Some of My Favorites

I put together some of my favorite photos from the past month and thought it would be nice to share them here and write a short blurb about each image. I've shot a couple of thousand photos in the past month so there were a lot of photos from which to choose... some are better images than the few included here but... as of tonight... at this moment only... these are some of my favorites...

This first one is a beautiful photo of the house... illuminated by the golden glow of the setting sun reflecting off the lake...  I love the warmth and clarity of this image...  nice little sailboat on the lawn too!  (We just need a nice little wooden runabout tied to that dock...)

I have to admit that I happen to have quite a few shots of Lukey in a pose just like this... the classic shoulders half turned and yet still set back with no slouching, great eye contact, chin pointing out, nice jaw-line... however, I am drawn to his eyes in this one... he is well lit and there are few distractions. He appears as though he is saying "choo choo's" (he missed our model railroading videos while he was visiting us at the lake)...

Just like the previous photo of Lukey, I am drawn to Kenzie's eyes in this one... and the pout... I think she had been standing on her chair while eating strawberries but Gee asked her to sit down before she might tumble off the chair and off the deck into the lake... she wasn't too pleased with the request...

We always need a good photo of someone jumping off the springboard... she leaps farther and farther each year!

This next image is similar to other family photos of kids on the float, except... in this image, rather than just standing around shivering, it appears as though the kids are plotting to do something to dad... kids trying to be funny while sneaking around can be amusing when they are plotting against someone else!

I love the expression on Kenzie here... she was tossing water in the air with her little shovel and it appears as though she managed to get some water in her mouth...

I somehow managed to capture Tom and Karen alone on the dam... I was a good distance away in my kayak with a long lens... a nice moment. It was really nice having them visit us for a couple of days!

I saw the light shimmering on Sheila's face as she passed through an area where the low setting sun was shining through some trees... I got lucky in my timing and captured the sun lighting Sheila's smiling face...

Sheila was trying to get the kids to find the courage to jump off the dock for their first time... they wanted to jump but just couldn't get their little feet to cooperate with their desire to make the leap... for a little while anyway. Kenzie just kept leaning farther and farther out over the water until she had no choice but to fall into the water... I like that I captured Marley's reaction to Kenzie's hesitant reluctance to jump... Lukey thought it was funny until it was his turn and he experienced the same hesitant reluctance...

The newest sailor in the family... he's waiting patiently for me to put down my camera so we can get out on the sailboat... What's not to like about this photo?

This photo of Marley just might be my favorite of the year. She spent most of the summers of her life at this house and I've been close friends with her parents since before she was born... this summer at the lake house with us might actually be her last visit to the house before starting out on her own next year. There is just something about this photo which captured Marley very well... I see the little girl she was, resembling Boo in "Monsters Inc" (which, to me, seems like only a few short years ago) and I see a young lady who has come into her own... Quite possibly my favorite photo of the entire year!

The always-smiling Abby paddling with an old summertime lake friend... nice and infectious smiles...

Abby and Marley... it was really nice to see the girls again and especially nice that it was at the lake house where they've grown up and spent most of their summers. The only thing that could have made their visit nicer would have been if their mom could have visited us as well. I like that I captured a quiet moment between the two girls at dinner...

Action shots of the old sailboat always capture my attention. This particular shot is nice because of the clarity and the splash of water hitting Adam as the boom slams to the starboard side, snapping the mainsheet taut... There is always a bit of exuberant relief after shooting an action shot and you know the focus is spot on, you got the exposure just right without blowing out the highlights, colors are lush, composition couldn't be better, no distractions in the background, and you actually get a sense of motion... this is a keeper!

Some nights we have a rather boring sunset... some nights, however, we are gifted with firey, stormy, colorful sunsets. On this particular night, the sunset resembled a distant forest fire with stormy skies looming overhead... it made for a beautiful contrast...

Sunsets, sunsets, sunsets... always a different sky... always different color... always different light... always different textures... from night to night... even from one minute to the next... it is like art in slow motion...

Night skies can be crystal clear at the lake but only when there are no clouds obscuring our view (which can be a rarity in Vermont)... There is very little light pollution which usually makes for some crystal clear shots of the Milky Way. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the Milky Way so far this year but when a crystal clear night presents itself, I always try to pull out the tripod, a camera and a remote... the couple of hours of shooting out in the cold was worth it for the next two photos of night skies.  The bright objects on the left side of the photo are Venus and Jupiter...

The Big Dipper...

The newly trained airman testing out his sailing skills putting the old girl through its paces... riding up on the keel, hiking back to keep her from capsizing... white caps and spray in the face... the boat tilted so far that the end of the boom is nipping at the waves zipping by past the boat. This was an impressive capture for many reasons but the main reason is distance... Adam was across the lake zipping across the horizon... nice action... nice capture...

Abby getting some sun out on the float... a nice capture of a quiet, private moment (well, semi-private, since we are now all watching)...

I really have no idea what was playing out in Lukey's mind when I shot this photo but I always like capturing funny faces when the subject thinks nobody is watching... (It is far better than capturing goofy smiles on faces when people know you are shooting a photo of them yet don't have a clue what to do with any part of their face.)

Hey... who doesn't like photos of chicks on the beach?  Really though... I was far out on the kayak when I spotted these two chicks on Boulder Beach. I slowly paddled closer and closer... fired off about a hundred shots... eventually mom waddled over to herd her chicks to a safer place... A lucky opportunity and a nice photo!

The newest sailor of the family getting one more ride on the sailboat before mommy came to pick him up... some alone time with Uncle Adam while he was home on leave... nice photo to have to help visualize Lukey's first summer on the sailboat and some one-on-one time with his uncle...

Loons... always a topic of conversation while at the lake because... well... honestly, they are a bit odd. They are an odd cross between a duck and a penguin... after an agonizingly long takeoff run, they can fly sort of like a duck... they paddle on the surface of the lake sort of like a duck... but they can dive, swim exceptionally fast and catch fish underwater for minutes at a time like a penguin... their calls through the night echo across the lake... getting close enough for a crisp photo can be a rarity... and actually capturing a crisp photo in the right conditions is even rarer! This loon happened to be very playful and cooperative during our short photo shoot...

This is simply an amusing photo! The kids forgot to bring their hats so Kenzie borrowed Gee's hat while Lukey borrowed Papa's NASA hat (as can be seen above in the sailboat photo)... Kenzie kept tilting her head back farther and farther so she could see under and past the brim of this oversized hat... it looks like a huge sombrero on her head... all we need are bright colors and tassles... a really nice expression on Kenzie's face here though...

There were plenty of new duck families on the lake this year! We found this family bathing in a small spot behind some rocks at the shore of a State park. It was like their own little natural lagoon surrounded by rocks... the sunlight illuminating them perfectly for a family portrait...

Next week I'll probably have a completely different set of favorite photos! I hope you enjoyed this group of photos though....