Rob & Julie Snow Family Blog

Creative name...I know.

I took this picture a couple of months ago at the International Peace Gardens in Salt Lake. We were there with the Williams' side of the family for a picnic. Those pictures are forthcoming.

I really liked the contrast of the red bridge against the greenery. I just punched up the colors a little bit and added a slight vignette.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hope you enjoy these as much as we did! We basically couldn't stop laughing!

This is my favorite shot that I took from our photowalk yesterday. I've left it untitled because I think it's a picture that induces a little bit of thought and can reflect a few different ideas.

I'm curious, what does this picture say to you???

Since babies grow up so fast, we did more portraits for my sister. It wasn't an easy shoot because we lost the sunlight really fast. Note to self: Schedule fall and winter outdoor photoshoots earlier in the day.

I do have to say that Jake and Karen are so easy to take pictures of. They have really good chemistry and are so easygoing that it makes posing them really fun. Plus, Jake is such a jokester and makes us all laugh the whole time, so it's easy to get natural smiles from them.

Jordin is 3 months in this picture and always wears the cutest outfits. Her little diamond earrings are so adorable.

Below are links to our favorite picture from the other shoots we've done of them.

Engagement
Wedding
New Baby

We all had a great time on the photowalk this morning!  It is so much fun to take pictures with friends.  You can find the official Flickr group here.  If you participated in the photowalk and are not a member of Flickr or one of my contacts, then we need to fix that before you can participate in the group. 

How to get in the group!

• Go to www.flickr.com and sign up (why not, it’s free!).
• Upload some pictures, set everything up, and get used to Flickr. There is really good help information at the bottom of every page.
• Go to my profile page here.
• In the upper right corner you see blue text that says, “Add Engineering Nerd as a contact.”
• Then wait for me to invite you to the group.  You’ll get an email asking you to confirm.  
• To access the group, click on the “Groups” button at the top of every page on Flickr where you’ll see a list of groups that you participate in. Click on “Main Street Photowalk – Salt Lake City” and you’re there.

How to add photos to the group!

• After uploading your picture to Flickr, click on the picture in your photostream (here is ours).
• Just above your photo you should see several buttons.  Click “Add to group” and choose the “Main Street Photowalk – Salt Lake City” and then click “add” when prompted. 

In the group you can share your photos, make comments on the photos of others, and participate in the discussions.  My hope is that we’ll all learn a lot as we post-process the photos and discuss the results together. 

Have Fun!

 Taken with Nikon D40 in Zion National Park, Utah on October 18, 2008. Aperture Priority Mode, 22mm, 1/160 sec f/11, ISO 200, Nikon Raw Format. Edited in Lightroom 2.1. 

We are finally back from Southern Utah and we have a ton of sweet pictures to share.  To wet your appétit, I decided to use one of those shots for Foto Friday!  I don’t have much time tonight so I’ll keep it very brief!  In the words of Nate, “HOLY COW!”  Zion National Park is freaking amazing and if you haven’t been there you just have no idea what I am talking about.  Bottom line here is that we have an amazing world with some of the most amazing scenery right here in our state!  We are so lucky.

This shot of a foot bridge over the Virgin River was taken at the trailhead for the Emerald Pools (great hike by the way).  Nate and Mad both did really well on this hike!

To recreate the singularity of the scene I increased the contrast, increased the saturation (I did this selectively for each color), and added a little mid tone sharpening.  That’s it!   Hope you enjoy this image and remember to enjoy yourself behind the lens!

Note to the photowalkers!  Tomorrow’s lunch location has been changed to Pier 49 Pizza because the sandwich shop is closed on Saturday.  See you tomorrow!!

The RJSnowPhotography Photowalk is coming up this Saturday at 10 AM!  The theme is CONTRAST. Here are the details.

• Meet Location: Let's assemble at the west entrance of Gallivan Plaza (download map). 
• Route: Main Street between 1st and 4th South Streets. 
• Parking: You can arrive at the plaza using Trax or by parking in metered parking stalls (free on weekends) on the streets surrounding the plaza. 
• Food: We will be eating at Gandolfo's located at 158 South on Main Street around 11 AM to discuss the our photos.  Bring a laptop if you have one.
• Check below to see if you are on the official list.  Please contact me if I accidentally left you off the list, can no longer attend, or if you would like to attend.

Rob and Julie S.
Andrea R.
Travis and Claudia G.
Eric B.
Dean and Holly O.
Deb J.
Jason
Dayna M.
Dayna's Friend
Tyson and Diane G.
Becca G.

UPDATE 10-24-08:  Gandolfo's is closed on Saturday.  We will be eating at Pier 49 Pizza instead.  See you tomorrow!!!!

Ouch!!!!!

Last weekend we visited the Silver Reef ghost town in Southern Utah with Karen and Jake (Julie's sister and brother-in-law).  Julie was enjoying herself taking some photographs of the town and the rest of us were having a great time exploring when our fun was interrupted by a yelp of pain from Julie.  Moments later we learned that she had crouched down to get a photograph and sat on a cactus! 

As you can imagine this was a very painful and embarrassing experience for Julie (I really couldn't stop laughing, I'm bad I know).  The stickers were not too bad; however, it did cut our day trip short! 

Lesson learned: always watch where you stick your butt!

Isn't fire amazing? Who can't stare at a candle flame or campfire for any amount of time and not be blown away by its beauty? I've learned the science behind it (not that I truly understand it all that well), but just like so many other things on this earth, it truly attests to the existence of God. Only an almighty Father in Heaven is able to create such marvelous miracles.

This picture was taken a couple of years ago with our small Nikon point-and-shoot. I didn't really tweak anything except blacken out the background.

Sorry for the short post. We're still in St. George and might not return until the middle of next week. We'll keep you posted.

Here are some pictures of Nate captured with Rob's camera phone. See a trend? Yeah...cute...

The RJSnowPhotography Photowalk is only two weeks away now.  We have about 15 people registered so we should all have a great opportunity to learn from each other.  I'm so excited!

Julie and I have spent a lot of time bouncing ideas about the theme or subject for the photowalk.  We had so many good ideas and thoughts but finally settled on "Contrast."

We are not going to expand on our theme in order to let your own minds feed your creativity.

We will be meeting downtown at 10am and will announce the route, parking suggestions, meeting locations, and where we will be eating a few days before the photowalk.   If you have any specific questions, please comment below or send an email to photowalk@rjsnow.com.

This post was accidentally deleted. I'll try to restore the text at a later date.

We are in Washington City (St. George), Utah for the next two weeks. Rob is working on a design for a lane addition to a bridge over the Virgin River. The kids and I were able to join him because I was able to get us into a rental home rather than a motel room. Definitely the way to go!

Nate has had so much fun exploring all the incredibly fun things to do here. We have an enclosed Nate-proof backyard with a water spigot and lots of landscaping rocks. He loves "swimming" in the large and deep garden tub and had a blast in the glass-enclosed shower. The kitchen faucet has a spray function that he loves to play with (I haven't dared show him that it extends!). The big-screen tv has a woofer on the floor next to it that he enjoys putting his juice boxes on. There are no toddler locks on the doors so he can go wherever he wants. The kitchen chairs have wheels so when Madeleine is in her booster chair, he pushes her around the floor. There are lightweight bar stools that he can carry wherever he wants to go in order to get into things formerly out of reach. The owners must have a grandson because there are a billion matchbox cars for him to "vroom" with. If only we could all be so happy with such simple pleasures!

Here's something that's weird. Rob and I have been down here a multitude of times, both separate and together, and it's always been kind of "eh." You know? It's just St. George. But this time we both are really liking the area. I'm not sure if it has to do with it being more developed than it used to be while retaining some "rural" qualities or the fact that now we have kids and see it as a clean, safe, and friendly place. Don't worry, we're not considering moving down here. The three main reasons are (1) The summer heat; (2) There are no equivalent engineering jobs for Rob. And (2) there is a house for sale one street over from where we are now. We looked at its flyer and found out it's a 3-bedroom home just a little bigger than what we live in now, but nicely updated and upgraded. It's selling for $337,000! Wow. That's a lot of moolah for such a little home. Oh, well. There aren't any kids around here anyway, only elderly snowbirds.