Silhouettes

It doesn't actually take much to learn how to capture a good silhouette. Sunset behind you. Exposure decreased a bit. Subjects and limbs separated enough that they don't appear to be one massive blob.

But what is difficult, is finding a place where you can easily capture one! It's no simple thing around here finding a spot where there aren't mountains or rooftops or trees behind you. And it's usually an unexpected delight when we are out and about and I suddenly realize one of my kids is standing in a spot with nothing much behind them, at evening, and towards the sunset! 

Such was the case on a recent family walk when Penny and Anders leapt up on a rock. (Though, as you can see, there was still competing "stuff" in the background.)

But even more delightful than seeing this opportunity was texting it to my three older girls ... and having it texted back to me as follows:

Goldie returned it first with Anders' stick having become a fishing rod:

 Which, naturally, begged for Penny to add a fish:

And Daisy to add ... a shark:

And Goldie to then shift it all to:

A week or two later, when we stopped by a park for Family Night, I looked up to where a few kids were calling me from a hilltop and gasped! A perfect silhouette spot!

I quickly called for more kids to get up there and get up there fast and got this lovely shot. (Only afterwards did I realize that Summer's bike helmet, in silhouette, made for an overlarge head. Or that Mette had not been joking when she said she had to go to the bathroom. Still! We will definitely return to this spot at some point with all ten kids lined up on that hill!)

Unrelated to any of the above:

I never did post a picture of Mette going to Kindergarten (since she started a week after the other kids). She's mastered school. Bless her heart. Never mind that she turned five just days before it started, she loves the challenge of learning and could easily be fine in 1st grade with Summer this year. (Probably, in large part, due to the fact that she spent much of this last spring leaning over my shoulder, as I helped Summer with all her Covid-homeschooling school work, demanding that I let her practice finding buddies to 10 and so on.)

And there is also this that ought to be shared:

Mike bought these "BedRyder" truck seats that you bolt right into your truck bed. Though they are legal and not so very different from Jeep or convertible seats, we get some dubious looks when the kids are in them. But they sure think it's fun! (Goldie rode as well during this maiden voyage. She just wasn't in a picture-taking mood. Thus Anders appears to be a solo rider. Which he was not.)

And that's all for now.