Dear Vivienne

We have an annual tradition to go trick or treating with friends. A lot of friends, all with kids the same age as our beebo. It’s fun to watch her enjoy the holiday with her friends.

This year she went as a witch, which means I dressed my child in many gothic black layers, threw on a shirt my sister found at the Salvation Army, and dressed it up with a hat and cape. No time to craft this year, sadly. But hey, she was comfortable. Although she quickly lost the hat.

She ran like a little maniac up to all the houses, introduced herself, and asked directly for candy (she didn’t seem to get the hang of Trick or Treat). At least she said thank you. So loudly, I could hear it from the street. Now that’s gratitude!

Daddy pulled the wagon. We quickly got separated from the older kids in the group, who ran on ahead with a couple of parents. It was nice to have the 3-and-unders together, although we only had two strollers and one wagon to accommodate a witch, a warlock, a bumblebee, a pink dog, the Cupcake Fairy, and Darth Vader. There was a lot of practice at taking turns.

This is a moment before a faceplant that could have ruined the night. Miraculously, she caught herself before she actually hit her face, and she recovered quickly. The bag is from Zazzle, bought a few weeks ago during one of their Friday sales. (When I asked who was on the bag, she said, “Ca-sulu.” How cute is that?)

Feel free to skip the next paragraph if you don’t want to get technical about photography. In case there is in fact anyone who is curious as to how I got the images I did, here’s the scoop: night shooting sucks. You have your choice of I-can’t-see-anything or eye-searing ball of light unless you finesse it. Almost all of these photos were shot with a 24-70 wide angle lens at 1/3 second, with apertures at 2.8-3.5 and ISO generally around 100, but I upped it to 320 or so once the sun went down. The long shutter was to get light trails off of decorations and porch lights, as well as to get some ghost effects when combined with flash. I used two flashes, but only one was aimed at the subjects. Because I’m a cheapo, I didn’t bother with radio poppers and instead used optical syncing from on camera flash to a handheld lumopro kept at 1/64 power, for the most part. The off camera light is either high and to the left, or at ground level. I left a light stand bracket on the flash, which gave me another 6″ or so of reach. I’m no strobist, but it was a good time with the stuff that was already in my bag.

Then you get the weird, happy accidents, despite your best efforts to aim your light at the subject, as opposed to in your own face. My own little ghost witch, just in time for Halloween. When we get up in the morning, it’s all sugar skulls and loteria. And avoiding stores that are already playing Christmas music.

 

Is it really almost July already? Holy cow! June was a whirlwind, but with multiple birthdays, a party, and a vacation thrown in, why wouldn’t it be? Let’s see, in June we had

summer cooking with fresh herbs,

so, so many cupcakes (for my birthday AND the munchkin’s!),

moments of crafting in between the madness,

freaking fabulous weather,

art, art, and more art,

a little bit of nature,

did I mention cupcakes?

things blooming,

things growing,

things left behind,

and at the center of it all, a fiercely happy kid! Happy June, everyone!