Sunday, May 31, 2009

June 1, 2009


This is my submission for the category: Birthday

What Dad doesn't need a little bit of help blowing out his birthday candles? Good thing we put an abbreviated number of candles on that carrot cake.


This is my submission for the category: Pets

She loves the horses!


Go check out the great photos at i ♥ faces

May 31, 2009

I don't have anything new to post, so here is a silhouette from last week that didn't make the cut.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

May 30, 2009

Beautiful Blue




Friday, May 29, 2009

May 29, 2009


Thursday, May 28, 2009

May 28, 2009


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

May 27, 2009

On Memorial Day we went to Ravine Gardens State Park. I have been there in the past to take photos of azaleas (and bees, and butterflies). The azaleas are long gone (they bloom in February/March), but we did see some lovely wildflowers.



Monday, May 25, 2009

May 26, 2009


Good thing I started working on my silhouette photo a couple weeks ago, because for the past week and a half we have had nothing but rain, rain, more rain and dark cloudy skies.

This is my submission for i heart faces category: silhouette

Check out all the silhouettes at i heart faces.

May 25, 2009

Happy Memorial Day!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

May 24, 2009


And one more Ibis, and then I'm done ... for now.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

May 23, 2009



Friday, May 22, 2009

May 22, 2009

The upside of all the rain we have been having this past week is an increase in the number of "wading birds" that I see. You know, wading birds: egrets, herons, ibis, etc. I love taking pictures of herons because they stay perfectly still. They stand like statues over the water waiting for the exact moment to spear their prey. I like that. It makes it much easier for a beginner like myself when the subject stays still.

There has been a flock of Ibis on our property. They were here a month or so ago when we had a lot of rain and the pastures turned into large, murky ponds. They stay together in flocks, I counted at least 20 birds. They are fast and always walking away from me. They are constantly probing their long beaks into the marshy grass or water. Did I mention they were fast? Oh ya, and very skittish. I can't get very close to them before they all fly away.

Unlike the Heron who stands on the bank of the pond, posing for me, Ibis prefer to be deep in the grove of trees in the pasture, which is now flooded. So not only can I not get very close to them, but they hid from me between the branches and trunks of the trees. It is really difficult to get a clear, focused shot of them because there is always so much "stuff" in the foreground. Did I mention they were fast? This results in lots of blurry pictures where you can kind of see the backside of a bird between some branches.

This week the Ibis have returned. I can see them out in the pasture. It has been pouring rain so I haven't tried to get any pictures. This morning after I took the kids to the bus stop, I spotted a couple of them. It was barely sprinkling, so I tucked my pants into my rubber boots, hopped the fence to the pasture, and commenced my Ibis hunt.

I walked through the mucky pasture only avoiding the obviously large cow patties, which are nice and soggy. 10 minutes later I returned home with a bunch of blurry photos. Aggg!

This is the best of what I could come up with:

Thursday, May 21, 2009

May 21, 2009

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

May 20, 2009


There has been so much rain lately. It hasn't let up since Sunday. The roads, pastures and my yard are once again flooded. Jared loves it.

May 19, 2009


My new glasses. I'm in my bathroom, looking in the mirror. Jaremie says this doesn't look like me, but looks like a reflection of me. Since I have never "actually" seen myself, I suppose I am accustomed to a mere (mirror) reflection. Ha, ha, I'm so funny.

Monday, May 18, 2009

May 18, 2009

Sunday, May 17, 2009

May 17, 2009


This week we can only enter one photo for selection to be published in a Photobook by Blurb. I think this is the most difficult week yet, because there is no category, except this from the i heart faces guidelines: "You will want to enter the very best face photo you have ever taken." No pressure, or anything.

My best face photo I have ever taken? This is hard not because I have so very many to choose from (hardly!); but the fact that I can only use one (1) photo to represent me, my style, and my work. Yikes. So here it goes.

AMATEUR Category: my best face


So go to i heart faces and check out everyone's best work.

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I Faces web sites.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

May 16, 2009




I know, more photos of Jared playing baseball. What can I say? He loves baseball. I love taking pictures of him playing baseball. It's either that or Kate playing soccer, or Ella with her one of her many stuffed friends.

Friday, May 15, 2009

May 15, 2009


May 14, 2009

I haven't gone out this week to take photos, but I do drag my camera pretty much everywhere I go. So here we are waiting for the bus yesterday morning. This is how we wait. We run races. Why not?

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

May 13, 2009

I took this shot at Lake Woodruff National Wildlife Preserve when I was there on March 21. You can see some of my photos in the March and April archives.

I have learned to enjoy taking photos of birds. I wish I had more time to take nature photography. However, at this time in my life I will continue to love the blessing of taking photos of three active kids.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

May 12, 2009


My tomatoes are growing! Yum, I can hardly wait. Fresh tomatoes.

Monday, May 11, 2009

May 11, 2009

Saturday, May 9, 2009

May 10, 2009


This is my entry for i heart faces ADULT category: Laughter

Meet Natalie. She is fun and upbeat, has the cutest family, is a fierce flag football teammate, and she has learned what is most important in life. She is quick to laugh, and make those around her smile and laugh too. And to top it off, I have this great picture of her.


This is my entry for i heart faces KIDS category: Laughter

They are brother and sister and best of friends (most of the time). I took this picture Friday morning as we were waiting for the school bus to come. They find laughter everywhere.


Check out all the laughing photos at i heart faces.

May 9, 2009

Just waiting for the bus to come yesterday morning.

Friday, May 8, 2009

May 8, 2009

I appreciate those of you who willing spend your time and use your expertize to help me improve my photography. Constructive comments are always welcome. Thanks to i heart faces for the help.

Here in Florida, swimming season has started. For the next five months I take a lot of pictures of kids swimming. The photos are a mixture of fast action (diving, splashing, running ... wait ... my kids never run around the pool, that just isn't safe) with the obvious blue water and bright sunshine. However, because the pool area has a very dark screen covering the entire area, I get a lot of dark shadows. Also, the background is always cluttered.

Before (SOOC):
Ella has a dark shadow across her face. There is lots of negative space in the photo that I'm not sure what to do with. If I brighten the colors up too much, she turns lobster red. If I lighten it, her swimming vest gets washed out. I often use Elements, for easy touch ups I use Picasa, and I use Picnik (even though it drives me nuts) for the frames and curves. For this photo I used Picnik.

Nixon D80
Exposure: 1/500
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO: 160
Focal Length: 135.0 mm
No Flash

My Edit:


What would you do? Suggestions? Comments?

Thanks again for your input and thanks to i heart faces for the forum.