Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/400 seconds
ISO 1250

Not the sharpest of pictures, but a couple cute shots of Chester nonetheless.

Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/200 seconds
ISO 320

Today was Audrey's Birthday!  Poor Audrey.  She was sick for her birthday last year, so we had to cancel her party, and her brothers are sick for her birthday this year, so we had to cancel her party.  We still had fun at home, though.  We hung up all sorts of Hello Kitty stuff, opened presents, ate Princess Tårta, took some birthday portraits, webcammed with the grandparents and had a wonderful day.  As far as the portraits go, the second to last one wasn't posed, I just happened to get her looking like a rocker, and the bottom one is with her new blanket, one of her presents.

( +6 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/80 seconds
ISO 1250

I went to a stand-up show today by a comedian named Azhar Usman of the comedy troupe "Allah Made Me Funny."  It was really hilarious.  I laughed myself to tears.  You can find some Youtube clips of the guy here.
( +3 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 4 - 1/60 seconds
ISO 400

Laura was looking through my pictures the other day and said "No offense, but September's pictures kind of stink."  It doesn't really look like October's are going to be much better, does it?  Looking at the month ahead, I actually think I'll have a few good pics.  It ll remains to be seen, though.

Well, as you know, I've been away for almost two months.  Life is just busy and has been especially crazy sincere well since about the last time I updated my PAD feed and the new CEO started at work.  (Don't get me wrong, he's not a slave driver - he's great to work with, actually - there's just been a lot.)  At any rate, I've kept up with my PAD (now at 1068 days!) on my "real" site - www.thekochco.com/today - and just haven't had the time to transfer everything over to the feed.  And now, especially since I'm 2 months behind on that, I'm just not going to :).  So here's today's pic, you can check out the rest of them on my real site, and then we'll try to keep it going from here.  The operative word is try.



Canon EOS 30D
F 4 - 1/125 seconds
ISO 400

The last day of our trip.  We were shown around the city a little bit this morning, including a stop at the Umeå College of Design (I don't know what the top pic is, but it's something at the school) and the really big smile, which is the Umeå's logo for being the European Capital of Culture in 2014.  The portrait is my colleague who was on this trip with me.  It was fun.

( +3 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 13 - 1/250 seconds
ISO 100
Alien Bees 800 studio lights x2

Today, believe it or not, is Timothy's 6-month birthday!  I can believe it's been six months, but it sure has been a quick six months.  Timothy loves his brother and sister, is generally a happy baby, loves to play his little piano, loves to zoom around the house in his walker, and is starting to crawl (he's gotten to the all-fours-rock-back-and-forth stage -  I give it about 10 more days until he's a full fledged crawler) and he's sitting up really well on his own.  We sure do love this little guy and are happy he's in our family. 
( +3 more and b&w versions )

Fuji Finepix F31fd
F 4 - 1/280 seconds
ISO 100

One of the Elders in our ward is companionless at present (it's a really long story).  Tonight was my turn to be his companion for awhile.  It was fun!  




 

Canon EOS 30D
F 3.2 - 1/100 seconds
ISO 1250

I realized that July has A LOT of pictures of Chester, so I need to concentrate on some equal billing, right?  At any rate the above shot was taken during the evening when we had the missionaries over for dinner.  As part of their lesson, they asked us to draw a picture of what our ideal present would be.  Check out Audrey's picture below!  We were really happy when we found out it was a doll, because we're definitely not ready for another kid quite yet!

( +2 more, including Audrey's present )

Canon EOS 30D
F 10 - 1/200 seconds
ISO 100
Alien Bees 800 Studio Lights x2

I've been wanting a new profile pic for my Facebook account for awhile, but haven't had the time to take one.  A couple of weeks ago, I found a head shot of Matt Damon on line that I liked, so I uploaded that as my profile pic while I got around to taking one of my own.  Today I decided to see if I could recreate Matt's pic.  At first, I thought I didn't come close, but looking side by side (below), I think I did OK.  I needed harsher light, tighter focus (it's the self-portrait curse!), maybe a make-up artist, and definitely some blue eyes.  Then I would have nailed it!
( + side by side )

Canon EOS 30D
F 10 - 1/200 seconds
ISO 100
Alien Bees 800 Studio Lights x2

I tried to take some pics of Chet the Jet today for his 3-year portraits - they turned out OK, but the background is a bit small to get the lighting right (or at least right-er) - the top pic is OK, the middle pic is there to show how everything in Chester's life is a musical right now (I kid you not, he sings and he scripts our conversations -), and the bottom pic is, well, fairly JC Penny-esque (the lighting is funkier because it was the 2nd shot I took and I adjusted the light afterward).
( +2 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 3.5 - 1/100 seconds
ISO 400

One of my coworkers was in charge of a big event today that I helped him out with.  After all was said and done, we hung out in my office for a bit to decompress.

Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/200 seconds
ISO 100

We went to a party tonight and I was able to get a decent picture of Laura!  I was very happy.

Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/50 seconds
ISO 1250

Just a quick pic of Audrey and Chester being cute.

Canon EOS 30D
F 3.5 - 1/50 seconds
ISO 1250

Our little guy just keeps getting cuter and cuter - although he's been doing a really annoying thing where he gets up at 5:00-ish in the morning and just wants to play, but we adore him anyway.  Tonight was our weekly webcam session with my folks.  Speaking of moving pictures on computer screens, we finally created a YouTube page on which to host our videos - hopefully this means that you'll get more moving pictures instead of just stills.  Laura spent quite a bit of time and prepped about, um five or six videos for your enjoyment.  You should CHECK THEM OUT!!!
( +1 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 2.8 - 1/125 seconds
ISO 1000

Our friend Hilary from Ukraine (far left) worked tech crew for the Young Ambassadors.  We were fortunate enough that we got to be her host family while she was here in Stockholm!  So, that means we've known her for a year, and have had her over to our house in Sweden and Ukraine, but never seen her in the States....  and she's from Colorado!

Canon EOS 30D
F 5 - 1/250 seconds
ISO 400

Some better pics of the kids than the ones you got the other day.  I asked Audrey to strike a pose for me, and this is what I got.  Chet's picture is of him 'hiding' behind a rock playing hide and go seek.  Earlier in the day, the kids collected snails.  I was actually really surprised that they would touch the snails and not get freaked out by them.
( Chester, Timothy and some snails )

Canon EOS 30D
F 8 - 1/250 seconds
ISO 640

I went to Gamla Stan today to see what I could see.  The palace guards had on different uniforms (I asked them, it depends on the regiment they belong to) with these really really shiny helmets.  The helmets reportedly cost a few thousand dollars apiece.  I like how in the close up shot you can see Storkyrkan in the reflection.
( +2 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 14 - 1/200 seconds
ISO 100
Alien Bees 800 Studio Lights x2

My friend Chris has a fitness website.  It's a good site, but a bit impersonal (i.e., his about me page has no picture on it).  Since I'm in my wanting-to-take-studio-pics phase, I volunteered to take some pics of him for his site.  So, we took some head shots and some fitness shots.  My first time doing anything like this.  I think they turned out OK.  The left side of his face is a little dark, I should have had the reflector closer.  I also think they're maybe a little bit too serious, but I can't really picture them with a big ol' grin, either.  Oh well...  It's why I'm doing this, to learn, right?
( +8 (including head shots) )

Canon EOS 30D
F 3.5 - 1/125 seconds
ISO 200

Took the kids outside and shot some pics.  Not too exciting, but I love having a yard so we can play outside a lot!
( +1 )

Canon EOS 30D
F 4 - 1/80 seconds
ISO 1000

It's so nice to be home!  I love my family so much.  It was really nice to see them again.  This is the longest I've been away from them, and it was pretty hard.  While I was away, Laura and all three kids were sick, and there was nothing I could do from the other side of the Atlantic to help them.  Thank goodness for friends who checked in on them and brought them meals!  But now everyone is healthy and today we were all together and got to spend time with each other and play.  It was wonderful.
( +6 )