Welcome folks,

Today I am going to indulge in a shameless self promotion of a book. Well really it’s more a promotion for my Mother’s new book. She has worked for over a year to write a children’s book which was based on actual events during her child hood. But today I am promoting her book in hopes that you can take a moment and review the book and her site. If you find the book interesting and you can find it in your budget this would make a great addition to your library.  The book involves a little girl and her friends that make up the Shady Oak Gang. This is the first book and adventure that the Shady Oak Gang will endeavor on. You can find her book at her site at Shirley Woodruff or click the link below. 

Thank you again for my shameless self Promotion of my Mother first book.

Product Details:

· Paperback: 107 pages
· Binding: Perfect
· Published: April 2007
· Product Number: 98957739

Order book online

I have been doing photography for about 10 years now off and on.  Family, Friends and work mates have ask me from time to time about equipment, technique and just basic help on how to photograph their kids or animals. I am not a professional by any means but I have learned from doing so I decided to put together five tips to help you get better results when shooting photos of your kids.

When we want to post pictures for our family and friends to see we want live actions shots as nobody stays interested in portraits.  Most of the tips are how to take live action photographs and making the most of your camera.

Tip #1:  Be ready to shoot at any moment.

To be blunt you have to pay attrition to the kids and the fun but not necessarily be part of the fun. In order to get that great shot you need to be watching all the time because Kids move fast and you won’t have time to get ready for the shot. If you want that special shot you can’t be the life of the party or event, you will need to become part of the background noise.  You will be watching the kids play or just sitting and watching tv or playing video games. A kid will run through a range of emotions just playing a game so you can get great images by watching and learning their reactions.  In time you will see the emotions coming and will be ready to shoot. You will have to wait and be patient because you can’t force the shoot but It will come to you if you just wait and watch. So have the camera ready and watch, learn and shoot. if you do you will be amazed how many great shots you will get in a simple setting like watching TV or playing a game.

Tip#2:  Don’t force them to pose

Ever wonder how some people get that perfect smile or that quirky look that kids have? Well it doesn’t come from forcing a pose by the kids. If you try to force the smile or look you will only end up making you and the child mad and that makes for bad photographs and you still won’t have the shots you were trying to get. Watch and learn their body language it only takes a few minutes and then you will see it coming and that is the key. Seeing it coming is you’re warning to get the camera to you face and ready to shoot. Waiting until you see the smile is too late and you will miss the shot most of the time. Kids are smarter than you think and they know what you’re up to and if you force the pose they will make it impossible to get. So don’t force the pose and learn by watching their body language for that perfect smile with camera ready.

Tip#3:  Get down to their level

This technique is often over looked because most of us are lazy. We just want to point and shoot our way to the next photo and move on but by shooting that way you are missing out on the best shots. Shooting down on an already short person creates a perspective of looking down on them. Get down on bended knee and shoot at their level so when they look at you it is at eye level and not looking up at you.  When you shoot standing and they look your way they will be looking up and you will get a fake smile and stretched neck and that does not make for a great photo.  You need to get down to their level on bended knee or sitting on your butt. I know it’s hard and a pain but the images are well worth the effort.

 Tip#4: Image for the ages

We don’t always want live action images of our kids so one type of photo is a growing photo. Remember when kids drew a line in a door jam and marked it each year so they would know how tall they were from year to year well this is the same concept. Find a special location and start taking photographs of the child or person each year at that location and take more photos. You don’t have to use the same pose and its better you don’t but find something in the background that will give perspective to the person which acts just like the line in the door jam. Now you have a time line that shows the changes of the child or person from year to year. This is good for sports teams and events where they attend from year to year.

Tip#5 Point and Shot vs. SLR Cameras

I hear all the time I just have a point and shot camera not one of them fancy high dollar cameras and that’s why my shots aren’t as good. Well that’s not true your Point and Shoot can take beautiful pictures all it take is a different approach to shooting. The big fancy SLR camera has an advantage and this is a telephoto lens. The SLR with a telephoto lens allows you to stay way back and almost blend into the background so the kids don’t see you taking pictures. You can achieve the same type photos but you have to be closer to the action. You almost need to blend in the crowed instead of away from the crowed. If the kids are sitting in the grass playing game or talking you can sit down beside them a few feet back and get great shots. This takes a few time of doing before you get comfortable being that close to the kids and not disrupting them. It can be a challenge sometime because we are parents and want to correct them if something is said or done. But if you let them be you can get a great shot so stay close to the action and use bended knee to get a great shot. The SLR has its advantages but you can obtain just as many beautiful photos with a little practice and patience.

So there go five easy tips to making moments that last. I am sure if you just take the time to learn about your camera and learn the body language of the kids you too can take memorable pictures for all to see.

Hell ya I am and I am ready for Jaguar Football. Well it’s that time again it football season and I am looking forward to another season of fun in the sun.  I am not your full on football fan in fact aside from the Jaguars I really don’t care who wins. I have found through the years that football for me is not just the game. It’s the game in the stadium, the fans and the smell of the food that draws me to the games during the season.

I remember the first Jaguar game I went to it was something I won’t soon forget. I had been to the stadium before to see other events but I had never seen a pro football game and I could not wait. When you watch a game on TV it looks so colorful and the fan standing, yelling, high fiving just makes you want to be there and in the middle of all the fun. So we walked up to the gate and the lady took my ticket and scanned it and told me to enjoy my day. Once in the gate the world seem to change just a bit. I now had entered a world of football fans and they are like aliens from another world if you’re not use to seeing them in their element. They love their team and they will show it in so many different ways that your head just keeps pivoting back and forth until you feel dizzy. I headed in and there were booth setup with people giving stuff away and there was a course for the kids to play in. they could kick the football through the uprights. They could run and catch a pass from a throwing machine. They tried the endurance course and loved every minute of it and I had a smile on my face just enjoying watching them play. I then took the stairs up to the level where my seat was and there was yet more fans have a good ole time and giving high fives and the game had not even started yet.

Ok now the next part was something that will stick with me for a long time because it just had that kind of impact. I walked down the hallway that opened up to the field. Now this hallway was all concrete and seem to go up as you walked through it. Then you seem to just pop out into the wide open and there was the field and all the seats inside the stadium. There is was an awesome feeling as my eye took in everything it saw. It was bigger than I thought and the people were louder then I could imagine. There were players on the field and coaches helping them work out. There were vendors selling soda, beer, peanuts and cotton candy. The smells were as memorable as the sight of the field itself. Now I cannot express in any way how it feels to see the sights the first time I just do know how to express it correctly. But when you get that feeling you know it and don’t forget it. Now mind you this is before the game has even started this is just the walk to my seat.

Standing there at my seat I watch the people on the field buzz around like ants working in a hurry. Balls were flying, kicking and catching all over the place and the fans started to pack it in. the crowed starts to settle and then somebody with a beautiful voice starts to sing the national anthem and I pulled off my hat.  By the second verse a low tone of the crowed started to sing with the voice. The lyrics were being displayed on the jumbotron and the crowed started to get louder as the song progressed. I could feel my hart start to swell with patriotism as the singer came to the crescendo of the song and the crowd cheered as she held the last note. Then without warning a loud screaming noise came over my head from 4 jets that flew over the stadium with afterburners blasting through the sky. The wave of emotions that falls over you at the moment is something special and something you just can’t express. All  I knew was I had a great feeling inside one that I didn’t even know existed and this is just a football game I thought to myself then I settled into my seat and watched the kick off and the game started and so did my love for the Jaguars football. If you have never been to a game you should do yourself a favor and just go to one. It just might leave you with a lasting memory like it left me.

Go Jags!!!!

  

 

Star wars fans have long known that Darth Vader is the Dark Side at it best but even Darth Vader has his Weekness. This underground video shows how to take down the Vader.

The credit for this video goes to  SreAlbatap from which i got the link.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SreeAlbatap

Virginia Senator John Warner has asked the Energy Secretary to consider nationalizing the speed limit to 55 miles per hour.

Well this will be my first Rant on my new site and it has to do with high cost of fuel prices and the stupid people we have elected to office. I read an article today or yesterday I forget which but that is where the title of this rant came from.

Virginia Senator John Warner wants to set the national speed limit to 55 miles per hour. Now John Warner gives some good reasons why we should do this but he misses the only one that counts. It’s easy for our elected officials to sit up there and tell us what we need to do to save gas. But what we need our elected officials to do is get the price back down to a manageable rate based on our current cost of living.

You see I only think we should set the current speed limit to 55 MPH if they set the gas prices to let say $2.65 a gallon. I mean if we have to slow down to save gas then they should have to lower the price of gas to adjust for our speed savings. What’s the point of wasting time slowing down if the gas prices are going to stay at the same prices or worst go up because if we are saving gas and not buying then the whole supply and demand problem comes into effect? If you lower the demand then they will raise the price and we will be spending more money at slower speeds for the same gas it just don’t add up.

You can say by slowing down you will save some gas because that what happen when you slow down your car’s motor burns less gas but how does that help the fact you paid on average over $60.00 to fill up your car, truck or SUV and if you drive 55 you may get an extra day or so before stopping to spend another $60.00 to fill up again. You see it’s not the amount of gas we use that matters it the amount we pay for that gas that matters and we don’t want to pay $60.00 + to fill up.

If you want to make me happy get it back down to at least $2.50. Ya I heard you snicker and laugh because you think it can’t be done.  It can be lowered we just don’t have the will to make it happen anymore and the best idea our elected officials can come up with is slow down. Great that really helped wallet Mr. Warner.

So you ask why he would suggest such a think if it’s not a good idea. Well I didn’t say I was not a good idea it’s just not a good idea to solve the high cost of gas. If you look at it through his window it’s a great idea. Think about it how many tickets will be written because of people not being able to drive at 55 mph on the highways. The cops will be up to their butts in ticket books and the state will rake in money so now you have to pay the sixty buck to fill up and two hundred dollar speeding ticket to boot. So it’s a great idea for state of Virginia and more expense to you and me.  

Cheap gas is the only answer at this point and all the green cars in the world will not ease the cost that we are pouring out of our pockets. The cost to own and drive a green car is not going to ease the cost it’s the same just different technology but still the same expense to you and me.

If you’re old enough to have been around in the 70’s you know we are not having a gas supply problem in this country so the high price is not justified for that reason alone. They say it’s a supply and demand problem but we don’t see lines or stations out of gas but we see the high price continue to climb, makes you think there are other motives at play here but we knew that anyways.

So I say it’s not supply and demand stupid, it’s demand supply with lowered prices.