theothegrey

Two nights ago, I found a frog clinging to my front door. Emi and I went out with the flashlight my brother gave me for Christmas. Emi sat on my shoulders with the light while I took pictures. I love being a dad in these moments. I don’t have these photos available yet, but I’ll post something from this set soon.

Today, I was playing with the kids in the backyard today and a baby frog jumped out from under Emi’s rollercoaster toy. We had some fun jumping around with it. I figured it probably had a parent nearby so I started lifting up the other segments of her rollercoaster tracks. Sure enough, a darker green frog plopped out. It really did make a “plop” noise. It sounded kind of juicy. Emi said she wasn’t scared, but she was clinging to my leg.

It’s the strangest thing. I’ve been having all kinds of encounters with creatures as of late. First it was the birds in Puerta Vallarta. Then it was the spider. Now, it’s these frogs. What’s next?

I took over a hundred kid pics this past weekend, only a handful of which I like. I guess percentage-wise I like around 5% of my shots. Maybe less. But I’m having fun. And just as important, I think the kids I’ve been trying to capture are starting to have fun, too. My method is to take a couple of pictures and then show them to the kids to develop rapport. Once they see themselves on the lcd they open up a little bit. It’s not so scary to see “Uncle Ted” with the camera.

Here’s Noah at the beginning of the night. He’s sitting in his dad’s lap. He was pretty shy. I changed the photo to black and white and I think Dave’s darker shirt accentuates his shyness. I took pictures of him at a birthday party the day before and he wouldn’t even give me a grin.

Here he is again a few hours later at Starbucks, much more comfortable with the camera…and probably happier because he got a drink. This is his “smile-for-the-camera” pose.

Here’s Caleb again. I think he’s getting more comfortable around me. He looks more relaxed than last time. Black and white worked better in his case, too. (edit: Caleb is hilarious. Check out his mom’s blog and clidk on the second and third videos. He’s a crack up.)

A spider landed on my desk yesterday. I went in for the squash, but he was too quick and he jumped onto my keyboard. So, I had a change in heart. I took him outdoors for a few portraits. He cooperated. If you look closely at his eyes you can see my silhouette.

I’m taking on a little project, children’s portraits. I’ve been so encouraged by comments, both on the blog and in person, that I want to try my hand (and my eye) at taking pictures of other kids. Portraits, as I’m discovering, are so much more than about framing a shot and getting the right lighting. It’s really a social interaction. I’ve read about this, but now it’s something I’m experiencing. It’s really a different ball game when you’re not shooting your own kids. These little ones have to feel comfortable with you and their immediate surroundings. If it becomes too obvious that you’re taking pictures and you’re trying to get them to do something it doesn’t seem to work well. Their smiles don’t seem natural.

My first try was with the kids in our small group from Meta. We have a total of 16 kids in our small group…it’s outrageous. We have another family interested in joining us. That would make 7 couples and 18 kids if everyone showed up.

Jaime and Jake are sister and brother, #2 and #4 in a family of four children. Jaime was easy. She jumped on the couch when I was taking pictures, smiled for two shots, and then ran off again to play with the others. Jake was tough. He’s a little over 6 months old. But he managed to show some personality.

The boys in our group love playing with Transformers. You can count on Transformers being at every small group. Daniel is probably the most into it. I asked him to pose when he finished putting his big robot together. His portrait could have been much better with a different background, but I still like his smile. Matthew is a few years younger than the other boys, but he joins them in their Transformer obsession. I like his pic because the Transformer is so imposing. I didn’t say much to him. I just pointed the camera at him and he held up the robot like that by himself. It’s as if he’s saying, “Look, my Transformer is just as big as the others!”

This was taken at Hokkaido, a local Japanese restaurant. Caleb is Mia’s buddy. He was born a week after her. I couldn’t elicit much of a smile from him, so I’ll have to try him again another day. I took quite a few pictures of him, but none of them turned out that well. I hang out with his mommy and daddy often, so I should have another chance soon.

On Saturday I witnessed a motorcycle accident. I saw the whole thing happen right in front of me, just two car lengths away. A pickup truck made a left turn in front of a motorcycle headed south on Eldridge Parkway. The biker had just a short time to react. He hit the brakes, his wheels locked, and then his bike went down on its side. The man and his motorcycle slid toward the car, motorcycle sliding wheels first, man still straddled to his bike.

It was a terrible feeling. I was sitting in the car and I couldn’t do a thing. I just kept saying “oh no, oh no, oh no….” as the man slid helplessly down the asphalt. Emi was in the car with me. From her car seat she could see everything.

The motorcycle hit the back half of the pickup truck. It was carrying so much momentum that it propped back up. The man went up with the bike and his head slammed into the side of the truck.

The accident occurred in front of a motorcycle dealership. Within seconds a number of people ran out to the road to help. The man, however, didn’t move at all. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and I got out to help, but I couldn’t leave Emi in the car. Eldridge is a busy street and cars were everywhere. A group of people quickly surrounded him. Emi and I stayed in the car and we prayed. The paramedics arrived minutes later. They were quick.

I’m still disturbed. It’s hard to get the scene out of my mind — the loud thud of the man’s helmet colliding with the truck, the man lying absolutely still on the asphalt. Emi is too young to know how serious the whole accident was. I’ve asked her about it, but she hasn’t shown any fear or anxiety over it.

I’m been reminded of my human frailty. We human beings are so easily bruised and broken. And we live in a world with forces that are so far beyond our ability to control.