I love this theme. When I found out this was this month’s theme, I was very excited. I really enjoy looking at flat lay images as well as challenging myself to create flat lay images. However, my life has still been quite crazy what with my dad being in the hospital. As usual, I didn’t get my pictures taken. Had planned to take them today but there was another situation with my dad. They thought he coded and he was rushed to the hospital from the rehab facility.
I do however have one photo and I will update my post with the other 5 as soon as possible.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Janet Douglas’ blog by clicking HERE! You won’t want to miss her amazing images!!
Anyone who knows me knows that the last three months have been a long and exhausting road. My dad was hospitalized January 10 and it’s been a roller coaster ever since. I’ve watched my dad almost die 3 times. There were many days that were filled with sorrow instead of joy. For weeks I ate, slept and breathed the hospital.
Quite honestly, I have had no time to take any personal pictures other than the ones I’ve taken with my phone of my dad and his progress. I’d love to share those, but I’m not sure my dad would like that.
Over the course of these last 3 months I have had to find joy in each little victory, in every small thing that could possibly boost my spirits. From the sun shining, to my dad finally waking up from sedation, to my dad finally standing up. This is where my joy lies.
So often we get caught up in trying to find or create exciting, over-the-top situations so that we can have joy. Once tragedy strikes though, you realize what really matters in life. Nothing can replace the joy of being with a loved one.
My dad shouldn’t be alive. He truly is a miracle. I don’t understand how God works. I don’t understand His purpose, but I am so thankful for the miracles He has done. Even when things weren’t looking good, even when my dad almost died, God kept reminding me that we must be joyful. I am so thankful for each moment I have spent with him during this whole ordeal. Praying over him, stroking his hair while he was asleep and intubated, holding his hand, watching him wave for first time after waking up, hearing his voice for the first time after weeks of not being able to talk…every little moment spent with him has brought me immense joy. I’ve always tried to have the mindset of finding joy in the little things, but this experience has really reminded me just how important that is. It’s amazing how much joy you can get from a simple smile from a loved one, from the bright sun rays shining in your window, from the squeeze of your daddy’s hand.
I encourage every one of you to slow down and truly find joy in the little things. Don’t underestimate how much joy those simple things can bring you. You just might be surprised at how fulfilling life can be even if life seems mundane or even sad.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” -Romans 15:13
Head on over to Elizabeth’s blog by clicking HERE to see her amazing images!!
“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.” -Colette
Growing up, we never had indoor pets as my dad had allergies to most pets. We did have a few outdoor pets though.
For a while we had bunnies. My rabbit was white and I named him Snowball. Ok, not a very original name, but I was young. We lived right by a main road as well as the interstate. Our tiny neighborhood was a prime spot for people to drop off their unwanted pets, especially cats. So we ended up feeding those cats and they became our outdoor pets.
Fast forward several years and I fell in love with my in-laws’ dog. So one day I took the kids to the shelter and we fell in love with this little poodle mix – Sammy. We ended up adopting him and he is a member of our family. I never knew how much I could love a dog.
My other images are of my in-laws’ dogs Molly and Tanner as well as our goldendoodle Baymax. These dogs work their way into your heart. They love you unconditionally and always greet you with a wagging tail. They truly enrich our lives!
Head on over to Lynne’s blog by clicking HERE! Her images are simply amazing! Then continue on through the blog circle to see all of our contributors’ interpretations on this month’s theme!
Well, here we are having completed another revolution around the sun. I don’t know about you, but it sure seems like these revolutions are getting faster. Can someone figure out how to slow them down?
So this month’s theme over at Share Six is Abstract. Abstract photography is the depiction of a visual image that does not have an immediate association with the physical world. Photographers will use different elements such as light, movement or perspective to take the things we see and transform them into an unexpected or unrecognizable image.
These past few weeks have been chaotic what with the holidays, and then on top of it all, I’ve been sick for the last week and a half. So, as usual, these pictures got pushed to the backburner. So I got my weary self up and tried to do the quickest and easiest images I could get while still trying to muster up a little creativity.
These images are of oil in water. They took about 5 minutes to do. Well, after loading them onto my computer, I decided I wanted to go back and tweak a few things and take some more pictures. So I actually included more than 6 pictures in my post. There are two different looks going on here and I kind of like both of them.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Continue through the blog circle by heading over to Elizabeth’s blog. Click HERE to see her amazing images!!
So November was a bit of a depressing month for me. My right arm was cast for most of the month, which made doing pretty much everything very difficult. I had to reschedule my sessions. So I didn’t pick up my camera at all. I did however try to grab a few pictures with my phone while hiking two different days. So these are the images I will share for this month’s Share Six theme.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Ceri Herd’s blog to see her amazing pictures!! Click HERE to see her pictures.
For quite a while now I haven’t taken time to work on personal photography projects. Even with Share Six, many months I have been too busy, so I have pulled from my archive of pictures. Quite frankly, I am tired of doing that. I really do love photography too much to let my explorative and creative side take a backseat to my busy life. So with only two days before we were scheduled to go live, and with a migraine that had kept me down all day. I dragged myself out of the recliner, slapped on my sunglasses and grabbed my camera.
This month’s theme is transform, so the painfully obvious choice for this midwesterner was to document the transformation of the leaves. It worked in my favor that this year the changing of the leaves is about a month behind when it normally happens.
Because of my migraine, my husband drove me. I knew of one particular tree that I pass everyday on my morning walk, so we headed straight there. As I walked from the vehicle to the tree, I glanced down and noticed a few dandelions that had gone to seed. Being something that you don’t normally see in the beginning of November, I knew I wanted to photograph it. It’s amazing to me how a dandelion looks and then how completely different it looks once it has gone to seed. The transformation is quite incredible.
It was late afternoon and I really love the way the light transformed the leaves. It illuminated then really highlighting their veins.
When standing under a tree, especially one whose colors are in full bloom with autumn color, you can’t help but look up. The breeze swaying the leaves, with the sunlight sporadically peeking through, is almost like a visual version of a windchime…all these layers and tones of visual stimulation awakening your senses. It feels almost magical.
This tree had been absolutely stunning just days before. Its crown of yellow leaves appeared to have been gilded with the most vibrant orange. However when I got there yesterday, the ground was blanketed in all of the orange leaves. The remaining leaves that clung to the tree were brilliant yellow. As my feet crunched through the leaves, I looked down and noticed this yellow leaf amongst the sea of reddish orange leaves. It looked so beautiful!
Finally, as we were getting ready to leave I saw a few trees that had dropped all of their leaves but had bright red berries. I couldn’t pass up getting a few shots of them.
I absolutely love autumn and how everything transforms. It’s like a symphony for your eyes.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you enjoyed my interpretation on this month’s theme. Head on over to Janet’s blog by clicking HERE. You won’t want to miss her talented take on this month’s theme!!
August’s theme is floral. Share Six did this theme back in 2015 and I really enjoyed getting out and taking some floral pictures. You can see those pictures HERE.
Being that we’ve been out of town 3 of the last 5 weeks, I didn’t get around to taking any new pictures for this month’s theme except for this first one. The rest I pulled from pictures I took years ago. Maybe one of these days things will slow down enough that I can get back out and get the creative juices flowing.
Thanks so much for stopping by! Head on over to Ceri’s blog to see her beautiful images!!
July’s theme for Share Six is Summer Sun. I don’t know if you are like me, but I love to get out in the sun over the summer. Those of us in the Midwest are lacking in Vitamin D. The long winters really do us in. So when summer comes, we just want to be outside soaking up every bit of the warm sun.
Anyone who knows me at all knows that my absolute favorite thing to do during the summer is kayak. So I figured I’d share a few pictures of the sun from my kayaking adventures.
These were all from one evening out on the lake with my aunt. I couldn’t believe how quickly the sky changed creating such unique scenes.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you enjoyed my interpretation on the theme. Head on over to Sharleen’s blog to see her amazing images by clicking HERE!!
May’s theme is Light Inspired. Recently I have been very inspired by some of the photographers I follow and their use of light. One of my goals has been to incorporate artificial lighting with natural lighting to create unique outdoor portraits. Seeing their amazing images has inspired me to get out and create some images of my own. I still have a lot to learn, and I want and need to get more practice, but so far I am happy with the results I am seeing.
This first image is from my niece’s senior session. She is lit in front by natural light, and the rim light (on her hair and arm) is from a strobe placed behind her and to the right.
This next image is also from my nieces’ senior session. It was in the evening and the sun was lower in the sky. The buildings downtown were blocking the sun and so I used two speedlights with diffusers to illuminate them better.
I used the same set up for this image as well.
This image is from another senior session I did. I didn’t want to completely lose the beautiful sunset in the background, but in order to expose for the sky, I needed to light my subject. I used two speedlights here with diffusers on them.
This shot was taken with the sun fairly high in the sky. As with the last photo, I didn’t want to lose the beautiful blue sky, but I needed my subject’s face properly lit. So I used a strobe with a 42″ softbox for my main light.
For my last image we were shooting with the sun almost directly overhead. The beauty in this situation is that the sun was able to create a nice hair light on my subject. Then I used my strobe in the 42″ softbox to light my subject, and I used a speedlight with a grid to light the ball and glove. Using artificial light mixed with natural light allowed me to have everything properly exposed and even add a little dimensional lighting (the hair light from the sun).
I have so many ideas of other shots I want to get using a mixture of natural light and artificial light. When I first got into photography everyone always touted natural light photography. I won’t deny – natural light photography is easier on the one hand. There is no lugging around lights. You can move easily from location to location. However, mixing natural with artificial light makes things more interesting and I think it adds some dimension and dynamics to the images. It’s definitely something I will continue to implement. I’m excited to get out and create more images where I can control the lighting to create fun effects.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Elizabeth Wilson of It’s Still Life Photography’s blog by clicking HERE. You won’t want to miss her amazing images! And be sure to click through the rest of the blog circle!
