Freshen Up

It’s been a bit of a mess this year, hasn’t it? I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that COVID-19 has really thrown 2020 into disorder. I know I went through several weeks of intense anxiety, but I’m settling into the pattern, the new routine now.

Yesterday, JV and I did a little photography project that I’ve been wanting to do for a while. If you’ve seen my Facebook, you know that earlier this year, Mat and I completely redid our master bedroom. We ripped up carpet (shudders) that somehow kept 5 years worth of dirt and dander. We replaced it with LVP: https://www.lowes.com/pd/SMARTCORE-Pro-7-Piece-7-08-in-x-48-03-in-Glendale-Pine-Luxury-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring/1000522111. We painted the ceiling white because why, why in the hell did these builders paint the ceilings beige? A devastating nightmare for photography. We painted the walls Comfort Gray, which I adore: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/find-and-explore-colors/paint-colors-by-family/SW6205-comfort-gray . We purchased a new duvet and euroshams from Amazon in white to give a light and airy look to the room. It’s a massive improvement over the carpet-laden mess we had before.

So, with all that change, I really had been wanting to take some pictures of JV jumping on the bed. I used the following gear:

Sony A7RIII

Sony 24 1.4 GM

Godox X1 transmitter

AD200 bare bulb on a lightstand bounced off the ceiling camera right. 1/8 power. I edited these with Smal 01 and Mastin Fuji

I really enjoy how (with kids and pets) a wider lens like this gives a bit of distortion close up. It really showcases JV’s character, IMO.

Even with our large window open camera right, the AD200 was necessary to really light the room. Bouncing off the white ceiling I think gives a nice quality light, though I did warm up the white balance to about 5600-5700 in most images.

So that’s it. I’ve been wanting to share a process post . Also I don’t want to inundate Facebook with a billion pictures of JV. But with having a little more time to spend with him, I think I’ll be posting more like these in the future. I’m particularly going to share soon my experience with pining after a new lens.