Family reunions are the one time of the year that everyone can get together with cousins, aunts and uncles, and the like to visit and to reminisce over old times. Counting kids we had just over 30 this year!
Last weekend we had the family reunion for the Pearson family in Springfield Ohio. We have a lot of cousins in our family, as my dad’s mom and dad had 15 kids that survived 17 counting the ones that passed.
While aunt Jean is the last surviving sibling. we also still have aunt Janet, the wife of Jean’s brother Dick. So technically we have two aunts!
All our Littles were tied up in their busy lives with their moms and dads so Sis and I went up for the reunion by ourselves this year. We do enjoy taking kids with us when we go and of course several people asked where they were when we got there. Hopefully next year, we can work it out so that the kids can go with us.
We had all kinds of good food, and everybody had a great time. Since aunt Jean has moved into assisted living, cousin Sherry made it by her house and packed up a lot of knickknacks which we raffled off at the reunion. Not sure what the total was that we took in for the raffle, but it all went to aunt Jean for spending money.
Next year we’re planning on having the reunion at Snyder Park in Springfield. I’ll try to make the reservation after the first of the year as that’s the earliest it can be done. They have a shelter next to the new playground and water park there and that’s the one I’m going to try to get. Hopefully it’ll attract a few more of the people that haven’t been coming to the reunion! We’d love to have more of you there!
Next year we plan on doing a few more genealogy things so we can actually make it a more productive reunion, not just visiting, but actually accomplishing some research perhaps.
I have posted a family worksheet to our Facebook group that I would love for you folks to download and email to me. Now that I’m doing this research I could use all the help I can get. I’ll be able to share with everyone some of the things I have found at the next reunion.
This was a really fun road trip for Sis and I! I even caught a couple trains going up and back, how about that! Hope to see you next year!
Today’s roadtrip was a very short one… to church! Of course we do this every week on Sunday and we almost always take some of the little ones with us, unless they’re tied up in their busy schedules! LOL
In this frame grab from the video of today’s service, Elaina (center) heads up the aisle after Children’s Moments.
I run the video camera equipment at First Christian Church in Madisonville, Ky and today was a busy morning as we had a lot going on with a congregational meeting afterwards, but I’m getting a little off topic here.
The audiovisual/sound platform is at the rear of the sanctuary and has several steps leading up to where the camera and sound gear are setup. I was doing my thing after the Children’s Moments, where I position the video camera for choir’s anthem, when I feel this tugging on my pants! I pivot around and look down to find Elaina looking up at me with her lips puckered and eyes wide open waiting for a kiss! Of course I obliged and then she throws in a hug for good measure before turning and bounding off to her Worship and Wonder class. Talk about making my day!
For most of my nieces/nephews and great nieces and nephews I was off on roadtrips traveling the world with the Air Force while they were growing up. I’d get to see them when I came home on leave (vacation), but it’s not the same thing.
Now most of them have kids of their own and I’m loving the fact that I’m here as they’re growing up and doing things that I unfortunately missed out on with their parents and grandparents. I know they all get tired of me taking their pictures sometimes, but thankfully they put up with it. I try to make sure to balance between the shooting of photos and participating. I didn’t get a shot of today’s moment with Elaina, but it is embedded in my memory for all time!
Moments like this make life wonderful! I look forward to many more with all the “littles” in my life these days!
Xavier, 5, using the Fuji Wide Instax instant camera.
Kids and Photography… (hang in there, the roadtrip part is toward the end of this post). With the advent of digital photography being in the hands of just about everyone via smart phones, tablets and digital cameras, the world of photography is in the hands of many kids starting at an early age. I personally have been photographing most of my nieces and nephews since the day they were born, even more so for their kids and their kids kids. As a result the youngest ones, my great-greats, started reaching for my camera or smart phone from a very early age.
About a year ago I started a project with my oldest little ones and photography. I decided that, once they turned four years old, I was going to get a camera that they could use and start taking them on photography adventures where I’d go with them in a one-on-one situation. It’s been a wonderful trip with the three oldest among my great-great nieces and nephews that live in my area. Going out shooting with them and seeing the world from their viewpoint has been a blast.
Jayden with the Fuji Instax
I started the three of them out sharing a Fuji Wide Instax, a Polaroid type instant camera. I wanted to have them use something that would give them a tangible print that they could hold in their hand and watch develop, much like many of us older folk did when we were kids. I feel that has helped them enjoy shooting photos more. I also got each of them a photo album to keep their pictures in so they can share them with family and friends. All three of the boys, Xavier, Jayden, and Damion have moved on to shooting a digital camera lately.
Now, the instant camera is in reserve for our next young photographer, Elaina, who turns four in July. Damion, her brother, still wants to shoot with the instant camera sometimes, but at $1 per photo I’ve decided to move him and the others more into the digital realm. This way they can zoom and take as many photos as they want. I just make sure and get 4×6 prints of the best of the photos they shoot by the next day and give them to them for their photo books. I really can’t stress too much how important I feel this is. For the young photographer to have an album to thumb through, to relive and to share his or her adventures in taking the photos is very important. If the image sits on the camera, which they need to have adult supervision when using, or on a laptop that they can’t use without an adult, it’s hard for them to go back and look at their pictures whenever they want to. I feel having easy access is a very important part of their growth in this visual world!
Damion shooting with a Fuji FinePix S4250
Now, they are 4-5 years old and, with this in mind, I didn’t want to start them out on a expensive digital point and shoot camera. I’ve worked with them on handling the camera carefully and to keep the camera strap around their neck when they use it and they all three do a good job, but still, they are kids!
I shopped around our local pawn shops and found a lightweight Fuji camera, with a viewfinder and LCD screen, they could use that wasn’t real expensive. I wanted the viewfinder as that’s what they were used to with the Instax camera. I paid $50 for a Fuji FinePix S4250 which is a 14mp camera with a 24x optical zoom. It only weighs a pound and is just the right fit for small hands! They’ve been using it for about six months now and it’s still working great, with limited drops! I just looked yesterday at a local pawn shop and they had one just like it for $30. I think if you shop around you can find something in the same price range.
I’ve been showing the kids copies of the pictures I shoot of them, pretty much their whole lives, so they’ve been exposed to what I consider photos with good composition for sometime. On the shooting and direction aspect of kids shooting photos at a young age, I’ve not tried to guide them a whole lot when it comes to composing their photos. Occasionally I might recommend they move in a little closer or perhaps stand in a different spot but, for the most part, I don’t look over their shoulder, point the camera for them and tell them when to press the shutter. I feel if I do that, it’s not really their picture they’re shooting. Do they always come back with what I think might have been the best photo? No, of course not, none of us do when we first start out in photography and many of us still don’t even after doing it for 40+ years, like myself!
As their photo editor (haven’t started the post production with them yet) I do occasionally crop their photos (digital) and make other minor corrections in editing, but for the most part the photos they shoot are theirs, the way they saw them.
Damion and uncle Jimmy at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park. – Photo by April Pearson
And, now, the Roadtrip…. Recently my sister, April, and I took Damion with us to the Spring Photography Weekend at Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park in Dawson Springs, Ky, for his first photography competition in the children’s division. We all three had a blast! We’re planning to take Jayden to the Fall weekend there and then Xavier next Spring for their first “competition.” Getting the kids out shooting where other kids are involved I think is just another step in their adventure with photography.
Damion loved exploring and capturing photos along the way during the weekend. He told us that he hoped he’d win a trophy and he did!! First place in the landscape category and a third place in the water category! Not sure who was prouder, him or us! What he referred to as “Secret Caves,” were among his favorite spots, along with the waterfall, and his “Secret Steps” which is the photo that won him his first place trophy. I love the fresh viewpoint that the young kids have with their photography.
Where do I hope the kids go with this photography thing? Well, my hope mostly is that they have a love for photography and the world it opens for them. So, when to start your young photographer out? I personally picked 4 years old, but you can start them whenever you feel they are old enough so that you can communicate with them, when they can understand and follow simple directions. So that you can converse with them and they can understand you and you them!
Below are Damions two winning images from his first photo competition.
First Place Children’s Division – Landscape – Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park.Third Place Children’s Division – Water – Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park.
If you’d like to follow the Shutterbug Kids, they have their own Website, Facebook and Instagram pages all maintained by me, their uncle Jimmy. Below are links to each of them. The boys aren’t directly involved with the social media aspect yet, although they do ask if I’m going to put their picture on Facebook sometimes, so they are aware. That lesson will have to wait a few years, but they really enjoy seeing their pictures online.
Me working on shooting CSX railroad changing out a bridge at Ft. Branch, In. – Photo by Dave Kunkel
Earlier this week I set out on a day-long road trip to southern Indiana to shoot what’s called a time-lapse video of CSX Railroad changing out a bridge just outside Ft. Branch, Indiana.
Time-lapse photography is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. For example, an image of a scene may be captured once every second, then played back at 30 frames per second; the result is an apparent 30 times speed increase. Time-lapse photography can be considered the opposite of high speed photography or slow motion.
Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, e.g. the motion of the sun and stars in the sky, become very pronounced. Time-lapse is the extreme version of the cinematography technique of undercranking, and can be confused with stop motion animation.
Work was supposed to being sometime around noon, but I wanted to make sure that I was there in case they started early, so I was up at 5am!! Yes, I said 5am!! Any of you know that as a rule my climb out of bed time is 8am, so yes, this was a bit of challenge.
The drive up was smooth, this early in the morning on a Monday, so I guess that’s one thing that was good about getting up this early.
Weather was wonderful! Only thing I wish was there were a bit more clouds in the sky! I love clouds in my photographs and in a time-lapse they really add to the movement of the overall scene. However, it was mostly clear for the duration of my 6 hours of standing around the site where the work was being done. Yes, I said six hours!
I had to park a good distance from the location where the work was going on, so at least I got a good bit of my daily 10,000 steps in by walking back and forth to the car for things like water, fresh batteries for the camera and so forth. I packed for the day long shoot with snacks, water, things to read and plenty of batteries for the camera. Only thing I forgot and didn’t think of until I was about 4 hours into the shoot, was suntan lotion! By the time, I remember it was a bit too late so for a few days after I was red faced! I did at least wear a hat and long sleeves! Next time I won’t forget! My face is still peeling!
The crews got clearance to start their work at about 9:50am and by that time I had figured out how I wanted to position my camera and the rate that I would shoot pictures for the final video. In case you’re interested, the camera was set to take a picture every second for the six hours! That’s a total of about 21,600 individual photographs! Once they were combined into individual movie clips I had a total of 23 video clips of the operation with about 15 minutes of video that I edited down to the final clip of just over 7 minutes that you see below.
I really enjoy doing time-lapse videos, but they are time consuming and take a bit of planning. Plus, there as to be plenty of movement that takes place to provide interesting visuals! While it’s not something I think, I could do on many of the longer road trips that my sister and I take, I plan on trying to do some more often for everyone’s enjoyment and pleasure!
On Maundy Thursday afternoon we loaded up two vehicles, my sister’s “camper van” (as the kids call it) and my SUV, with my great-niece Tracy and her kids, Jeremiah, Jordan, Journey and Jayden along with her sister Ashley’s kids, Elaina and Damion, and took off to Owensboro, Ky in search of the Easter Rabbit!
Every year their grandmother, Jeanne, has us bring them all down to visit the Easter bunny at her work. They have Mr. and Mrs. Bunny there to pass out gifts to the kids and they always enjoy it. Plus we take them to the Owensboro Riverfront afterwards so they can have some play time on the wonderful playground there.
Damion and Jayden rode with me and it never ceases to amaze me how they entertain each other from the back seat!
On the ride down they both brought their tablets and had a great time battling each other. Even though neither one had the same games, it didn’t stop them! They both still had a ball!
One of Damion’s remarks cracked me up when he said, “Jesus, help me level up!” Afterwards, he said, “it’s not something you really should ask Jesus for though.” How did they get so smart at 4-5 years old? With that being said, a short time later he shouts out “alright, I’m at level 4!” So, was it an answered prayer from an innocent 4-year-old?
The visit to see the Easter Rabbits at Jeanne’s went very well and everyone had a good time. Jordan wouldn’t approach them closer than a few feet this year, so he’s not in the group shot! Funny thing is that last year I seem to recall it was his older brother, Jayden, that had the issues, or maybe it was one of the other kids.
After we finished at Jeanne’s office we headed off to the riverfront. Sis and Tracy took the van with the smaller kids, while Jeanne and I took the four older ones and walked the three or so blocks to the playground, which made it a little bit more of an adventure. Plus, Jeanne and I both needed to get our step-count up for our family FitBit weekly challenge!
The playground at the riverfront park is really a great place to take kids! Sis took over care of our youngest, Jeremiah, while Jeanne, Tracy, and myself attempted to keep up with the five older kids on the playground. Talk about a job!!! I don’t know how my mom and dad kept up with the 5 of us when we went on outings. It’s a full time job! They all took off in several directions at once, running, climbing, jumping and having a great time! Even Jordan, who is wearing some braces these days, to fix a issue with his left leg, had a great time and didn’t let the braces slow him down at all. Mom Tracy, of course, stuck close by him to help, but he didn’t miss a beat with the having fun part! There’s a gallery at the end of this post of the kids from today’s adventure.
However, all good things had to come to an end and we loaded the little ones back up into the van while I headed back to Jeanne’s work with Damion and Jayden on foot while Jeanne to the two girls by a different route. On the way down they were, of course, full of energy and excited, but as always, when it’s time to head back they were less enthused to say the least! To help make the return trip easier I allowed them to be a little more adventurous. The fountains along the riverfront were, as always, a big hit and, while on the way down, we had told them to stay off the ledge that surrounds them. On the way back, however, under a watchful eye, since they were no longer spraying water, I allowed them to walk on the wide ledges! They seemed to me to be built for that purpose and I’ve seen plenty of other kids doing likewise with their parents help, so I let the boys be boys!
When we got within less than a block of Jeanne’s office, where we had parked, Damion was pretty much tuckered out and ready for me to carry him. Instead I let him and Jayden take a laying down break on the nice spring grass in front of the Owensboro Convention Center, till they were rested enough to prod them along to the parking lot and meet up with Jeanne, Elaina and Journey.
After a quick stop at the convenience store to pickup something to drink for everyone, we hit the road back home. The kids, at this point, all tore into the bag of goodies that they got from Mr. & Mrs. Easter Bunny.
Jayden and Damion finished up the last 45 minutes or so of our trip home by each one telling the other stories, ranging from zombie tales to stories about ninjas and other superheros! One thing for sure, all of our littles have great imaginations!
Above is about a 4-minute audio file of the boys and their stories. There’s a lot of road noise, but I think if you play with your volume you’ll get the idea. All in all everyone enjoyed the trip and sis and I made it back to town in time for the Maundy Thursday service at church!
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Family reunions are the one time of the year that everyone can get together with cousins, aunts and uncles, and the like to visit and to reminisce over old times. Counting kids we had just over 30 this year!
