Week 42: What's the pointe?

What's the pointe?, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

The point is my youngest daughter just went "en pointe" in ballet this week. This has been a goal of hers for a very long time and she's absolutely thrilled that she's made it.

This photo was not taken on Friday but on Wednesday during my daughter's first pointe class. I then added some digital painting effects to the photo in Photoshop.

Date Taken: October 21, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/160
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Auto
Flash: Off, Did not fire

And a few more to share ...

During Class


Pointe shoes come in all sizes!


After class - tired with aching feet but oh so happy!

And yes, I missed a few weeks - oops!

Week 39: Blessing of the Animals

Blessing of the Animals, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Yes, once again this is not a Friday picture. I knew this weekend was going to be filled with family events on Saturday and the annual Blessing of the Animals service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church on Sunday so I decided ahead of time to share something from either Saturday or Sunday.

The first Sunday of each month is a special service for the families of St. Martin's and October is always the service honoring St. Francis and includes blessing of the animals. I take pictures every year at this service for the yearbook and this year was no exception. Most of the photos have students from the school in them so I won't share them on this blog but this one is of one of the dogs brought by a school family to be blessed today. Meet Snowball - he is 11 months old, very active and very friendly and spent most of the service trying to go meet the other dogs in attendance. He did stand nicely for his blessing though:

Technical Details for 1st Photo
Photo Taken: October 4, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/250
Aperture: f/14.0
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired
Program Mode, Spot Metering, Auto White Balance
I was alternating using Manual and Program mode due to lots of dappled sun and shadows.

From the hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful (
Text: Cecil Frances Alexander Tune: Royal Oak) which was our opening hymn today ...

All Things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful:
the Lord God made them all.

Week 38: Miley Cyrus at Staples Center

Miley Cyrus at Staples Center on 09/22/09- Photos by: E Sedgwick

This week, I took my daughters to see Miley Cyrus at Staples Center in Los Angeles. I feel like I'm turning into an old fuddy-duddy after this show. Miley definitely puts on an entertaining show with many costume changes, lots of energy, great lighting, terrific backup dancers & band but sitting in front of us were a mother and her two daughters who were both 7 and under.

I couldn't help but wonder at the image that Miley was projecting with her tight corsetted tops or tank tops with her bra showing and short shorts and her dance moves. As the daughter of teen-agers, one just older than Miley, I understand that Miley is growing up but she seems to be moving herself into the world of Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan yet many of her fans are still in the tween and younger set. Billy Ray Cyrus was in the audience at the show and I can't imagine as a father watching my not even 17 year old perform some of the moves Miley was making in the outfits she was wearing. It would have been disturbing to me.

Okay, enough comments on the show - this is a photography blog so on to the photos. This is a collage of photos taken by my 17 year old daughter at the show. I don't even try to take my 40d into shows like this because most venues won't allow it. The photos were taken with a Canon Powershot SX100 IS which was set on automatic mode with the flash turned off. I think my daughter did a great job with these. It was hard to pick a few favorites.

Week 37: North Side of Computer Lab 2009-10

North side of computer lab 2009-10, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Oops, I missed a week. Anyway, this week I spent some time finishing up the theme in the Computer Lab at school. This year's theme is "Going on Safari in the Cyber Jungle" so you will see lots of jungle elements in the room.

The north wall in the lab has a bank of cabinets above the computers. This year I am using these to display student work. Currently shown are K-5th self-portraits created in Drawing for Children (K & 1), Kidpix (2nd & 3rd) & Paint (4th & 5th). Under the cabinets you can see that the computers have monkeys on them with the computer numbers for this year to go along with the theme.

Photo Taken: September 18, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 28 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On, Fired
AV Mode, Spot Metering, Auto White Balance

Week 35: Happy Birthday E!

Happy Birthday E!, originally uploaded by Visions By Vicky.

Seventeen years ago on August 29th 1992 at 07:46am, we welcomed our oldest daughter to the world. She was 19" long and weighed 6lbs 3 ozs. and was almost 5 weeks early.

She amazed me then and continues to amaze me now and I cannot imagine how empty my life would be without her.

This week's photo was taken after my now 17 year old daughter opened the cellphone she wanted for her birthday. Now, if the activation would only kick in I'm sure she'd be ecstatic!

Photo Taken: August 29, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Lens: Canon 50mm f1.4
Exposure: 1/60
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Manual, Spot Metering, Auto White Balance