Memorial Day

"Now as I sit here safe at home
With a cold Coors Lite an' the TV on
All the sacrifice and the death and woe
Lord I pray that I'm worth fighting for"

Lyle Lovett-Natural Forces

The first two major events I covered for the Tribune were the return of Staff Sgt. Shawn McNabb and Spc. Joseph Lewis. Those two men will be forever in my mind as the faces of our heroes who fight our very real battles. We are forever in the debt of those who serve.

Quick pics - Baby in the back yard

Took young Joshua out to the back yard, where Mrs. Easttexasphoto spends a lot of effort keeping things beautiful despite two years of hail storms.

Of course, my favorite shot is one of the moments between the 'posed' shots... when the lovely wife of mine was taking him to another part of the yard for more photos.


With a baby only 6 1/2 weeks old, he cannot sit up for photos, so you have to get creative.

Mom's arm holds the baby, but is quite noticeable in the picture.


Use the blanket as a backdrop over mom's arm... I think it is less distracting. Almost like furniture. Maybe not.


And the fun expressions are always a nice fun catch.

Have a great and meaningful Memorial day weekend, y'all.

Don J.

Quick Pics - Lightning (Again)

Yet another major thunderstorm and tornado warnings in the area. I can't imagine what the folks in Joplin, Alabama and elsewhere are feeling.

More lightning in my neighborhood... here are some bolts I caught before it got uncomfortable to be standing next to a lightning rod known as a tripod.

Early, with nice cloud forms and light.


And as it got darker, longer shutter open times meant more captures..

Saturday evening

Got to take a few minutes to get some editing done.... but that was interrupted by some spectacular thunderstorm happening overhead. Most of the lightning was in the clouds, but I caught a few bolts from the front porch before blowing rain forced me back inside.


What am I editing? Photos of pure love, joy and unabashed cuteness...

Quick pic - hanging out with mom

Took a few minutes to get some more couch photos today with young Joshua ... as is often the case, my favorite shot came in a candid moment.

Baby photo accessory #1 - Bumbo

Disclaimers first ... not everyone is a fan of the Bumbo, and you have to take precautions that any baby in front of your lens does not take a dive onto a hard surface.

With that out of the way (and a little common sense), the nifty foam Bumbo seat is a very handy photo accessory. Luckily I was given one as a gift from a mom after a family photo shoot, but the $35 would be an easy spend for me. And if I could find one in black or white, I would probably buy a second. Maybe I will go with pink and blue eventually.

One baby photography problem is that they aren't very good at sitting up. The Bumbo does solve that problem as long as you are OK with having the seat in the shot.


Get in nice and close for a baby portrait without the chair.


And once the baby is set and happy, you can just shoot away and wait for some fun expressions and..... fun moments


And of course, there are the moments between the moments..


Of course you don't have to drag out a strobe to have fun... just some nice window light and a wide open aperture to take care of background clutter and you're done.

All of these photos were taken with the 50mm.

Don J.

Quick pics - Sleep deprivation

It's all in the eyes... and in lots of messing around in Lightroom just for the fun of it.