POW and Runner up March 20

I really like the photo of Ford playing on the slide, but the photo of Ford at the Arctic Ring of Life exhibit watching the seals play is easily my favorite of the week.

POW x3!

Each photo of the week will be narrated by Daddy as to what Ford was thinking at the time...

"What the what...?"

"OH Boy!"

"Lookit, Daddy, Lookit! It's the school bus! Can you believe it Daddy? Lookit it's the school bus! Huh Daddy, can you believe it?"

Week 9 POW and Runner up

In the runner up, Daddy captures a nice moment with Mommy and Ford. Ford usually loves to have his hair dryed by the blow dryer and this day was no exception.

In the POW, a teething Ford had been chewing on his coat sleeve at Costco. When Mommy took one sleeve off, Ford decided to chew on his hand instead. Daddy captures Ford's woeful look as Mommy tries to explain to him that he shouldn't chew on his hand.

POW and runner up

I really like the photo of the red car driving down our street in the snow storm, but this week my favorite photo is of my niece Eileen taking a bath. Maybe it's her big beautiful eyes or maybe it's the fact that it is indeed possible for a child to look at me when I am holding a camera, but this one is my best of the week IMO. Looking at it now, I should have cropped Ford's elbow out of the photo...

February 17 (I'm Swinging in the Snow)

Ford and Daddy, feeling cooped up, get outside and play on a cold Febraur day...

February 16 (The Beginning of the End)

Due to the fact that I am a stay at home dad doing a photo of the day blog, I often have to rely on my precious little angel to be the subject of my POD. The above photo illustrates why I am going to finish the week out and then call the POD project, that I have been doing since January 1, quits.

Let's examine the photo, shall we? Not the greatest by any means, the background is in focus, but half of Ford's face is very blurry, while the other half is a just a little soft. But he does have a wonderful expression on his face, right? The reason his face is a bit blurry is that after a half hour of coaxing, he shot Daddy this smile as he was swiftly turning his head. When Daddy has the camera out, he will rarely even look in my general direction and often when he does, it is because I tell him do to so sternly (say "Bye Bye to any hint of a smile!). I often put a mediocre-at-best photo up and that just bothers me. Hence, I am going to stop taking a photo every day and concentrate on getting Quality photos (whether they be of Ford or not) instead of daily photos...

February 15 (Tongue Lashing)

Ford was enjoying his hand being licked by Badger, Badger was enjoying licking whatever flavor Ford had on his hands...

February 14 (Talkin' Bout Four Ge Ge Ge Generations)

In this photo we have Ford's (from left to right) Mommy, Great Grandma and Grandma. I'm sure it is a photo that he will one day cherish, so I can't possibly imagine anyone not liking it or asking me to take it down! : )

February 13 (Puppy Dog Eyes)

We have had house guests this weekend. The guests, of course, have been fussing over Ford. Here, Badger tries his patented "Poor Me" approach to try and get some of the love that was going Ford's way...

February 12 (Pooped Pooper)

Everyday, Ford stays up until Mommy gets home for lunch and she puts him to bed before going back to work. Most days (usually while I am eating lunch) Ford will make sure that a diaper changing is necessary. Today, while changing said stinky diaper, Ford could not hold out for Mommy any longer...

February 11 (Dog Twacks)

The migratory patterns of an English Bull Terrier. I think that it is funny that we haven't had a pool in the yard since about April of 2001 and Badger will still "avoid" it even though it is long gone...

February 10 (Top of the Food Chain)

The freshly killed Giraffasaurus hangs in the background as the brave hunter does a "Thank You" dance to appease the Hunting Gods...

February 9 (Brusha Brusha Brusha)

Ford practices proper dental hygiene and brushes his teeth before bed each night.

February 8 (Urban Progress)

Today, I have included a "before" shot. This is the UPA (University Prep Academy) job in Detroit. The first shot is what the building looked like in July and the second shot was taken today. It probably would have been better if the shots were from the same angle, but I now have a better lens for taking such photos and didn't have the same lens with me...

February 7 (Mother's Little Helper)

Mommy was folding laundry and Ford decided he would help. This is why I refrain from letting him "help" do things like make his lunch, clean the kitchen or change his diaper...

February 6 (Aero Dynamic)

Ford gets a bath before bed. Since the weather is cold Mommy blow drys his hair. Typically he enjoys this treatment...

February 5 (Learning Time)

I have a feeling there are going to be a plethora of Ford photos this week. Here he is learning what it takes to make each compartment pop up...

February 4 (Striving)

Sometimes, even for just a little while, we can rise above who we are and be something more.

February 3 (It's Daddy!)

Ford answers the call once again as Daddy phones it in today! (He was actually talking to Aunt Theresa!)

February 02 (Bleary City)

Taken from the 2nd floor of UPA in Detroit. The original shot wasn't so great so I turned into an HDR image. I especially like how the backhoe looks...

February 1 (Corrective Lenses)

Not much to say about this one. Just an idea I borrowed. This one isn't executed that well, but I may explore this idea again in the future...

January 31 (Semi Sumo)

Did you all know that Ford is a champion Sumo wrestler in his weight class this side of the Mississippi? Here he is warming up with his sparring partner Elmo... (BTW, I really phoned it in today, does the caption help make it better?)

January 30 (Practice makes Porcine)

When most kids try to be like Daddy, they play ball or kick the dog or swear...here is a triptych of my son emulating me!

Jan 29 (Mrs. C)

Today was the memorial service for the mother of some cherished friends of mine. While doing a photo of the day blog and being a stay at home dad, there are days when I am going to have to take something ordinary and try to make it look extraordinary. This photo is taken from my favorite chair looking out the window of Ford's room. I really like the way the beams of light look. Despite being a VERY cold day here in Michigan the sunset was beautiful and reminded me of Mrs Carter...

Jan 28 (Air Hair)

I have been taking so many photos of Ford that he has officially become a model. Now, when I try to get a photo of him, the wind starts blowing his hair around out of nowhere! Haircut coming soon!

Jan 27 (That's a lot of Monahans)

This was taken for the Monahan Company website. It is my first photo job of 2010. Normally my work for the Mo Co is of buildings not humans. But they are a good group of guys and I think the shot turned out well. Some of them were a little worried that it would look like cacti were growing out of their heads...what do YOU think? (are the cacti distracting, or not?)

Jan 26 (Wet Max)

I took some photos of my nephew Max's swim meet. Even though my location wasn't ideal, I think that they came out alright. This action shot shows Max signaling to the swimmer in the water...

Jan 25 (Mean Cuisine)

When I am stuck for an idea, more times than not I will probably rely on humor (or I'll just take a photo of the cute kid). This shot was inspired by the "Cooking for Forty Humans" cookbook on a Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode...

January 24 (El Matador)

El Matador stalks his prey. In this photo, we catch him taunting the vacuum, challenging it to make it's move. As usual, El Matador is victorious!

Jan 23 (Ford and Mommy)

I had gotten sick, so we sent Ford to my parents house for a couple of days. Shortly after getting home he fell asleep in Mommy's arms for a couple of hours...

January 22 (Plenty of Fluids)

This certainly isn't the best photo that I have ever taken, but it is a self portrait that accurately descibes the last couple of days for me. My nightstand isn't usually so messy, but it was a rough day...

Grade B-

January 21 (Water Drop Triptych)

I was already starting to feel lousy by the time this was taken and it clearly shows...

Grade D

POD will return soon

I HAVE been taking photos despite my illness, just not posting them yet...

January 20 (Arways rook eye)

If you follow this blog at all, you are noticing that I do not get out much. The photo furthest away from my house is across the street from my house. This can make coming up with a new photo idea each day challenging, if not impossible. There will be days (when it gets warmer) that I will get out and take some different stuff. For now my goal is to capture something that is at least out of the ordinary. The look in Badger's eye in this shot is a good one. You can tell he DOES NOT want to be on the kitchen side of the baby gate...

ISO - 250

f/stop - f/5.6

Tv - 1/25 sec

Flash

Grade C

January 19 (Double Smile)

Earlier in the day, I set up a photo shoot. It WOULD HAVE been very cute, but once again, the model was not cooperating. I got some okay shots but not the one I wanted. SO, I will save that idea for a later date. I went with this photo because I like how he was grinning and in the background, there is a photo on our wall of him doing the same...

ISO - 200

f stop - f/5

Tv - 1/60 sec

Flash

Monochrome

Grade C +

January 18 (Call it in)

POD: Hello?

Me: Hey! It's me...umm...I'm not coming in today...

POD: What!? Really?

Me: Yeah, I'm not feeling it today.

POD: It's called Photo of the Day, not Photo when you feel like it.

Me: Alright, alright. I'll send what I have.

POD: Okay..let's see...the photo is being received now...oh...

Me: Sorry. That's all I have for today

POD: Let's try harder tomorrow.

Me: Will do...

Grade F

January 17 (Tunnel Vision)

I had a hard time getting this shot. The model was a diva and would NOT pose as requested. I had to resort to subterfuge (throwing the toy into the middle of the tunnel) to get this shot. I'm reasonably pleased with it, but I think I could have gotten a better shot if SOMEONE had been a little more cooperative...

(Responding to a request from DogMom I will start providing technical details)

ISO - 200
F-stop - f/4
Exp - 1/60 sec
Flash


Grade B

January 16 (Shy Guy - Self Portrait)

When I started my second year of photo classes, our first assignment was to take a self portrait. I spent hours setting up a couple of shots that I thought were cool. Upon completion of the shoot, I had a couple of shots left on my roll of film (film was an ancient relic that photographers once used to capture images)so I took a couple of quick shots in front of our bifold mirror. My professor wasn't impressed with the shots I spent hours setting up, but he loved the crazy effect from the mirror shots! This time I took my time and posed a little...

Grade B

January 15 (Tough Decision)

Today I had a hard time deciding which photo to choose. I ended up going with the inferior photo (IMO) but it captured a unique moment. If you happened to see the photo "Hair Apparent" a few days ago, I talked about how the static electricity played havoc with Ford's hair. What I didn't mention was that I manually manipulted his hair in the photo. Well today, for the first time, I captured the Static Effect in all it's glory. I'll save my other idea for another day (for POD purposes has to be retaken, of course)unless Mommy steals it...

Grade B-

Photo of the Day

Photo of the Day
Responding to a challenge from the ever creative Julie Denz, I decided to take a photo every day this year. Some people do a self portrait a day, but I'm not going to do that for two reasons:
1. It would be unfair to my neighbors (from the extra "chick" traffic on the street. Can't blame the ladies for loving them some Big Baby Daddy)
2. I actually have access to someone that might be as handsome as his Big Baby Daddy!

Actually, the real reason I decided to do this was to improve my photography. The goal is to one day become a pro and I'm not going to get there playing video games and watching Giada De Laurentiis. I think that it will be neat to look back on a year and see how I have progressed (or regressed) as a photographer. I know there is going to be some crap over the course of 365 days, but hopefully somewhere in there I will take some shots I can be proud of too.

While Ford is NOT going to be my daily subject, he will figure prominently and will be my fall back (in other words: expect 350 photos of Ford).

I hope that all who read this come back from time to time to check it out. I will be updating often I hope to write the blog daily to go along with the photos, but that may not happen. I would love to hear anyone's feedback (good or bad). It will keep me motivated!

Thank you,
Big Baby Daddy

January 14 (So Much Love)

There is so much about this that I love I thought it deserved a heart...the gift(the book) from my wife, the book itself, it's open to the GARLIC (read: yummy) page and well...I don't know Alton Brown, but he seems like a good fellow. I first tried to create the heart with different things from the kitchen, but did not like the results so I went with this photo filter. The idea is good, the execution of it is average... (Don't forget that you can click on any photo if you would like to see a larger version of it!)

Grade B

January 13 (Hair Apparent)

Ford's hair is so silky that the static elecricity plays havoc with it. I'm honing in on a good photo here, but the open blind on the left is distracting...

Grade B +

January 12 (Beautiful Day)

I always thought that snow was a lot like excessive drinking (it can miraculously turn ugly into pretty). My street is certainly not much to speak of scenically, but throw a little snow into the mix and it's not too bad. This shot was taken out of my front window. If I had gone outside (it was really cold!)to take this and eliminated the glare, this would be pretty good (IMO).

Grade B +

January 11 (The DOG)

I was trying to replicate one of those "The Dog" photos. Good Luck doing so with a 16 month old and a bull terrier feeding off each other's energy. I had a lot of OK shots from this group, but not what I was hoping to get. I'm sure I'll revisit this technique soon...

Grade C +

January 10 (Bigfoot)

Some more playing around with perspective using the WA lens. Couldn't get Ford to sit still unless he had the stupid dancing penguin. I think it would have been a much better photo without it (and if I had focused on his eyes instead of his feet) I would like to thank Mom and Keith for the black backdrop...

Grade C