Stage Lights.

I went to the Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble Concert the other night. I love going to the concerts because the kids are incredibly talented, and I also love trying to take pictures, which can be difficult because of the ever-changing and not quite adequate lighting. This means I've got to ramp up the ISO to 1600 and shoot in black and white, since the color casts are crazy and highly unflattering. Even at 1600, I think my shutter speeds were as low as 1/25, which causes enough blllllur to be frustrating. It worked well on this first one, though:





This guy has the best faces and the most awesome basses:



A student of mine, and an amazing drummer:



Perhaps my favorite picture of the evening:







This kid reminds me of the kid whose voice always cracks on the Simpsons--he's the perfect teenage boy:

More Craft.

Over Christmas, I made a belt for my sister-in-law (and, like most years, still owe a present to my brother--which was also supposed to be a belt). Here she is:








I will admit to not knowing the best way to photograph something so long and skinny--so you get three views: centered, right side, and left side.

Proficiency Exam

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of administering the State Proficiency Exam in Reading, Mathematics, and Science. My favorite part of any standardized testing scenario is going to the "training" where they read to us directly from a handout that has all the instructions written on it. This year, there were some special instructions that I thought I would share:

After testing, we were to "Place the TA Manuel on top of [our] test booklets" and then "Clip together the 'Do Not Disturb,' 'Need Assistance,' and Restroom Pass and place them inside the TA Manuel."

I did not ask Manuel how he felt about this.

For my dear wife.

Say goodbye to the last two years:





And I know you'll totally miss the great white hope:






But can it really be all that bad? Look what you have to look forward to:




HEEEEEEYYYYY!!!

Happy Birthday, snookums.

More Adventures in Studio Photography

A co-worker persuaded me to come shoot pictures of a giant list of people from her congregation--two families signed up every five minutes from 6:00-8:00. It wasn't booked solid, but we were plenty busy.

I am moderately pleased with the results, but still don't like the idea of "portraiture" in this sense. People have certain expectations of a "sitting"--moms were giving directions ("put your hand on his shoulder--yes, like that") and lo and behold, I turned into Olan Mills. There must be a better way to do this. I need to work more with studio lights.

Archibald, Archibald, and Archibald.

I'm thinking of starting my own law firm. I think these pictures pretty much prove I'm ready. I may have to rename this the "Archiblog Law blog".





"Injured in a car accident? You know who to call."



After seeing these, you know you'd hire me.

Most important ingredient.

"HIGH FRUIT!" the girl shouted from atop the toilet.
"HIGH FRUIT!"
"HIGH FRUIT!"

"WHAT?!?" shouted the boy from the other bathroom.

"I SHOUT 'HIGH FRUIT' AND YOU SHOUT 'TOAST CORN SYRUP!'" she responded.

I wonder if we've been talking about it too much....or if this could be a Family Circus cartoon. Oh boy.