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.

Our Christmas traditions begin

It's that time a year again. The pumpkins are no longer out, the turkey crafts are put away and the holiday music is all over my local radio. Christmas time is officially underway. For my family, we have traditions to last throughout the season but for us the past three years, the season has started with a trip to Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania to attend their "A Very Furry Christmas" event.

Every trip we start of with a visit to see Santa. We like to do that first to avoid the longer lines later in the day. In the past, Sesame Place utilized one of their poolside buildings to house Santa's Workshop. This year, although its in the same building, the Workshop is no longer there. As they have a private room behind closed doors for your visit with santa. This is much more private and a more enjoyable experience then in the past. If you have ever seen Santa at Macy's in New York City, its very much like that, just with out the 3 hour wait.

Many of the rides are open as well as many holiday themed shows. One of the rides we enjoy most is an electric train ride through the "twiddle bugs cookie factory". This year, however it was relocated to another area. This area seems to accommodate for a longer ride as the previous location is now used as a character meet and greet.

Every time we visit "A Very Furry Christmas" we attempt to get the same location to photograph the kids and hope to get at least one good photo to use for our Christmas card we mail out to our family and friends. The kids love the sleigh right outside Santa's workshop which makes taking the photo a bit easier on their mother and I.

So with that, here is the latest edition to the blog. Hope you enjoy it!

Christmas Time Is Here... At our local Zoo!

Every year, our local zoo, The Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, NJ decorates the for Christmas. They put up lights all around the fencing, add some additional light sculptures through the park and of course have special guest. Admission is free, however they ask that you bring some food for the needy. This is the first year my family and I ventured out to this event even though we have been to the zoo many times before in the summers. We packed up a bag a food, got the three kids ready, grabbed my camera bag and headed out the door. We left our house around 4:30 for a 5:00 PM opening. Traffic was horrendous and not just for this opening, but just general Jersey traffic. I tried to navigate around it with Google Maps but they just put be back the same road I was already on, so we just had to push our way through the traffic. Once we got to the main road the zoo is on, it was smooth sailing and arrive shortly after 5. To our surprise, it was a rather low attendance based on what we have heard. We we go there and made our way through the entrance we saw our local news team (CBS 2-New York) getting ready to film a news story with the local weather man. We made our way around the collective group of folks looking to get on TV. That was not our goal so we just snuck around and made our way through the park. I was surprised to see most of the animal still out as it was rather chilly. There where the alpaca's, a kangaroo, penguins of course and the barn was open to walk through to see the horse, pig and chickens. Along the way was came across the Monkey's, although they were not out, the entrance was lit up with Christmas lights. This is where our photo today comes from. I really like the way it came out, but of course i wanted to enhance it a bit.

Hope you like it!

Gotta Catch'em All!

My family and I gathered this weekend for my son's 5th birthday. He theme this year was Pokémon. His favorite character is Squirtle. We spend about 20 minutes at a boardwalk game this year trying to "win up" to the level the Squirtle he wanted. He was so happy that day. With Pokémon Go being such a hit, an influx of Pokémon toys have hit our local stores. He was unable to find a Squirtle toy he wanted, but found a Pokéball with a Pikachu figure. When the time came to help decorate for his party, he ran to his room and got some of his Pokémon toys decorate with. One he chose was the Pokéball with Pikachu. He had fun setting him up in different "catch" positions. He asked me to take a picture of his "decoration". This was one of my favorite pictures he set up!

Enjoy!

My Sister's Barn

By the title of this post alone, one would assume that today post is about a barn owned by my sister to which I happen to photograph the front of. One would assume that my sister asked me and my family up to her barn for the weekend to enjoy the crisp country air. Well I am sad to tell you this, but those assumptions are wrong. My sister did not invite me and my family up to her barn for the weekend to enjoy the crisp country, nor did she ask me to take photos of her barn. No my sister is not being selfish and keeping the barn all to her self... the fact is, my sister does not own this barn, or any barn for that matter. She lives in a suburban town in NJ with her son and husband. This however was a photo taken by my sister of a barn she was at for a birthday party. She posted the photo to facebook, to which I stole and edited it to what you see before you. So while i cannot take credit for the photo itself, I will take the credit for editing it to this dark, ominous effects.

Hope you enjoy it!

Lens flare in the corn field.

This holiday weekend (Columbus Day), my wife and I took our three kids apple and pumpkin picking. This has become our yearly tradition for about the past 3 years. We usually go earlier in the season but couldn't find the time until now. We venture out to a farm in Chester, NJ, called Riamede Farm. There are many "pick-your-own" choices out in this area of NJ, but this farm is perfect for our needs. There are no horse back rides, or carnivalesque games, just pick your own apples, pumpkins and other fruits and vegetables and small shoppe, which looks like it recently had a makeover. The farm is typically packed, but we went on a Monday and got there early, so the crowds where lighter, but on the way out, the crowds picked up. We spent about 3 hours there in total, which was enough time for us to walk through the apple orchard and walked around the pumpkin patch and corn fields.

On this trip I brought along my Canon T5 and used the 18-55mm Lens. New for this trip was my Neewer NW670 Flash and my Amazon Basics 60-inch tripod. It was a bit windy, but this tripod held its ground. Grant it, I did not have it fully extended, it was still very sturdy.

While walking though thew corn field, the sun was glaring behind the stalks. I thought this was a great opportunity to create a natural lens flare image. I had to use the manual focus, as the sun was causing the automatic focus to not focus in on where I wanted it. I really like how the sun helps add the drama to the photo. Final enhancements done via Perfect Effects 9.

From the Vaults: Sunrise in Paradise Island

In August of 2007, my wife and I took a trip to Bahamas, Paradise Island to be exact. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort called The RIU. It was located at the end of the Island right next door to the Atlantis Resort. Wwe went for a few days, just enough to get away from the business of New Jersey. At the time, there was no cell service so communication to the rest of the world was minimal. It was one of the most relaxing vacations we've ever taken. The resort was great with shows and entertainment and the pool. And private access to the beach. One of my goals during the trip was to catch a sunrise. On our last morning, we woke up and heading for the beach. Not only did i get picture of the sunrise but video too. It was amazing to see the sunrise along the Bahamian waters. I capture this photo by chance, I wasn't setting my wife up to be at the edge of the water, it just happened to come out that way. It turned out to be one of my favorite photos from our trip.

Hope you enjoy it

From the Vaults: Bushkill Falls

Back in 2003, before my wife and I had children, we took a trip out to Pennsylvania to Bushkill Falls, some call it "The Niagara of Pennsylvania". We have been to Niagara Falls too so I can attest to that statement. But unlike Niagara Falls, there is not just one massive fall of water, there any numerous smaller falls throughout the park. Bushkill Falls provides hiking trails which you can chose a challenge level. There are also multiple look out areas to view the large Pennsylvania hills. Then of course, like all attractions, a gift shop at the end. Surrounding the Bushkill Falls area, another attraction we stop at was Indian Echo Caverns. At Indian Echo Caverns, you take a walking trip through caves and explore the underground. It is a really cool adventure.

As you can imagine, photos a Bushkill Falls can come out great. Back in 2003, we had no iPhones or consumer-friendly D/SLR camera's. My photo-taking machine back then was a point-and-shot Fuji Finepix 3800. I will not go into the details of the specs of that camera, but it did its job and it did it well. Before our trip I researched some tips on how to obtain that amazing waterfall shot, you know the one where the water looks like its raging over the rocks below. The setting on the camera, shutter speed; the tip, slow it down and used a tripod. So that is what I did. To this day, I amaze myself with out great, I think, this photo came out.

Hope you like it!

Helping Hand

Last weekend we spent the afternoon at Sesame Place in Langhorne, PA. It's a short drive for us and we have season passes. I highly recommend the Season Pass for anyone within an hour of Langhorne. It's a quick ride and the season pass pays for itself quickly with all the discounts you get. Food, parking, gift shop plus other perks. On our prior trip to Sesame, my daughter wanted to try the tube slide. I walked her and my boys up to the tower. As I was helping my one son get situated on the slide, my daughter, Ms. Independent, tried to get on all by herself. By her doing this, she end up going almost head first, and got scared and needless to say, i brought her down the same way we went up.

On our recent trip she wanted to try it again but this time allowing me to help her get on the slide. On the way up, I asked my one son to hold her hand to help her get up the steps. If you read my past post, these two have love-hate relationship. When it's hate, its HATE, but when its love, its absolutely adorable.

Edits done with Moldiv for iOS.

Child's play comes to an end

As the summer comes to an end, it times to reflect on the fun time had by the kids. For us this summer was extremely hot. Play time outside was limited as we had multiple heat waves. Some lasting as long as a week.
With shade nearly non-existent in our backyard, dusk is the time for us to have the kids play outside. One of their favorite outdoor activities to do is the bouncy house. The kids love help setting it up and watch it quickly inflate and but sad when it just as quickly deflates. The other night we had the kids playing in the yard and the bouncey house made an appearance. As the kids were winding down from playing, I quickly snapped a photo of my daughter walking away from the house and towards my wife and I. I got a few others of her as well where she is looking us flashing her gorgeous smile but this one stood out to me. With a few edits, I believe it came to life.

Hope you enojoy it!