Zumanity Glamour Shots - Doing It Right

Four years ago in 2007, I attended the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas. It was the first time I had been to Vegas, so I definitely wanted to take in all the sights and a show (as well as learn about agile software development and testing – woo hoo!).

Since I was in Vegas with no kids, I decided to see Zumanity, "The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil" (18 and older). The show was wonderful – light-hearted, sexy and fun. Beforehand, a photographer took me aside and asked whether I'd like some glamour photos taken. I was all sweaty from hoofing it over to the hotel in the late June desert heat, and was wearing a striped t-shirt, shorts and walking sandals. Um, I'm not really dressed for that?

The photographer immediately put me at ease and threw on a purple feather boa to glam me up. Since I don't know the first thing about posing for a glamour shot, she told me exactly where to put my hands and feet and how to look at the camera.





I appreciated all the tips, but it still didn't change the fact that I was sweaty and wearing a t-shirt and shorts. After the show, I asked someone to take this shot of me with one of the performers, a male stripper.

 

Star-struck and definitely not dressed for the part! I enjoyed the show so thoroughly, I vowed to Doug that we would see the show together someday. I wasn't sure how we'd be able to go as a family and ditch the kids for the show, but I was determined to share the experience with him.

Last month, we diverted our plans for our yearly getaway to Newport, RI to Las Vegas. Here was our chance to see Zumanity together and my chance to get the glamour shots right. This time, in a dress and heels, and with my man.



 

Oh yeah, now were talking! I am so glad that we went back to do the glamour portraits right. I love the close-up shot of us where the photographer asked us to say 'whiskey'. That word made for some great smiles. I didn’t get to redo the shot with the stripper, but the blue shirt man beats the sequined g-string.

I also took the opportunity to make a "Lo-Fi" version of this portrait. I love the well-worn look of a well-loved photograph. Check the Lo-Fi retro photography application here (Disclaimer: Lo-Fi provided a review copy of their software.)




So my new motto is:  If anything is worth doing, it’s worth doing twice.  Some famous examples include having kids, seeing Zumanity, and now taking BMW Performance Driving School (where I am blogging from right now from lovely South Carolina - more to come!).

Take Those Naked Photographs Before It's Too Late

One of my favorite corner's of the internet is PostSecret. "PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard."  PostSecret, is intimate, anonymous, and voyeuristic.  Many secrets are sad, some are funny, and there are always one or two that hit right home.  I've always imagined creating a PostSecret and mailing it in.  But I've never been able to decide upon a secret that I was willing to part with.  Besides, most of my secrets have already been posted in one form or another. 

Back in January, I happened upon a PostSecret that was simply a text email, and not even a postcard.  It said, "I wish I had taken a naked picture of my husband, back in the day when he was a hard body and looked like Bob Seger. He is gone now and I miss him."  For some reason this has really stuck with me.

So on our annual trip to Newport this year, I made a point to take some nude pictures of Doug and myself.  Regardless of how my mommy body looks.  Doug has one of those (extremely annoying) metabolisms that has left him at the same weight for 30 years.  So his photos came out fantastic.  Mine?  I can barely look at them.  But no matter what, these will probably be better than any photos we take in the future.  The moment is now!

And you can't beat these knowing smiles (fuzzy because it is cropped way down - the rest is not for public consumption!).



For more on naked families, check out my BlogHer post.


Hosted by Cecilyand Debi

PSF – Climbing out the Window

Angela?  Oh, Angela?

While we were staying in Newport, Rhode Island, for our 10th anniversary celebration, Doug was looking for me and was greeted by this open window.  I quickly scampered around the corner and snapped this picture of him.

 

Where the heck was I?  On the fire escape of the third floor of our Inn.  Here's some more perspective. 

Way up there.  We usually stay in the round room to the right with the turret (called the Tower Room), but this time, I convinced Doug to revisit a room on the third floor.  I just couldn’t resist going out on the fire escape to take some photographs.

The front steps from above.

Sycamore tree out front.

Up close and personal with the turret.

The garden and our car.

It was so much fun climbing around!

Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

PSF - Flying

A long time ago, I used to list my hobbies on my resume. I'm not sure whether I just needed to make my resume longer, or to make it appear that I was a well-rounded person, or what my reasons were. Nowadays, my resume is overflowing and I'm at the age where I'd be better off leaving my year of graduation and losing a few of my first jobs. But back then, I was young and inexperienced and I put kite flying down as one of my hobbies.



Kite flying? Do you make them? Do you compete? Are there clubs? I got lots of questions during interviews and I had to disappoint people and say that it was just something I really enjoyed. Perhaps it labeled me as a Chinese American stereotype or perhaps it was a sure sign of an introvert. Eventually, I removed it as it was increasingly apparent that it was a ridiculous thing to put on a resume.

My collection of kites include a box kite, several diamond and delta stunt kites and even a three-tier red baron airplane kite that I've never used. I took one of my kites to the beach recently for the first time since the kids were born.



As soon as the spindles were in my hands, I felt that familiar tranquility pass over me.  I laid down in the sand and looked up at the kite.  A light touch here, a light touch there, and the kite followed my every move.  It soared high and it soared right and left, its tail gracefully mapping its trail.  As soon as I took my eyes off it, it would falter, so I gazed at it steadily to keep it afloat.



Doug graciously took the reins as I shot these photographs (I tried to photograph it while flying myself, it was impossible!).  He loves to fly kites as well as likens it to flying an aircraft.  We wanted the kids to try it and only Adam volunteered.  I was afraid that he would want to crash the kite, as his destructive boyish impulses tend to take over, but he was very careful.  But he was quickly bored and headed back to the waves.



I joined the kids in the water as Doug continued to fly the kite.



It danced gloriously.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Tell Me Thursday - Doug's 50th Birthday

I wish I knew the secret behind Doug's non-graying hair! It is incredible that he has no gray at all (unlike his wife). And what a nice haircut too (courtesy of his wife). But enough of his perfect hair and on to his 50th birthday celebration...

For the last few months, I have been worrying about what sort of party to throw for Doug. We usually host birthday parties at home, where I stress out over the preparations, run around being hostess, and slave over the grill. The weather has also not cooperated in the last few years, it has been either deathly hot (high 90's F) or torrential downpours. I can't say which is worse when it comes to grilling. And I've heard of other 50th birthday celebrations that included a clam bake on the beach, a DVD chronicling 50 years of life, and other overly ambitious exploits (not that I'm competitive or anything). So I finally put aside all my preconceptions and decided to go to a restaurant for the celebration. We chose Legal Seafood at the Burlington Mall (for those of you in Massachusetts).

The food was much better than anything I could prepare (OK, I do grill an awesome salmon) and the atmosphere was festive, especially with the Over the Hill sign that Doug's cousin put up. I was relaxed because I didn't have to worry about serving everyone and there was no cleanup!! OK, now I sound like I just threw my kid a birthday party at McDonald's, but really, it was fabulous.



The one thing I was concerned about was the photography. I am a natural light person and cannot for the life of me get my Speedlite flash to work to my advantage. But thankfully, our friend George (who took the photograph of us above) came to the rescue and showed me how to set the camera in manual mode (ISO 400, 1/125 sec, F11) with the diffuser on the flash set at 45 degrees. It did automagically fill in the light according to the distance of the subject. It even filled in 12 feet down the table!



Of course, the kids were horsing around as usual.



So I finally gave Dova my iPhone to occupy her.



And who can resist this piece of lobster?



That look on Dova's face just cracks me up. She wouldn't try it.

And there's a story behind the "50" candle as well. The number 5 made its first debut on Adam's fifth birthday:



It kept falling down on Dova's fifth birthday:



And it made another appearance on Doug's 50th birthday:



Some people may find this candle reuse tacky, but I call it incredibly cheap resourceful. Let's see how many years I can get out if it!

I'm glad the birthday celebration turned out well and would go back to that restaurant in a heartbeat. But I'm in no rush to get to 50!


Visit Tell Me Thursday for more secrets behind Wordless Wednesday.

WW - Happy 50th Birthday Doug!

Doug, you look fantastic!! I'm so proud to be your wife.

Visit by Wordless Wednesday or 5 Minutes for Mom for more participants.
Come back tomorrow for the story behind these photos on Tell Me Thursday.

PSF - Never Take a Half Day Off in the Morning

Last week, I found out that Dova's preschool class was hosting a Mother's Day brunch this Monday. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to take one of my mandatory days off and spend some quality time with my daughter. Since I needed to take a half day later in the month, I opted to take just the morning off. I could also have a nice quiet lunch with Doug before heading back to work, since both kids were in school that day. On Friday last week, our customer called to set up a teleconference as soon as possible. I suggested Monday at 2pm. He called back saying that not everyone could make it, and changed it to 1pm. Sure that would be fine...

I got to do all of Doug's stay-at-home chores on Monday morning, making lunches and driving the kids first to Adam's bus stop and then to Dova's preschool. We arrived a few minutes earlier than the start of the brunch at 9am, so I took Dova outside to join her class. I said, "Go ahead and play, I'll just watch from here." Mortified, she replied, "Mom, you have to go inside, there are no other moms here!" So I went inside and watched through door. Hmmph!

When the kids came inside, she finally allowed me to sit next to her during circle time because other moms had arrived. We then had a nice spread of cinnamon buns, mini donuts, cantaloupe, apple strudel with iced tea or juice. And here is a photo I took for iPhone bytes and Twitter:



Cute, eh? What you don't know is that I took three shots prior that all looked like this:



She kept scowling at me until I offered to get her another donut and then her smiles magically came out.  Later, I took this photo of Dova beading a necklace for me.  Again, she refused to look at the camera or smile but with the sunflower, it came out fine.



I got home around 10:15am.  Doug and I planned to take a walk together and then head out for lunch around 11am so we would have plenty of time. Except our network printer wasn't working. So I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out the problem, only to fix it by rebooting the printer. The gremlins have been hitting our network hard recently, and I've spent more time as network admin more than any other household chore! Finally we headed out for our walk and by the time we got back, it was around 11:45am. Now there wasn't enough time to head to a nice restaurant for lunch, so we decided to go to a local cafe.  We took two cars, so I could go directly to work afterward. When we arrived, we found they weren't open on Mondays so we headed to another cafe a couple blocks away. Since this place only had on street parking, we left my car and took one car over. Finally at 12:15pm we ordered a salad and a sandwich and sat at a beautiful cozy corner window table.



We got to chatting and before I knew it, I looked at a clock and it said 12:40pm. What? I gotta get to work right now! It would take 15 minutes to get there and then I would barely have enough time to turn on my computer to find out the teleconference information. And our food had not arrived yet! I assumed that this was a sandwich shop which could crank out orders in no more than five minutes tops. Apparently not, even Krusty Krab could do better. And I was just about to post this beautiful photo looking out the window but ran out of time.



I asked Doug to have them pack our lunches to go. We ran into his car, made an illegal U-turn, and drove to my car. I had the lunches in my lap. When I handed Doug his styrofoam box, I saw new grease stains on my favorite wrinkle-free Eddie Bauer khakis. Argh!!! I rushed to work, arriving at 12:58pm and the customer called just as I got to my desk. I had to eat while on the call in a conference room in front of another colleague. So much for a relaxing half day off.

So hopefully, time will erase the backstory of Dova's foul mood and the Main Street Cafe f-ups, and someday all I'll remember are these idyllic photos.  One thing is for sure, I will never take a half day off in the morning or go back to the Main Street Cafe.


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Silly Monkey Story - Doug on Vacation

Doug and I went on our yearly getaway to Newport, Rhode Island for some precious R&R away from the kids. That doesn't mean that we have to be all serious and everything! Here's Doug enjoying a bit of fun with an upside down sign.



And during our long photography session for my new head shot, he broke up my lighting checks with some funny faces (hmm, I wonder if that's where Adam gets it from).  Here he is "focusing the camera".  And yes, definitely over-exposed and marginally revived with post processing.



And I have to sneak in this "aw" moment with this Daddy and Daughter sculpture. Nothing beats a hug from your little girl.




Hosted by Karen at 3 Garnets and 2 Sapphires.

49 Candles

I was cleaning up and found these homemade birthday cards for Doug, who turned 49 last June.  I love Dova's freeform cake explosion, which reminds me of the birthday card she made for me.  She thought it looked terrible and tried to cross it out. Maybe someday she'll appreciate the beauty of it.



Adam, with absolute perfectionism, placed exactly 49 candles on his drawing.  I have no idea how he managed to fit them exactly over the top.  I guess he didn't stand a chance with two perfectionists as parents.



Happy Belated Birthday post Doug!

Photo Hunters - Bright

These photos from Kimball Farm's mini-golf are definitely bright over-exposed, but I like them as Doug and Adam are exposed perfectly (both photos were deliberately taken with positive exposure compensation). Doug looks like he is putting on a piece of astroturf on the sun. Adam looks cozy under the shadow of the rock and waterfall, but he is also putting into the bright white.  And yes, he putted two balls into the water "by accident".

Happy Father's Day!

I got so caught up in my week of Wordless Wednesday's that I blew by Father's Day without a post (and Adam forgot to bring him his card from school until Monday). According to Adam, Doug is only good for motorcycles, like his mom is only good for video games.

Dova made another flower pot at school, this time with grass seed:


How did I get this strange eerie lighting for this strange eerie painted pot? Well, I failed to shoot the picture under natural light and all the flash shots were coming out with huge shadows. So I flipped my camera upside down, bounced the flash off the floor, and post processed by rotating twice, straightening, cropping to portrait, and correcting for the wood floor colored white balance. All that work because I was too lazy to wait for daylight!

Doug's birthday was one week before Father's Day and we celebrated on a hot steamy day. For some reason, the party always falls on the hottest or rainiest day of June. Here he is being presented with a cake made by his wife who insists on putting all the candles on. This year I had to purchase two boxes of 36 candles because he needed one candle more than two boxes of 24 candles.



Happy Birthday Doug and Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!