Family

Christmas 2011

December 16, 2011 By A. Cemal Ekin 4 Comments

Mina and Elif came to Rhode Island for Christmas this year, we alternate locations. After resting one day, the girls went out this morning, visited the beach, went to Iggy’s for lunch, bought the Christmas tree and returned home. I had to run a couple of errands afterwards. When I returned, they decided to decorate the tree. The important part was to place the tree-topper, an angel to the top of the tree (where else!) So, the Incredible Duo Dede-Mina put on a show, Mina on Dede’s shoulders and Dede going up two steps on the step stool so that Mina could reach to the top of the tree. The operation was a great success, she positioned the angel perfectly.

We all wish you a very happy holiday season and a very happy new year.

The tree decoration

Operation Tree-Topper by the Incredible Duo Dede-Mina!

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Short Visit to SLC

October 22, 2011 By A. Cemal Ekin 1 Comment

Jan visited Elif and Mina for 5 days to join them for Mina’s birthday party last Saturday. Although her actual birthday was Tuesday, organizing a party with kids and their parents proved to be much easier on a weekend. Before she went, Jan completed another knitted doll for Mina, this one Ariel the Mermaid, and knitted an extra outfit for Ariel. She has become very good at the knitted toys and is leaving a very nice collection for Mina, she will enjoy the dolls now and memories later. Take a look at what Jan has knitted: (All photographs by Jan)

On Saturday Mina’s friends and their parents came for the party. The weather cooperated very nicely to have the party outdoors. The deck and the yard are very suitable for this kind of party. The kids enjoyed themselves and the parents, watching their kids.

Monday was the school day, Mina had a small, and short birthday celebration at school where she wore her favorite dress again and enjoyed a mini-party before starting the school day.

Tuesday morning was the dance class, here are some photographs from that session

On Tuesday evening, on the actual birthday of Mina, her friend Talula and her mother Myra had a surprise birthday party at Sea Salt for a smaller group of friends. Another nice gathering.

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Hurricane Irene

August 31, 2011 By A. Cemal Ekin Leave a Comment

A slow moving and very large storm, Hurricane Irene passed through the east coast of the country. It hit us starting early Sunday and went through at is slow pace battering everything in its path. We could see the impact of the wind on the trees all around us; luckily they all survived. You will see in the photographs below the large pine tree in our backyard and the maple in the front being blown in all directions. I took the photographs mostly on a tripod and longer than usual exposures, about 20-30 seconds to record the movement of the elements affected by the wind against the steady appearance of houses, fences, etc. [Read more...]

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Garlic

August 20, 2011 By A. Cemal Ekin Leave a Comment

Elif had planted, among other things, garlic in her backyard. After blooming, she let them go to seed and they produced tiny garlic cloves. When dried they become brittle and prone to falling all over the place, but she kept several in case I had any interest in photographing them. I did!

They are photographed against the wall, mainly lit by the window light with an added, hand-held Canon 580EX-II on some of them. In post processing, they are converted to monochrome and given bromoil toning colors.

Here are just two stems.

Filed Under: All Posts, Photography Tagged With: Family, Photography

SLC: Sea Salt with Bill and Jane

August 16, 2011 By A. Cemal Ekin 1 Comment

Yesterday we met Bill and Jane at Sea Salt, where they had invited us for dinner. It is only a few minutes from Elif’s house. After we settled Elif took some photographs, then Mina was allowed to handle Nana’s camera with care. The second batch of photographs are the ones Mina took, as you can gauge from the lower than usual angle of view. After she took some photographs of us, Mina turned the camera on herself and took a series of self portraits. I fixed a few of them for cropping, but the faces she made to the camera are entirely hers.