bathtime

About This Photo:
Aperture: f/2.8
Exposure: 1/50
Focal Length: 130mm
ISO: 400
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8 IS

It's how we end our day anymore. Sometimes I'll fill the whale tub with babysafe suds, wash her hair, and squirt her with the miniature bath toys that resemble sea life: the walrus, the orca whale, the starfish. Even the hammerhead shark is adorable. Most of the time now, bathtime is together.

It started as way to calm her when she was inconsolable and nothing else would do. Now, it is simply a part of our routine before putting her to bed for the night -- a way for our skins to touch on days where I was trying to be mama and do the laundry, dishes, cooking, and errands. A way to connect.

I had set her down and went down the hall to get something I needed. There's a clear sight from the front of the house to the back where she was lying down. It was so delightful to see her anticipation, the arms and legs pumping. My happy girl.

These are the types of moments I savor, where I want to hit the pause button, and let it all soak in for awhile.

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Lessons Learned or Affirmed:

• Playing with depth of field can be every bit as fun as playing with bokeh. I tend to love focusing on details, on getting close and honing in (you'd think that would mean that I owned a good macro lens, right? Geesh! We're getting there). Taking photos like this one (from a distance) puts me a little out of my comfort zone. That's a good thing!
• Sometimes a bit of blurriness works in photos of human subjects. Like in this one, her left foot is blurred, communicating the movement of her legs. It wasn't intentional on my part, but I like it. It works for this picture.