Somehow, these photos were already taken a year ago, so my dad is 86 now, but if you ask him, he is still 39.
When it comes to my dad, I don't think there is a tougher subject out there for me to write about, and I don't know if I'll ever find the ability to explain how unbelievably incredible and important he is to me. The life he has lived inspires and humbles me everyday, but just as much, his devotion to his family. He, along with my mom and my sister, hold my whole heart, and that is something that will change only to grow even more.
About the people in these photos, I am incredibly fortunate to know and have as my family. I may not always agree with their attitude, their decisions, their actions, or their outlook; but I still have so much love for each of them, and believe their presence in my life is of purpose. I hope to celebrate many more birthdays with them in the years to come.
Thanks to my sister's impressive decorating and organizing skills - while she was 9 months pregnant! - I think the night was a great success. Although my dad wasn't as surprised as I had anticipated, (I don't think we stayed hidden all that well,) he was so, so happy to see everyone there for him, and I can't thank our family and friends enough for coming and celebrating.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Believe it or not, this was only my second time using an external portable flash, and I admit - I was scared of it. I relied on the ETTL setting the whole night, much to my relief, because simply thinking about the manual control stressed me out. Since then, I think I only used it a couple more times at family events, and I think I'm improving at controlling it, but my technique still isn't where I want it to be. I think I need to practice much more, and review how to determine the flash's appropriate output based on the distance between the subject and the camera. The fact that output power is measured in fractions makes this so much more challenging! I heavily struggled with math throughout school, except for that one brief period in elementary when we learned how to add, subtract, and multiply. (See, at least I excelled at the important lessons! When will I ever need algebra anyway.)