Practice, Practice, Practice

There is nothing like getting 6 grandchildren (siblings and cousins) age 7 or less together for a little photo shoot with Grandpa. Last Christmas when we spent the holiday in Boise helping with the new baby (Sammy) we got the younger 6 together (3 each for Suzanne and Sally) and I took some photos. They are so much fun at this age. For the most part they get right into what Grandpa asks them to do - and why have a normal shot when I can have some fun.

I've had a lot of fun taking photos of grandchildren with what I call the "rubberneck" syndrome. They grow out of it at some point, but I have a number of rubberneck photos I've taken over the years. I asked the kids to do a rubberneck for me. Most of them got the idea, although Hattie was really more interested in eating a little cheese stick then performing. I think that is probably different now.

Hattie, Danny, Chas, Bonnie, Dean

After that photo I thought I would take advantage of their love of making noise via screaming. I asked them all to scream. What big mouths they have - and they are noisy too. Hattie was still eating her cheese stick and on the other end Charlotte choses her own path (which I understand from Sally is pretty common for her!). Still I ended up with 2 adorable photos of our grandchildren.

Charlotte on the right

Photo Memories

"Fav Photos" lasted all of one post. I realized that "Photo Memories" was what I am really talking about. Today's post is the first of Photo Memories and one many more I think you will really enjoy. I'll try to keep it balanced, but I'm not sure what balanced is. Just enjoy the moments as you read and remember!

All of our daughters and both of our boys are above average cooks. I'm a little biased, but when you look at my cooking skills you have to be impressed with what others do. I am learning, but am light years behind my sons and daughters - and always will be. The girls tend to excel and our oldest daughter loves to cook more then anyone else in the family. We are constantly amazed at her cooking prowess and how effortless it seems. Even as a teenager she could make perfect cakes and pies from scratch. Well, I found this photo and now I know where those skills came from. She is almost 2 years old and helping JoAnn/Mom make a cake. How do I know it's a cake - Because Donna is making sure the frosting doesn't go to waste. You might also notice that JoAnn is using a handheld electric mixer and powdered milk (in the container). If you see the green measuring cup by the milk, it's the same set of measuring cups we are still using. I think we may still have the green mixing bowl too, but the milk container and the mixer are gone. I'll also bet it was chocolate cake - it was our favorite! It's gone too!!!

Fav Photo Day

I'm starting something new. Wordless Wednesday served its purpose and everyone enjoyed it, but I find Wednesday comes and goes before I can get to a wordless photo. And, I have so many photos that are my favorite that I've decided to create Fav Photo Day and it can be any day of the week and as many times in a week as you want. Heck, I don't care if I'm the only Fav Photo contributor. I can even talk about the photo. I know a photo is worth 1,000 words, but sometimes feelings about photos are important and we all see those fee 1,000 words differently. I can even do more than a single photo. So enjoy the photos!

I picked my favorite subject to start with - JoAnn. This was taken in November, 2004 in Brugge, Belgium. JoAnn and I spent the night on the ferry crossing from England to Belgium, then the tour bus to Brugge. We did a lot of walking and enjoying the scenery, plus you can see by the bag that we did a little purchasing too. It's hard to believe that we've been married for almost 45 years - just a few more days - and still loving and enjoying each other. Happy Anniversary (a week early) to my sweetheart!

As a bonus, it's the 2 of us cutting our cake on August 18, 1967 in Modesto, CA. It was 109 degrees that day and we didn't feel it!

A Granddaughter's Photo of Grandpa & Grandma

The following photo was posted on Facebook back in April, but since JoAnn and I don't get on Facebook as often as maybe we should, so we didn't see it right away. Alyssa, our oldest granddaughter, took this photo while we were at Red Rock Park and Amphitheater in Denver for spring break. We really like the photo and wanted everyone to know how much we appreciate Alyssa taking this photo and sharing it with us and others. Grandchildren are great and we love all 18 of them.

Three Generations Project

Almost 2 weeks ago JoAnn flew off to Denver to get her once a decade taste of a blizzard and this year was no exception as Colorado and Aurora got a "top 10" snow storm. That was just a bonus for being there. She really went to spend time with our daughter, son-in-law, granddaughters, and grandson -- and yes, to go to a "sewing conference." Silly me, I didn't even know they had such things. And snow or no snow, they made the 2nd day of the conference. I'll let JoAnn tell her "snow day" story of fun with the family.

On their first day there Jeni had made arrangements to do a 3-generation photos of the girls - Grandma, Mom, and daughters/granddaughters. When the photo showed up last week I was really impressed. It is such a good photo and captures the 5 of them wonderfully.

L-R Front - Sydney, Alyssa, Meagan
L-R Back - Jeni (Mom), JoAnn (Grandma)

I got to thinking. We are going to be on the road this summer and visit everyone - or they are going to visit us. Why not do a whole new set of photos focusing on the three-generations that are present in 5 of our 7 families. Those 2 families without children will do 2-generation photos. I shared the idea with JoAnn and she thought it was great too. So kids, when we show up this summer; or when you show up here, be prepared for a photo shoot - and no, they won't all be professional - but they will be fun and a new collection of photos for us to hang on our walls and enjoy. We will keep you posted with the photos as they are taken.

Classic Monday

I did a "3 faces of a 9-year old" in May and last week we were out to dinner at Fancy Freeze, a local Boise, ID drive-in. Our 2-year old grandson was in heaven eating his hamburger and fries. Actually, he didn't eat much, but the photos were good. In fact it seems that when boys are eating at a casual place (I can't call the places we were at a restaurant - an outdoor drive-in fits what we wanted. So Chas was really enjoying himself and it's obvious from the photos. Enjoy them.

Getting Ready Photos

A few years ago I was taking photos of our children in York, UK and as we were trying to get the family organized I realized just how much fun it was to take pictures of getting ready for photos. They are the real family photos when everyone is doing “their thing” rather than the photographer’s thing, which is usually a group shot where everyone is smiling. Early on the family didn’t know what I was doing, but since I put some of these photos up in my home office and on flickr, they all know what I’m doing and watch for it. Usually I get a response of, “Dad is doing it again.” Of course, when they turn out cute, they all like them.

A few of my favorite getting ready photos are below. Unfortunately, I can't find the photo from York, but I'll keep looking. I thought it would be on my flickr account for sure, but it was pre-flicker. Yet, I remembered I have it on the wall of my home office. A quick scan, photoshop cleanup, and presto, it is below. It was taken in York, Yorkshire, UK when the family lived near Harrogate. For this photo we took the train from Harrogate to York and wandered the streets for the day. It was a great adventure.

The second photo involves getting ready for a sister on the UNLV campus. It was our first Las Vegas Sister's Weekend. They humored me that first Las Vegas year and let me show them some sights and take photos. After that I was on my own, but this is such a typical photo of our family.

This is the opposite end of a "getting ready" photo I shot in Breckenridge at our gathering in 2009. We had just finished shooting photos and people were beginning to depart - in some cases - as fast as they could.

Finally, as I was looking for photos for this blog I found a 1986 photo I took in Modesto and it was a pre-getting ready. I didn't even realize I had taken this until tonight. Of course, in the days of 35mm slides I was a lot more conservative about what I took photos of. 

Getting ready, or already done, it doesn't matter, but what it does is add to the fun of photography and especially to the memories.

Scanning Family Photos - A Few Favorites

It’s the 4th of July weekend and I’m taking time to scan some old slides from our family. They are on our flickr site. Today I’m sharing some thoughts about some of my favorite photos from this batch of scanned slides. I don’t have time to scan every week to scan, but I’m thinking of following Sally’s “Wordless Wednesday” except using scans rather then current photos. 

First day of school photos are always fun. We had just moved to Ames, IA and our two oldest girls were off to their first day of school in a new town. Donna was going into 2nd grade and Jeni into kindergarten. Of course we also had to include Suzanne in the photo since she thought she should be going to school too. School was just across the street from our home so the girls would walk to school and home for lunch. It was an ideal location for us and the kids.

As I look back on these photos I have such positive emotions. You can see excitement in girls faces. I took 3 photos of Jeni along our back deck and each one captures a little different expression – serious, whimsical, and classic Jeni. You can see the twinkle in her eyes and the excitement behind them. Another memory this photo brings back is that it was my first full-time university position at Iowa State University. I was awfully excited about being an assistant professor, maybe even more excited than the kids. 

My final photo is of my father and Sally. For me it is the epitome of being a grandpa, relaxing with a young lady on my arm (Sally was 3 in this photo). Dad had been reading to Sally and they both went to sleep, Sally first. I remember when I was young I was taking a nap with Dad and he fell asleep. I wasn’t of the age where I wanted to lay there with Dad, however, I didn’t want to him to be lonesome. To solve the problem I put my teddy-bear in the same place my head had been on Dad’s arm. Later I got to feeling guilty and went back, thanking teddy for saving my spot.

Memories are usually fun and the become more fun the older they are, but that’s because they change over time and we reinforce the positive and dismiss the negative. I like that.

Happy Birthday Mike

It seem like just yesterday I was holding our brand new son, Michael. Yet it has been 28 years since that cold and icy day in Ames, Iowa. We remember how excited we were that we were finally going to have a baby that was not born in the dead of winter. He wasn't, just during an ice storm. And we shouldn't have been clueless when he seemed to take forever to deliver. Mom was in labor for hours and in those days labor rooms were little more than an after thought - small, uncomfortable, and sometimes forgotten by the staff. Most of the time fathers were not even allowed in the birthing room. I don't remember if I was allowed in for Mike or not. However, in spite of all of the pioneer (by today's standards) medical technology, he was born and has become a wonderful young man.

And Mike, I'm sorry that I'm a couple of days late this time, but we didn't pick a very good time for you to be born. We are "super busy" right now as my blog attests to only weekend work and then not every weekend. I hope everyone enjoys this long set of photos of our youngest son.

What is not to love in a little baby, and like all of our children (no bias here) they were all beautiful.


Mike has always had a smile on his face and even at this age was still a little short of hair.


When you grow up in a house full of girls you always have to be a little wary since you don't know what they are going to do to you next. And no girls, I don't want to know how you tormented your little brothers.


But there is always time for sleep and when it's on our favorite couch (the one we all still miss) you take full advantage of it.


And when your great grandpa Merriam comes to town you must have a photo of the event. It was the last time all of the kids saw their Great Grandpa Merriam. Grandpa was 90 in this photo.


Mike does love his sisters and in this photo with Sally and Krissie you can see that love.


But there is a bit of a funny side to Mike. Like any good boy/man he likes to have a little fun and always has. There is nothing better than a good laugh.


Or a new pose.


Or color coding a new dress code.


And time with Mom in the pool.


Mike has a soft spot for his dog - Strider. We all enjoyed her and had lots of fun with her.


And of course he has turned into a wonderful uncle (okay, some of the nieces may not think that, but even here he is softening). Calvin was his first nephew and was and is special to him. [I think they both just woke up.] He can always be counted on to take care of Suzanne's children, or just to play with them. Note how comfortable Chas is with Mike and vice versa in the 2nd photo.



Then he came home from his mission on a late evening. There were no banners, no large crowds, just Mom and Dad, but that was what was important to all of us. He was beaming and such a missionary.


And while there were other photos I could add these last two are probably the most important to Mike and for us one our proudest moments. There is nothing like the marriage of your children to excite and reward a parent. We are so proud of all of our children, but on this day we were most proud of Mike and Allison. Love ya Mike and happy belated birthday! Dad...



Even a little rain didn't dampen this special day!

And I almost forgot Mike's self portrait he sent us several years ago. This may be our best representation of the complexity of our young man.

Text Messages & Text Photos are the Best

You never know what you are going to get on your phone, especially when it comes to text messages. Lots of times they are just silly. Other times they are profound. Other times they are just family updates. Different messages have different meanings.

On Friday we received 3 photos, in the mail, of our grandchildren in Idaho and I shot a telephone call (I know, that is so 90ish) off to our daughter to tell her how cute the kids were. The next morning I got the following message from our daughter and on Sunday morning I got a photo, which I've played with, and have now several versions of our little dynamo - Charlotte. Keeping up to date with the kids is fun.

"Tell mom, I put the buttons on the dress she finished for Charlotte. I'll text you a photo tomorrow. I'm so glad you liked the pics. I thought surprise mail is fun but even better with photos from the grandkids. By the way, Bekah taught Bonnie to ride her bike this week. It's been fun. Chas of course fell off his bike & now just likes to wear his bike helmet while he pushes his bike."

Everyone knows I can't leave well enough alone and I had a new app for my iPhone, so I had to try it out along with some other apps, and the results of cute little Charlotte are below:

Let's start by just focusing on the dress and keep all the rest a little gray!

And then just a little darker, but good contrast and that cute smile, with the finger in the mouth is highlighted.

Then we add in a little high contrast and get another interesting view!

And finally, just flat out cute!

Rediscovering The Beauty of the Brownie Box Camera

I’ve been taking photographs for a lot of years. I remember my grandfather using his 35 mm Kodak, which I previously wrote about, and my own parents taking lots of photos. (My mother’s photos of Wake Island in 1957 is one of my most popular photos posted to flickr.) While I was in college I took a photography class and was introduced to the Graflex Speed press camera. You can still see them in the movies. Over the years I had a Mamiya-Sekor 35 mm camera, then a Pentax, and finally a Nikon, which is also my first SLR (single lens reflex) digital camera. I have had other cameras in between and there were years when we had too many children, graduate school, and other expectations to be able to take a lot of photos, much less process them.

I’m can’t remember owning a Brownie Box Camera, but I know we had them around and I do remember taking black and white photos. At that time I was quite young and not aware of photographic techniques. There was a simplicity about the camera that I never really appreciated until recently. You had to be good to compose a good photo, knowing you were only going to get one shot and unless you used the whole role up it might be days, weeks, or months before you actually saw. Of course in those days there were far far fewer professional photographers. One of my favorite books that I read time and again was “Eye of Eisenstaedt” a professional photographer who was frequently featured in Life magazine. His seemingly whimsical photos of people in everyday activities. Of course Ansel Adams and his nature photography had an influence on my perception of photographer should produce. That’s not to suggest I’m anywhere near their league. I’m a journeyman photographer, which means I shoot a lot and once in a while I get lucky. I don’t have what I would call a photographer’s eye, but I have never given up trying. I do enjoy photography.

One of the challenge is trying to carry a camera with me all the time. I just can’t carry a camera everywhere. That means I can and do miss some shots, but my job isn’t one that encourages me walking around with a camera. The second challenge has to do with making sure what ever camera I carry can do what I want. The advent of computer imaging using Photoshop, Aperture, and other software has changed the nature of photography. I can remember spending hours in a darkroom trying to take a poor negative and get something out of it. However, I’m thankful for those experiences that gave me some basic background in composition, shading, and black and white photography.

I finally rediscovered my Brownie Box Camera in my iPhone. I’ve had an iPhone for almost 3 years and have taken a few photos with it, but was never really turned on to it until, while reading a blog, I discovered all of the software available to enhance and refine my photographs. I enjoy my new Brownie Box, more of a slim rectangle, but I am using it for quick shots when my Nikon is not around. It has brought some fun back into taking pictures. [In fact, while writing this blog our 15-month old grandson stuck 2 Ritz crackers in his mouth, which begged for a Brownie Box photo.]

I keep playing with different iPhone apps to get a feel for what I can do. PS Mobile was my first selection, followed by Genius, CoolFX, TiltShiftGen (one of my favorites), Photogene (probably used the most), Best Camera (another favorite), and Color Splash (which I just got). The good news is that I have yet to spend $15 on all of the apps. And the best part is, I’m having fun! I’m able to process and post my photos quickly to flickr, facebook, twitter, and “the best camera.” The photos may not be the best, but they are mine and I like them!

Catching up

It seems like just yesterday all the kids were in Idaho, but for me it's been almost 3 weeks and in that time I have not gotten any of the photos I took processed. I have been a little busy with work. That happens this time of the year. Students are thinking about the end of the semester and administrators (that's me) are trying to get everything done we put off the whole semester. Since I'm at the near bottom of the slide a lot seems to end up on my desk. Oh yes, I've had a couple of other projects too.

Most of the photos, and I'm still working on them are on my Flickr account (just click to see them), but I thought I would put a couple here to tease you. I'll get to the wedding photos tomorrow or later this weekend.

Mike and Allison keeping an eye on all the preparations.

We really came to see cute little Charlotte.

All of the getting ready for the wedding just wore me out! But Chas kept me company!

Granddaughters as Sweethearts

I was going to title this blog "princesses" until I read the definition and decided I didn't want to subject my grandchildren to the potential abuse the word princess could bring upon them, even though one of them continually tells us she is a princess. In fact, under the definitions of royalty, I do consider her a princess. To me they are all princesses and sweethearts, but to a 60 plus grandpa we hold different perceptions of terms and meanings than other people do. Hence, my use of princess is always an endearing one, not one of derision.

I am speaking of two of my eight sweethearts today. One young and one a little older. Our 3rd daughter had a little girl last week - Hattie CeCe. I have waited for what felt like an eternity for a photo. I had finally come to the conclusion that she was either two-headed or 12 toed, or had 3 arms and they didn't want me to see her. The real problem was that I left town without leaving the cables to the camera so my beloved could download the photos. Naturally it's grandpa's fault. I have broad shoulders, I can handle the abuse.

Yesterday I received 8 emails, each with about 8 high resolution photos. I have photos of Hattie CeCe now and my favorite is below. And yes, she is a royal princess and a sweetheart.

My second sweetheart is an almost tweener (those who are almost teens, but not quite). In fact she is probably better classified as a precocious tweener - not quite there, but a wanna be. She has her own email account and I love getting emails from her. They are usually in large print and every word is a different color. Well, I was a little slow responding to her last email and while I was not reprimanded I got a "vacation note" or what we typically call and out of the office and not available. But her note was the classiest I have ever received. I share it below.

"Sorry if I didn't e-mail you I am probably grounded or gone, I'll e-mail you as soon as I can, bye"

Grounded or gone? That describes life from the perspective of a child. They have a simple perspective and it is focused on levels of independence. As a pre-tweener it has 2 primary levels. Those things I can do and those thing I can't do. Of course the intermediate level is those things I didn't do I should have and those things I did that I shouldn't have - hence I'm grounded.

Ya gotta love them.

And the CHAMPION is. . .

Let's look in the envelope to see who are the all-time champions of Grandpa's family photos on the flickr site it. First off, can you even believe that people look at family pictures - they do, but I've learned it is all in the title you give the photo. The more off the wall the more hits you are going to get. But the winners are real champions.

Second Runner Up at 123 hits and a family favorite is this photo of Donna and JoAnn at Wymount Terrace, BYU, 1972.

First Runner Up at 190 hits, a dead ringer, and sneaked in from the past "Tim-1982." It must be the name Tim that draws everyone to the photo. He is cute, but I really thought someone younger would beat him out. Don't let it go to your head son. Then again, it could be because it's fuzzy and everyone is trying to figure out who it is.

The Champion at 377 hits as of August 11, 2009 at 8:15 PM. After 1 look at that photo, which I titled "Tonsils!" is there any doubt who is queen of flickr? Click on the photo for a real close-up.

Up and Coming Photos that may someday become champions. It doesn't matter how good you are, there is always someone in the wings waiting to take your spot. Here are two likely contenders.

Bonnie and her boots got 27 hits in one day! Of course she does have a great supporting cast.

And Megan and Alexis got 24 hits on the same day. Time will tell, but these 2 photos may become flickr Champions.