Foggy Day at Spring Lake

Click the picture, or click here, for a sweet slide show from Jennifer’s foggy day at the beach. Her sister was in from California with her kids, Jennifer’s nephews, so rescheduling was out of the question.

Ready for another fun contest? Win Jennifer an 8×10! Scroll to the bottom for some blog contest fun!

It was *so foggy* …

How foggy was it?

It was so foggy that you could barely see the ocean from the boardwalk!

Good thing about a rainy/foggy day at the beach is that there isn’t going to be a crowd, that’s for sure.

I call this the Baywatch shot.

I call this one a keeper!

I love how all three kids are watching that lone seagull with their arms slightly raised, as if wishing to fly too.

The boys’ mom is due in October! Best wishes for a healthy baby!

See? Foggy.

But the boardwalk stores were open so we washed up for a treat.

“Who loves ice cream?”

I know I’ve said it here in this blog a hundred times, but I wish I had pictures of my family when I was growing up doing stuff like this together. We used to hang out with our cousins at the beach all the time in South Carolina and I have no pictures of that.

Don’t have any pictures of my grandparents either.

There’s the kids’ grandmom and granddad!

Bye Jersey shore!

After the beach, we headed to a park in Spring Lake. This is one of my standard favorites — kids riding in car seats occupying themselves in the car.

If I had a picture of my days riding in a car when I was around 4, let’s see… I wouldn’t have been wearing a seatbelt. I’d probably have been in the front between my mom and dad (bench seats in the old Buick) or I might have been in the back, lying down taking a nap. I like it much better now. Easier to keep Billy from swatting Stevie if Billy and Stevie are strapped in!

This young man was one of my best photo shoot subjects ever. He was so interested in my camera and he often asked me very specific questions like, “Why did you change the settings on that shot?” and “What can I do to help?” It makes me smile just thinking about what a wonderful experience it was working with this person. So if you’re out in California reading this, my young friend, thank you! Just for you, a few photo tips and tricks are highlighted below.

Regular blog readers might remember this young lady. She’s the girl behind the red door in that famous red door shot in my gallery.

What an adorable smile!

Hanging out with their mom. Can’t wait to hear about the new baby!

Nice jump shot, dude!

You know I love those mother/daughter moments. Mark this one as a fave for sure!

HERE’S THE BLOG CONTEST

There are a lot of pictures in this blog post that aren’t in the slide show. Be the first commenter to provide the correct number of images shown here that aren’t in the show, and you’ll win boo koos of blog praise for yourself, and an 8×10 credit for Jennifer. Have fun counting! Here’s a hint: try guessing! It’s more than 2.

Here’s an example of a shot that my young friend helped me with. I was setting up the off-camera light around this playroom, and my little buddy would move the light around for me until we found just the right spot. Thanks again for your help, dude!

There he is carrying my light up the stairs for me. Thanks, dude. That’s a cool shot!

Check out those adorable sunflowers in the little girl’s room! We’ve seen that stencil artist’s work before! Here and here. She’s great, so if you’re looking for some custom stenciling for your child’s room, let me know and I’ll hook you up!

I absolutely love this shot for several reasons.

One, I love that beautiful kitchen and view.

Two, all three children sitting at the table having a meal together may not be a special moment, but it’s a moment that certainly won’t last forever. It defines my speciality of lifestyle photography perfectly!

Three, this is a great quality shot you can’t get with a point and shoot camera. The off-camera light, combined with my amazing pro SLR camera, are what makes it special. It looks so natural, and it’s lovely to be able to see out the windows with no light reflection (like from an on-camera flash) and with no blown-out outdoor light (like you’d get if you tried this shot with no additional lighting inside the house).

For this one, I wanted the windows to blow out behind the kids, so I turned the light down a little to just give some highlights on their cheeks. (There is no natural light source to their left. The light on their left sides is coming from my off-camera flash set on the counter.)

LOVE this one!

Scroll back up a little for that blog contest! And thanks again, everybody, for that fun day at the foggy beach. By the way, here’s a little photo tip I learned from the fog: best to shoot with a short lens instead of a long one on foggy days! Hope you guys enjoy your slide show!