High Point Trail

We love Holmdel Park! So yesterday we set out to go for a family hike. I love the picture above because it was taken in my dark garage just before we left using the off-camera light triggered by a radio connected to my camera’s hot shoe. The light was held behind me, pointing up to bounce off my reflector, which Mike was holding above the car door. The picture is straight out of camera, no photoshop tweaking. My goal was to try something new, always a great way to learn new stuff about your camera. Camera settings: Aperture: f9. Shutter speed: 1/80 sec. ISO: 320. Focal length: 70 mm.

Again, bouncing the off-camera light off the reflector. I like the little catch-light in Mike’s sunglasses and the shine on the bottle.

When we left the parking lot for our hike, I left all the lighting equipment in the car. Didn’t want to haul it around the High Point Trail.

This spider web was interesting. Grex hates spiders!

Grex will not walk in front on a hiking trip. Someone must go before him to catch all the spider webs between the trees. (I was catching the webs in this shot.)

Brad’s trail map was well-worn by the time we got home.

See what I mean?

I wasn’t carrying any long lenses around with me either, so this deer let me get REALLY close before he bounded away.

The boys have the same look on their faces as the deer. LOL!

Speaking of spiders! This particular beech tree was literally COVERED with little spiders!

Every leaf, every branch. Did I mention I didn’t have a long lens? I STILL feel like I have things crawling on me.

A little hug from the Grex. (By the way, that’s pronounced “G-rex,” as in T-rex the big dinosaur, as in G-rex the Destroyer, the nickname Greg acquired when he was a typical 2-year-old destroying Brad’s Lego setups. We shortened the nickname by taking out the hyphen.)

And there are Lego setups just about EVERYwhere in my house, garage, yard, car…

This looks like an awful scene of car woes, but it’s not really. Mike was teaching the boys about engines. I probably should have been paying attention.

The upper playground at Holmdel Park has been closed all summer to make room for new playground equipment. Here’s a sneak peak at what’s coming latter this month! A giant Knex-like climbing thingie! Cool!

And I had to post my awesome Star Wars Lego setup picture. Brad set it up, and posted it on his Flickr stream. Title: “Order 66 vig” Caption: “‘Yes, my lord,’ was all Cody had to say when the emperor called him to inform him of order 66’s execution.”

This one little setup, along with Brad’s caption, really made me think about how the Lego work he does engages his imagination. He creates scenes, complete with backdrops where every detail has been thought-through, then he photographs the vignette (or has me photograph it, as in this case), and writes a caption. I didn’t realize until today how involved and detailed the process is. I’d much rather see him spending time making vignettes, planning every detail, painting, drawing, building things out of twigs (see wigwam thingie in background), thinking through the caption-writing, and learning how to present all this information to others than simply being a couch potato in front of the TV all summer. Proud of you, Brad!