Thanksgiving Stuff

I had a few days off for Thanksgiving, so I went down to the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas to visit my parents and see the hundreds of other members of my extended family. I had every intention of shooting a lot in the valley to post to my blog, but laziness and about 10 pounds of turkey got in my way.

My family has a sort of chilling effect on my photographer. I don't know if I'm just embarrassed to shoot around them or feel like I'm showing off or what, but I hate taking pictures around them. Good thing I live thousands of miles away or I'd be out of a job.
This is Grandma Zamora, shot at a little gathering at a cousins house the day I arrived. It was more awkward to take then I thought, but at this point in the evening I had some beer and BBQ in me and felt brave enough to break out the camera.

The only other time I really shot much was when my mom and sister were preparing the Thanksgiving meal. Oddly enough, the two of them started a food scrapbook. Every time they make a new dish or try out a recipe, they take pictures and catalogue it for their scrapbook. At some point (I don't remember if I was designated or volunteered) I ended up taking the pictures for their scrapbook.

Of course I couldn't just take normal pictures, so I broke out the flashes.


I set two on remote, putting one on top of the fridge and one on top of the TV, both bouncing light off the ceiling when I fired my mom's point and shoot digital camera. Here's a little light test above. And the secret to my sister's "homemade" gravy is revealed at left.

So I'm heading home Saturday and will be back to work Sunday. I won't be heading home for Christmas, but I think I ate enough turkey and pumpkin pie to sustain me for the rest of the holiday season.