Friday August 31, 2012 When I met my son, Andrew, he was 8 years old and weighed 105 pounds. Now, he's 16 and a pretty solid rock of muscle. It's not really anything I've done. He worked hard all the way up to earning his 2nd degree black belt. What an amazing adventure it has been watching him grow into the outstanding young man he has become. He lost his 1st Mom to breast cancer when he was 7. He wasn't thrilled about the new woman in his life. Can you blame him? I've driven him nuts with all my "mothering". Yet every night for the past 7 1/2 years, he has blessed me by tracing a Cross on my forehead before he went to bed. How rich I am to have this young man for a son! Update: Answering Julienne's question: I married Andrew's Dad in October, 2004. We were both widows with children. [Update 2 and edit by david] We're not quite a Brady Bunch because we have the wrong gender mix. We both had three children each, having six between us. Each set has two older boys and a younger girl, and the sets are separated by 6 months such that the youngest girl of Jacci's set is 6 months older than the oldest boy of my set.

Constructive critiques welcome here :)
Please feel free to tell me what you really think. I want to know:
1. What I should keep doing
2. What I should stop doing
3. Different perspectives on what I've done (for artistic ideas in the future)
Sometimes in this community, I feel like I'm in over my head among so many very talented artists.

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Thursday
September 6, 2012

DJ diCarlo Image Gourmet: The Magazine

We will be launching our senior portraits website soon and it will include an online magazine for seniors. This is the model of our 1st cover. Once the magazine contents are complete, the titles on the cover will become hyperlinks to the corresponding articles in the magazine. It will also have a page turning feature for browsing. Here's the thing... This is only a working model. So honest critiques are VERY appreciated. If you have any lay out suggestions or article suggestions, please share them. I'm wanting this magazine to be a big part of our marketing strategy. So it has to impress teens.
Our kids already had one suggestion we are considering. They think we should include a fun article like "What to Do if the Zombie Apocalypse Starts During Your Portrait Session". Cute, huh?

Wednesday
September 5, 2012

... And so, as they gathered at the entrance to the zoo, he went over the rules and strategies for Full Contact Hungry Hungry Hippo one last time.

Tuesday
September 4, 2012

Jahari, being his charming little self. I think this was right before Uncle David gave him a piece of chocolate cake or something.

Monday
September 3, 2012

Taking a break from pouting...

Yes, Celine was pouting when I took this picture. She was upset because the boys went to the lake without her. But one of the special things about Celine is that she can smile even when she is angry. I asked her to smile for me and she did. Isn't she the sweetest teenage girl in the world? Of course, immediately after I took the shot, the scowl returned to her face. How I love this girl!

Note on yesterday's post: Thank you every body for all of the wonderful comments on our family portrait. BillieJean asked if those are my parents in the center. No. They are Amy's Dad and his wife (Opa and Oma). Amy is David's 1st wife and she died from breast cancer in 2003. The kids had never been to a Leal family reunion and we wanted to make sure they experienced one together before Dominic goes off to college. It was quite an experience for me as well. I was surrounded by Amy's family and every one of them embraced me as one of them. What a privilege I have in being part of this loving family! BTW: Today's picture of Celine is from the day we arrived at Lake Wanaksink for the reunion.

Happy Labor Day, everybody! Be safe at the BBQs, okay?

Sunday
September 2, 2012

Family

This is from the family reunion in New York this summer. I think it would have been fun to try to pose everybody in a creative way. But it was task enough to get everybody in one spot large enough for the whole group. We would have done it outside, but it was raining.

[edit by david] Because of some remote control issues with Nikon's CLS in large spaces or long distances, I'd purchased two sets of Yongnuo RF-603 remotes. These have short cables that can plug into a camera and remotely fire the shutter. For this shot, the camera was on a tripod with one of the remotes on top. There were two umbrellas, one on each side side of the camera, remoted by the Yonguo's. And in the back, behind the camera, was another flash (optically slaved) on top of a bookshelf aimed at the cathedral ceiling. The fourth remote was in my hand so I could take the picture (Doh! I just noticed that you can see it - the light is red because the shutter was open.)

I've not used the remotes too much yet, but so far, they've worked well. In fact, the other night, I pulled a pair out so Jacci could take the moon shots without disturbing the camera on the triopd. (Using the self time for those shots, even at two sections is a pain...) I think eventually I want to get at least another pair.

Saturday
September 1, 2012

The moon once seemed so far away. Goodnight and goodbye to a man who spent the days of his life changing worlds.

Our night light has never been so blue as on the night of his burial.

(Note: I am not sure if "Mr." is the proper title for Neil Armstrong. I suspect not. But I have been unsuccessful in finding reference to an official title for him. Everything seems to refer to him with no title other than his name.)

Friday
August 31, 2012

When I met my son, Andrew, he was 8 years old and weighed 105 pounds. Now, he's 16 and a pretty solid rock of muscle. It's not really anything I've done. He worked hard all the way up to earning his 2nd degree black belt. What an amazing adventure it has been watching him grow into the outstanding young man he has become. He lost his 1st Mom to breast cancer when he was 7. He wasn't thrilled about the new woman in his life. Can you blame him? I've driven him nuts with all my "mothering". Yet every night for the past 7 1/2 years, he has blessed me by tracing a Cross on my forehead before he went to bed. How rich I am to have this young man for a son!

Update: Answering Julienne's question: I married Andrew's Dad in October, 2004. We were both widows with children.

[Update 2 and edit by david] We're not quite a Brady Bunch because we have the wrong gender mix. We both had three children each, having six between us. Each set has two older boys and a younger girl, and the sets are separated by 6 months such that the youngest girl of Jacci's set is 6 months older than the oldest boy of my set.

Thursday
August 30, 2012

The Crushed in Spirit

This was just a simple snapshot. Jasmine had just gotten out of the pool and dropped her goggles to the ground, annoyed because Julia and Jeanette had teamed up against her. The three of them are identical triplets and absolutely love being together, but sometimes, there are hurt feelings when somebody feels left out. This shot melted my heart because of the way her eyebrows tell the story of her hurt feelings. I also kind of like the way the mark from the goggles is still visible at the bridge of her nose. Poor Jasmine. Don't worry, though... Her beautiful smile returned when the pizza came out a few minutes later.

Wednesday
August 29, 2012

Hello friends :) I'm sorry I have been largely absent for the past couple of weeks. I've been pretty busy and not feeling particularly well.
This is from a recent youth night at our church. The theme of the night was "The Body of Christ" and my friend, Wendy and I were responsible for planning a couple of activities to go along with the talk. This is one of the activities we planned. We broke the teens into groups of 5 and wrote letters on their hands and feet. (Don't worry... We used washable markers.) The letters spelled out the words "The Body of Christ". Then we gave them words and they had to work together as "one body" to spell these words. As you can see, the activity was a hit. The tie breaker word was really fun. The top two teams were given a "hint" and had to figure out the word. The hint was "This 8 -letter word describes somebody who sings at church." The answer was "choirboy" and it took them a little while to get it.
It amazes me to watch this group of teens. Two of the kids on this teem were my students when I taught 4th grade R.E. Now they are in the high school group. I guess the longer you give your heart to the youth of your community, the more you understand your investment in them and the more you want to pour out your heart into their future.

Friday
August 31, 2012

When I met my son, Andrew, he was 8 years old and weighed 105 pounds. Now, he's 16 and a pretty solid rock of muscle. It's not really anything I've done. He worked hard all the way up to earning his 2nd degree black belt. What an amazing adventure it has been watching him grow into the outstanding young man he has become. He lost his 1st Mom to breast cancer when he was 7. He wasn't thrilled about the new woman in his life. Can you blame him? I've driven him nuts with all my "mothering". Yet every night for the past 7 1/2 years, he has blessed me by tracing a Cross on my forehead before he went to bed. How rich I am to have this young man for a son!

Update: Answering Julienne's question: I married Andrew's Dad in October, 2004. We were both widows with children.

[Update 2 and edit by david] We're not quite a Brady Bunch because we have the wrong gender mix. We both had three children each, having six between us. Each set has two older boys and a younger girl, and the sets are separated by 6 months such that the youngest girl of Jacci's set is 6 months older than the oldest boy of my set.