As I mentioned in my previous post, I brought only one camera body (Canon 5DII) and two lenses (70-200 f4 and 16-35 f2.8) on this trip. I brought no flash or other lighting equipment. I thought the technical simplicity of these photos would make them helpful examples for novice photographers to learn about my shooting process.

This sunset photo is one of my favorites from the trip. It was the view from the backyard of our rental house, which faced the Currituck Sound on the west side of Corolla. I love the way the sun dissolves into the water. My goal here was symmetry. I kept the horizon in the center of the screen, and an even amount of orange on the top and the bottom. The sun is one third of the way from the left, which is sort of consistent with the Rule of Thirds. (Except I wanted the sun centered vertically.) I shot it at 200mm to eliminate any light blue sky or water, and to make the sun look as big as possible. As with any landscape photo, I kept the horizon straight. Crooked horizons are a no-no for most pictures.

I took this one just before sunrise. Having the dark grasses in the foreground gives the image a feeling of both night and day. I usually like to have something in the foreground of landscape photos, for added depth and interest. Because I focused on the grass, the camera wanted to meter off the grass and overexpose the sky. I made sure to meter off the sky instead, to keep it colorful and keep the grasses black.

I took this photo a few minutes later, after the sun peeked over the horizon. I used a long lens to eliminate any non-yellow sky and sand. I focused on the birds for foreground interest. I almost love this picture, but it didn’t turn out the way I’d intended. The water line comes too close to the birds, creating dark line that makes it hard to see the birds’ silhouettes. I also hoped for taller waves, because I loved the orange glow on the tops of the crashing water. I stood there for a while, waiting for the perfect cooperation of birds and water, but that moment didn’t happen for me. Still, it’s pretty.

This photo is all about the leading line from the sun to the horseshoe crab. The two most interesting elements of this photo are connected by a beam of sunlight. I shot it at f4.0, to keep a shallow enough depth of field to emphasize the crab. When I was standing there, I felt like this crab was enjoying the sunrise as much as I was.

I don’t know if this border collie was paying attention to the yellow sky, but he was definitely loving the water. That’s why I didn’t bother to include the sunrise in this picture. I wanted to photograph the splashes, so I kept a fast shutter speed to stop the drops of water in mid-air. I loved the way they glowed while backlit by the sunrise.

I don’t know if this picture would appeal to anyone else, but I love it. It’s just a gradient from blue to yellow. I turned away from the sun and looked down at the sand, and was enamored by the colors. I don’t have anything to say about how I shot it, except that I cropped out anything that distracted too much from the color gradient. I could look at this over and over again. It makes me happy.

Here’s another example of enjoying the details and not just the grand sunrise over the water. I loved seeing all the different types of morning walkers. I shot this at f4, and I think it could use a tad more depth of field. Perhaps 5.6 would have been a better choice. I love the warm, orange edges of the footprints. I added some contrast in Lightroom.

Here’s a nice picture of me (and Danny in the trailer) that my dad took. I asked him to take the picture in this spot, because the morning sunlight was so soft and pretty at this time of day. It was about 9am, so the sun was low enough for me to be able to face the sun. Mid-day sun creates unflattering, harsh light for people pictures. Waking up early is the way to go.

I took this picture of Danny at 10:30am, and the sunlight was already harsh and contrasty. I had to pull out the shadows and highlights in Lightroom to make this work. I didn’t do a great job of post-production here, but that’s ok – it’s still a cute picture of my little beach lover.

Hahahahaha! I hope my cousin Christine didn’t get in trouble with her husband when he saw this picture. She has camera equipment that is similar to mine, and unfortunately common sense that it similar to mine, too. I’m a bad influence, ha! Fortunately her gear survived just fine. I’m just glad I was looking in the right direction when this happened!

Action shots are easy on bright, sunny days. There was plenty of light available for me to use a fast enough shutter speed to catch James in mid-air. Even the sand particles are hovering here.

Here’s another sunset over Currituck Sound. I took a few dozen pictures of this stand up paddleboarder, who provides an interesting focal point to the image. I walked along the banks of the water until the clouds lined up to point directly at him. I placed him one third of the way from the right, again mostly following the Rule of Thirds. I broke the rules, though, with the horizon. The Rule of Thirds would place the horizon one third of the way from the top or bottom, and a symmetrical approach would put it in the middle. My horizon is hovering elsewhere, though. I like the touch of blue sky at the top. This is how I felt the scene when I saw it. It’s wrong but right.

Meanwhile, Danny and Mike were skipping stones on the water. I exposed the scene dark enough to silhouette them against the sunset. I got down low enough to make Danny look small compared to the big sky, but not so low that I couldn’t see some of the water.

The next morning we climbed the Currituck Lighthouse. The staircase is really fun to photograph, but it’s pretty dark for people pictures. I waited to photograph my cousin until we reached a window. I placed her lower than me, within the light coming in from a window. Diffused window light is my favorite for portraits, and shooting from above is a flattering angle for most people.

Danny and I had a fun snuggle when we reunited at the bottom of the Lighthouse. He and I were standing in shade here, and the lighthouse was in bright sun. I had to pull out our faces in Lightroom to fix this exposure. The yellow bag I’m carrying is a Kelly Moore camera bag, which is just the right size for one camera body, two lenses, lots of memory cards, and general purse needs.

On our last evening in Corolla, we headed to the beach at sunset. The sun was behind us, casting a warm glow that was perfect for portraits. My little cousin Riley wasn’t posed here. He just smiled at us and I grabbed this candid moment. I had the 16-35 on my camera at the moment, so I shot it horizontally and cropped it vertically in Lightroom. Since I shoot at 21.1 megapixels, there is plenty of size available for me to crop when needed.

This was another sweet candid moment. My horizon is crooked, though. When I tried to straighten it in post-production, it looked like James and the pinwheel were falling over. So I’m breaking my rule here and letting the horizon slant up. Maybe I’ll fix it later. Dunno.

Here’s my wonderful family that I love so much. Aren’t my boys adorable? Danny was completely unwilling to hold still for pictures. He screamed the entire time we tried. This was the only shot where he didn’t look upset. If Mike and I weren’t smiling and looking at the camera in this one shot, we wouldn’t have any good family portraits from the entire trip.

That’s an important piece of advice to all parents out there: When you are posing for a family portrait where you are supposed to look at the camera and smile, then please actually look at the camera and smile. The kids might look good in only one picture, so make sure you aren’t the one to mess it up. You’d be amazed how often that happens. It’s a parent’s instinct to look at the kid and tell the kid to smile. Meanwhile, the parent is totally looking the wrong way and/or making a goofy face. Happens ALL THE TIME.

I love this picture of my dad. The light immediately after sunset is probably my favorite of the day for portraits. It’s so soft and warm. I also love the glowing sand behind him. Unfortunately my mother wasn’t able to go on this trip, due to a work conflict. I would have loved to take a picture of the two of them here.

My cousin’s family is cute. Adorable family, perfect soft light, pink sand, and everyone smiling and looking at the camera. Love it.

Because Danny wasn’t cooperating, I asked Mike to go with me into the pink sand near the water for a picture of the two of us. So what did he do instead? He grabbed me and pulled me right into the water! Right after Christine took this picture, Mike splashed me and we ended up in a water fight. At the time, I wasn’t wanting to get wet, but now I love this picture so much. Sure, I was shivering for the next hour, but now I have this picture to keep forever. And it’s perfect. It’s so us.

So here’s more advice for having your picture taken: If something is out of your comfort zone, but it will make a good picture, do it! Have fun, laugh, and don’t worry about being prim and proper. Create something special and memorable. You just might love that picture…

… and you might end up with a happy memory, too.

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I thought that I would post the pictures along with brief descriptions of the technical and compositional decisions behind each one. I hope this will be helpful for novice photographers out there!

I took only two lenses on this trip: a Canon 16-35mm f2.8, and a Canon 70-200mm f4. That’s my most common way of packing light when I travel for vacation. If I want to pack very light, I bring only the Canon 24-70mm f2.8, because it is a great mid-range lens with lots of general usefulness. If I have room for two lenses, I prefer bringing a wide angle and a lightweight telephoto. Lenses with extreme focal lengths make for more dramatic photos than normal focal length lenses can offer. I like a little drama.

For this photo of the geese, I used the 70-200 at f4. I saw the flock of geese resting on the lawn by the Whalehead Club while the landscape crew was mowing the grass. I knew that the lawnmowers would eventually inspire the geese to fly away, so I hurried over toward them and waited. Sure enough, they took off shortly thereafter. I squatted low in the grass to make sure the geese would appear above the horizon in my photo, to enhance the sense of flight.

This was Danny’s first morning on the beach. I was just going for simple, clean, and symmetrical here. I got low enough to be close to Danny’s height, but not so low that his head broke the horizon line.

I saw this egret standing on the shore within Currituck Heritage Park, and again I waited for it to start moving. I used the telephoto lens and a fast enough shutter speed to catch the motion without blur. It bugs me that the top of the wing extends higher than the top of the trees. I wish I’d had a slightly higher angle. I’m picky like that.

My dad and I took Danny for a walk one morning along the boardwalk in Duck. I let Danny go a little out of focus on this one, because this photo is all about my dad. I love the relaxed contentment on his face as he holds his grandson.

Danny on the Duck boardwalk. Even though f4 isn’t a particularly large aperture, it still creates a nicely blurred background when the subject is far enough away from the background. I have a hard time getting Danny’s white hair to show up against light backgrounds, so I used the recovery tool in Lightroom to retrieve some hair detail here. Sometimes I also use a Photoshop action from Jeff Ascough called “highlight paramedic” when needed. My little dude is as white as pure snow, (and also as white as blown highlights.)

This is my little cousin Riley, who doesn’t understand that you’re supposed to use your hands in downward dog. A low camera angle was the only way to make this one work. It also wouldn’t have worked if his face wasn’t facing diffused sunlight.

I got up before sunrise several times that week to take pictures along the beach. This seagull was carrying something in its mouth as it attended to its early morning routine. In this case, I love the motion blur in the wing and the sense of softness in the photo. The pop of red in the mouth and the black wing tips give it a little edge.

My dad took this beautiful photo of me and my cousin James skipping rocks at sunset. He was manning the grill when he called out that he needed my camera to take a picture. Mike ran it down to him, and my dad created this. I enhanced the blues and yellows in Photoshop.

Wow, I took a lot of pictures of flying birds. I hope you like flying birds. If not, then look at all the pretty water. This was a moment I saw during a morning run along the Currituck Sound. I took it with my iPhone, which was the only camera I had with me at the time. You can see that it has more noise than the photos I took with my Canon 5DII, but still I’m really pleased with it. I did add more contrast and vibrance in Lightroom.

Here’s a funny shot of cousin Riley helping Danny with his breakfast. I took it with my iPhone, and I’m glad I had a camera of any sort with me at this moment. Adorable.

I took so many pictures of the kids on this path over the dunes to the beach. The wide angle lens made the leading lines of the boardwalk look more dramatic. I centered this photo for symmetry, but it is also a good example of the rule of thirds – even though Danny and the gazebo are in the middle of the image, they are one third of the way from the top and the bottom.

Ah yes, one-year-olds love sand, perhaps too much! I took this picture of Riley without looking through the lens – I held the camera under his face and hoped for the best. I like it.

Danny and Mike at the Sunset Grille in Duck. Because I was shooting with a lens that didn’t open any wider than f4, I shot this photo at a fairly high ISO so that I could expose it bright enough to show some of their faces. The sunset sky looked quite a bit darker in real life, but I didn’t have external lighting, so I had to brighten the whole image to keep them from being an invisible silhouette against the gazebo. I kept it just dark enough to keep the mood of the scene.

Aw, my cuties! Here I did the same thing as in the photo above, but at an even longer exposure to brighten their faces more. I can’t believe it wasn’t blurred. I’m not known for having steady hands.

This is what the sky really looked like during that sunset. I didn’t do anything here except shoot it slightly darker than auto, and try to keep the horizon straight. Remember when you shoot sunsets that the camera wants to either a) brighten a scene that is supposed to be dark, or b) darken the scene because you metered off the bright sun. Sunsets are really easy to shoot if you are careful about those two things.

The view from the Sunset Grille. Again, I used a wide angle, underexposed slightly, and kept the horizon straight.

I love this photo of Danny. I exposed it just bright enough to show his face, while keeping the scene dark and pink. Perfect.

This was the view as we left the restaurant. I lined up the flags with the strip of light in the background, and stood high enough that you could see the top of the gazebo in the light, too. I underexposed this one a little too much, so I had to brighten it in Lightroom a bit.

OK, that was part 1 of my vacation photos! I have more to come! I hope the photo explanations are helpful. If you have any questions about anything in particular, please let me know. Stay tuned for the rest, coming soon.

Many of those photos are available for sale here:
http://galleries.charlottegeary.com/Art/Outer-Banks-North-Carolina

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This first photo was taken at ISO 400, 4 seconds, f/8. The long exposure created a blur of falling water in the fountain. The smallish aperture made sure that most of the image was in focus.

This image was taken at ISO 1600, 1/15 sec, f2.8. The faster shutter speed shows more texture in the water. To enable the faster shutter speed, I used a higher ISO and larger aperture.

There were several people dining outside at the restaurants that surround the fountain. I got right in the water and gave them a good show. No one said anything to me except for the little girl who was playing in the fountain while I was shooting. She was about six and was drenched. I was almost as wet as she was.

“WHAT are you doing?” she asked, clearly puzzled by this strange grown-up invading her fountain. “Taking pictures,” was my simple response. “Why?” was her obvious next question. I didn’t really have an answer to that. I just chuckled and told her that it made perfect sense to me.

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I reached my goal, and added an extra two miles just for the fun of it. It took me three hours, though! I stopped to take lots of photos, and even I took a leisurely stroll through Arlington Cemetery halfway through the run. I suppose in theory I am training for the Army 10-miler next month, but I’m using a pretty loose definition of “training”.

I might already be fit enough to run 10 slow miles in a race, but I’m too ADD to know for sure. Instead of focusing on pace and distance, I find myself focusing on sun beams, flowers, interesting people, and tourist landmarks. Oooh, look at that ray of light hitting that adorable bird on a statue! Must take a picture!

OK, so I’m not a hardcore runner by any definition. But I’m proud of the distance I covered today. And even better, my tourist jogging combines my three favorite hobbies: running, photography, and sightseeing. What’s better than that? I even get to listen to dancey pop music while doing it. Perfect.

When you arrive at sunrise, you get to park in really cool spots. This was the view from the parking lot. Not a bad way to start off today’s adventure.

I ran to the Washington Monument, and then through the WWII memorial along the reflecting pool.

Running through the shadows of the Washington Monument’s flags.

When I arrived at the Lincoln Memorial, a military group was training on the steps. They carried each other up the stairs as their sergeant barked orders at them. I took this picture at the start of their 20-minute break.

After running around the Lincoln, I crossed the Memorial Bridge toward Arlington Cemetery.

I decided to go into Arlington Cemetery. Even though I grew up in Northern Virginia, and lived in Arlington for four years, I don’t believe I’d ever been there before. I decided to stroll through the cemetery and climb the hill to Arlington House.

JFK gravesite

After I left the cemetery, I ran past the Netherlands Carillon to the Iwo Jima memorial.

By this point, I was starving! I stopped at Starbucks in Rosslyn and scarfed two vanilla mini scones. Clearly you must not think of me as a role model for health and fitness.

I ran across the Key Bridge, through Georgetown, and then along the Kennedy Center by the river. Finally crossed back over the Memorial Bridge, and this time I ran east on the GW Parkway trail toward the 14th Street bridge.

After running a big figure 8 through the DC and Arlington riverfronts, I ended up back at the Jefferson Memorial.

It was a thrilling feeling to get back to the Tidal Basin! I did a total of 11 miles, and I ran all but one of them (my walk at the cemetery). What a fun morning! I can’t wait to do it all again sometime.

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What we didn’t know was that less than half a mile from our house, the storm was tearing up our neighbors’ homes. The Washington Post reported that at least one tornado touched down in the Reston area, although Fairfax County denies that it was a tornado. When I saw the damage that had happened to our neighbors’ street, I was inclined to believe the Washington Post. Something very tornado-like touched down on South Shore Road here at Lake Anne. Several houses and cars were crushed by huge fallen trees, and debris was everywhere. The whole area was chaos.

Mike, Danny, and I took a walk through the area last night, and again this morning. A street that we know well and love has been ravaged by this storm. We can’t believe how fortunate we were to be so close to the worst of the storm, but unaffected by it. Our entire street is just fine. I wish our neighbors on South Shore were so lucky.

This huge tree crushed two cars.

A news crew was filming this house when we walked past.

This house got hit twice this summer by fallen trees. Its roof was damaged by a fallen tree in this summer’s derecho storm, and again in yesterday’s maybe-a-tornado. Truly unlucky. We spoke to the owner, and he was keeping a good attitude about it. I applaud him.

I love this red, mid-century modern beauty. It is in a tragic state today.

This garden has always been my favorite on the street. She maintains a beautifully elegant variety of flowers all year long. Today her garden looks like this. A tree also fell through their roof into their kitchen.

Lots of people were out on the street this morning to see the damage.

Danny definitely knew that something wasn’t right. We’ve walked on this street many, many times. He knows what it’s supposed to look like.

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I reached Lifetime status with Weight Watchers this week. I feel like I could still stand to lose a few (don’t we all?), but I’m proud of my accomplishment and I feel great.

Here are my stats:
Age: 37
Height: 5’6″
Weight: 180 to 136
BMI: 28.2 to 21.1
Size: 14 to 6
Percent weight loss: 21.4%

My advice for anyone on Weight Watchers is to do everything the plan tells you to do. Follow every rule. My weight loss didn’t happen until I stopped resisting the plan, and started embracing it. WW is a solid program that really works.

Here I am in 2011 and 2012, in the same pair of pants. I truly don’t remember looking like that last year. Posting anything about weight loss makes me feel both pride and shame. I’m pleased with the results of my hard work, but I’m embarrassed that I ever got that big in the first place. I know that tons of people out there can relate, though. If I can inspire anyone to improve their own health by sharing my photos, I will.

January 2011 at 40 weeks pregnant: 197 pounds
I lost 17 pounds in the first week after having the baby, so I consider my starting weight to be 180.

Summer 2011: 170 pounds
I started Weight Watchers when Danny was a few weeks old, and I lost 10 pounds in a couple months. Then sleep deprivation and post-partum difficulties took over, and I quit WW.

In January 2012, I started Weight Watchers again, and decided that this time I would follow the program diligently. I lost 18 pounds the first two months. I started running in February, and ran this 5K in March. The weight continued to come off at a rate of 1.5-2 pounds a week. (Race photo courtesy of Potomac River Running)

I’ve continued running regularly since then. I’ve done another 5K and two 4-milers. I’m registered for the Army 10-miler this fall. I also walk a few miles every day.

Summer 2012: 136 pounds

Last year, I bought a pair of jeans in a size 14. This week I bought the exact same brand and style in a size 6.

Through Weight Watchers, I have learned that eating right makes my whole body feel better. Exercising makes my day brighter. I’ve changed in so many ways, and not just outwardly.

I have more energy.
I’ve become a morning person.
I eat tons of fresh produce.
I sleep better.
Vegetables are my favorite part of dinner.
Walking is my favorite form of transportation.
I exercise because I enjoy it.
I have lost the post-partum depression.
I feel strong.
I’m a healthy role model for my son.
I am proud of myself.

If I can do it, you can, too!

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Mike, Danny, Ally, and I drove to Cunningham Falls State Park in Maryland. After an hour and a half, we arrived eager to see the waterfall, lake, and beach. Then we saw the “no pets” sign at the entrance. My heart sank. Well who needs a park that is so crowded that they don’t want Ally there? We found a deserted trail in nearby Catoctin Mountain Park, and Ally got to run around without disturbing anyone. It was just right.

Mike carried Danny the entire way, which was no easy feat on some of those hills. Thanks, Mike!

The calming greenery took its effect right away. Have you heard about this study from NIH? Activities in natural, green settings can reduce ADHD symptoms in children.

Ally’s not quite as fit as she was in our Colorado hiking days!

She still was as happy as could be, of course.

After almost 4 miles, we got back to the car, dropped off the backpack, and let Danny walk on the trail. He was ready to get hiking! He even tried to say “hike” a few times, but it came out more like “huh.”

His favorite part was climbing on any obstacles in the way.

Thank goodness he could scale this fallen tree, because I don’t know how he could have gotten around it otherwise.

This video is the best. I love my boys so much:

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This photo was pure luck. I had my camera pointing in the right direction as the two of them decided to high-five. They didn’t know I was watching, but I’m glad I was.  Don’t you love when it works like that?

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This morning I woke up early, feeling good and hoping for rain. Unfortunately it was a beautiful day. I looked at my book and considered scrapping the run and reading on the couch again. I’m really enjoying this book. (It’s ironic that I didn’t want to run because I was too engrossed in the book Born to Run.) But I was healthy, it wasn’t raining, and the heat wave is over. I was out of excuses. Now I needed to work on getting my exercise motivation back.

For me, finding motivation to exercise comes in three steps:

1. Just suck it up and do it.

This is obviously the hard part. The good news is that it’s the only hard part. I’ve read several times that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. So you need to make yourself do it for 21 days, even if you’re just forcing yourself to go through the motions. 21 days will pass quicker than you expect.

When I started running, part of my initial motivation was just counting down the days to 21. Fortunately running makes me feel so good that it took me only two weeks to get hooked.

2. Pay attention to the things you enjoy about it.

Look around you, and look inside you. Millions of people love exercising for their own reasons. What do you love about it? Is it the distance or time goals? The energy rush? The friends you’ve made doing it? The change of scenery? The “me time”? Pay attention and focus on those things instead of the “work” element of working out.

When I started running last winter, I was running on a treadmill in our basement, watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix. The things I enjoyed about it included mileage goals, time to myself, and Amy Poehler.

When spring came, I decided to brave the hills and run outside. Suddenly I was surrounded by countless things that made running fun. I loved the bright blue skies, spring flowers, people-watching, and new discoveries around each corner. Mostly I loved the way I felt when I was moving through the world instead of sitting on my couch.

3. Remind yourself every day of those things that you enjoy, and how you won’t get them unless you exercise.

This morning, when I was trying to come up with an excuse to stay home, I thought about all the reasons that running brings me happiness. I knew that if I stepped out my front door and just did it, I would be glad I did. I would come home having seen interesting things that I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. I’d feel accomplished. I’d be proud of myself.

This morning I was back to Step 1. I decided that I would run two laps around Lake Anne, for a total of three easy miles. I forced myself to run that first lap, but by lap 2, I was happy and soaking in the views.

I was attempting to suck it up and walk out the door. That is totally a fake smile. What I was really thinking was, “This better be more fun than reading my book.”

I decided to take pictures of some of the great things that I loved about running in my neighborhood today:

Morning light! The sun is low, so the colors are rich.

Crape myrtles!

This bendy tree that hangs over the water

Tall trees on shady paths

This vibrant hydrangea

Fun garden decor

Fabulous mid-century modern architecture

The lake, obviously

These flowers that remind of late summer in Colorado

Feeling alive

How do you find motivation to exercise when you don’t feel like it? What do you love about it that keeps you going?

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I guess we weren’t the only people seeking indoor entertainment today, because the aquarium was packed. We weren’t allowed to use our stroller inside, so Mike carried Dan the whole time. He’s going to be sore tomorrow! But with a few exceptions, Danny was cooperative and seemed to enjoy the day. I was excited to be a tourist for a day. It felt like a mini-vacation.

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