Life in the Still . . . Portraits

As I am cleaning off old memory cards... I happily came across these images and just had to share... Post your comments to the section below... I welcome all feedback...   ~mat

Life in the Still . . .

As a tribute to my amazing and ever growing family, I have decided to begin a long term photo project titled "Life in the Still. . ."  It is a tribute to family life and the snapshots ability to capture one memory at a time. . . I hope you all enjoy viewing them from time to time.                                      ~mat

Picasso. . .

Covers. . .

The Sandbox. . .

Here's to a 70 degree afternoon in March.  My girls just couldn't help but break out the sandbox and create memories for Daddy. . .

A Walk on The Green . . .

Today we decided to kick back and take the kids for a walk (and I decided to put my new Fujifilm X10 to the test).... Five minutes from our home is the "Green"... a historic site where Revolutionary War Soldiers were trained and shipped off to Hartford, today the Green is a place where families can seek solitude and a restful stroll on one of New England's oldest town Greens...

This one reminds me of Iwo Jima  . . .

Do I Need To Worry ? ? ?

     I am writing this post to gather data and public opinion to answer a father's age old question, "Do I need to worry?"  Being the father of five and having the first four as girls, I tend to observe things unfold in my house with a very watchful eye.  Last night my wife and I were watching television trying to relax after a day of ... well, five kids under the age of eight!  At 9:30pm my wife went upstairs to look for something in the bedroom when she heard a fearful child trying frantically clean up the bathroom and run down the hall unnoticed.  "Stop!", my wife shouted.  "Get back here..."  It was Nina.  Nina is my soon to be seven going on fifteen year old daughter.  Being born second in the long list of offspring, Nina was always easy going and well, quite the "girlie-girl." (Being a photographer, I tend to have a sense of fashion as I look at countless images posted on the web.  Nina, although not allowed on the computer just yet, seems to always put together a fashion outfit from her "dress up" bin that rivals those found in Milan and Madrid!) 
      After a thorough investigation and some lying brought to light, it was determined that Nina took it upon herself to get out of bed, prance into the bathroom and proceed to "do her hair" and put lotion on her face to get ready for tomorrow.  I'm not sure this is "normal" seven year old behavior but as a father of five, I consider myself somewhat well versed in child behavior.  After the "discussion" she had with her mother and reviewing the consequences she would receive the next day for lying to her mother, Nina proceed to swagger down the hall and return to bed undaunted by the sentence waiting for her in the morning... And so I pose to all of you the question, "Do I need to worry?" 
(Post comments below.)

Photography Knowledge 101: What the Hell is SEPIA?

I found this post here thought you all might enjoy a little photo history lesson...

By Chase on March 3, 2012

Photo by Toni Camara - A perfect example of sepia with the iconic Eiffel tower shot

Ever clicked the sepia button on Aperture, Lightroom, or your favorite photo app and wondered, “What the hell is sepia?” I bet you have. It’s fascinating how many novice and seasoned photographers alike don’t know exactly what Sepia is. So I figured I’d give you all a little bit of cocktail party ammunition to impress your friends.
In short, sepia is more than that burnt color tone filter readily available in most photo editing programs.
Put simply, sepia is a form of photographic print toning – a tone added to a black and white photograph in the darkroom to “warm” up the tones (though since it is still a monochromatic image it is still considered black and white). Sepia began in earnest in the 1880s, partially to make photographs look better, but also because the chemicals involved in Sepia aided in slowing down the aging of a photograph. A preservative of sorts.
What the hell is this toner stuff? Sepia toners are chemicals that work to convert the traditional metallic silver in the print to a sulfide-based compound, which can be applied in varying degrees of intensity depending on how “warm” the desired effect of sepia is. There are a few different compounds that can create this effect. In addition to the color shift, these sulfide compounds act as better ‘shields’ of sorts than the traditional metallic silver, and prevents environmental pollutants from damaging the print, in many cases giving the print a 50% longer life.
So, summarily, sepia has both form and function. Sure it’s a button in your fav photo editor. But at its core, it is 130 year-old creative toning process with roots as both an artistic ‘color’ statement and an enhancer of the archival qualities of a printed photo to help a printed image deteriorate more slowly.
More info for photo geeks that want to go deeper, here on wikipedia.