Fall Family Portraits

New Look Site

I've been slaving over the last few weeks changing the design of www.lengthofadream.com ...has a fresher feel to it (i think)...hopefully it's easier to navigate too. If you have any feedback, please drop me a line. I would appreciate it.

I took some photos at the Pack 278 Cub Scouts pine wood derby races last weekend...a very fun event. Helped my older boys make their cars, and we all had a lot of fun. Kiefer's car won the Open / Family class for children, and Dawson's car won the Wolf division.



Kiefer's car was a powered by 3 D-cells :) In case you are wondering if that was legal, this was for the open "no rules" division. I didn't have time to put in a little motor, but maybe for next year we won't procrastinate so much (yeah right) and will do just that.






It was interesting that we finally got to make cars that went fast. We were going for a creative award when we made his Indiana Jones car.

The Outer Banks @ North Carolina

Sun, Surf and a lot of R & R!

It was pretty difficult to go on vacation with a broken hand...this includes just trying to do regular things I'm used to...all the way to loading and unloading luggage with just 1 arm. This trip would have been disastrous without my incredible wife and my kids helping out.

The hard part about photography with a broken hand is not being able to put any weight on my right hand...then not bringing along a tripod because of trying to travel light was totally limiting my shooting. Knowing that photo ops are being missed left and right just adds to the pain. Shooting with minimal spontaneity is as heartbreaking as it gets in photography.

Me and my family had the opportunity to spend a great week at the beach with wonderful friends; paid tribute and learn about the history of flight at the Wright Brothers' memorial on Orville Wright's birthday; visited the Currituck Beach Lighthouse and join the locals in anticipation of a hurricane in the making (Hurricane Bill).

My kids were learning the basics of body boarding and we got our first experience of splashing in the Atlantic Ocean.



Trying to travel light and shoot with as minimal weight as possible, I left my 70-200 2.8 IS at home and took my 70-300 4-5.6 II (non-IS) out of retirement. Most images were taken with my trusty 5D with the 70-300 and for a few shots with a 24-105 4.0 IS.



Getting close was a bit of a challenge...wearing a fiberglass cast that I'm supposed to keep dry on my right hand, i was wading in the surf up to my waist in some instances, but getting "the shot" seemed to outweigh the risk...although I'd probably be saying something else if my 5D ended up in the drink...





Great conditions for newbies learning to body-board. Conditions were also pretty good for a photographer on the beach.






This next shot was from the top level of the beach house we rented. Relaxation at the Outer Banks from indoors :) The window was showing some condensation from the AC vents and wiping that down turned out to be a mistake. The streaking kept re-appearing after that.



Next up, the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. 214 steps to get to the top. Lots of history is waiting for curious minds on this lighthouse at their home page.





This next shot was taken at the Wright Brothers' memorial at Kill Devil Hills. The sides of this monument look like wings of a plane. This was a very hot and very bright day. Fill-in flash was a must for any photos with people in the composition. Did I mention it was hot?



This was the flight path the Wright brothers took on the day they made history.



To read more about the Wright Brothers' Memorial, you can check out their official site at this site.

Locals were saying that Hurricane Bill was responsible for bringing in the 20 foot swells that kept swimmers off the beach on this day. Surfers were having a ball, but they were gone by sunset.



I didn't have a clear shot at the setting sun...bummer. Had to settle for a view of the path back to the cottages.



This was a pretty great trip, and I am very grateful and surprised that I was able to fire off the camera a few times with my right hand's current state.

Till my next post, cya around.

Donald R