my wild things {week 9}

my wild things ~ the story

trying to get with the program

It's weird noticing the difference between my mindset last fall vs this year. Last year I was positively obsessed with spending time outdoors, enjoying every possible minute of the gorgeous fall weather, and documenting every incremental change in the colors of the leaves all around us. This year it's like my brain is refusing to acknowledge or process the passing of time. Like, I keep looking up and being surprised at being in the throes of fall. I'm a little concerned that I'll look up one day and all the leaves will be on the ground and I'll feel like I missed it. The urgency I felt last year was probably a bit overboard, but I'm not that keen on my current state of obliviousness either. It looks like we're just about hitting peak fall foliage around here, so my goal for at least one of Q's preschool mornings this week will be to get some photowalks in. In the meantime, here are a few pics I've snapped with my phone recently:

iphoneography sidenote: I'm remembering how much I like the picfx app. I think every one of these was processed with it. It's an old favorite of mine but for some reason I stopped using it for a long time, now it's back in the rotation again.

squash & wildflowers

A few more scenes from the farm where we went apple-picking over the weekend.

fall really is her season

She looks pretty amazing against the backdrop of orange leaves and pumpkins.

(she looks great in the white snow, too, but she doesn't venture out much in the winter...)

my wild things {week 8}

We took the boys apple picking yesterday. It was a fun, idyllic trip filled with screaming in the car on the way over and fights over who got to pull the wagon (that was quickly abandoned). But, we did actually have some fun, and we procured some apples, and I brought the new camera along so I can show you pictures of my sweet, adorable children and we can pretend that they are always this sweet and adorable.

my wild things ~ the story

Mama's got a new toy

I have a new camera.

We've gone back and forth for a while about upgrading, especially after having to have my trusty 30D repaired twice in the past year and a half. Then we decided to be extravagant and wreckless and just go for it, counting this as my birthday/christmas/Marcy-survived-the-summer/Zachs-got-a-job/etc gift (though some would argue this is a gift that benefits the whole family, ahem).

We went with a Canon 6D. It's a full-frame camera which is very, very exciting, but still small-- it's just about the same size and weight as the 30D.  It took me a good 5 years to feel like I was outgrowing the 30D, and I feel like the 6D is enough of a step up that I'll have another good 5+ years of growing into it. It arrived Friday evening right at dinnertime, and so I let Zach put the kids to bed while I (im)patiently waited for the battery to charge and read the manual from cover to cover, drooling over the new features and dedicated buttons and stuff I'd soon get to play with. One of the things I've been most excited about is the ridiculously high ISO range (25,600!!!! vs the 30D's 1600) and much better low-light sensitivity. As I started taking pictures around the house I was just blown away-- I kept thinking of that scene in Spinal Tap when they're talking of the amp that goes to 11, except I felt like yelling, "But THIS one goes to TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND!!"

Below is a bunch of Random Shit I Took Pictures Of while first testing the camera out friday night.  They're really, really crappy pictures, except they're also INCREDIBLY AWESOME in that they were taken at night in my dark house and are remarkably un-grainy considering they were taken at ISOs of 5,000-12,800. So, yeah. (all of these are straight-out-of-the-camera jpegs, using my sigma 50mm lens)

 

f/2.8, 1/800, ISO 10,000

 

f/4, 1/125, ISO 12,800

 

f/3.2, 1/160, ISO 12,800

 

f/3.2, 1/160, ISO 6,400

 

This one's from this morning. And sure when looked at blown up it's noisy and not that sharp, etc etc... BUT it was taken in a very dark room at ISO 25,600 and is actually usable. That just blows my mind. 

I'm also really loving the wider perspective of the full-frame sensor. It's made my 50mm lens more usable again and I'm looking forward to trying out my 35mm on it and seeing what that's like. For one thing, it helps make for easier handheld mama-and-me selfies (you can see how thrilled D is about this).

33

My birthday was last week-- a week ago today, actually, now that I look at the calendar. I am now 33 whole years old, I'm not sure if that puts me in the "mid-thirties" bracket or if I get another year yet. Getting older doesn't bother me much, at least not yet (I have a good friend who's been complaining about feeling "old" ever since her 22nd birthday), although I won't say I'm exactly thrilled about the laugh lines that are starting to make themselves a bit too comfortable on my face. I try to tell myself that laugh lines are at least the good kind to have.

It was a good day overall, fairly low-key. I spent the morning at Q's new preschool which was an adorably fun time, and much of the rest of the day hanging out with my boys and great friends. Jeremy & Jody made it over for some cake, and even made a valiant effort to sing along with Zach to our traditional birthday songs. It always makes me happy when friends have been around long enough to start to learn the birthday songs.

I know there's more I want to write about, but it feels like my brain is in a thick fog and I can barely think straight.... The boys have been adorable lately, tho also waking up way too early. D lost his first tooth several days ago. Q cracks me up with his antics, and scares me a little sometimes with his energy and fierceness. D has been super into building with legos (bricks, and we've also started down the hero factory path), tonight I took a bunch of his creations that have been half taken apart and broke them down the rest of the way to sort the pieces and kept marveling at the way he'd put things together to begin with. Zach's second week of class is down, and as predicted he's got a lighter load and waning motivation for schoolwork which is perhaps not so great for school but nice for us who get to see more of him. We've been enjoying some gorgeous weather, and watching the signs of fall appear all around (leaves turning orange, temperatures dropping, little noses transforming into running faucets...), and just wishing for a bit more sleep (always, always).

Tunbridge World's Fair

I keep being surprised by how far into the season we already are. Like, I keep looking at the trees and thinking, "wow the leaves are turning colors already..." then remembering that, well, we are mid-way through September. On Saturday we were at a birthday party and the mom mentioned that the next day was the last day of the Tunbrige World's Fair in Vermont, something we missed last year and I'd wanted to make sure to go this year but hadn't even been thinking of it yet because, again, I can't seem to keep track of the time of year. But, thankfully, that friend reminded me.  And, thankfully, my darling friend Jody (who is always up for a fun adventure) also wanted to go and so we packed the kids in the car and checked out the last day of the fair.

Zach stayed home with Quinn which meant I felt a bit freer to bring my camera and snap a few pictures. It was fun to see (and photograph) the old-timey machines and stuff, and the bright colors of the rides and carnival fare. D went on his first rollercoaster ride, and I don't think he could quite make up his mind whether he thought it was awesome or terrifying (or awesomely terrifying?). And, it being Vermont and all, the backdrop of ridiculously green tree-covered hills was gorgeous as always. Here are the bazillion photos to prove it...