Foxfield 2019

In catching up on events from last spring, how could I have nearly forgotten about Foxfield?!

This year, we had absolutely lovely weather. We were due after so many terrible years, weather-wise, out of the past 6 or so! Either ridiculously cool and rainy, or WAY too hot. This year was juust right.

I managed to corral almost all of the kids together for a photo before leaving for the event (Rosie was being stubborn and didn't want to come out). Aren't they all so cute in their hats? And also ever so slightly old fashioned and creepy?

I seriously loved Henry's old man cardigan and hat this year. Since it's so hard to get him to dress up EVER, this made me so happy.

 

So then, Foxfield! Horses! Food! Drinks! Much fun in the sun!

We Old Ladies, getting our annual photo. Sadly Beta couldn't make it this year, but she was with us in spirit!

And then Old Ladies with our brood! There's a lot more of them than their used to be, and they are a heck of a lot bigger. Zabby is taller than me!

And the obligatory family photo, of course! Unfortunately this was the best one, and it does have the bus behind us, but in all the others someone had their eyes closed or was making a dumb face, so, bus photo it is!

This year, as happens every few years, Foxfield was on Evan's birthday! So he got an extra special Foxfield cake.

 

As always, a lovely day with our friends made even easier for us by living here in C'ville now, and getting to go home after! Next year will be WAY more fun when we can host all of our friends at our house (they rented a house, as see in the top photos). We can't wait!

My photos of UVA

In my previous post, I showcased favorite photos that the kids took while we walked around UVA on a spring afternoon. Now, I get to share my favorites that I took, and I think the timing is great since the students are moving back in this weekend! I've enjoyed the quiet of the summer, and miss being able to walk unimpeded through Grounds, but it's also nice to see it come back to life.

I've taken to shooting in both RAW and JPEG so that I have the RAW files if I ever have time to edit/process them, but I'm also focusing on camera settings so that I don't HAVE to process them afterwards; I'm happy with how they look straight out of camera. This was a batch that I did not have the energy to edit, and didn't really feel the need to!

She's such a pretty subject. And capturing her eyes without needing to edit is hard! Thankfully I think I'm getting the hang of it.

 

The kiddos were so cute. I loved capturing them capturing their favorite images.

Henry out there did understandably give me some pause...he was a bit precarious! But Evan was nearby, just out of camera view, ready to intervene. Plus, he was so excited to shoot from that perspective, it was hard to say no.

And I love this one of N and I taking photos of each other!

I really love getting to share photography with the kids. Natalie is reaching the point where she wants to learn more about composing an image, what she can do with the camera, etc. Henry still just wants to take photos without any interference from me, which is fine! But I'm hoping I can teach him a few things down the road too.

Kid Photographers: At UVA

Back in the spring, we took a family excursion to UVA to walk Lucy. Not unusual for us anymore, right? But this time was a bit different in that part of the reason we chose to walk there was because the kids both wanted to take some photos and we knew it would be a great place for them to find fun things to photograph.

Henry used my slightly fancy point-and-shoot camera. I believe it was set to auto, and it has a pretty good auto adjustment in terms of ISO and focus. I sat down with him after putting them all on my computer, and he picked out a few of his favorites for me to share here.

MY favorite photo of Henry's wasn't one of his favorites, but I'm sharing it anyway. I am really impressed with how STRAIGHT the lines are in this photo! I didn't edit it at all. Nice job kid!

Natalie was shooting with my Canon Rebel, which she's used once or twice before. It has a non-kit lens attached to it currently which lets her do some good zoom, and it does take better photos than the kit lens (better glass). Here are her favorites that she chose after looking through everything.

My favorite photo of hers was also from when she shot through the tree branches. A good photographer knows sometimes you have to climb into a tree to get the shot you want! I just love these colors and patterns.

Since this class, Natalie has taken a photography summer camp and is now saving up to buy my Rebel camera from me - I'm giving her a great deal :) She even set up a photo studio in her bedroom yesterday and took some photos. I love that she's enjoying this as a hobby!

Contemporary on the floor

After Natalie's summer dance classes were over (they have a 6 week session prior to the 3 week intensive that she is currently 2/3 of the way through), Charlottesville Ballet sent us parents whose daughters were in the summer contemporary class a video of one of the floor routines they were working on. It's a bit repetitive, as they were really practicing getting the motions correct going both left and right across the floor. So, I cut it down to show just the movement, as I thought it was really love especially with the music.

As I said, Natalie has spent the past two weeks in a 7 hour a day dance intensive, and I know at the show this Friday they're going to show us multiple pieces, including a contemporary, that they've learned. I'm really looking forward to seeing it!