Bonding (II)

The Grasslands Nature Reserve is a vast space and replacing its fence is a very big job, taking a few days. On my previous post, I was talking about a National Geographic Assignment and the way it taught me to redefine the way I am seeing photography. Not only mine, but also the way my son is interacting with the surrounding environment, without me having to tell him how to do it.

(If you missed my first post, click here to see it)

It has also taught me to understand better a few things. My son is only 2yo and loves talking to people and taking pictures. He is also very tiny and a lot of times I feel like picking him up while taking his shot. That would be a mistake, as it would change his perspective. I know now. I also learned to trust his judgement and let him show me what he wants and what he can do. Quite a few surprises there...Without me telling him how to do things, he actually took better shots than me.

His photo got noticed by two of the editors, which is very rewarding, considering his age. It does not matter whether we get picked or not for the final story. The thing is, we learned to function better both as individuals and as a team.

Encouraged by the results of out first photo shoot, we followed up with a second visit a few days later. We went back, trying to take it a layer deeper, as encouraged by the National Geographic Editor. My 2yo had a blast following around and talking to the contractors, who were very knowledgeable and friendly.  We found Nick and his men in between tasks. The conversation recommenced easily.  My 2yo run to Nick, proudly announcing: "We came to take photos of you". Nick smiled and he explained (very patiently) a few various jobs to my son; he even has shown him how a baby bobcat works.

Nick is a government contractor who has been in business for over 20 years. He also works for sustainable energy companies.

His biggest challenge to date is to find continuous employment for his team. 

 

Here is George's series:

 

 

 

Here is my series:

 

 

 

 

 



 

Bonding

There is an old saying; "Smile and the whole World will smile back". Today we experienced this fully; today's story is about bonding.

Bonding with nature, bonding with family, with community members. About being there, observing and participating.

We have been inspired by a really amazing National Geographic assignment (click here if you want to read about it).

I think every parent with children interested in photography should do this. In fact, I think every parent should do it anyway. Forget about skills or art knowledge, do it for yourself. This type of exercise is meant to get people together and to actively pursue involvement in the community where you live. You would be amazed of the stories you get. It is true that a camera usually "freezes" your subjects initially, but the presence of a child opens up some really wonderful avenues.

 

It is also an activity that will benefit your relationship with your children  in many, many ways. You get to explore the world through their eyes, you get to bond, to share a special moment.

My 2yo is a very active little boy, with great imagination and a very good language control. He is able to tell you at any time what goes on in his mind. Even before this assignment we had "shooting dates" as he loves taking pictures and he loves trekking in the grasslands. We are fortunate to live in a little paradise corner; our backyard backs onto a nature reserve. It feels nice to have all this land to explore yet we are still close to all city amenities. For us as a family, our most important priority is  finding the right balance between our "technological life" (we see all the modern gadgets as wonderful tools for learning) and our outdoors time, when we learn all we can through direct experience about the place where we live.

 

We are usually documenting kangaroos and snails( his latest favourites) but  this assignment called for engagement within our community. We would have liked to be able to take some photos of some rangers, but we were never so lucky to bump into them. When we do, we would have lots of questions about the ecosystem, about the endemic species or about kangaroos behaviour.

Even so, today it must have been Master 2's lucky day as we came across one of the Rangers' Contactor, who was changing the fence all around the reserve. Imagine a little boy's eyes lighting up when he can take advantage of all his passions in one hit: photography, grasslands, power tools, super cars, trucks and men at work.

Nick proved to be a lovely gentleman, with a lot of patience and he let us tag along for a bit, while he was doing his job. He was gracious and courteous; he also explained a few things to Master 2. For instance, the old logs are not removed from the nature reserve; they are placed in a few points where they will serve as natural habitat for some species.

I have to say it, Master 2 has done a better job than me. Here is his photo reportage:

 

And lastly, here is my series:

Parallel Worlds

 

Today it's about a different kind of message, about finding one's own creativity, about reinventing oneself and about finding new ways of observing one's reality.

Life with the little ones involves most of the time discovering a different world, through a very different perspective.

Both my 4yo and my 2yo are very creative little people and love expressing themselves through art; art has helped us in many ways during their challenging moments, during trying times, or when they had difficulties to adjust to a new situation, or to dealing with loss.

Sometimes we find it hard to adopt or understand some of the directions that some contemporary art has taken - some seem devoid of any colours or sense.

most of the time, we are just happy to improvise and find our own way. Inspired by a National Geographic assignment, we took out our cameras and went on a quest. It wasn't exactly what I pictured it would be; somehow it was better though - Little Miss chose to craft the stories of a parallel world, while my 2yo was happy to take some photos.

It turned to be a different learning journey, telling stories with reflections.

Picture a 4yo's fascination with the surrounding environments: always on the move, always searching with those inquisitive eyes. At any rate, most of the times, the answers are different, beyond my wildest dreams.

We follow the yellow brick road, we fly on magic winged creatures, we splash with mermaid tales...or was it just a dream?

 

 

 

 

 

The Red Moon

Astronomic Photography is really one of the most difficult tasks, in my opinion, and I am far form good at it. But I won't live to see too many blood moons so I had to try.














My tripod didn't really want to cooperate and I don't have a remote control - in the good old times, a release cable was gold :) Unfortunately, my camera won't take one of these, I reckon the remote is the digital equivalent of it.

I went out in the grasslands early, just to see the full moon and do some testing. It was really trying to find the right settings, taking in the account not only the moon's & the earth's movements but also the gentle jolt from me pressing the release button.

Another challenge I found was that my camera has only 3 focusing points - not a handy thing at night. But I tried figuring out various settings, various ways.

 

And then I managed to get just a few snapshots of the red moon. I just had to give up the idea of incorporating the grasslands into the shot.