Oreachtis, 2009

It is big hair time. Oreachtis, 2009, in Denver, CO. I will leave Tricia to tell you more about the dance experience.

Jeffrey and I had two days of our own adventures running around with each other through the building where the competition was being held.

I get the best photos of Jeffrey while he is distracted with something else. Here he is watching a dancer practice in the hall way out of frame.

I tend to enjoy the detail photos that tell the story of the small things. Here Tricia is lacing up her hard shoes with a brand new accoutrement. I masked in a second layer set to screen to brighten up the rhinestones.

All of the dancers dresses are very vibrant in color. I wanted to show this off by contrasting it on a black and white floor. This makes for a very strong figure to ground relationship.

Lab made the highlights of these dresses pop on screen as they do in real life.

I softened up the light in this moment to match the mood with a Gaussian blur at an opacity of about 6%.

Jeffrey took a ride on the elevator every time he got a chance. He made a lot of opportunities for himself.

I knelt down in front of him to get the view of what it is like to ride on this attraction from a Jeffrey point of view.

The next most interesting thing to Jeffrey was the bank of pay phones. He stayed here for a long time and gave me a lot of opportunity to get the right shot. At first I kept calling to him to look over at me, but then in reviewing my photos I realized that his greatest interest was in the phone and so showed excitement about it. He did look over to me once in a while, but instantly the excitement would leave his face as he gave me the what do you want look. It was not nearly as engaging or genuine as him and the phone alone.

I did not initially intend to line up the fountains this way, but I found it pleasing when reviewing the photos and selecting the best.

This was just a fun kid moment, though I did not let him lick the fountain for long.

More escalator ride. I removed a color cast on the stairs by desaturating a layer and masking it in.

Jeffrey is watching a movie about things to do in Colorado that mesmerized him. Each time we would walk by he would shout, "Colorado, Daddy!"