Some of the transgender who attack us seem to think the women here and elsewhere who oppose the transgender lie are engaging in some kind of old-school activism. They want to believe that we are forming some competing movement, or other such nonsense. They like to apply labels like HBS or Taliban, create a faux fight between two arbitrary sides, shout and demean, and basically engage in the sort of politicking that they believe to have been responsible for their “success” in the 90’s. Of course they are wrong.

I basically have two aims with regard to the transgender business. One, I want to provide an alternative viewpoint to the TG dogma that confronts new transitioners as they begin their healing process. The sooner they clear that toxic mess, the sooner they can get through the process. The voice of real women who have come before you telling you that your senses are right about the TG and to stay away from them is a huge help.

In addition to speeding the process in the initial stages of transition, and assuaging guilt for believing your own senses about the sexual fetishists, by exposing the truth I hope to rob the transgender of new recruits. Not recruits from women like us, because we generally know the score and leave of our own accord. But recruits from “gender” philosophy such as the genderqueer who want to use it to challenge society’s rules. If they can see who their so-called allies really are, they may think twice about their priorities and allegiances. The truth is very ugly.

The vast majority of the TG are simply heterosexual transvestite men. And transvestism is tied closely with other, possibly more troublesome sexual behavior. What sets the “full time” transvestite apart from the garden variety crossdresser is that the sexual fetish they both share gets completely out of control in the “transgender” transvestite. The reasons behind this are a subject that needs to be studied if these people are going to be helped.

In a past post I wrote about how I hoped for more research into GID, but not because I believe in “gender problems”. Nobody has “gender problems” as such. People like Ron Gold wrote his famous post on this, and indeed everyone in larger society understands this instinctively. So do the transgenders, in fact, and that is why they twist philosophy and turn logic on its head. Gender itself is merely shorthand for a variety of social phenomena; it can hardly be disordered.

The first myth that must be exposed is that surgery creates a transsexual. There are plenty of transvestites who get surgery, and in fact they make up the bulk of the “transsexuals” among the TG. The goal of this sleight-of-hand is to a) excuse their behavior and b) provide a path for the transvestite to live “full time as a woman”. In other words, ready access to their drug of choice. Getting surgery is how the “transgender transvestite” actualizes their fetish and makes it permanent and inescapable. I have to thank an anonymous source for explaining this aspect of the rather puzzling motivations of the “transgender transsexual”. I’m sure more detailed discoveries will be found as researchers delve into the mysteries surrounding fetish and exhibitionism in neurology.

I also believe it will be found that GID, at is called by puzzled researchers, is an amalgam of other already recognized problems, with the veneer of gender laid over the top. It has been suggested to me that the sexual high that transvestites receive from exposing themselves to the public in women’s clothing is like an addiction. And like any addict, they rage and fume when their drug is taken away, hence their attacks on women like us. It is not because we expose them for being men in dresses that they hate us. They do that to themselves all the time- but on their schedule. They want the control of where and when to do the “Gotcha!” moment and bask in the sexual glow, and anyone who would stand in the way of that must be destroyed.

That is why they rage against those who tell the truth about them. That is why they threaten to write an “expose”, their tried-and-true weapon against us- the threat to ruin our lives by trying to “out” us to our communities and destroy our womanhood.

The fact that they are willing to commit this act which, in their own parlance, puts us at risk for violence and death, simply for continued access to their sexual thrill is despicable. It illustrates perfectly just how unbalanced and aggressive they really are. How selfish. How male.

I and the other women here are no stranger to male violence. Cat has written quite a bit about her experiences with these people. And every woman who ever lived has felt the impact of male aggression in their lives, some with horrifying directness. That is why I write these things and put myself at risk in the face of these all too real threats against me. I care about women like me, who have gone through so much just to survive. We few who know the truth must stand up to the men who would abuse us.

We must tell them they cannot, they will not, silence our voices.

I think it was two Christmases ago when I got this book from one of my soul sisters, author Carissa Villacorta (Surreality, 2006). It was a book that described the somewhat odd but passion-filled adventures of husband-and-wife team, Bob and Melinda Blanchard.

Most of the messages in the book resonated with me because of my own odd journey into creativity, independence, and authenticity. More importantly, I related very well with Bob and Mel’s stories because of my own unpredictable yet adventure- (and love)-filled partnership with my now-husband, Paul.

Here is a great excerpt from the afterword, which I believe shows the heart and soul of the book. It’s a great reminder for dealing with Life’s pit stops and U-turns and for remembering what really matters.

It’s less than a week to go before Christmas and less than two weeks to the start of a new year. Isn’t it a great time to think about what REALLY, REALLY matters to YOU?

There can be a sensible, predictable path through life: We had plans for it early on. We told ourselves where we wanted to go and how we wanted to get there. We even set forth timelines, which we expected to follow obediently.

Then, it seems, the world said to us, you people will be bored silly with that road… And away went our plans and in came our complete surrender to the unknown. We replaced time lines and conventional choices with curiosity, dreams, and odd combinations of options that were perfect for us. If life could turn so quickly, we would just dance a little faster. If plans could crumble so dramatically, we would make sure that no matter what happened we’d be driven by our passion and the people and places we love.

Was it nonsense to step outside the lines of a usual life? To be honest, we really didn’t have a choice. It was a gift from the world, in retrospect, and we could not stamp it RETURN TO SENDER. We were forced into an unusual life, and along the way we realized that love is the most stable, reliable, and trustworthy condition in the universe. When nothing else lasts, when nothing else is true, there is love.

~ Live What You Love: Notes from an unusual life by Bob and Melinda Blanchard

Me with my husband, Paul, during our wedding day on 09.09.09. We got married during the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy and had a picnic reception outside the Arena Civica in Parco Sempione, Milan

_

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]]> http://jonathanbrower.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/can-we-rock-the-gospel/ Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:27:38 +0000 jbrower115 http://jonathanbrower.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/can-we-rock-the-gospel/

“The danger is just as great today as it was in Paul’s day of producing a crossless Christianity whose flattering appeal creates fans, not followers.”

–Paul Bassett

At this point it will be sufficient to say that worship is characterized by  reverence, modesty, and humility, and has nothing that even remotely aims at our pleasure & entertainment. Anything that deviates from that detracts from the glory due to God and Jesus Christ.

John Blanchard, Dan Lucarini-“Can We Rock the Gospel”

The more I mention it to fellow Christians, the more I realize that I am one of only a handful of people my age that recognize the dangers and the oxymoronic nature of “Christian Rock”. Yes, I do have several pet peeves that may or may not be rational (ie: Facebook) but on CCM and Christian Rock I will not back down. In their book “Can We Rock the Gospel” Dan Lucarini and John Blanchard lay a strong case against these worldly influences. Not just a scientific, and not just a mental case, but one that carries the Word of God with it through the fires. In evangelism rock music is unacceptable to the Lord. I believe that it is also unacceptable in the eyes of God, but I am not the judge.

I can’t write the whole book down for you (although I would if it were legal) but I can share some of the quotes I copied from it, and some of the major points in “Can We Rock the Gospel”.

There are seven Red Flags about Christian Rock in the Church that the authors present:

1. It encourages worldliness. As far as I can tell in scripture, we shouldn’t look like the slop bucket we were pulled from (the world)
2. It promotes the performers, creating an idol for the listener to worship. While we should be worshiping the One.
3. Since when are Christians supposed to be entertained by the worship of God? Christian Rock includes entertainment with worship.
4. It has a very simple, watered down theology, which encourages a Christian idiot, in the literal use of the word.
5. It drives the old and the younger generations apart while us youngins’ need to lean on the experiences of our elders, and they need our energy to get er’ done.
6. It is way too loud. Yes, it is a small problem but what about the Bach fans and all those who are opposed to electric lights shining on electrically amplified electric instruments?
7. Lastly, our worship should not be exploited for its monetary value. Is it a church, or a corporation? I saw the title of a book that was a very good synopsis of Red Flag #7: “This Little Church Went to the Market”

These points are not word for word copies of the book, but the derivatives of my notes about the book. I know that I have many, MANY brothers who would disagree on this matter and there’s nothing wrong with that. But there is an undeniable injustice committed against God when we take a pile of moldy rags and spray paint it to match the rest of His Church. Please read “Can We Rock the Gospel, Rock music’s impact on worship and evangelism” if you seek to glorify God in every (Yes, I know it’s very difficult, but really: every area) of your life. I do apologize if you are the poor person at the Douglas County Library that has been waiting for more than a month for me to return “Can We Rock the Gospel”!!

]]> http://ldbphotography.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/3-ways-to-make-your-photos-brighter-without-using-a-flash/ Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:21:19 +0000 lblanchd123 http://ldbphotography.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/3-ways-to-make-your-photos-brighter-without-using-a-flash/

OK, I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Mostly because I’m exhausted from not getting enough sleep this week and then not being able to catch up on sleep this weekend.

I was down at a Christmas party in Richmond this weekend and one of my friends made a side comment about not being able to make her photos brighter. I figure if she was curious how to do it, then there are probably plenty of other people wondering as well.

I know it took me a while to get it figured out at first.

There are three main ways to get more light into your photos (i.e. make them brighter) without using a flash or some other outside light.

All of them have their pros and cons, so it helps to know what they are and practice until you’re comfortable in different situations. They’re all pretty simple in concept

1 Lengthen the shutter speed

The longer the shutter is open the more light it allows to reach the camera’s sensor.

Think of it like a window in the winter. The longer you leave a window cracked open, the colder the house will get.

However, the downside to having a slower shutter speed is that you have to hold the camera still as long as the shutter is open. So the longer the shutter is open, the longer the camera has to stay in one spot.

Thankfully, some smart person decided to invent the tripod.

2 Widen the Aperture

The wider the shutter opens the more the light can come in .

Again, back to the window explanation. The wider you open your window the faster the cold air will come in.

The downside to having a larger aperture is that less of the image will be in focus at one time. So small f-stop numbers won’t be good for taking group photos. Or landscape shots.

However, it is great for drawing the viewer’s attention to the subject that is in focus. It also allows for you to have a faster shutter speed so you don’t have to hold the camera still quite as long.

You can also combine longer shutter speeds and a larger aperture to get even brighter photos. The house is going to get colder if you leave that window wide open for a couple of minutes instead of a couple of seconds.

3 Raise the ISO level

Raising the ISO level is essentially making your camera sensor more sensitive to light. Therefore, the higher the ISO levels, the brighter the photo will be.

The main trade-off with raising the ISO level is a little more obvious on this one. The higher the ISO level is the more noise will be in the photo. It will be brighter, but it won’t be as sharp. This begins to get really evident the higher you go.

One use of a higher ISO level would be if you wanted to make a really grungy looking black and white photo. Especially if you want that tough look. Either that or you’re just going for something different and interesting.

Like I said, it can be tricky to get these all figured out. So go out and experiment. Try using your camera in Shutter Priority mode (S). Try it in Aperture Priority mode (A). Try it in Manual Mode Sometimes refered to as Program Mode (M) or (B).

Try mixing and matching to see what you like. Different situations are going to need different settings. And the only way to get used to using those different settings will be to practice.

“Little threads make big patterns. You’ll miss both if you look only at the loom and not in your heart.”

~ Bob and Melinda Blanchard, Live What You Love: Notes from an Unusual Life

Image by Yasuhide Fumoto, in Getty Images

–

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New Scientist magazine has published a lengthy article – Psychiatry’s civil war – about the proposed revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the “open conflict [which] has broken out among the upper echelons of US psychiatry” regarding the attempt to “extend definitions of mental illnesses so broadly that tens of millions of people will be given unnecessary and risky drugs”.

(Note: Since the article was posted, the American Psychiatric Association has announced that the publication of DSM-V will be delayed until May 2013 to “allow more time for public review, field trials and revisions”.)

The whole article is worth reading, but in particular it has this to say about the redefinition of gender identity:

We are who we say we are

Is history repeating itself? That’s the question facing psychiatrists considering how gender identity should be defined in DSM-V. The APA has a legacy of uneasy relations with the lesbian, gay and transgender community, having included homosexuality in the DSM’s list of psychiatric disorders until 1973. Some transgender activists want issues of gender identity kicked off the list of mental illnesses too.

These activists are up in arms over the membership of DSM-V’s sexual and gender identity disorders work group, in particular the selection of Kenneth Zucker of the University of Toronto, Canada, as its chair. Zucker is reviled by some transgender activists for his work on therapy to reorient children who feel that they were born into the wrong sex. An online petition objecting to the work group’s composition has more than 9500 signatures.

The group is nevertheless likely to recommend changes that could actually ease tensions. One of these is a change in the name of a diagnosis that as currently phrased is inherently offensive to transgender people. “‘Gender identity disorder’ falsely implies that the gender identities of gender variant people are in themselves disordered,” says Kelley Winters, founder of GID Reform Advocates.

The work group has not yet revealed its proposed name, but “disorder” will be dropped. “We’re sensitive to issues of language,” says Zucker. One possibility is “gender dysphoria”, which focuses on the inherent distress of people living in a body that doesn’t match their identity.

That would not satisfy those transgender activists who want issues of gender identity removed from the DSM altogether. But others argue for the retention of a renamed condition to make it easier for those distressed by the mismatch between their identity and their bodies to seek assistance, and also to help those who need sex-change surgery to get it paid for. Even now, many transgender people face problems when insurers refuse to recognise the treatment as a legitimate medical expense.

My opinion on the binary options mentioned in the last paragraph is somewhere between the two viewpoints: I would be more than happy for any mention of gender identity to be dropped provided that trans people are not, as a consequence, denied access to timely, appropriate and free medical treatment. Transitioning needs to be refocused away from a gatekeeping approach to one of facilitation and support.

Additionally, New Scientist has also published an op-ed companion piece – Time’s up for psychiatry’s bible – which suggests that:

With the advent of the internet, there is no longer any compelling need to rewrite the diagnostic criteria for the whole of psychiatry in one go. Yes, diagnoses should be revised as new scientific findings come in. But for this, specialists can be assembled when necessary to address specific areas that have become outmoded. Their suggestions can be posted on the web for comment. More research can be commissioned, if necessary. And when consensus is reached, new diagnostic criteria can be posted online.

Similarly, standing panels could periodically review issues that cut across the whole of psychiatry – such as the inevitable shift away from checklists of symptoms towards a system based on measurements of the underlying biological and psychological determinants of mental health.

Apparently there is resistance to this move towards such a “living document” because such a transition (no pun intended):

[...] would have hurt the APA’s coffers, as a book that becomes a required reference is a big earner; DSM sales since 2000 exceed $40 million.

Which rather leaves me wondering exactly where the APA’s real priorities lie: in providing a framework that would actually help the people who need it, or generating arguably obscene profits at the expense of our health and wellbeing.

—————

(Curtsey to Martha T.G.O. on the TGEU listserv for the heads-up)

—————

Cross-posted at Questioning Transphobia

—————

Previous posts about the DSM on this blog:

• London trans activists call for boycott of sham demo on October 17th (October 11, 2009)
• TGEU call for action/support – “Stop Trans Pathologization 2012″ (August 29, 2009)
• IFGE calls for action from APA (May 18, 2009)
• Transsexuality will no longer be classified in France as a mental illness (May 17, 2009)
• APA protest – San Francisco, May 18 (May 16, 2009)
• Looking back, pushing forward (April 30, 2009)
• APA Task Force reviews possible Gender Identity Disorder treatment guidelines (April 29, 2009)
• Close the CAMH Gender Identity Clinic – Facebook group (April 28, 2009)
• OII receives a letter from Dr Zucker’s legal representatives (March 21, 2009)
• Lynn Conway targeted by Kenneth Zucker for speaking out against his appointment to the APA Task Force (March 5, 2009)
• TGEU Policy Statement on DSM Reform (November 3, 2008)
• Developing DSM-V in Secret (October 17, 2008)
• Reminder: Demo against Zucker at RSM tomorrow (1st October 2008) (September 30, 2008)
• Demonstration against Kenneth Zucker at RSM, 1st October 2008 (September 22, 2008)
• Zucker *still* to speak at RSM conference (September 9, 2009)
• Zucker to Speak At Royal Society of Medicine Conference (August 15, 2008)
• WPATH Clarification (July 19, 2008)
• With God on Our Side (July 7, 2008)
• Crazy love (June 1, 2008)
• Still mad: more on DSM-V/Zucker/Blanchard (May 18, 2008)
• Mad as hell (May 6, 2008)

New Scientist magazine has published a lengthy article – Psychiatry’s civil war – about the proposed revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the “open conflict [which] has broken out among the upper echelons of US psychiatry” regarding the attempt to “extend definitions of mental illnesses so broadly that tens of millions of people will be given unnecessary and risky drugs”.

(Note: Since the article was posted, the American Psychiatric Association has announced that the publication of DSM-V will be delayed until May 2013 to “allow more time for public review, field trials and revisions”.)

The whole article is worth reading, but in particular it has this to say about the redefinition of gender identity:

We are who we say we are

Is history repeating itself? That’s the question facing psychiatrists considering how gender identity should be defined in DSM-V. The APA has a legacy of uneasy relations with the lesbian, gay and transgender community, having included homosexuality in the DSM’s list of psychiatric disorders until 1973. Some transgender activists want issues of gender identity kicked off the list of mental illnesses too.

These activists are up in arms over the membership of DSM-V’s sexual and gender identity disorders work group, in particular the selection of Kenneth Zucker of the University of Toronto, Canada, as its chair. Zucker is reviled by some transgender activists for his work on therapy to reorient children who feel that they were born into the wrong sex. An online petition objecting to the work group’s composition has more than 9500 signatures.

The group is nevertheless likely to recommend changes that could actually ease tensions. One of these is a change in the name of a diagnosis that as currently phrased is inherently offensive to transgender people. “‘Gender identity disorder’ falsely implies that the gender identities of gender variant people are in themselves disordered,” says Kelley Winters, founder of GID Reform Advocates.

The work group has not yet revealed its proposed name, but “disorder” will be dropped. “We’re sensitive to issues of language,” says Zucker. One possibility is “gender dysphoria”, which focuses on the inherent distress of people living in a body that doesn’t match their identity.

That would not satisfy those transgender activists who want issues of gender identity removed from the DSM altogether. But others argue for the retention of a renamed condition to make it easier for those distressed by the mismatch between their identity and their bodies to seek assistance, and also to help those who need sex-change surgery to get it paid for. Even now, many transgender people face problems when insurers refuse to recognise the treatment as a legitimate medical expense.

My opinion on the binary options mentioned in the last paragraph is somewhere between the two viewpoints: I would be more than happy for any mention of gender identity to be dropped provided that trans people are not, as a consequence, denied access to timely, appropriate and free medical treatment. Transitioning needs to be refocused away from a gatekeeping approach to one of facilitation and support.

Additionally, New Scientist has also published an op-ed companion piece – Time’s up for psychiatry’s bible – which suggests that:

With the advent of the internet, there is no longer any compelling need to rewrite the diagnostic criteria for the whole of psychiatry in one go. Yes, diagnoses should be revised as new scientific findings come in. But for this, specialists can be assembled when necessary to address specific areas that have become outmoded. Their suggestions can be posted on the web for comment. More research can be commissioned, if necessary. And when consensus is reached, new diagnostic criteria can be posted online.

Similarly, standing panels could periodically review issues that cut across the whole of psychiatry – such as the inevitable shift away from checklists of symptoms towards a system based on measurements of the underlying biological and psychological determinants of mental health.

Apparently there is resistance to this move towards such a “living document” because such a transition (no pun intended):

[...] would have hurt the APA’s coffers, as a book that becomes a required reference is a big earner; DSM sales since 2000 exceed $40 million.

Which rather leaves me wondering exactly where the APA’s real priorities lie: in providing a framework that would actually help the people who need it, or generating arguably obscene profits at the expense of our health and wellbeing.

—————

(Curtsey to Martha T.G.O. on the TGEU listserv for the heads-up)

—————

Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Have you ever wondered what it was like to fly most of the way down the coast at the crack of dawn? For the most part it’s not very fun because you’re up several hours before you want to be. Not only that, but you have to be functioning on top of that.

However, you’re in for a real treat when you get up above the clouds. Talk about a light show.

I had planned on sleeping on my flight to Atlanta before connecting to Tucson, but I had not idea what I was going to see out that little porthole.

Click the link below to view photos from the flight.

Gallery: DULLES TO HOTLANTA

Two items for today that seemed important- at Trans Fried Fluff Joanne digs up an interesting definition of transsexualism from the past and I also think the death of Mike Penner deserves comment.

Fluff is a blog about the DSM rewrite mainly, and profiles a lot of the characters involved there. It is also highly critical of the utter lack of response among so-called professionals who patently ignore the thoroughly repudiated “gender” paradigm.

Most of us familiar with this topic are aware of Harry Benjamin’s contributions, but far less have probably heard of Jan Wålinder. He provides us with what Joanne calls “one of the most accurate descriptions of classical transsexualism yet devised”. I agree with her, and I’ll just quote from the article to illustrate:

1. A sense of belonging to the opposite sex, of having been born into the wrong sex, of being one of nature’s extant errors.

2. A sense of estrangement with one’s own body; all indications of sex differentiation are considered as afflictions and repugnant.

3. A strong desire to resemble physically the opposite sex via therapy including surgery.

4. A desire to be accepted in the community as belonging to the opposite sex.

It’s difficult to be more clear than that. Continuing my habit of posting my comments to other blogs on my own, I replied with this:

When the fad finally disappears, I shudder to think of all the stories of “de-transition” that will ensue among the transvestites.  Such fodder for the Blanchards and others who want to pretend real transsexualism doesn’t exist!

With any luck the shame of crossdressing that these people feel will mute most of the uproar among the “TG community” and the former “transsexuals” will quietly go about their lives and simply stop speaking of it.

A few outliers may try to sell their story but the mood in the US at least is changing and sensationalist stories like that won’t get as much play here, shortly, or have the same kind of impact as they once would have.  That’s the best case scenario for all involved anyway.

And that’s the most important reason I and others have opposed the spate of surgical approval for non-transsexual “transgenders” and other co-option of our birth condition; in the end it will be we who pay for their giant sex party.  How utterly selfish of them to impose such a burden.

Perhaps it is merely a lack of character that pushes a transvestite into claiming to be transsexual. But that lack of character among those who profess to care for our ‘mental health’ is what allows this sort of nonsense in the first place.  At this point it is impossible to assign their motives to ignorance, and the clear activity of these people mentioned in this article is arguably malicious.

The DSM V, if all goes as it seems, will be used as an object lesson by future psychiatrists of how not to practice.  That is if the profession survives the next few decades at all.

Which leads me to Mike Penner. People who were not born with the transsexual condition will not grasp the truth of what happened, and people in general will learn the wrong lessons from what happened to him.

I believe transgender dogma contributed to the suicide of Mike Penner. Now why would I say something so awful? For a true transsexual, the advice given by the TG “community” is a death sentence. This is another one of those things that they will never understand about this condition. Using the gay paradigm to “treat” the transsexual condition is a recipe for disaster. This business about “coming out”, being “honest”, living “openly”, and all the rest of the rubbish is a death sentence for a woman. Part of being born transsexual is the truth that we are women and men whose bodies are horribly deformed. We treat it as best we can, and live our lives. To be constantly reminded of our deformity for the rest of our lives is no life at all.

Mike’s public transition was no transition at all. This is the object lesson that witnessing a “transgender” type of “transition” imparts to a true transsexual. The idea of living “as a woman” while everyone knows you are a man may be titillating to the transvestites and full time drag queens who comprise the TG “community”, but it is absolutely the wrong thing for one born transsexual. I have to wonder how the few transsexual men and women in the TG ranks deal with this attitude among their chosen peers.

In the end I think Mike’s form of transition was what killed him. If I accept that he was a true transsexual, then I know what he felt. We shared this much in common; it is unacceptable to go through life with the stigma of being a man. Having a very public job and very public transition made it impossible for Mike to truly get treatment, to reach that place where his birth defect was finally healed. He felt his cure would always be out of reach. Transgender dogma told him that he needed to “come out” and bask in the glow of acceptance. By all accounts he received that acceptance- as a brave man who was pretending to be a woman. And facing that reality, he thought it better to leave this world than endure it any longer.

That’s what killed Mike Penner.

Hi everyone.

This has been such a short week for me. Mainly it’s because I’m preparing to leave for Arizona in a day. Hopefully I’ll still be able to put up a post or two while I’m out there, though.

With that said, I figured you would get more out of me finding some relevant tutorials than you would if I were to write another post about how tired I am.

Thankfully, for both of us, I was able to find a couple of them that illustrate what I’ve been talking about in my recent posts of using off camera flash and action photography pretty well.

Both of the tutorials are from a site that I’ll peruse periodically – Digital Photo School.

The first one is a more in-depth explanation on how to capture motion blur.

How to Capture Motion Blur in Photography

The second is about using flash in your action photo shots.

Using Flash in Action Photography

Hopefully these will help keep you all occupied while I’m out, desperately trying to get rid of my office tan. Like I said, I’ll try to keep the posts going while I’m out there.

Maybe I’ll do something fun like a photo of the day. Tune in to find out what happens!

Action photography. It doesn’t have to be limited to sports photos. It can be of you and your friends running through a field while goofing off. It can be a photo of a train rolling through a station. It can be a photo of your dog chasing a squirrel or cat playing with a toy.

The funny thing about action photography, and photography in general really, is that it is very unnatural. Life is constantly moving and flowing. Even at rest we still have things going on around us.

There are two basic ways to take an action photos: Freezing the Action and using Motion Blur.

FREEZING THE ACTION

This is more or less pretty straight forward. It’s where the image is crisp and you don’t let the any of the movement into the photo.

It is done through using faster shutter speeds. Usually a shutter speed of 1/100th is a good starting point. Granted, the type of action you’re shooting also will change the speeds you want to go with. So you will want to play around with it.

Remember, the faster your subject is moving the faster the shutter speed will need to be to freeze the image. Also, the faster the shutter speed, the less light will reach the sensor. You get around the image being dark by either increasing the ISO levels or lowering the f/stop. I would recommend only raising the ISO marginally because the higher the ISO is the grainier the photo will be. But like I said, you’ll want to play around with it.

MOTION BLUR

The way you create motion blur is by slowing down the shutter speed. Then you pan your camera to keep your subject sharp while everything else ends up becoming blurred. One nice thing about using motion blur in your photos is that it doesn’t really matter what f/stop you use.

You mainly just need to practice panning with how slow the shutter is. The slower the shutter speed the further you will have to pan. Not only that, but you will have to be steadier with your panning in order to keep your subject sharp.

Another thing you could try with panning would be to set up the photo so that you compose the background and let your subject move through the photo. That way the background is sharp and your subject is blurred moving through the photo.

Whatever style you try, be sure to  TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS! If your camera can do photo burst, then use it. It’s such a great tool to use. It will allow for you to capture more of the action as it’s unfolding. This will allow you more usable photos when you edit them afterward.

As always, the only way to get good at these techniques is to take more photos.

What are you waiting for? Go take some action shots!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of going out to see my sister’s soccer team make it to the semi-finals of their league’s playoffs. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it to the championship game, but they did put up quite a fight.

The game was so close that they had to go to a shoot out to determine the winner.

Click the link below to view the photos from the game.

Gallery: SOCCER IN THE FALL

Some times life can get crazy. Unfortunately, that craziness can also wear us down and keep us from doing what we really want to do.

The problem with getting worn down isn’t always that it physically keeps us from doing what we like to do, but rather that it can take your passion and make it feel like a chore.

When you continuously get tired you start to wonder why you’re feeling that way all the time. When you realize that it’s because you’re throwing all your energy into continuing your passion it can make you start to associate your passion with being tired.

Granted, these sort of times usually come around when you’re in a rut and are having a hard time thinking of ways to motivate yourself, but that’s when you need to remind yourself why you’re following your dream. Even if you’re not “following your dreams” it’s still a good time to take a step back and remind yourself why you enjoy your hobby.

If that means taking a couple days off to rest and get motivated, then do that. But do that with the expectation of getting right back into the swing of things when you’re done with your break.

I know all too well how easy it is to take a break and then decide to make that break last just a little bit longer. The only problem with doing this is that when I don’t make up my mind to continue pursuing my photography and blogging beforehand, I end up using any excuse in the book to push it off one more day.

Then there are the times when I don’t want to take time off because I want to push through the slump and continue to be productive.

To be honest, this is one of those times for me right now. I have been so worn out by everything else going on in my life that the last thing I want to do is to sit down and write another blog post.

Surprisingly, I’m also finding myself reluctant to push myself to do things as fun as a photo shoot. I mean, I absolutely love taking photos for crying out loud.

So for everyone else out there who is having a hard time staying motivated, let this be an encouragement to you. Don’t lose sight of why you enjoy what you like doing. Don’t stop pushing yourself. Don’t let yourself become complacent with where things are in your life.

Keep at it.

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Natalie Blanchard lost her medical benefits after the related insurance company saw her Facebook profile.  Blanchard was on paid sick leave from her job after being diagnosed with depression.  She posted a photo of herself vacationing on a beach.  The insurance company cut her sick pay claiming she is no longer depressed.

It’s more than just your bosses that may check up on your facebook.  Your audience is much more than you may realize.  There are ways for certain networks and organizations to see more into your profile than your security settings might allow.  The flow of information is becoming wider and quicker.  The flow is creating less distance between users and their audience.

The issue here is identifying the line of privacy.  The insurance company invaded her privacy and drew conclusions.  I wouldn’t doubt if Canadian Natalie Blanchard decides to counter sue and actually has a good case. (JS)

Every once in a while it’s always good to look back on what we’ve done. That’s definitely a lot easier to do when you have lots and lots of photos.

When trying to figure out what I was going to for this week’s installment of “Photos for Friday” I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to come up with. Although, that’s mainly because I didn’t have any time to take new photos this week.

Lucky for you I’ve been meaning to go through the photos from my trip to Tokyo a few years ago.

Two things struck me as I was reviewing the photos: I can’t believe I went to Tokyo and I can’t believe how bad of a photographer I was back then compared to now.

It amazes me how many photos I had to throw out just to get a decent batch for this first album. Thankfully, though, I took a ton of them over the two weeks that I was there.

Click on the link below to view the gallery from the first few days of the trip. I’ll be sure to post more from the trip when I can.

Gallery: TOKYO, WHAT SEEMS LIKE FOREVER AGO

You know I wouldn’t leave you hanging. Seeing as this blog is really all about photography and everything that surrounds it, of course I had to show some examples of depth of field.

Like I said before, controlling your depth of field is really helpful for creating different looks.

The image above was taken this weekend to give an example of a large depth of field.

I switched my camera over to Aperture mode and set it to f/16. The camera then figured out that it would take 15 seconds to get the correct exposure.

Notice that since it is a higher f-stop both the street sign and the apartments way down the road are in focus. Also, since it was such a long exposure, I was able to get some nice lighting effects from the cars driving in and out of the scene.

Now for a small Depth of Field.

This last shot was taken of my sister in my parents’  living room (we were celebrating the birthdays of half the family since they all fall in the same month!).

It was taken at f/4.5 with an exposure of 1/25th of a second. Notice how even though she wasn’t more than 5 feet from the door (and I wasn’t more than 5 or 6 feet from her) the door and windows are completely blown out of focus.

Now, I will say that I had a long telephoto lens zoomed in to about 135mm. So that definitely helped make the background become even more out of focus.

So here’s another little Nugget of Information: The further in you zoom, the more out of focus the background will be if your subject isn’t standing right next to it.

With that said, I’ll leave you with a few more shots to help you see the difference that a few f/stops can make. And, as always, go out and try it for yourselves. The only way you’re really going to lean it is if you do it.

Examples

(Notice how much longer the second photo needs to be exposed for. I’ll address different ways of getting around this in another post.)

f/8.0
1.6 seconds

f/25
10 seconds

More Examples

f/2.8
0.5 second

f/5.0
1.6 seconds

f/10.0
6 seconds

f/16.0
15 seconds

f/20.0
25 seconds

Homebuyer Tax Credit Changes:

First Time Homeowner Tax credit has been extended so long as a written binding contract to purchase is in effect on April 30, 2010, the purchaser will have until July 1, 2010 to close. First Time Buyer amount of credit $8,000

Modified to include Current Homeowners – Must have used the sold home or being sold as a principal residence consecutively for 5 years.  Current Homeowner amount of credit $6,500

Beautiful Woodbury home for sale. 

4 bedrooms  – 3 bedrooms on one level

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Built 2002

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Floor to ceiling windows overlooking large backyard,  vaulted ceilings, beautiful state of the art home theater all equipment stays with the home (audio visual components all speakers), large kitchen with center island and walk-in pantry,  master suite with whirlpool tub, main level laundry, in-ground sprinkler system.  Beautiful home in golf course community a must see.  For more information and showing requests see contact information.  To search more properties visit my website at www.cindyblanchard.com

Cindy Blanchard

Keller Williams Premier

Email cindyblanchard@kw.com

Cell  612-414-2139

Well, Topical Storm (or is it just a depression now?) Ida is doing its best to ruin everyone’s fun these past couple of days. So I figured it would be a good occasion to dig through some photos I took several months back on a rainy evening.

These photos came about when I was living in Maryland, but hanging out with good friends in Virginia. I would come over pretty regularly and every time I left at night I would be struck by how the shadows from the street lights looked as they were being cast across the road.

One night, after I had moved back to VA, I decided I would venture out and take some fun, long exposure, night shots. Thankfully, it had rained earlier that night, giving the asphalt a wonderful sleek look. Not only that, but it caused the asphalt to catch and reflect the light even better than it would have if it were dry.

I will admit, I definitely took the less is more approach on this batch. However, like I said, It’s much better to only show the good shots than to show a bunch of half decent photos and let the really good ones get drowned out.

Maybe one of these days I’ll get around to only taking amazing photos.

Enjoy!

Gallery: A RAINY EVENING

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To search more properties visit my website at www.cindyblanchard.com

preview this home at http://7660sherwoodrd.canbyours.com/

Open House 11/15/09   12-2 p.m.  come visit and let’s talk about real estate.

email cindyblanchard@kw.com

Remember the other day when I talked about making your photos better by giving them depth? Well, today we’re going to take that idea and run with it a even further.

Now that you know how to compose your photos and create a foreground, mid-ground, and background, I wanted to talk about how you can play with that concept a little more.

I want to show you what happens when you do only focus on the foreground or want to bring the entire photo into focus.

That’s right, we’re talking about Depth of Field…

What is Depth of Field? Well, it’s essentially the area of your photo that is focus at a given time. The photo above has a small (or shallow) depth of field.

This is because there isn’t much distance after the fist Christmas light before the image begins to be out of focus. As you can see, the first light is nice and sharp. However, the second light isn’t quite in focus. Then, by the time you get to the next light it’s pretty obvious that it’s not in focus at all. And by the time you reach the lights in the background, they’ve become a gentle blur.

This effect was achieved by using a large aperture of f/2.8 in aperture mode or aperture priority.

Now the larger the aperture that you use, the smaller the depth of field. This also works the opposite way as well. The smaller the aperture, the larger the depth of field.

Ok, let’s reverse this and look at getting a larger depth of field.

Notice that in this picture both the lamp post and the clouds in the background are in focus. All I had to do to achieve this was to bump the f-stop up to f/10.0.

I will say, though, that if you really want to get absolutely everything in a big scenic photo in focus, then you’re probably going to want to try raising the f-stop even higher.

OK, let’s put it in a little less nerdy terms:

Lower the f-stop (aperture number), and less of the photo will be in focus. Raise the f-stop and more of the photo will be in focus.

Point and shoot cameras make this really easy for you these days. If you want to take a nice picture of your family for the holidays, simply put your camera on Portrait mode and you’re good to go. This should make for a small depth of field and a nice blurry background.

However, if you end up taking a trip to the Grand Canyon and you want to get as much of it in focus as possible just flip it to Landscape mode.

Man, why does it have to be Monday already?

If you’re anything like me, and I’m sure you are, then the weekend can never last long enough. Since that’s the case I figured I’d be nice and share the rest of the photos from last weekend.

I can’t believe how nice the weather has been here these past two weekends. Too bad it won’t last much longer, though.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. Hopefully they’ll help break up the monotony of your day.

Gallery: DOWN BY THE RIVER PT. 2

“Sufferers’ Land.”
The “Firelands.”

These evocative and descriptive phrases refer to a region in Northern Ohio set aside by the state of Connecticut for “Sufferers” who were burned out of their homes by the British in the Revolution. Part of the Western Reserve, it covers present-day Huron and Erie counties.

After the War of 1812, a flood of emigration erupted out of crowded New England, the result of a pent up desire for new land that had been held in check by the threat of Native Americans defending their homes and the spur of economic hardship engendered by the catastrophic “Year without Summer” of 1816. Most of these pioneers were bound for the Firelands.

Thus began one of the great migrations of American history; a flood of humanity that poured out of New England and settled lands stretching along the southern shores of the Great Lakes from upstate New York to Illinois and across the Mississippi River into Iowa.

These settlers greatly impacted the history of the United States. In the 1850’s, some of them entered Kansas and clashed with the leading edge of another great migration that had settled the South — a tragic foreshadowing of the Civil War. The grandchildren of the settlers of the Old Northwest formed the backbone of the Union Army of the West during that war and made possible the Republican majority that ruled the nation the remainder of the century.

This website presents histories of the Firelands and genealogies of families that settled there.

1. The Sufferers’ Land is a history of the settlement of the Firelands from the founding of the town of Norwalk in 1817 by Platt Benedict to the final Pioneers Reunion and founding of The Firelands Historical Society in 1857. This story may be read from the beginning starting at the Prologue, or by selecting any of the 53 episodes in the Index of Posts.

2. A genealogy of families who settled in the Firelands is also included on this website. These include the Benedict, Wickham, Preston, Taylor, Buckingham, Christian, DeForest, Deaver, Walker, Shaon, Smith, Bradford, Talcott, Farrar, French, Lovewell, Hassell, Converse, Blanchard, Wanton, Winthrop, Dudley, and Sutton families.

3. Little Doctor on the Black Horse is a memoir of Doctor David DeForest Benedict of Norwalk, Ohio, a Union Surgeon during the Civil War. It was written by his granddaughter Harriott Benedict Wickham, who included in the story excerpts of letters he wrote to his wife from the field and from Libby Prison, where he was a prisoner of war. An episode of the story is posted every Monday, with the most recent installment immediately below this post. See the Index of Posts to read the entire memoir.

I would appreciate any comment you may have about this post. Please click on the comments button below, or contact me by email at dawbarton@aol.com. Thank you.

© 2009 by David W. Barton. All rights reserved

It’s that time of the year. The leaves are beginning to change and it couldn’t have been a better time for a trip to the river.

My friend and I decided it would be a good idea to get together to hang out and it ended up being a really great shoot. She even brought her old school Polaroid with her. Who knew they even made film for those any more. Talk about bringing back memories.

Here is the first Batch of photos from last weekend. I’ll be sure to put the second batch up as soon as I can.

Until then, enjoy your Friday.

Gallery: DOWN BY THE RIVER

On Monday I began to scratch the surface on the topic of indirect lighting. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t anywhere near the best writing I’ve ever done thanks to the time change and getting over a cold. Don’t worry, though, I’ll make it up to you today. That’s right, good ol’ eye candy.

The first photo (ABOVE) is one from a hike I went on last year…

I decided it would be a good idea to lug my camera and flash with me as a few friends and I celebrated the last couple of days that my brother would be a single man. When we got to a clearing, which I used as an excuse to take another breather, I pulled out the camera and flash and snapped this shot.

As you can see, the added light isn’t what’s so bad since it was rather dreary out. It’s the fact that it makes my brother look so flat. It doesn’t add any depth to the photo other than the areas where the harsh shadow is seen. In fact, it seems to reduce the depth of the image.

This next image is from after we got back and were hanging out. The flash is still mounted directly on top of my camera.

However, I was able to use my surroundings to make quite a difference in the way I lit the scene. This time, instead of firing the flash straight at my brother, I pointed it up and “bounced” it off the ceiling.

By doing so, I was able to redirect where the light was coming from before it hit the subject. In essence, I used the flash to cieling indirect lighting.

Isn’t it amazing what a difference just changing the angle of the flash can make.

Now let’s take it one step further and talk about off-camera indirect lighting. Like I said before, this can be done in a very simple fashion. So simple that all you need to do is go outside.

For light that’s a little more controlled you can create your own. This last photo was made by tormenting my housemate’s cat. Well, it was actually done by placing one of my flashes on a stand and triggering it with a radio transmitter. If you get the opportunity, I highly recommend taking the time to play around with one of these setups.

I created this photo by simply bouncing the light from the flash off the wall to make some nice, soft lighting. In doing so, I was able to take a fast enough exposure so that all the little details of the hair and whiskers were kept in tact. All it really took was waiting for Binky to stop moving around so I could aim the flash in a way that would illuminate her. Then it was a matter of playing around with different power levels on the flash until I got the kind of levels I wanted.

As usual, now is the part of the post where I encourage you to go out and try this for yourself. Do try it at home. Do try it outside. Don’t nuke your photos with direct lighting, but instead…

Move the Light!

Tante cose nuove, abbiamo iniziato a fare molti stage di hip hip con Dominique Lesdema e qualcuno anche con Wally, e di jazz abbiamo fatto uno stage con Serge Alzetta e Genevieve Blanchard (troppo difficile!). Poi abbiamo fatto per saggio un vero spettacolo, Chitty Chitty bang bang.