Stay at Home Part 12

The staying at home saga has become a maze of memories. Officially, the entire country is in different phases of reopening. The tensions keep feeling more weighty. And the divides seem to divide farther. On one brief check of social media, I see the community saying that “it’s my choice to go out, if you want to stay home, stay home,” while others say, “choosing to go out risks everyone’s life..” My concern that I would be on the margins of all these reopening decisions are happening. Because threaded through all of the advice is that “vulnerable people should stay home.” Without any type of conversation about how we continue to pay bills while staying home and everyone else gets to return to semi-normal activities.

Testing is increasing. I have no idea if contact tracing is happening. Or if it’s at a manageable scale. There’s talk that yes, tracing happens but no sharing of plans about how it happens. And how tracing could be possible when people hang out at restaurants waiting for their takeout and have no idea who they may have crossed paths with in the past two weeks?

OK, I’m a little tumbling today because, as another month is around the corner, and I feel less secure about how I’ll be able to earn income or when, and my health insurance is requiring me to find new doctors which is always stressful, I need to remind myself that I can solve things.

My plan today was to step outside the logistical challenges that haunt all of us in different ways. My challenges are not easy, but I’m cognizant that other families face much worse challenges. My heart goes out to the families of all those lost to this virus. That, in itself, takes my breath away, thinking of the incredible losses of the past few months.

Another day maybe I’ll ponder more. Today, I want to share the opposite of weight. I want to share bubbles. Because even while big global pandemic clouds hang over the sky, we still find moments of little magical memories. These bubbles were so pretty with iridescent colors.

From a photography standpoint, I tried different vantages to see how the light (sun low in the sky) worked with capturing color in the bubbles. The fun thing is that every photo with bubbles is a little different. Which can also be a challenge when I have way too many and want to keep them all :)

Taking a few steps around your subject can show completely different perspectives on the same scene. The play of light and color may change dramatically with a few steps.

Another thing that helped us document many bubbles was having an “assistant” aka another person happy to blow bubbles, stand to one side, and blow bubbles into the frame. We did have shifting breezes which made it a little hilarious trying to coax bubbling into the scene instead of off in another direction.

Another tip is that photographing bubbles from the side, so the person blows bubbles across the frame, will give you a sense of many bubbles with most in focus. This shows a profile. The reason for this is because many of the bubbles are on the same plane as the camera sees them.

For a softness to the bubbles, you may want your subject to blowing bubbles towards the camera (facing the camera). Of course, be mindful how far the bubbles will go so you don’t end up with a bunch of soapy bubble mix popping on your camera. If you know aperture, this can help because you can set a low number aperture, to show soft bubbles in the foreground. It also may help to keep your subject in a place where the camera wants to focus so you get your subject’s face in focus. I happen to think it’s lovely when bubbles are in focus and the subject is softer, too.

Setting your camera to “burst” mode or action mode where it keeps taking photos one after the other may also create more opportunities to document that giant bubble before it pops :)

We’re never too old to play with bubbles :)

I haven’t taken many photos lately, to be honest. I try but creativity feels more challenging as time passes. Still, creating photos, even when it feels heavy at first, often brings light and inspiration. I hope the bubbles bring a smile or two the same way that they did for us.