Fielder Workshop

Last week Jann and I had the opportunity to attend a landscape photography workshop with well known, Colorado photographer John Fielder. When we walked in together and said that we were Jann and Jan it became the joke of the class. Everyone who walked in after us was asked if their name was also Jan. No one forgot our names the rest of the afternoon.

We started out in the classroom where we learned about composition, color, view, perspective, form, etc. We looked at some of John's work and also learned how he does his post-processing, i.e. makes his photos shine.

After a short break we headed over to nearby Bluff Lake for a little hiking and photo shoot. John carried around his little point and shoot, took some photos, showed them to us, and had us take some of our own photos.

Late afternoon storms are the norm in Denver during the spring. We were able to capture some pretty cool clouds in our photos.

As we shot our photographs John came around to take a look and show us how we could improve our shots. I was told that I had too much sky in my photo.  Do you agree? I do.

He then took my camera and shot this to show me how my shot could be better. Yeah, his shot was much better than mine and now I have John Fielder original on my camera! 

There were some fun colors on our shoot as well. I love the red and green colors together.

Jann caught me in the act. I actually never realized that I lean back when I shoot. It's kind of funny looking isn't it? 

I was trying to get this shot when Jann shot that photo of me. 

To get "the" photo don't be afraid to try out different angles.

When you lay on the ground you can get shots like this.

With all the late snow this spring the trees have just started to get their leaves.

We also worked on some delightful reflection shots.

The excitement came when the sun was setting. There color on these trees with the sun shining on them was pretty amazing.

There's not much daylight left.

As we were heading back we saw some deer hanging out. They didn't seem to fear us at all.

Silhouettes can also make for some beautiful shots.

Being out when the sunsets made me realize that I'm hardly ever outside when this happens. I think I need to get out more.

We, aka The Jan/ns to John Fielder, had a wonderful time. We learned a lot about landscape photography and it was great to be outside working on our new skills. You can check out some more phtotos HERE. 

Fun in the Sun

Our snowy spring seems to have jumped straight to summer with a side of thunderstorms.  It has gotten difficult to stay indoors with the sun shining so brightly. 

We decided to pack up a lunch, head to the park, and do a little exploring.

This playground was pretty fun.

This girl loves the swing!

David's getting a little help from Rebecca since he can't reach the spinner thing. This could make you dizzy quickly.

Anna still gets scared to go down the slide by herself.

Oreos for dessert!

Time to leave the park and do a little geocaching.

We have trails all around our home. It's great for bike rides, runs, and exploring. 

This is a fake rat with a geocache attached to it. Yuck, right? It's a good thing I have children who aren't afraid of rodents and other insects. I never would have reached my hand in there.

The landscaping along the trail is quite fun for everyone. There's track with this old wagon thingy.

You can pump yourself along the track. . . or lift your sister up.

I've been practicing a little landscpe photography. More on that another time.

You might think this is an ordinary tree, but take a closer look.

That isn't a real pinecone. I'm sure that during pinecone season it might be a little more difficult to find, but when there is just one pinecone on the whole tree it makes it pretty easy.

Our last cache brought us to this view.

Rachel has the best eye in our family. She seems to find most of the caches.

They were super tiny caches on this hunt, but still a ton of fun. Now we're off to make it home before the storm rolls in.

Duck On a Bike

Colorado has a literacy program, One Book 4 Colorado, to get children reading at a young age. The book chosen this year is Duck On a Bike. I'll admit that I hadn't heard of the book, so naturally, I was curious about it. Word on the street was that the author Daivd Shannon was coming for story time.

We weren't the only ones who had heard of his visit. Nevertheless, the children had a great time. 

He asked questions and when I thought David wasn't listening he raised his hand. Maybe he's a good multi-tasker.

Not only was it story time for us, but they did a live web cast so people everywhere could watch too. The book was pretty entertaining and our children have been reading it daily to each other. 

If you haven't heard of Duck On a Bike either, perhaps you've heard of the book called No, David! I can't say I was a huge fan of that book, but now that I've heard the story behind it, I kind of love it. It's pretty much all about my boys. :)

After story time Mr. Shannon taught the kids how to draw David. My children have been practicing their artistic skills lately.

Each of our children received a book and got them autographed too! The David in the No, David! book is actually David Shannon himself. My David is checking out the resemblance between the book character and the author.

We were treated to duck cookies for a snack!

Craft time was also a huge hit.

We invited Eisley and Violet to join us. 

Rather than make a craft, Rachel was all about a duck scavenger hunt around the Anythink Library. 

The ducks were pretty cute.

Anna didn't want any help and figured out how to make her duck all on her own. Adorable, right? Now you all need to check out Duck On a Bike. Run, don't walk. It's a fun little book. You can check out the live stream, which isn't live anymore, HERE. My children keep begging me to watch it everyday. They loved it!