Difficult Thanksgiving Photography

Okay, so most of my Thanksgiving photos of people who came to enjoy with us look like this one because, basically, I have no skills at flash photography, and there was no natural light as it was already dark outside.

Actually, yesterday was a tough day for photography all along. It was a beautiful, mostly blue skies day, with temps topping out at about 3 degrees. There is still about 9 inches of snow on the ground from earlier this week. Not easy photo taking conditions when the children were out to play. Here is what I go of Daniel pulling Jansse and Danielle around on a tube behind the tractor:

And these "Lovely" photo specimens are the product of some fussing in Photo Shop as well. Now, obviously, I am not the most skilled with the program, and there really wasn't much I could do about what the outdoor conditions were. But I'm glad I have something to remember that for Thanksgiving 2007 Jansse and Danielle had a fun time playing out in the snow. By the way, this idea of pulling your kids around on tubes and sleds behind tractors, trucks or four wheelers is what those of us without a hill in our large yards do for winter fun when we don't have the time or inclination to go to one of the hills in the neighborhood. Sort of "hillbilly" I know, but it is fun for the kids! And we do make them wear helmets!

Now this is one of the photos I was able to take (and fuss with a little in Photoshop) during the daylight, without a flash but in the house. Not great, but not trash either.

And this one is with a flash, and it was taken close up, but it just turned out better. I don't get it!

Photography is so much fun. It can be so satisfying and so empowering. And then, on days like yesterday, it can be one of the most humbling experiences in a long time. Oh well.

It was a great Thanksgiving all the way around for us. We had great friends and family come over. The food turned out wonderful (although the turkey was a little over an hour late getting done due to the oven being turned off (unknown to me, the cook) for an hour in the middle of roasting. Our friends brought great food, and fortunately lots of appetizers (see late turkey above), so it was a successful feast. The four children played and played and played, and now that I think about it, I don't remember one time when an adult had to intervene with them regarding any disagreement or inappropriate play. The baby was a delight to all the adults - picked up a couple of new friends to flirt with along his way! We probably bored the two teens who came, but they left right after dinner to go to a movie, so hopefully that made up for us older folks who are just not a thrill a minute if you are 15 and 18.

Missed all of our family! If any of you are reading this, we hope you had a great time yesterday.