Emotion

I had to dig through some "old" pictures today for a few minutes and found this one. My daughter was swinging on my grandparents swings and giggling the whole time. I snapped several pictures (many of which were blurry because she was swinging) and got this one. It isn't a perfect picture, but it has been one of my favorites since it was taken 2 years ago. I think what makes this picture a favorite is the emotion it shows--pure joy!


I vividly remember another picture my parents took while I was growing up.


My brother had been laying on the floor having a tantrum while my dad was trying to take a few family pictures. It isn't the best portrait we have of him growing up, but it is memorable because of the emotion. Capturing emotion in a photo can make an okay picture more memorable and therefore--GREAT!! Do you have a photo you remember specifically because of the emotion?

Spring Wedding

I really want to post, but I am buried in the hundreds of pictures (well over 600 to be slightly more specific) I took this weekend at a cousins wedding at the Bountiful LDS Temple. This last Spring/Summer has been a fun one for me (as far as photography is concerned) because I got the chance to take lots of pictures at 2 cousins' weddings and take lots of other pictures leading up to the wedding (engagements, bridals, etc). I love having reasons to take pictures!! The first wedding was in April at the Salt Lake LDS Temple. The second one happened this last weekend. It was lots of fun for me to practice posing and lighting at two beautiful LDS Temples here in Utah. So while I am digging out, I'll post some of my favorite pictures from the first wedding.








This is my favorite picture that Brooke took (she took some other great ones, too!!)


And here are my favorite pages from their Wedding Album.



Enjoy these, and hopefully I will have more to share next week!! See you then.

Back To School

This week, along with most everyone else, my kids went back to school. Although I teach my girls at home, we still can't get away from some of the old back-to-school habits that seem to be the norm. We bought a few new clothes and took first-day-of-school pictures. Then we broke out the books and got to work. I know that, offically, summer still has about a month left. However, there is something about kids going back to school that signals the end.

The Need To Create

When I feel the need to create something, I make things like this:



Sadly, when it comes to Christmas, I have several to choose from. Then I can't choose. So I end up making a new one. Right now Photoshop is one of the easiest ways for me to create things. What do you create?

Black and White vs. Color--What do you think?

I definately don't claim to be an expert at taking or editing pictures. However, one thing I have learned is that not every picture looks great when converted to black and white. You need something special and I think that something is contrast. When I was editing the pictures I took on Saturday, I tried a few as black and whites. Some looked good and others just looked okay. I chose a few and want you to tell me--Which do you like better and why? Do you like black and white or is everything better in color? Is black and white too "old school" or is color boring? If you read this post, I'd love to hear your comments (especially since there are probably only a handful of readers).

Around the Yard

Today, I wanted to take some pictures of the girls outside. Summer is going quickly and with a new baby I haven't taken nearly as many candid pictures of the girls. With the baby asleep, I snuck outside with my camera. Here are the shots!








Should I have combed her hair before we started? Nah!


This is the look I get (more often than not) when I ask my youngest daughter to "look at me." We call this her "grandma look" because she looks over her glasses. I just had to include that one.

This is what was happening when I wasn't taking pictures of them on the grass. What would you call this? Lazy Scooting?



And one more cute outtake from today.

P.S. I promise I will work on narrowing the pictures down a bit.

Bear Lake Family Reunion

Yesterday, I was busy editing some wedding/bridal pictures I took recently and didn't get a post in. The first pictures I posted on this blog (August 12th) are all from a reunion with my brothers and sisters a week ago. We met up at Bear Lake, UT. And aside from a terrible illness from the dark side that attacked my family in the middle of the night the night before we left (trust me--you don't want the details), we had a fantastic time together. On day one, the men spent some time helping Aaron work on his new home while the women corralled the kids. Day two we spent on the water and beach and just together in general. Day three we shot off air rockets and got ready to leave. What great fun! Enjoy the photos. I am so glad I get to share them now.

A Couple More

A couple more pictures for you check out.

Canoes

There is something about a person in a canoe on water that is peaceful. What do you think?

Photos from the Front Room

I have been working on focus a little lately. My new D300 and I haven't been "clicking" when it comes to sharp focus. So once again we were back to the camera manual for help. I am sure this will take a little tweeking for a while longer but I made some improvements and have some ideas to help me in the future. What do you think?