The Munchkin's Notebook

  On August 8, I had the pleasure of working with SalTea Cosplay on a 1920’s inspired studio session.  The session was held at Something Old – Dayton , which has a wonderful aesthetic for this type of shoot with its large windows, exposed brick walls, and assortment of furniture.   For this session I tried to capture a high society look of the 1920’s, not flappers, but the more refined upper crust of society of the time. For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 3 Speed Light Wireless transmitter Strip Light Soft box Small octa-box Flash Grid 3 light stands Two different chairs Couch Floral arrangement Grey cards For this shoot,  I used two different 2-light setups. The first light set up used the strip light soft box to provide a soft sidelight on the mode, while the small octa-box provide the main light. The second set up used the strip light again to provide just a hint of side lighting, while the second light a gridded speed light w...

ISO 100, Focal Length 32mm, Aperture F14, Shutter 1/125 On July 25 I did a concept photoshoot with the Butdragonstho Cosplay at Quarry Oaks Park with a set of foam armor that I commissioned from the foam-smith, Maker Fishmeal . The concept for this shoot was Valkyrie/warrior woman. For this shoot I used: Canon 80D Speed Light Wireless transmitter Painter’s Pole extendable to 12-feet Assistant (who happens to be my husband) For this shoot,  I went with a VAL (voice activated light stand, i.e. my husband with a painter’s pole) because we were shooting on location and I wanted to make sure the light was above and pointed down at my model.   An assistant with a painter’s pole a bit easier to move around while maintaining the appropriate social distances; compared to the large light stands, I would have needed to get the appropriate height.   I shot 109 frames at ISO 100 and primarily used two apertures F9 and F14 because it was a bright sunny day. ...

On July 11 th, I did a photoshoot with the lovely Vanessa in the white studio at Something OldDayton .   This shoot focused on emphasizing the beauty and poise of an aerialist using a ring and silks.   We did a very clean classic look, and white walls of the studio emphasized   the artistry and lines of each of the poses.   For this shoot I used: Canon 80D 2 Phottix strobes 2 Phottix rectangular soft boxes with a grid 2 C-stands Ladder Aerialist rig (supplied by the model) Aerialist ring (supplied by model) Silks (supplied by model) For this shoot, the lights were placed at a bit more than 45-degrees and a little off of 90-degrees  from the center of the rig and model   . We tried to keep them level with the model while ensuring the light was not casting shadows from the rig onto the models. (See photo below.)  Set up I shot tethered, so the husband/assistant and I could check the first few shots to make sure the lighting wa...

June 20 th, I did a photoshoot with the lovely April   in the white studio at Something OldDayton.  The shoot was basic test shoot to see how the parachute dress I made from an old US Army cargo drop parachute would work and ultimately photograph.  First, let’s talk on about the dress.   The dress is made from a 25-foot diameter green cargo drop parachute. To make the dress I placed the parachute on a dress dummy, using the center hole in the parachute as the open and relying on the tension cords to   hold it up. After centering the parachute, I pinned the top to the dress dummy, at this point I left the tension cords for the time being, while I draped and pinned the parachute to the dress dummy to give it shape.   Once everything was pinned, I did one of the hardest parts, cutting away the excess fabric so there would not be a bulge in the back.   Once the excess fabric was cut away, I did some more pinning, then hand sewed all the draping points. I...

Today we end our Olympic National Park vacation, because tomorrow we fly home. We checked out of Quinault lodge around 9:30 AM, after eating our last “Logger’s Breakfast” on the lodge deck, and then started our drive back to Seattle with a slight detour to Staircase Ranger Station.   Staircase was kind of on way and only added two hours to our journey due to the up and back nature of the drive.   We got to Staircase around 11:30 AM got out of the car walked around briefly then head back down the road stopping to view a few waterfalls.   Once we got to the bottom of mountain, out of the park, and into the very tiny park gateway town it was a bit after noon so, we stopped at the “Burgers, Teriyaki, and Ice Cream Shack” for lunch.     Lunch was surprisingly good, Jim got the bulgogi burger and I got teriyaki chicken, it was nice to have something different for lunch then the basic food around Quinault.   After lunch we continued our drive into Seattle, to chec...

View of Beach 4 Today we go up around 7:00 AM to a misty rain that was off and on most of the morning. We had breakfast in the rain at a table on the lodge deck, which had an umbrella covering it. After breakfast we walked along the lake up to the .5-mile rainforest interpretive loop trail and then continued along the longer trail that connects back to the lodge.   The whole hike took us about 2 hours, so we had lunch at the lodge on our balcony.   After lunch we traveled up 101 to Beach 4 to look at the tide pools there. According to several internet articles Beach 4 has several good tide pools.   The tide pools had several green anomies, no starfish. I thought the tide pools at Rialto beach were better.   Overall, it was a very uneventful day.   Tomorrow we head back towards Seattle to so we can catch our flight home the following day.

Today we slept in till 6:30 AM, I know we really slept in a lot, but still made it to breakfast.   Today we tried the pancakes.   The pancakes were not anything special, just normal pancakes; however, Jim noted we are very close to Canada but can’t be supplied with real maple syrup.   After breakfast we headed up the South Shore Road to a couple of waterfalls, so I could take some pictures of the them using my tripod so I could get that nice fluffy water.    The first one was a short .3-mile hike to a bridge overlooking the falls.   Sadly, this bridge was in the wrong spot, because the larger falls was further down the stream and you could not get a good view of it.   So, I had to settle for the smaller falls.   I took a couple of pictures of it from the bridge, then climbed down to the water level to get a better picture of it.   After taking some pictures at streambed level we climbed back up to the trail and headed back to the car to move ...