Friday.
Edition 32.
It’s Friday!
Time for a weekly round-up of some of my faves from the week.
In last Friday’s post, I mentioned finding the scene settings on my Sony Alpha 7 II.
Miss Sunshine had a game the next day, so I was able to put it to use.
Action Shots.
I do love being able to freeze action shots. When I scroll through a series, it’s like looking at a flip book. Each picture a slight movement forward, capturing the essence of the play. There was a series that I loved of Miss Sunshine where she’s chasing down a ball. She starts the series of shots well behind the other player chasing down the ball. Over the course of 6 or 8 photos, you can see her catch-up and pass the defender, steadily putting space between them. Unfortunately, the goalie gets to the ball, but I love being able to watch her turn on her speed.
I chose this shot to share because I like how Miss Sunshine (in the white) and the other player are frozen in this fight for possession of the ball.
Also, look at the background! Sometimes when I’m pining for my hometown Floridian roots, I forget that Virginia is a gorgeous place.
Of course, nature does whatever she wants, but today is the first day of autumn. Some of the higher elevations are beginning to see color changes. As we progress into the season, that mountain will begin to be filled with yellow and reds, a spectacle of color.
Miss Sunshine has to be early to the fields for warm-ups. This leaves me time to wander around with my camera before games. I haven’t been on many outings recently and my nearby views had left me uninspired. I was beginning to wonder where my photographic passion had hidden itself. Wondering if my eye for the beauty in the simplicity had gone on hiatus.
Aperture.
But I found it again that day. I have some photos that I’m still processing but wanted to share this series where I was working with the aperture (how much I wanted in focus).
The series was taken with my Sony Alpha 7 II with the Sony FE 3.8-5.6/28-70mm lens. This is the only lens I have at this time. I’m hoping to add a 50 mm/1.8 and a longer zoom, but am still working through which brand I want. The Sony lenses are pricier than other options and there are adaptors that make using other brands possible.
ISO 250 | 30 mm | f/14
ISO 250 | 30 mm | f/3.5
ISO 250 | 30 mm | f/22
Which do you prefer?
I took these shots handheld, so the differences between f/14 and f/22 may have been more pronounced had I used a tripod. However, the water and the log are more in focus on the f/22.
Greenway.
On Sunday, we decided to have an outing down at the Greenway. Roanoke has a great Greenway, quite a bit of which runs along the Roanoke River. Miss Sunshine likes to take Maverick to play because she wants him to have a love for water.
Speaking of Maverick…
Puppy Training.
He finished Beginner puppy training!
This is the first dog that we’ve ever taken for training. Our original goal was for the socialization. He was frightened by other dogs when we first brought him home. By the end of this 6 weeks, he was wanting to be friends with them all. He was in love with a little Maltese named April. Every week he was so excited to get to go visit her.
Oh… and he learned to sit, leave it, loose leash walking, shake, come when called…amongst some other things.
Being A Mom.
Most of my week was filled with what I do…. mom-ing.
Miss Sunshine has soccer practice twice a week, physical therapy twice a week, games… Big Mister had a consultation with the oral surgeon for wisdom teeth removal… I fed people…And I washed their clothes…I signed my name on school papers…Plus, I handed out money from the bank of mom…
And somewhere in there, I found time to get to Pilates, to train myself to run, edit some photos, and write some words.
Some weeks I wonder where all the hours went. This was one of those weeks.
Is it just me, or do you ever have weeks like that?
Music.
I’ve been enjoying the recommendations in music from YouTube. I’ve found bands or artists that I might not otherwise have discovered. That’s also the case for my song choice this week. Tom Walker’s hometown is Manchester, U.K. I did google him and discovered that he’s actually about to tour the United States. He’s going to be on tour with The Script. He’ll be in Charlotte, NC, which would have been a doable journey…if I wasn’t still raising children. Unfortunately, it’s on a weeknight and late enough so that it would require an overnight. Oh well, maybe hearing him live should be an excuse for a future trip back to the U.K.
Hmmm…
I hope that you all are enjoying this first day of Autumn and that your weekend is filled color.
Let your light shine!
Amy
Of the flowers, I prefer the second one, with a softly focused background. That’s one of my favorite tricks, it makes the primary focal point really stand out. 😃
Thanks! That’s my favorite as well. I know some landscape shots calls for a lot of the field in focus, but I do enjoy a shallow depth of field accenting the subject. 😊
Nice pics, also the flowers you took while waiting for the game. I did the same when I still took my son to his soccer games. Now that he is driving together with is friends who are already allowed to drive, that rarely happens anymore. Have a great weekend, Amy! Marcus
Thanks Marcus! I tend to bring a book or snap some pictures during that warm up time. Sometimes I get lucky and I’ll run into friends who’ve just finished watching their child’s game. It’s sometimes strange to thing that it’ll be a few short years and she’ll be driving to that warm-up time. I hope you have a great weekend as well! – Amy
I agree, the second flower picture is the most captivating. 🙂
Congratulations to Maverick on his puppy school graduation!
Thank you! It was fun to watch Maverick come out of his shell! 🙂
The second flower picture is my favorite as well!
The soccer shot is great, and really does capture the intensity.
It IS beautiful there!
Maverick is adorable!
I DO have weeks like that, and I don’t like them at all. This last week was a lot of the taxiing and meeting and appointments and performances, as was the week before. This week should be calm like whoa and I hope we all enjoy it. We might SEE one another all at once, and for more than 10 minutes, and maybe even sit at the table and eat the same foods all together! 🙂
I hope you keep your balance, Amy.
Thanks Joey!
I don’t enjoy crazy weeks. I guess the other side is that they make the mellow ones all the more enjoyable. This week Miss Sunshine goes down to once a week physical therapy and her soccer practices have moved to a closer field (due to less daylight). I’m hoping that means that we might all get a chance to sit down together this week. I have an ace up my sleeve in that the hubby’s birthday is Thursday. 😉
Today is two girls, then three girls, two schools, five times there and back.
Tomorrow? I think only one early. Phew!
I’m glad the field got moved for y’all and I hope you get some get together time — especially Thursday! 😀
Love the second shot! Gorgeous.Thanks for sharing the music you find. Love hearing artists I haven’t listened to before. xx
The second one seems to be everyone’s favorite. Mine too! I’m glad you’re enjoying the music! Finding new artists (to me) is exciting. 🙂
I didn’t learn your scene lesson on the Sony as well as you did. I couldn’t figure it out. I think I need to crack open the manual. God help me … I hate reading manuals.
Great photos, Amy – especially the last one. I really like the crispness of it. That crispness is one thing I love about the Sony.
I do love the crispness of the Sony. I absolutely don’t want to have to read the manual! I search high and low all over the internet trying to avoid that. lol
I’m a trial-and-error kind of person 🙂
Me too! 🙂