The Munchkin's Notebook

Yesterday I went to Great Falls National Park , on the Virginia side, with my husband and Teddy (our dog). It was a nice day and the park was very busy with people and other dogs.  Sadly, we missed many of the fall colors, but it was still a good way to practice taking photos while handling a dog on a leash.  Teddy was very good.  I used my standard 18-200 mm lens set at an ISO 200 with an aperture of F8.0 on aperture priority. I found aperture priority worked well while handling a leash with a dog on it.  I will however, have to work with Teddy so that he sits and waits while I focus and take the picture.  

I know this post is over a month late at this point, but as you can see by a previous post ( TEDDY ) I got a dog and it took up a lot of my time.  However, I wanted to post about Anime USA, because of the great people I got to work with during some photo shoots. ( AnimeUSA Gallery ) Anime USA is a small anime convention when compared to the last convention I attended which was Katsucon.  I would call Anime USA a more intimate convention, which has some excellent panels and less intimidating cosplay for the beginner.  I personally like the panel on the perception of evil, the speaker was very enthusiastic.  I also enjoyed the panel on historical costuming, and that boils down to do your research and historical paintings can lie about the fashion.   Now on to the photography. I had 6 photo shoots, 3 were planned (2 with the same person different cosplay) and 3 ended up being scheduled on site.   During all the shoots I used my 18 – 200 mm l...

Our dog Teddy There haven’t been any blog post for a while because my husband and I were busy rearranging our home for our bundle of joy, which just happens to be furry and have four paws.   We determined it was harder to consolidate our stuff then to get married.  Many things went to Goodwill or were sold on e-bay just to make room.  Not that our place is small but we had a lot of stuff we just didn’t use anymore.  But enough about the cleaning and rearranging effort on to the adoption process. My husband and I decided to get a dog. Actually, he finally agreed to let me have a dog because it would make me happy.  So we started the search. We determined a puppy, puppy would not be good since we both work, so we determined a dog about 9 months to a year old would be good.  I searched several adoption and humane society website, and went to several adoption days.  I ended up going through the Lucky Dog Rescue Group , since most places had t...

I went to the McKee-Besher Wildlife Management Area to photograph the annual sunflower fields.  I did this last year and found I would lose track of where I set my bag, so this year I tied a balloon to it.  The balloon happened to be a large pirate balloon (I gave it to a little kid when I was done), which got me many stares from other photographers in the area.  One person came up to me and asked what the balloon was for; one I told him it was to mark my stuff, he was like that is a great idea never thought of that.  The balloon also worked as a great piece of juxtaposition within the sunflower field.  I got several nice shots of the field, not so many with the balloon since the breeze would make it dip down to low.  However, what I would love to do; is do a portrait session in one of the fields. I think a nice earthy shoot, with big floppy hats and breezy dresses or the earth child/hippy look would be perfect out in the field. The other thing tha...

On Saturday, I went to the zoo, because why not do that on sunny afternoon; plus the National Zoo is free.  While I was there the lion cubs were out in there enclosure. I got a couple nice shots of them, but they were not being overly playful because it was hot outside.  I did see the baby panda; however, he was napping with his back to everyone so instead I got nice pictures of the panda parents.   The wolves were very active, pacing around their enclosure.  I captured a few good picture of the grey wolf through the glass without glare.  I also got a nice picture of the sloth bear through the glass, which is usually difficult because the glass is usually very dirty.   Overall, I had a nice little adventure at the zoo.  ( Zoo Gallery ) Lion Cubs Panda   Grey Wolf

July Fourth in the Capitol Yesterday I decided to actually brave crowds to capture a better representation of fireworks in the Capitol.  I traveled to Rosslyn and walked the half mile to the Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial).  Once there I walked a bit further over to the Netherlands Carillon .  The Netherlands Carillon is where many people go to capture that iconic shot of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and Capital in line with the fireworks going off above them.   I expected it to be extremely crowded, but it actually was no worse than when I shoot from the Air Force Memorial .   People waiting for fireworks The traditional shot I picked a location that framed the monuments between two large trees instead of trying to jostle for a position directly under the carillon.  If I had a press pass, I could actually shoot from the top of the carillon.  I captured some nice shots through the trees from my location...

Today I went to the National Mall for the Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival . This year the festival highlighted China and Kenya.  I focused on the China portion of the festival.   The first dance I saw was actually of a man dressed as a woman doing the traditional lantern dance; later in the program, he performed the male version of the dance with a female partner.  The man is one of the foremost traditional dancers in China.  Along with the lantern dance, performers also did dances that told the stories of flowers and trees.   I also was lucky enough to see the end of the lion cart performance.  The lion cart performance is dancing lion puppets controlled by a troop of 8 to 10 people.  It was fun to watch, once I squeezed myself into the crowd. The Lions in the Lion Cart Since these performances were held in outdoor tents, it was a slightly difficult to meter through the camera for some photos.  I mostly used either a 400 ISO...