Playing with Christmas Toys

Santa brought my 8-year-old a RC truck for Christmas...not just any RC truck, one of the fancy schmancy ones that goes 30 mph and is all kinds of crazy fun.  He's had it out a few times in our cul-de-sac but we took it to their school parking lot today for some wide-open fun.

And for me, that meant time to play with MY Christmas toy, my camera!  More time for me to practice different techniques and finding those great shots of kids (this time mine) that tell a story or capture their personalities in a way that I could never pose them to do.

 

I like the selective-focus of this one on the truck with my kiddo grinning in the background a little blurry.  I also like the shadows I ended up with on him and his truck.

still working on those panning shots to get motion in the background with the subject in focus...I still need to work on my technique to keep the subject clear...but to my credit, it's kinda hard to focus on a 30mph moving RC truck that's 10 yards away and the size of a large shoe-box!

 

At the starting line.  Wait, who's is the second truck you ask?

Ummm, that would be my husband's.  He got his own toy to play with a week after Santa delivered Caleb's.  Apparently RC trucks are fun for 34-year-old boys, too!  Caleb's is the one doing the wheely here.

 

And then the wheely turned into air-borne flips!  Love the fast shutter speed and burst-shooting that lets me get these pics instead of missing them like I would have with my point-and-shoot!

Kevin broke his...part of the fun of getting these high-powered machines was the ability to hang out at the RC store and buy replacement parts and learn how to fix them.  I have a feeling that over the years he and Caleb will make many trips to the store for parts!

 

I like the shadow and negative space of the sky in this one.

 

And this is what a 6-year-old sister looks like as she's watching the truck action.  Not as thrilling for her, I think!

 

I rarely get shots of my son like this.  He's notorious for turning away from the camera very quickly as soon as he sees me reach for it.  But the pure joy of playing with his truck allows me to capture his happy face without him worrying about the fact that he's getting his picture taken.  I love it!

 

And one guess at what this look means...it's time to go home because the battery is wearing down.  Oh, man!