Picture This

 
LEFTOVERS: After yesterday's Big Cookie Project, we had a few leftovers. The kids were happy to do a little decorating this morning. Can you guess who made which cookie? I'll bet you can. :)

STATE OF CONFUSION:  A few days back, I had the kids take a stab at filling in state names on a blank map of America.  They probably got 65-70 percent correct on their first go round.

Today, I handed them another blank map and told them to have at it. They did better, but there are still some rather enormous gaps in the knowledge we need to fill. Yowza. ...

PHOTOGRAPHY 101: For a change of pace, we drove a little today before commencing our walk. We pointed the Honda toward Queen Anne, destination David Rodgers Park.

But before we hit the playground there, we took the pups on a several blocks stroll around the neighborhood.  I was walking both dogs, so I had the kids take turns holding my camera. Annabelle went first, and asked if she could take some photos. I said, "Sure!" of course.

She started snapping shots of pretty flowers, which were plentiful.

CJ took his turn and by the second photo captured he declared, "I have found a new passion!"  :)  He suggested he start saving money for his own camera.

As we reviewed their photos tonight, talking about composition, point of view, depth of field and other aspects, each of them could quickly see that some photos were better than others, and name specifics as to why they were good - or bad.

CJ was underwhelmed by most of the tree shots he took, like the one above. We talked about how and why it can be hard to take a good photo of a tree.

When I saw him trying to capture an enormous evergreen in the park ...

I had a feeling he would be disappointed with the photo because it wouldn't really convey how big the tree was, since there was nothing in the frame to compare it to scale wise.

I told him sometimes the best thing to do when shooting something really big is to go really small - shoot just a small section of it.

And so he zeroed in on the really nubby bark, and took this cool shot.

Annabelle also zeroed in on some interesting bark.

Sometimes a sign is a sign of a good or bad photo. CJ liked the raised beds in this home's front yard ...

But when the picture was on my screen, I asked the kids, "What's the first thing your eye is drawn to?" They both said, "The no parking sign!" immediately.

Conversely, in one of Annabelle's flower photos, I pointed out how in the background you can see the street sign in the background, and how something like that can be a nice touch. We talked about how she could have frame it better.

CJ liked the looks of a purple UW flag flying over one home and tried to photograph it. While he was doing so, I told him that photographing flags can be tricky - ideally, you snap it right when the flag is unfurled. He only took to photos. It wasn't enough.

During our walk we encountered some TRUE art. ;) We dubbed it "Feline Island."