After Hour

For decades, I was addicted to work, or, nicely put it, dedicated to my career. I barely spent time with my family including my parents and my children. My parents are no longer around, my regret. I am now an advocate of Family Time and Family First.

I love to photograph people when they were not aware of the camera. It is Ok that I can only take snap shots since it is the only way that I can capture people's natural emotion and expressions. The one who was photographed the most is my grandson.  He is a very happy boy. He is energetic, funny and photogenic.  I can never get enough of  him.  There is another type of photos that I like to do, i.e Before and After shots.

Every time when I invited family or friends to come to our house, I always went out of my way to serve pretty big meals.  My husband called it 'feast'.  There are just so many different kinds of Chinese dish we can make. Serving is an honor and I love the presentation. Usually when the meal was served, I would sit down for a short while just to say 'help yourselves' before I reached out to my camera and sneaked away.

People came with great spirits and fresh outlook. After couple hours down the road, they started to look stuffed and tired. Some of them were getting a bit loopy that they started to talk no stop and the conversation gets louder and lengthier.  My camera is honest and faithful.  It is very entertaining to compare Before and After pictures. Below is an After shot:

Unexpected, I found a piece of insulation material in our basement.  The material is shining silver and there are straight lines and circles.  I turned off the bright lights in the kitchen, just left a minor light strip way behind the material. I did not know why I decided to try long exposure on this one. After 8-10 second, I was surprised to see the result.  The reflection of the silver material has actually become the light source of my subjects.