Recent Portraits

A few recent pictures of the kids to share (since it's been a while):


Hannah - Seven Years Old
Really liked her expression in this one, which was taken on the Sunday before the seventh anniversary of the day on which she was born, when we had a bunch of family over for a party.



Hannah & Harrison
This is entirely natural light and straight out of the camera.

I wasn't even into photography when a friend helped me install white paneling in our laundry room. That plus a frosted window facing west has made this spot in our house a favorite for portraits late in the day when the diffuse sunlight is pouring into this room.

Hannah is holding up seven fingers because this was taken on the seventh anniversary of the day on which she was born.



Harrison - Portrait - 2 years
This serious expression is so typical for the boy -- I just had to post it.

SPC -- 'Introduce Yourself' #4

What Am I?



What I Am.

SPC -- 'Introduce Yourself' #3

The 'introduce yourself' theme continues at Self Portrait Challenge.

This week, I'm introducing the rest of the people who live in my house.

Christy: Wife and Mother. Words fail. I can't begin to express how lucky I am to have this woman in my life. She is beautiful and smart and so much more. She is so many intangibles that are hard to define. As you might be able to tell from the photo below, she has a servant's heart. She sets an example in selflessness from which I constantly learn. She labors tirelessly for our entire family. She is the love of my life.

Furthermore, she tolerates me standing on the dining room table (while she's preparing dinner and trying to set said table) strapping a camera to the ceiling fan for yet another photography project.

Hannah: Daughter (7 years old). I am so proud of Hannah. She is so bright. She does so well at school both in her school work and in her behavior. She has really taken off with her reading this year. It has been so much fun to watch. Last year, at a Parent/Teacher conference, her Kindergarten teacher asked us what we felt her strengths were. I know we listed several, but I got to thinking later that I think one of her greatest strengths is that she acts her age. Not too old. Not too young. Just right. She is completely true to herself and, so far, at least, has not allowed too many outside influences to dictate to her what she should and should not do, say, wear, etc.

Harrison: Son (2 years old). Harrison is all boy. He loves trucks and cars and balls and diggers and airplanes and trains and motorcycles. He has a great sense of humor and he constantly has us all laughing. He tends to clam up around people with whom he is less familiar, though, and goes completely to the other extreme. He can be so serious at times that it's funny.


I'm a little disappointed with the photo. By the time I got the camera strapped to the ceiling so that I wasn't nervous about it falling, I just had to estimate framing and I cut Christy's side off almost entirely. You may notice that Hannah is actually holding the remote in this shot, so partial credit goes to her for getting a shot with more than just Christy's hands.



We eat dinner together as a family. Every night. It's important. Christy and I both give much credit to our Parents for their excellent example in this. I know that some of my best memories of growing up in my Parents' house come from our dining room table. Even then, it would have been easy to give this up for TV trays in another room, or scrounging something late at night.  "Every man for himself."  My sister and I were involved in some activities after school, but supper at home was always a top priority whether we only were able to sit down for a few minutes before rushing off, or if we didn't accomplish much else of an evening because we sat around the table laughing until it was time to go to bed.

I only hope that we can do as well in passing along these values to our children.  It is certainly our intention.

SPC -- 'Introduce Yourself' #2

I am an introvert.

The older I get the more I realize that this is true.

I had friends in college who were big into the Myers-Briggs method of determining personality types.  I don't think I ever took the actual test, but I've been told my several individuals that I am INFP.

The "I" at the front end of that combination of letters stands for "Introversion."

Some people have the wrong idea about introversion versus extraversion.  It has little to do with how one behaves in social activities; it is not that an introvert is incapable of enjoying oneself at a party or gathering; it is not that they appear 'backwards'; it has more to do with how those social activities affect the person.

Extraverts tend to be energized by spending time with people, especially large groups, but tend to be 'drained' by spending time alone.

For introverts, it's the opposite.  Introverts tend to be energized by spending time alone, but tend to be 'drained' by spending time with people, especially large groups.

I wrote the following in the '25 Random Things' meme that's been circulating around Facebook, recently.  I think it summarizes my thoughts on the matter:

I am still a night owl. It is not uncommon for me to be up at 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning. I find that I need this time for myself. I draw energy from it. I find that if I spend four hours from 10pm to 2am working on the computer or watching a movie, etc. that I'm better off the next day than if I had spent those four hours sleeping.

Well, that's a little bit more about me.  Check the SPC group for more introductions.

SPC -- 'Introduce Yourself" #1

The theme for February at the Self Portrait Challenge group is: Introduce Yourself.

We did this theme shortly after the Blogger site moved to the Wordpress format, so I think it's appropriate to do it again, now that the format of the group has changed again, this time to Flickr!



I've done this photo this way in an effort to simulate/improve upon this shot which was my first entry the last time that SPC did the 'Introduce Yourself' theme.

You likely already know that I'm Jeremy Stockwell. I've been contributing to Self Portrait Challenge (and Self Portrait Tuesday, for you old schoolers out there!) since December, 2005. Even in that very first attempt, I wrote that I didn't expect that I'd be doing this on a regular basis, but something about the challenge resonated with me, and I began posting regularly when the site switched over to the SPC site. In August, 2007, I started picking weekly favorites to be featured on the main site.

Just recently, when SPC's founder, Kathreen, mentioned hanging it up for a while, I realized that I didn't want to see the community that has been built there dwindle or disappear, so with her blessing, I started a Flickr group to continue the challenge.

Originally, I found SPT/SPC through Andrea (aka girlhula) whose husband is the best friend of the guy who was my church's youth minister when I was in Jr/Sr. High School. Small world, eh?

Well, that's a little bit about me. Be sure to check out introductions from other folks in the SPC group.

SPC -- 'Album Covers' #4 (and 5)

OK, so this is the final week for the 'Album Covers' theme and I went a little overboard. I started out with a few definite ideas and as the month progressed, I kept coming up with more ideas. Obviously, for reasons of time and sanity, I couldn't do every single idea that passed through my mind, but as the final week was approaching, I still had two ideas that I though I might be able to pull off.

What started as an effort to start both and just see which one ended up in the ditch, ended up as two relatively easy projects on which I was able to put the finishing touches.

So I have two for this final week:

#1

Bruce Springsteen -- Born in the U.S.A.

Now, before scrolling down to the original and my recreation, allow me to ask you two questions:

1.) Without looking -- does Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. album cover feature the United States Flag? Yes or No?

--

I was certain that it did.

But it doesn't -- or at least maybe it doesn't.

It's just red and white stripes, which could be just about anything. No field of blue or stars can be seen. Maybe it's the flag, maybe it's not.

Second question:
2.) What's in the Boss's back pocket?

Can you picture it?

I always thought it was just a red rag. I always though it conveyed a working-class, everyman vibe. But upon closer inspection, it is not a rag at all. It is a ballcap.

That creates a completely different feel to the entire image, doesn't it? Much more youthful and playful, I think.

Anyway,

Here's the original:


And here's mine:




You will notice that I went with my original thoughts about the album cover and mine clearly features the unmistakable symbols of the flag of the United States and I also just used a rag in my pocket because I don't own a red ballcap.

Moving on...

#2

Rolling Stones -- Sticky Fingers

I guess I figured since I was featuring a rear shot homage...

I may as well do the flip side as well.

The album cover to Sticky Fingers was conceived by Andy Warhol and featured a working zipper on the outside of the record sleeve.

The photo was easy enough to take and the processing of the image itself wasn't too bad either. My only problem with the image processing was finding consistent color and title design from sample to sample. I ended up going with a piecing together of the two choosing my favorites of the samples that I found.

The thing I had the most fun with was recreating the style of the title design. The stone-washed looking lettering and border wasn't difficult to do, but I learned a few things about my photo editing program in order to accomplish the effect.

Here's one version of the original:




And here's mine:




That's all, folks. See you next month!

SPC -- 'Album Covers' #3

I've had some fun with the 'Album Covers' theme this month. I've had fun making mine and we have had some amazing contributions to the SPC group pool. I knew when the theme for this month was Album Covers that I would have to pay tribute to one of my all time favorite singer/songwriters, Rich Mullins.

In youth group at church, I was introduced to Rich's music from the Winds of Heaven album, though it wasn't until I happened upon a DEMO cassette at Christian Supply in Crawfordsville, Indiana that he became one of my favorites. That demo cassette just happened to be Best as I Can Remember It, Volume 1 and it just happened to be played to the end of Side 1, so I turned it over to the first song on Side 2, which was "Calling Out Your Name." As soon as the slow, nearly rhythmless hammered dulcimer broke into the fast beat that drives straight through the rest of the song, I was hooked.

Rich was taken from the earth far too soon (he was almost 42 when he was killed in an automobile accident in September, 1997), and he is missed not only for the music that he didn't have a chance to continue writing, but also for the compassion he didn't have a chance to continue giving.

Here is my album cover tribute to what is probably my favorite album of his:



And here's the original, for comparison:

SPC -- 'Album Covers' #2

I had lots of fun with this one!

Here's the original:

Photo Friday - 'White'

SPC -- 'Album Covers' #1

So, the theme at Self Portrait Challenge for January is Album covers.

I'm really curious what contributors will do with this theme.

Here's my first effort:

I can remember asking for the 'No Jacket Required' album for a Christmas or Birthday present because I wanted the song, "In The Air Tonight." Unfortunately, I didn't realize that this song has been on one of Phil Collins' previous albums, "Face Value." I had heard it on Miami Vice, and Phil's new album was "No Jacket Required" so I just figured it was on there. Fortunately, even though "In The Air Tonight" wasn't there, I did discover Phil Collins as a solo artist from this album and I still enjoy him as such to this day.

Eventually, I did find "In The Air Tonight" on a Miami Vice soundtrack which also contained "You Belong to the City" which, I think, was among the first songs I figured out how to play when I got my Tenor Saxophone in 5th grade.



Here's the original for comparison: