Halloween 2010

This Halloween it rained and poured.  Suprisingly the kids got more candy than they have any other year.  I think the fact that we still claim two wards as our family benefited them.  We went to a trunk-or-treat with our new ward and then we (well I followed in the car because I am a wuss) took the kid’s out to see our old ward members.  Kallie was a cheerleader, and one of the best cheerleaders I have seen.  Brian was a BYU football player.

(Below: We carved pumpkins.  Not one of my favorite activities.  But for some reason I decided to get creative and made an attempt at carving like one of Natalie’s crafty food network shows.  Pumpkin owners are listed from left to right; Natalie, Kallie, Brian, Andy)

(Below: Cheerleader Kallie and Football Player Brian)

(Below: I am still amazed at how good Kallie’s costume look)

(Below: Brian was so excited that he got to wear some of Dad’s jerseys, Brian’s favorite player this year is McKay Jacobson, and he happens to wear #6… Brian was sold)

 

I loved all the Halloween costumes this year.  I have had a great time checking family blogs and seeing my niece and nephews dressed up.  But the winner was my brother Brian.   Best costume of the year.  Happy Halloween!!

Flag Football is over

I had the best time watching flag football this year.  I found myself looking forward to Brian’s games every single week.  Brian’s team was undefeated and he had a great time.  Here are a few captures from the last game of the season.

(Below: You can definitely see the degradation of quality going back to my point and shoot camera.  Funny enough my point and shoot has more megapixels than the other camera.  I thought this picture was awesome because this was the first storm of the season.  I loved the contrast of the snow on the mountains with the sun shining down.  It had rained inches earlier in the day and all of the fields were flooded, the kids had a great playing)

(Below: I will miss these moments all year long.  This was a hand-off to our little man)

(Below: Here is the team.  We loved Brian’s coach, he worked so well with the kids)

(Below: If you ask Brian this is all that matters with any sport, even though he loves to play, he loves the last game of the year for this reason)

I am ready for Football 2011 already!

Some more photography

The camera has been returned to Adam, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss it on a daily basis.  Here are a few of my favorites from my week of testing. 

 

(BELOW:  The kids are enjoying one of the last days of summer with an ice cream bar in the front yard)

  

(BELOW: This is one of my favorites for the week)

(BELOW: Kallie has such a great imagination.  While she was waiting for friends to come over she was out sitting on the side of the road in this little get-up.  Needless to say there were some brake lights flickering as they passed her)

(BELOW: Brian jumping off the porch at his dad’s request)

It was a sad moment to give back the camera, but I know for sure that it is what I want to do.  Now to save up more money.  Maybe by this time next year I will have my camera!

You have been assaulted by blog

I have more stuff to blog about, but it’s no fun unless people read it.  So please scroll down, I posted three in one night,  when I start to see the comments, I will throw some more stuff on.  I hope you enjoy it all.

Taking Advantage – Family Pictures

While I was borrowing Adam’s camera we decided to take some pictures of the family.  So as soon as church got out, we loaded into the car and went to some spots that we thought might take some good pictures.  Natalie gets 100% credit for the posing of the pictures.  I am not going to post comments for each picture, but would love any feedback on them, how to do better, what you like, ect.  Here goes nothing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One day when I have a camera of my own, these are the kind of pictures I would love to take professionally or for family members.

Flag Football

I previously blogged about borrowing a camera to test out my love of photography.  The toughest lighting encounter that I have tried to shoot so far was under the lights of the football field.  And from all the photography blogs I have read, this is the hardest type of shoot for all the pro’s.  Unless you have $5000 for a faster lens it is very difficult.  Now the camera that I borrowed is not nearly as sensitive to light as the camera I am aiming to get.  So I should be even more successful when I reach my goal. 

Needless to say, I was very happy with the pictures I was able to get at the football game.  When I get my own camera I will be able to shoot images in a different format and control the exposure even better.  So here is Brian’s football game from last week.  His team is undefeated, and he has had a blast playing.  He only has one game left at the time I am posting this.  Enjoy the pictures.

(Below: Brian got to play some series at quarterback this game.  Here is a pass he threw)

(Below: Here is our little man, strutting his stuff on the field)

 

(Below: Even though Brian likes to throw the ball, he is a very good receiver.  Here is one of his catches)

 

(Below:  Brian Andrew hands off the football, I am shooting this front the endzone, so there is a wide open lane for the run!)

(Below:  Three-step drop and throw)

 

His last game is tomorrow and the forecast says snow.  We will see what the weather is like for the game.)

BYU Game

The Marchant Family made it back to tradition this year and was able to attend a BYU game.  Heather was the all-star that arranged and made it happen this year.  It was a little hectic trying to get everyone in the same place at the same time, but I think it turned out excellent.  So here are a few pictures from the event.  My pictures inside did not turn out, my white balance was off, and it made everything blurry.  There are alot of pictures to follow, I hope you enjoy. 

(Below: This is a panoramic that I stitched together.  This is three shots combined into one.  The stitching got messed up a bit on the far left, but it still looks great!)

(Below: Here is Brian in the lobby waiting for the rest of the family to show up)

(Below: Kallie in the same spot as Brian.)

(Below: The part that separated Brick Oven from the rest)

(Opening kick of the game, such a beautiful sight)

(Below:  You know your a photography geek when you take pictures of all the other photographers to see what cameras they are all using)

(Below:  Here is a view of BYU on offense)

(Below: Sorry Charrise, we were to close to get a good picture unless you wanted a super close up, but here are the people to the right, Heather is hiding behind Brian D.)

(Below: Here is a view to my right, Brian Andrew, Sarah and Felipe)

(Below: Sarah with her “Fighting Face”)

(Below: Here is Brian at the end of the game.  He had a great time.)

 

(Below: We went down close to the field for a close up, this way traffic cleared out a bit.)

 

And that is the story of the BYU Marchant Experience 2010.!!

If I sounded convinced before, I am twice as convinced now.

Yesterday, I borrowed my friend, Adam Jensen’s, camera.  It is a Nikon D60, a few models lower than what I am looking to purchase.  The D60 has been discontinued, but I wanted to see if what I was feeling was true.  1 – that a DSLR camera can take better pictures than a point and shoot.  My point and shoot overpowers this camera by 4 megapixels.  And 2 – If I could use my limited knowledge to transfer my dream of taking good pictures of my kids into a reality if given the proper equipment.

I would really like everyone’s feedback on the pictures either through email or a post on the blog.  Quite frankly, I am astounded at the results of my test.  It exceeded my expectations of my first shoot with a DSLR camera.  Here are some of the results of about 20 minutes of “shooting” the kids while they were playing in the yard.

 

So there they are, whadya think?

I am a bit slow, I hope it was worth it.

I have fallen behind a bit in my posting. We have been very busy and I could probably post about 2 or 3 more events. But this is a project I have had in the back of my mind for a while. I finally got around to doing it. I don't know how tired all of you are with my pictures, so I decided to do something a little bit different. I hope you all enjoy, it was fun to make, but it did take me about a week longer to get it done with how busy life has been.

As always I enjoy the feedback a great deal, so comment if my blog will let you, or shoot me an e-mail.

I recommend watching the video full screen. Here is a link if you want to watch it on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntdysJ6r5II

Yesterday

So I was gonna post some more sports pictures. You are probably all getting bored with my attempts at photography. So here is something different. Yesterday was supposed to be a day off. But... well it didn't work that way. I will let the videos speak for themselves.

Football Week #2

(This is my second post of the day, so don’t forget to scroll down)

Brian was a little bit frustrated with this week because he didn’t score a touchdown.  He did catch a ball for an extra point though.  His pass defense was awesome and he did a great job chasing down runners and getting their flags when needed.  He has more speed than I expected when he needs it.  I was a little worried about the pictures this week.  I have been really sick and was not as motivated on the shots since I was focusing more on my nose not running and not coughing. 

(Below: Good pass defense, with his size I am sure the quarterback has no target, and he is watching for a runner so he can disengage if needed.  Good job buddy)

(Below: I am just really happy with this picture)

 

(Below: This is Brian’s extra point score.  I had the perfect angle for this picture)

(Below: Camera flaw.  My camera was not fast enough to catch the ball in the air, or the catch, this is the next photo, Brian just caught the ball for the extra point)

(Below:  Here is Brian on a run play, My favorite picture of the day.)

With all my research on sports photography, I have seen a lot of neat things done with sports photography, so I decided to try out my beginner Photoshop skills.  Here are the end results. 

I hope you enjoyed!  More soccer games tonight!