Whimsy

This week's theme at I Heart Faces is "A Touch of Whimsy"

I don't often, until recently get the chance to photograph little girls...having 6 year old boy, and while, sweet, and adorable none of my shots of my newborn came across as whimsical to me. HOWEVER, on a recent outing with some friends I captured shot of my son's classmate and buddy. I kept coming back to this shot for this theme. Something about the way she's looking over her shoulder as she ran off, the playful smile on her face. It just screams summers of imagination creating stories and clubs. Pretending that the troll is after you, and running from the fairies.

So once you have tired of trying to fly with the fairy prince. Go check out some other GREAT whimsical photos at I Heart Faces!

Discovery Park

So, most people who know me know I also love to do anything creative. I also have experience in just about everything "wedding" short of actually HAVING one, or making the dress you name it I've done it. EXCEPT, photography. HA! So I'm finally getting my chance. A close friend who's wedding invites I am designing wanted to have pictures for her Save the Dates...Just so happens I know a photographer...Wink Wink.

What followed was a day out at Discovery Park in Seattle. If you've never been, I HIGHLY suggest it for your next day trip. Since this happened to be a family friend we made it a family affair. Bringing the kiddos and hubby along. (Allan took Liam on the long trail through the woods for pictures and fun while us girls got down to the hair and make-up business before the shoot) then we all met up at the West Point Lighthouse.

While Allan got some GREAT shots of Puget Sound and Liam falling into it, no worries it was only ankle deep...though he still managed to get wet to the arm pits...

All told, Allan's pictures are pretty much SOOC...(straight out of Camera)..only SLIGHT curves work on a  couple and obviously cropping for the collage. I have to say, I LIKE the way his Nikon takes pictures.

As for me, I was strictly business taking photo's of the happy couple.

My cannon does well, I love it. Though I've found, and it may be user error, but I don't think it gets AS crisp a picture as the Nikon does SOOC though it's still a good picture. Me-thinks I'll upgrade to a Nikon once I've found a Leprechaun and his Pot O' Gold.

Anyway, that was my Saturday, it was a good time all around (as evidenced by the picture Allan captured of me laughing above) and overall, it was a great experience!

FIx - It - Friday! June 24th 2011

It's that time of the week again over at I Heart Faces

                                                        

I started out by using a healing brush and then the clone tool as needed to remove the fine hairs running across the little girls face, and through her eye.  I then brightened up both eyes a little bit. 

I will say, I have searched HIGH...and LOW...for actions that I can use, and tweak to my advantage. To use as little or as much of them as I want. But NONE, have I found that I like any better than Pioneer Woman's Actions. I love these. 

For the color edit. I used Seventies (a current addiction) and then layered Vintage on top at a lower opacity and added a layer mask so that the girl wasn't as faded as the edges. I wanted that kind of faded, old world almost ghostly look that emphasized her BEAUTIFUL eyes. Then I added another curves layer to get it just how I wanted it and here we are! 

For the B&W edit I used the B&W adjustment layer on top of the color set. Then curves to add a little bit of contrast and done. 

Summer inspirations

Just a couple thoughts for the first day of summer.  I've been going through some older photos that I'd overlooked at first and rethinking them. These were from last summer, and I thought sI'd try my hadn at some inspirational post cards.

Hope your summer is full of sun, fun and photos!  I know mine will be!

Boys

So over at IHeartFaces.com this week's challenge is BOYS! And since I happen to have a pretty fantastic boy, who is ridiculously photogenic I figure I'd might at well throw in a picture... And share a few extra with you as well.

So this is the photo I've entered. I wish I could take credit for this one. HOWEVER, I cannot. This was snapped last weekend by my husband. Since this week is the "Father's day" challenge I figure It's appropriate to submit one where dad took the shot. It is also one of my favorite shots of our son, and I couldn't wait to play with it.

I look at this and can see him when he's 10, 16, 20. I can see the handsome man peeking through the innocence of early childhood.  I see the scene in the movie where the hero has just gotten his heart  broken, or where at the end, he's gotten the girl and is about to wink at the camera before he rides off into the sunset and the credits roll by.
Most of all, I see promise of a full life on the horizon as if he's about to turn and walk away and into that future, which I suppose he is. But what I do know, is one of us will always be there to snap pictures of when he turns back to include us in his little world. And we will cherish those moments. Because as he gets older they never come often enough.

I'm not the only one w/ fond memories of my boy, head on over to I Heart Faces and check out all the other boys!

Now just for fun, this is my "little man" last summer. It's amazing how they grow in just a year! And how much changes. He's now a big brother, and has a year of "real" school under his belt. He's reading and counting and all that fun stuff. Wow, it seems like yesterday he was the size of his sister!

Fix it Fridays

So I Heart Faces has a weekly "event" called Fix-it-Friday. They offer us a problem photo, and everyone who wants to gets to "fix" it in their own way.  

I'm including two weeks of them...because I never got around to posting last week's photo. 

Then make sure and go to IHeartFaces.com and see how other photographers interpreted the same photos! 

Enjoy! 

With the color edit I used an action I acquired a while ago that I've used a bit, it brings out the warm tones and lightens it all up a bit.  Then I played with the curves aded an embossed layer and played with the curves again and voila! 

WIth the black and white, I used a basic black and white adjustment layer and then fixed a couple of the curves to make sure there was enough contrast without making it too dark. 

 And, because I never added it last week... :)

And this one, I honestly don't remember. Though I'm pretty sure I used Pioneer Woman's Vintage action in there somewhere. 

Disclaimer: These pictures are NOT mine. I simply edited them. Copyrights belong to original photographers over at I Heart Faces.com

Summer's FINALLY here!

So in the Pacific Northwest, summer can take it's sweet time getting to us. We've had a couple glimpses of it in the last few weeks, but this last week has been a bit more consistent. So, on a sunny Saturday a friend and I packed up our kids and took them to a local beach park.

It was a great time for all, the kids got to play on the playground, my son who doesn't often have a friend along was beside himself with TWO this time! For myself I enjoyed having a couple more models to snap shots of. I mean lets face it, I could take pictures of my kiddos all day long...but not everyone wants to look at them as much as I do!  

Anyway, as is the usual with us, this was a park we'd never been to, and it was lovely. But also as is the norm with parks that head to the beach around here, there was a bit of a trek to get to the beach. Luckily for me and my bum ankle as well as the buggy, there was a lower lot...I let the kids and my husband and my friend do the trek down through the forested gully on steep steps and I took the car and went the lesser of two evils, which STILL involved a bunch of steps...but my he-man of a husband tackled taking the baby's buggy up and down them. So a hip hip hooray for him....

We both got some good shots of all the kiddos while they skipped rocks, collected a bunch of shells, and tried to dig a hole in the sand. Finally after a couple hours we trekked back up, and down the stairs and headed home, tired, and hungry.  

The Wet Walk

So, in effort to have family time and take pictures....on a budget...preferably not to far away I am landed with the lovely task of finding various walks, trails, hikes and destinations that don't require entrance fees or an entire tank of gas.

One such walk was the The North Creek Walk. It was a nice April day, and we felt like going on a walk. So I found this little park while searching the Snohomish County Parks website. Looked perfect so we packed everyone into the car and took off.

Now, this is an interesting little walk. It's a boardwalk through a wetland. What it DOESN'T tell you on the web site...or any other site for that matter, is that the board walk is FLOATING on the wetland when it's particularly wet.

Now, since we've had a particularly wet spring, though the day itself was dry, the ground was not. What we found was an exciting adventure where in places we were having to take turns walking certain parts of the boardwalk as fast as we could without falling to avid sinking that section too far...then letting it pop back up before the next one went along...and it was slippery in places too.

By the time we got back to the car, Liam was soaked from falling into the water on a number of occasions. My shoes were soaked...Kayleigh made out like a bandit though her buggy's bottom was wet, and Allan, well he's Mr. Sure footed was the fastest across and never did get his feet more than a little damp.

However, all the while we were snapping pictures. And some lovely pictures were captured.

As you can see, I am no longer able to avoid pictures. As a side note: Allan is the only one I've known to EVER be able to capture a photo of me that I don't really mind sharing with the world. 

A typical picture of Liam...climbing on something. 

This is why Liam was wet. Those boards were Slippery...and he kept on running. 

The area here was originally a farm stead...this is one of the buildings from the original farm. 

It doesn't LOOK wet..but just wait. Stand too long in one place and it's underwater. 

Here the water was flowing. Liam being all boy was dropping twigs in to watch them come out the other side. 

This little guy never did move willingly. Not until we were right on top of him, THEN he ran off.  

A Childs view

I was reading one of my new favorite blogs this morning The Pioneer Woman and her recent posts about  her youngest daughter picking up the camera and taking some shots made me want to post about Liam and his photography skills. So here we go....

This last summer, Liam inherited my husband's point and shoot Nikon as he had upgraded to a much fancier camera. Our first excursion was to the Lavender festival in Sequim Wa. A lovely little town nestled into the foothills of the Olympic Mountains.  I think one day I want to retire to a lavender farm, what could be more relaxing than sitting on a wide porch, reading a good book in the evening looking up and seeing the the mountains purple in the twilight and breathing in a lungful of the lavender scent?

I mean, talk about a perfect retirement plan, you grow the lavender, and reap not only the relaxation benefits but then once a year in July, your are descended upon by tourists from all over, who come and cut the lavender and pay you for it!

Hmmmm.....zzzzzzzzz.... Whoa..now where was I? Oh, Right, Liam's camera. This particular trip was a last minute thing. We hopped into the car and away we went. And then waited 2 hours in line for the ferry. Now, to pass the time, we were goofing off and Liam was snapping pictures... these pictures remind me of when I was a kid and was relegated to the back seat...there's nothing REALLY to do. Other than stare around and make up stuff...I remember as a kid, I used to flip the floor mats over and pretend I was a telephone operator...all the little nubbins were the various lines that people would call into and I'd plug them over to. It was quite fun..me and my imaginary mouse Squeaker got a pretty good kick out of the game..and some of the conversations I listened in on! WOW!

Anyway, enough about MY childhood. Y'all don't need a history lesson.  Here are a few of the photo's Liam captured...some are funny, some you're trying to figure out WHY he took a picture of that...others you're trying to figure out WHAT he took a picture of, and then there are a few that make me think that kid has an eye...

Top row: Allan and I...I had just found out I was Pregnant with our Daughter ~ On the way home , the ferry coming into Kingston ~ A bumble bee in the lavender...this is a shot that he had been TRYING to take, and I can attest to the difficulty of capturing a bee in your photos! 

Second row: Allan and I, goofing of in the car while waiting for the ferry ~ Liam's chocolate milk...all gone! ~ Flying car! 

Third row: Straw? ~ The "front" of the ferry ~ Water wheel at one of the lavender farms

Bottom row: Allan taking pictures with his new toy ~ Liam's scabbed over knee ~ STARBUCKS! (we are in Seattle and addicted to Coffee after all ~ Liam ~ Lavender, on the way home ~ PUPPY!