Who says rehearsals can't be fun?!

Day 64: Who says rehearsals can't be fun?!, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

This time of year Saturdays mean dance rehearsals for my youngest daughter. Today the dancers spent some time practicing a potential move during their rehearsal of the Mazurka. There was a lot of giggling and some clapping and cheering when they mostly succeeded!

Date Taken: March 5, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Coppélia Rehearsal

Day 57: Coppélia Rehearsal, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Saturdays between now and June will mean rehearsals for my daughter for the California Dance Academy Spring Recital. This photo is six of the twelve dancers who will be performing Waltz of the Hours from the ballet, Coppélia. The number will be performed en pointe but today was practiced in regular ballet shoes.

Date Taken: February 26, 2011
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 1/100
Aperture: f/2.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

Learning Coppélia Waltz of the Hours

Day 54: Learning Coppélia Waltz of the Hours, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Rehearsals have started for the Spring show for the dance studio my younger daughter attends. This year the Intermediate and Advanced dancers will be doing excerpts from Coppélia. In addition to having rehearsals on the weekends, the beginning Pointe dancers are rehearsing their piece, Waltz of the Hours, during their Pointe class.

If you're interested in what the dance looks like, you can check it out in this video:


Date Taken: February 23, 2011
Camera : Hipstamatic 201
Flash: No Flash
Software: Roboto Glitter Lens, Ina's 1935 Film, No Flash

Week 43: Face of a Zombie Ballerina

Face of a Zombie Ballerina, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

My youngest daughter dressed as a zombie ballerina this year for Halloween. This photo was taken just before going to the Middle School Halloween dance. Her makeup was done by my older daughter.

Photo Taken: October 30, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Flash: On, Fired

And, here's a photo from the actual dance - actually, two photos. I combined a photo of the dance floor with a photo of a sign that was on the wall. It was very difficult to take pictures at the dance due to low, strobe lighting and a fog machine. I kind of like the effect of this photo but don't know if it will be usable for the yearbook.

Week 30: Pushing Up Daisies

pushing_up_daisies_9278, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

As I mentioned last week, every year my daughter attends DayJams which is a rock music camp for 8-15 year olds. This year she went for two weeks and during her second week she was in an all-girl band named Pushing Up Daisies. As you can see, she played guitar this week; last week she sang. She was very excited because this was the first year where she was able to play chords instead of just notes!

Not only did she get to play chords but she actually won a Daisy Rock guitar that DayJams was giving away!

Top Photo Taken: July 24, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/80
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired
Exposure Program: Manual

If you are interested in more photos from the July 24th DayJams concert you can find them in my DayJams San Fernando Valley set on Flickr.

Week 29: Jim Morrison Revisited?

phat_sandwich_9162, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Every year my daughter attends DayJams which is a rock music camp for 8-15 year olds. On Friday of each week of the camp, the bands, which were just put together on Monday, hold a concert featuring songs that each band has written during the week. This week, Phat Sandwich, and especially their lead singer, were very entertaining to watch. Do I see a young Jim Morrison wannabe?

Photo Taken: July 17, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/125
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Manual

If you are interested in more photos from this concert, check out the slide show of all of the photos I took:

Week 10: March Madness - Crazy Hair Day

March Madness - Crazy Hair Day, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Every Friday in March it's March Madness at school with a different theme for the day. The first Friday brought Crazy Hair Day and my daughter's hair was definitely crazy!! I wanted to share this picture not only for the crazy hair but to show the difference that a few weeks and visits to the dentist can make. My daughter's teeth have been repaired - after a root canal on the left front tooth that is. A small scar is all that remains from the lip injury and this should fade away given time.
Date Taken: March 6, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/10.0
Focal Length: 37 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On (Fill Flash)

Week 7: OUCH!

OUCH!, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

My daughter left for the annual trip to Catalina on Monday morning. Due to windy conditions on the way over to the island, the trip was very rough. In fact, my daughter was literally knocked to the floor in the restroom on the ship and this is the result - stitches in the lip, a broken tooth and several other loose teeth, a bruised cheek and lots of swelling. So instead of enjoying the week on Catalina, my husband went and brought her back on Tuesday (we tried to get her home on Monday but all boats and the helicopter were canceled) so she could see the dentist. Poor baby and major OUCH!

Date Taken: February 10, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 1/40
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 63 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On & Bounced

Week 4: My Youngest & Nemo

My youngest & Nemo, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

No real story here but since Nemo's health scare I find I'm drawn to taking more pictures of him. This week I had my youngest daughter get in the photo too. Ignore the cluttered background - I really should have removed that roll of paper towels before I snapped!

Date Taken: January 23, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 1/40
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 57 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On FEC -1 1/3

Day 48: Waltz of the Flowers (from the wings)

Yes, I'm back with more from the Nutcracker. I'm actually in the middle of what I call Yearbook Hell every year. The first half of the yearbook is due tomorrow and when the weekend started I had 5 pages out of 32 completed - yikes! Anyway, I'm working on my last 6 pages now so I should make the deadline. Yeah! Of course then I have to start working on the second half. Anyway, because all of my time has been devoted to the yearbook here's another from the Nutcracker.

Date Taken: December 8, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 47: Worn out

Every year the middle schoolers go to Catalina to a camp for a week. This was taken the night they got back. My daughter insisted that she wasn't tired and just wanted to watch TV for awhile and this was the result!

Date Taken: February 15, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.4
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 44: Basketball

I do the yearbook for my youngest daughter's school each year so I take a lot of photos at school of all of the events and just every day things. Today I took some portraits for new preschoolers and I took photos at the elementary boys basketball game. I've cropped this one to not show faces of the players so I'd have something to share here. I took this in Aperture Priority mode since the players were going in and out of sun and shade and I just couldn't adjust manually quick enough to get the shot.

Date Taken: February 13, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 28-135mm IS
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 42: Ballet Class

Yes, it's another favorite things interruption - this time I'm featuring another photo I took at my daughter's ballet class through the observation window.

Date Taken: January 29, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 40: Another Interruption

Yes, I will get back to My Favorite Things, but at the moment I'm in OMG the yearbook is due in 8 days and nothing is done mode so it's more from my Nutcracker photos. This one is of my younger daughter (the shorter but older one in this photo) and a friend before a performance. They were both dressed in their skater costumes ready for the Saturday matinee to begin. This one is clearly taken with flash. I need to work on the best way to take photos in situations like this where there is nothing to bounce the flash off of and the photo needs to be taken in a hurry. I'm not sure what to do in these types of situations and taking photos at dance performances and at school I often run in to them. What do you do? At this point, in order to capture the shot, I just use my flash and take the photo anyway. I did have the flash exposure compensation dialed down on my flash unit but I'm not sure what the setting was since the camera doesn't capture that.

Date Taken: December 8, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 85mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 2/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired

Day 39: Interrupting My Favorite Things

...for more from The Nutcracker. I had plans for a favorite for this day but fell asleep early last night so I'm using a Nutcracker photo instead. This was taken during posed shots and it shows Clara & Fritz during the nightmare scene near the end of Act I.

Date Taken: December 8, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 4/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 34: Nutcracker continues

This is part of the Sugar Plum Pas de Deux with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince.

Date Taken: December 1, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 85mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/2
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 33: Yes I'm still processing Nutcracker pictures

Are you sick of them yet? This one is from Act II and was taken at the end of the Chinese dance from the balcony on the opening weekend Saturday matinee.

Date Taken: December 1, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 85mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 85 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: -1/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 32: Our ballerina waiting at the barre

Here's another I took at my daughter's ballet class - again taken looking through an observation window into the studio.

Date Taken: January 29, 2008
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 1000
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 31 - Bet you can't guess that this is?!?!

Okay you probably can! That's right, it's more from the Nutcracker! This one was taken during the finale of the last Saturday night performance from the balcony.

Date Taken: December 8, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/3.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Day 30 - Surprise! More Nutcracker

No, I'm not done with these yet. Work, yearbook duties (have I mentioned I'm the yearbook editor and take most of the photos for the yearbook at my youngest daughter's school) and general mom duties take most of my time so I have to process these as I get time. I wish I could just do them all at one time so the processing would be really consistent. I try to do similar processing but I'm noticing differences - part of that is the fact that I took photos from different places but some of it is post processing I'm sure. Anyway, this photo was taken from the wings and shows the Present Dance during Act I.

Date Taken: December 8, 2007
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm 1.8
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 3200
Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire