Birthday Candles-photography adventure
Ben turned 16 today as you know if you read the previous post.
We partied tonight with Pizza (typical 16-year-old-food!) and Chocolate Cake. (I've posted that recipe before, but I'll clue you in more on that tomorrow.) Then we played Guitar Hero … well, some of us did. I never found a free instrument! There's no keyboard or flute (the instruments I play) and my girls hogged the microphone (I do sing every once in a while!) Ben claimed the guitar and as the birthday boy, I guess he was entitled. I'm sure my time will come, but I was a little bummed tonight. I can't wait to play the drums – that's a life-long dream of mine! Of course, I have to 'buff' up my shoulder muscles first, then I have to find just the right tank top to wear! On an ahem-something-year-old … not sure I can pull it off just right. I'd like to give it a go, though! How fun.
Moving on to things I know *only a little* about …
I subscribe to the Digital Photography blog and they give tips about various difficult shooting situations and dang it all, if today's post wasn't about shooting fire! (That sounds real funny to me, especially at 11:30 PM!) And we had a birthday cake full of candles! Go figure!
So as we lit the candles, and as Ben was posing and blowing, I was practicing. I actually was impressed at how much detail and color of the candlesticks I was able to pick up in these very dark photos. And the flames look really cool, too! The whole concept of metering is a difficult one for me to comprehend, but I'm getting there!
The one problem with the post was that they didn't give tips on how to stall the birthday boy while you focused right on the wick of the candle in the middle of the burning cake! The following photo is screaming, "Ok, Dad, how long do I stay compliant?" (Do you remember in the previous post, I said how Ben lives quietly and calmly? This look of his is one of his coping mechanisms … it says, "I'm a patient person. I love my mom. I really want a piece of that amazing cake. When I get it, it will be worth having waited for. I love my mom. I am a patient person. I am a patient person. I am a patient person. I love my mom, more than she knows … … … "
The next photo says, "Mom? Alright already?! Done yet?"
See .. I KNOW my kids. I know what they think. I know what they feel. I know that they really just want to dive into the cake!
And this one …
… is my favorite. You can see the lines in his forehead, a little glimmer off the curls on his temples (look real close—his hair is still growing out from the last haircut I gave him!), and the gleam in his eye indicating the anticipation of the Chocolate High!
I sure wish there was more time to take photos before the candlelight actually landed in the frosting. Wow, my family is sure patient! Someone should invent Birthday-Candles-That-Burn-For-An-Hour! The ones that you blow out and that consequently re-ignite just crack me up so I'm sure I couldn't take photos with those! They'd all be blurry from my giggles! Long-burning, steady birthday candles is what is needed. Is anyone up for the challenge?!
Again, Ben Babe, I have five more minutes of January 8th to wish you Happy Birthday again. (I hope you are snoozing peacefully at this moment!)
