Ahh, the majestic moose. It looks even more regal when the picture is black and white. Also, this has nothing to do with my post. I just like it.
Check this out. While I’m not whipping out any fancy recipes for this post or talking about food at all, I do plan on sharing with you my plans for the near future. And they involve devoting more time to this site. Now I’m going to try my best to keep this brief (that’s a good one). It’s going to be hard, but let’s see what happens. Part of the reason that I haven’t been putting up any recipes lately is because if you’ve ever tried photographing (I mean actually taking good quality pictures) food without natural light, you’ll know the struggle. Unless of course you have a special light, but that’s a topic I will get to later.
But my point is this; we don’t have a ton of natural light right now in Alaska. It’s midwinter and it starts getting dark early. By early, I mean I just looked it up and the official time of sunset today, the 4th of January is 3:57 P.M.
Tomorrow the sun will rise at 10:10 A.M. That means, I have just under 6 hours of daylight to get any pictures taken if I have to depend on using natural light (the best kind) from the sun. That might sound like plenty of time, but keep in mind that part of those 6 hours are transitions where there just isn’t enough light to make it work. It’s either working on brightening up outside or it’s getting too dark. On top of that, since we run a daycare I simply can’t spend all day working in the kitchen getting the perfect shot of that chicken and quinoa casserole. I would like too, but I can’t at this time.
That’s Sleeping Lady (Mount Susitna), a mountain located across Cook inlet from Anchorage.
So that got me thinking that I need an alternative to only taking pictures during daylight hours, which as you may have noticed isn’t leaving me much time to get anything done on this website. Sure there is plenty of time during the summer months when everything is flipped around and we only have about 6 hours of darkness during mid June. But I would prefer to add recipes on a regular basis. Not just during half the year. The big question then, is how am I going to accomplish that?
Well I truly believe the answer to our dilemma is to set up an area devoted purely for taking pictures. Complete with lite reflectors and light diffusers. And perhaps some other fancy items such as white fabric or possibly even some of that silver sticky tape stuff. Some of you are probably laughing that it took me this long to figure that out. But hey, any progress for me is a win.
This would allow Vanessa and I to get some quality work done after daycare hours and after the children go to sleep. It wouldn’t matter at all if it’s dark outside. Wait, I take that last statement back. I do believe in almost every situation that natural sunlight would be the preferred method, but sometimes you have to work with what you have.
Now to do this I will need a special light bulb or two that I have cleverly already researched. And that will give Vanessa and I the opportunity to share with everyone what we have learned or are learning. If you are already a top-notch photographer then please skip this and ignore my banter. I’m excited though because I like learning and I think this will be the perfect opportunity for us to learn more about the art of taking beautiful pictures for this site. Everyone knows we certainly need the practice…
So with all that being said, that is the plan for the near future. I’d kick myself for not doing some research about it earlier but quite honestly Vanessa and I had a pretty busy December, especially the closer it got to the end of the year. But that’s all behind us now, and I’m just happy it’s the new year. Seriously I don’t want to bother you with all the details of the end of our mentally challenged year. Although, I will say it was quite challenging. Mentally challenging.
I don’t have much else to say, so I will leave you with the following picture. Until next time.
It’s a Sitka deer! Look how cute it is!
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