant to be broken.

Sometimes you intend to make a subject out-of-focus for reasons like, depth or photo dramatics. For me though, it happens by chance. Actually with this photo I knew a focused shot would be difficult due to the lack of a tripod, amount of people around me and my well known lack of patience. However, i still really like the way this photo came out. Even though it is 100% out of focus, you can still read the photo and understand what's happening. You can tell that the photo the was taken in a pack or some sorts and a fireworks display was put on. This was actually at Sesame Place on New Year's Eve, 2016. The park just finished up their nightly parade, and they put on a fireworks display that was much better than I anticipated. It was very comparable to a Disney World "Wishes" fireworks show. My family and I were very pleased with the entertainment and will definitely try to attend another fireworks event by them.