10 seconds with Clementine

I almost didn’t even try to get these pictures.

warning, photography talk ahead – feel free to skip the text and just check out the pictures

The room was dark, it was well past sundown and I had my shutter speed at 60. And going below 100 is a no-no, especially when shooting kids.

On top of that, Clementine is constantly in motion. And I’m not a good enough photographer to capitalize on the blur. In fact, blur is not my friend and I almost always end up tossing any picture with any blur in sight.

I also had the ISO set at 2000. My camera squeals past 1250 and if I have to go higher than that, well… yuk. Unbearable noise. So now you can see why I dialed down to a shutter speed of 60 and just hoped for a crazy stead hand. Because I am not a good enough photographer to know how to properly use a Speedlite flash. Even if I had one.

I’m a wanna-be photographer with a whole lot of limitations.

Another reason is that it was totally spur of the moment. No prep. Nada.

Clementine even had on her special spandex pants that our therapist recommended to keep her hips from doing crazy-bendy things. And I’d just barely pulled her bib off before I grabbed my camera to shoot these.

But she was just being So. Dang. Cute. Even though I knew the conditions were not favorable, I wanted to at least try.

And I’m so glad I did.

(And I’m so glad I have PS6 to edit the dickens out of them.)

Because underneath all that noise and blur and bad lighting are 10 sweet seconds with Clementine. 10 seconds I don’t want to forget.

First she was just happy to be snuggly and clean after her bath.

Girl loves her bath.

Then Chris and I sat down by the tree and plopped her right next to it. She grinned at all the twinkly lights. And I ran for my camera.

She smiled more.

Then she spied an ornament and reached for it. Then gave it a tug.

Then she does what she does so beautifully.

She delighted in it. The ordinary.

Belly laughing, eye crinkling, hand waving, make-you-wanna-clap-your-hands-for-joy kind of delight.

Thank you for the 10 second lesson, little one. I think there is a lot I’m going to learn from you.