Ex Patria

Panning

In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device.
Wikipedia

Panning is the act of tracking the subject with the camera, whilst taking a single, or multiple shots. Trial and error is the best approach. 15 successful shots from one hundred attempts does not sound like much, but you are doing well if you achieve this. The advantage of this digital age is that you can “bin” anything you don’t need – at the end of the day, if you get one truly memorable image, the viewer won’t know, or even care, how many goes it took you to get it.
PictureCorrect

So I made Alan run.  I made Alan swing on the zip line.  I made him race down a hill on a bike.  I had Alan and David run, and I had David run by himself.  Do you know how very difficult it is to get a subject into focus while it's moving?  It's hard.  You shake the camera and I have the sneaking suspicion that when I press the button, I hold still for just a fraction of a second - which blurs the subject, of course.

No, 15 out of 100 sounds an awful lot to me now.  I made 148 pictures and got 2 (TWO) that are sort of okay.  They don't blow me away, mind you.  (Okay, some shots were of babies in hammocks and adorable 4-year-old's in a sandbox, but still.  148!)  I can show you one:

I love the look of concentration on his face.  He was getting tired but he was a good sport about being chased around the backyard by a woman with a camera.  It was a cool exercise and it's always good to try a new technique but it's not my thing.

May rain brings... cold feet

It's crazy cold in Germany.  I mean, even here it's unusual that you have to wear winter jackets in May.  It's below 10 degrees Celsius (that's 50 F for you imperial types) during the DAY and yesterday I was so cold, I started a fire in our woodburning stove.  I zipped the fleeces back into the boy's jackets.  Leah is still wearing her little down jackets with the (fake) fur.  I blame the stupid volcano but I have no idea whether that's connected in reality.

We built a raised bed and planted it and while my plants are standing like little soldiers, I think they'd like some sun and warmth too, for a change.

Luckily, the kids don't mind too much and we do chase them outside whenever possible. (Did I mention it's also overcast all the time and drizzling rain more often than not?) 

The sandbox is still popular.