Moon School and I'm a photographer!
(Be sure to scroll down past the photo)
Flickr Project 365/ Creative Every Day 2011
We were
sitting for friends' kids last night.
The moon rise (for which I've
been waiting) begins and is spectacular.
My whole family starts yelling
for me to get outside to take pictures.
Annie hands me my tripod.
Paul is yelling, "Go! Go!"
Emma is urging me to "Hurry up!"
I'm
grabbing my coat and camera and the visiting children are wondering
*what is going on*
when Annie turns to them and says...
"My mom is a
photographer."
{Be still my heart}
It was a bit like being the velveteen rabbit in the moment
he was told he was REAL.
The moon two nights ago was also spectacular and
I tried to capture the scene. However, no matter what I did the shots all looked like this:
Needless to say, it was incredibly frustrating.
Remember, I'm standing out on my deck in
42 degrees below zero winter weather.
I shared my dilemma with Paul, whining "the moon looks so beautiful and when I take the photo it turns into a blob." Paul fiddled with my camera's settings and took a couple of decent shots. I tried a few, but they were coming out blurry and I was feeling punky and it was time to stop.
The next morning, I asked Paul to explain to me the settings. He, naturally, thought this was a trap (the kind that starts with smiles and ends with tears). You see, historically, I do not react well to being taught things by my (admittedly) brilliant husband. However, as I seem to be transforming in all sorts of ways, we both gave it a try. Blessed man, a gifted teacher, even provided me with visual aids, sketched on the Wall Street Journal he would just like 30-uninterrupted-minutes-to-read-is -that-too-much-to-ask (but he rarely asks):
I was a real trooper during the lesson~all smiles, no tears. Now, we were awaiting the moon's rise (having looked up the time and checked the weather). So it was pretty exciting when it finally began. And, with my newly acquired knowledge I was able to take these:
Pretty cool, huh?
I'm trying to remember what I learned. I'm pretty sure I've already forgotten it. Which means I need lots more time to hear it all again and to practice and fool with it and hear it all again and to practice and fool with it. Process and progress. I'm cool with that. I'm ready for it. It's all part of being a photographer! And, as Annie said...
Do you see it? Isn't that amazing?
The hours before bedtime were spent 
(This is just as much a blessed side-effect of the kids' schools being closed and the unbelievably wonderful ensuing LACK OF HOMEWORK as it is a reaction to the power going out. Without homework, our evenings look very much the same, only with lights and heat on and maybe a board game, a movie, or the Wii.) 
I discovered
that the self-consciousness I had last year about setting up pictures and shooting in front of
Paul had dissolved. I was even able to take some advice and direction
from him without shouting "get your own blog!" (Big time progress for me)! This is a good thing because he's a very good photographer. Part of my learning process seems to be lots of time to mess around with something on my own (365+ days in this case) and without expert advice until suddenly I'm ready to learn more. Paul helped me achieve what I was going for in this photo below:
Much enjoyable insanity ensued and I'm still smiling this morning remembering the squeals and shouts, bumps and jumps, cheers and belly laughs, 
They couldn't wait to scramble through the tunnels.
