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!

Exploring Charlottesville - family walks

So, we got to Charlottesville ok, but needed to start exploring our new town! Of course, Evan and I know it quite well already, but it's one thing to remember locations from nearly 20 years ago, or from visiting for a day or two here and there since then - it's another thing to now live here! Plus, the kids don't know C'ville nearly as well as we do, so we wanted to take them on some local walks so they could really get to enjoy their new home.

We ventured to Walnut Creek Park, which is only a few miles south of our house. I'm always on the lookout for new places to walk, and it has a ton of trails. It turns out that, like a lot of the places I've found to walk in C'ville, these trails are actual woods trails, not paved, which is tough with all of the rain we've had (hello, mud!). But...when it dries out this summer (we hope!) they'll be fun to explore more.

We drove through Walnut Creek and explored a few of the paths, and also found the lake beach area that will be really fun to enjoy this summer!

Of course, you can't live in C'ville without walking around Grounds. UVa has perfect places to walk (when the sidewalks aren't overrun with students, that is), and the kids have really enjoyed our walks there (mostly because of getting Starbucks drinks from the Corner, I'm betting). The Lawn is just beautiful pretty much any time of day. This first sunset walk was a real stunner!

I've taken a lot of walks on Grounds in the past 4 months (it's probably my favorite place to walk so far). Mornings, evenings, even some mid-day...it's just a great place to walk, especially on the weekend when I can park for free on Grounds. And it does make for some stunning photos.

And don't worry - when we do these family excursions, we always bring Lucy with us! It's not always easy to keep her from getting too muddy/dirty, given all of the rain we've had, but she loves exploring with us.

In fact, I have a whole folder of photos on my computer now labeled "UVa" and the vast majority of those photos include Lucy. I'll have to do a post on those soon!

Beach 2017: UVA photo shoot

On our next-to-last night at the beach, we gathered up all 20 of us and headed out to the beach for a group photo shoot. We did this two years ago (and although I posted the group photo on FB, apparently I never posted it on the blog - oops!), and wanted to recreate it again this year. We had all packed UVA shirts for ourselves and the kiddos;I brought my blue & orange ground cover, my tripod and camera, and then it was photo time!


We decided to capture the kids first, as they were at their most cooperative then. Here's the best one I got of all of them together.

And of course the kids needed to be silly after I made them pose so nicely for me!

And then all of us! I only took two photos with the tripod, and they both turned out so well (although this one was my favorite) - we didn't have to take a ton! What a photogenic bunch we are :)

I then took family photos of each family. We have such photogenic friends! But I'm only going to post my family's here. Henry of course had to go to the bathroom right before it was our turn, so while Evan took him back to the house, Kathy grabbed a few pictures of Natalie and I. I love this one!

And my favorites of all 4 of us.

Then it was time for more photos on the beach!

My dancer can't go anywhere without practicing her leaping.

This inspired my friend Jason to do some leaping on the beach...and we then convinced all of the dads to do it together. I haven't laughed this hard in a LONG time. They were all such good sports! Unfortunately Evan can't be seen in this first one (he's leaping in the back) but wow, I love this photo so much.

Take 2! Not nearly as great as the first, but you can see Evan in this one.

To be fair, it was more like take 10 - the guys really did jump a bunch for our merriment. What great hubbies we have!

While we were entertained by the guys, the kids wandered some down the beach. We needed to corral them back, and so they started running at us. Definitely a good photo opp!

Exploring The Lawn

On Sunday after Foxfield, we split up from the rest of our friends to go spend some time on Grounds. Although I get to go to C'ville a few times for work, Foxfield is just about the only time of year that Evan is able to make it back. Since the weather was so nice, we didn't want to miss out on our chance to enjoy the lovely weather on Grounds (and get the kids' new UVA shirts too, of course).

The Rotunda is finally finished with its makeover! We first saw that on the east side of the Rotunda, the fountain was fully updated. The previous fountain (which often was non-functioning) was our third hole in frisbee golf...not sure that would be possible anymore, at least not without a pretty wet 'bee afterwards.

What a gorgeous day!

And a rather warm one, in case you couldn't tell from the pics below. 

But still, lots of fun to walk around together for a while.

Yay Charlottesville! Go Hoos!

A little time at UVA

As always, on the Friday before Foxfield, Evan and I headed down to Charlottesville a bit early so that we could spend some time on Grounds. Unfortunately, it was a pretty rainy, kind of chilly day (as it was at Foxfield the next day as well!), but we were able to find a bit of time where it wasn't raining and do some walking around.

Our first stop on the way to the Lawn was at Hume fountain, so the kids could check out the whispering wall.

I wanted to get a nice photo of Henry, and he gave me both of these. Love this little face!!!

 

Any time this kid can touch water, she's a happy camper :)

We then headed over to the Lawn, where they obliged me with some super cute pics...this one being my favorite!

And then showed me some dance moves :)

Lastly, we went walking through a few Lawn gardens, and I grabbed these two photos. Loved the early spring tulips

...and I had a lot of fun editing this photo to make it look like the sun was coming through, even when it wasn't!