A Schumacher Milestone

As a wedding present, way back on December 11, 1993, Jason and I received a nativity scene that a family molded, fired, and glazed by hand, just for us. It is one of my most treasured possessions, and this year, for the first time ever, it is on display at a height less than 5ft!

Our kids are old enough now that I can, with tentative confidence, let the nativity scene be shown off at a height where everyone can really take in all of its beauty. If you hear a loud screaming & wailing coming from the San Diego region, you’ll know that my tentative confidence was not tentative enough, and I should have waited at least another year. But hopefully all will be well, and the scene (especially those precious little donkey’s ears! oh how I love them!) will survive this wonderful season.

For you photo enthusiasts out there, you’ll notice that I was messing around with ISO and aperture. I wanted to try out a range of ISO, so I went from 100 to 4000 to 6400. These photos were done at night, and the only light was coming from those Christmas lights we put all over the manger’s table. When I was at ISO 100, I had to use really slow shutter speeds & prop the camera on the edge of the table to avoid blur. When I went up higher, I could use quicker shutter speeds and hand-hold the camera well enough to avoid shaky-hand-blur. (camera: 5DMkII, lens: 24-70L f/2.8, shot in RAW, process a tad in Lightroom — mostly adjusting white balance)

I love this time of year!

About carey

Wife & Mother. Photographer & soccer player. Singer to standing-room-only showers.