Share Six | Shallow Depth of Field

This month’s theme is not that difficult and yet it is. I feel like I almost always shoot with shallow depth of field, so that’s easy. However, I feel that I have exhausted my creativity. I’m not going to lie, this time of year is difficult. I love taking photos of nature, however nature is shedding it’s color and beauty and is entering into a monotone and drabby season. For me there is a lack of inspiration when everything is turning brown and lifeless.

However, once again, I am so thankful for this photography group. It has made me get out and find beauty even in this dreary transitional period of the seasons. I was pleasantly surprised at what interesting things I found and how beautifully they photographed.

Here are my images:

A few of these images are some of my favorites I’ve ever taken of this nature. I’m glad this group gave me the push to get out and capture some beauty and create art. I hope you enjoyed my images.

Next up in the blog circle is Arthurko. Head on over to his blog by clicking HERE. You won’t want to miss his amazing images!!

Share Six | Macro

April’s theme is macro. This is one genre of photography that I really enjoy and don’t tend to feel is much of a challenge. So this time I decided to use some flashes to create some different lighting and give myself an extra challenge.

I played around with light placement and different methods of diffusing the lights. I tried some backlighting as well as some side lighting and two lights for some images. I also did some shots on a white backdrop and some on a black backdrop. As you can see, the lighting and different backdrop can really change the mood of an image.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my take on this theme. I know you’ll love our other contributors’ interpretations on this theme, so head on over to Sharlene’s blog by clicking HERE to continue through the blog circle!!

Share Six | Details

Well, what an interesting year 2020 was! While for many people it was a terrible year, I tried to have a positive outlook on it. I hoped that by people having to stay home, it would bring families together and would cause people to slow down and notice their neighbors. While I don’t think that happened as much as I hoped it would, I do believe that it did happen for some people.

This past year I tried to focus more on living in the moment. Those of you who have been following along with my blog posts have noticed that a lot of my blog posts this year have been pictures I’ve taken with my phone. See, while photography is still my passion, it’s also my business. So when I’m not doing sessions or houses, I want to be living in the moment. I don’t want to be focused on dialing in my settings on my camera or getting that “perfect” shot. I want to soak in every detail of my life by simply living it. So I find that I’m whipping out my phone to snap a few pictures, and then I put it away and just revel in the moment. I mean, I want to document the memories, but I also don’t want to be so busy documenting them that I’m not living them. As much as I love photography, I really don’t want to always view my life through a lens. It’s just not the same as being completely present and watching things with your naked eyes.

So, once again, I have decided to share some photos I’ve taken with my phone. They aren’t going to win any awards, but they will most certainly bring more lasting enjoyment to me than any award could ever do. For they are a visual reminder of precious, fleeting moments….moments I will only get to live once.

My son has been doing backflips on our trampoline for quite some time now. I’m in awe of how brave he is. I’ve always been too scared to try to flip. This is one of the many details of his childhood that I want to document.

Late spring we decided to camp in our backyard. I strung lights in the tent to give it an extra cozy and fun atmosphere. This was yet another memory I wanted to etch in my mind and document.

We social distanced for a week during the summer at our favorite remote little cabin. The sun and the water did us all some good.

After getting dumped with the most beautiful snow last week. My son took on a project. He made himself a snow tunnel complete with a window and a door.

In high school, my friends and I loved going sledding in the evenings. The hills were normally empty and there was something cool about sledding in the dark. So my kids got the idea they wanted to sled after dark, so we made it happen. I’m all about making memories. It was a super foggy night as well, so we brought headlamps too.

Since we got the most beautiful snow, ice and fog frost, it has been a most breathtaking winter wonderland here. So my daughter and I decided to go out and try to get some pretty pictures. While primarily looking at landscape style shots I could compose, my eyes kept coming back to this tree and the ice that had encased it…such a lovely winter detail.

As usual, I hope you enjoyed my take on this month’s theme. Head over to Janet’s blog, by clicking HERE, to see her awesome interpretation! And be sure to make your way through the entire circle. You won’t want to miss all of the amazing images!

Share Six | Green: Lyme Disease

This month’s theme is green in honor of Lyme disease. I chose this theme because 1. it was only fitting as we have several family members with Lyme disease, and 2. May is Lyme disease awareness month.

Here’s a little intro to Lyme disease:

Lyme disease is a spirochete bacterium that is transmitted by ticks. It is the fastest growing infectious disease, and is 1-1/2 times more common than breast cancer and 6 times more common than HIV. If treated with antibiotic therapy soon after transmission, the probability of successful treatment is much higher. If it goes untreated, it can infiltrate a person’s body and wreak great havoc. Untreated Lyme disease is known to attack the heart and central nervous symptom. The numerous symptoms mimic other chronic illnesses such as ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), MS (Multiple Sclerosis), ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Rheumatoid Arthritis Parkinson’s Disease, Lupus, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, as well as many others. Because of this, many patients with Lyme get misdiagnosed and go years not being properly treated, therefore furthering the progression of Lyme disease. Awareness of this disease is imperative, as there are over 300,000 estimated new cases of Lyme disease each year in the United States alone (according to Johns Hopkins Medicine). It was once believed that you always got a bullseye rash if you contracted the disease from a tick bite, but we now know that is not the case. Not everyone presents with a bullseye rash. Without a bullseye rash (and even with one), many people don’t connect their symptoms to the tick bite. The more awareness we can bring, the better people can understand and know what to look for when searching for answers to their health problems that were unknowingly caused by a fateful tick bite. Please join us this month in spreading awareness.

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So here’s a little run down. My aunt has Lyme disease, my mom has Lyme disease, my son has Lyme disease and I have Lyme disease. While my mom remembers her fateful tick bite and bullseye rash, the rest of us don’t.  In fact, not everyone presents with a bullseye rash.  We may very well have though, as my son and I are magnets for bug bites and have had our fair share over the years.  Not to mention we have found numerous ticks on our dogs and belongings.

To give you a little history. My mom was bit years ago and was oblivious to the fact that she needed treatment. As the years went on, she developed what doctors thought was arthritis, fibromyalgia, and psoriatic arthritis (just to name a few).  She went on medicine to treat those things, but saw very little successful results. There were days when she could barely walk. Fast forward several years…my aunt gets tested and diagnosed after developing weird symptoms and making the connection that her dogs had similar symptoms and tested positive for Lyme.  My aunt reminded my mom about that tick bite so many years ago.  So my mom goes in and sure enough, she gets diagnosed with Lyme.  Guess what?? She went on long term antibiotics and all of her symptoms went away.  She had so much energy, she could walk again, and her psoriatic arthritis cleared completely up.  Unfortunately though, the doctor didn’t want her on antibiotics for too long, so she had to stop.  After ceasing treatment her symptoms came back.  She got a sinus infection and went on antibiotics for that.  Guess what, all of her arthritis, fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis symptoms went away AGAIN.  She felt like she had her life back.  It is amazing what this disease does and it’s amazing how simple treatment can be for some people…if they could just find a doctor that is willing to treat.

My pictures for this theme are of my son, but I’m only going to go into his story briefly, as this whole ordeal that he as endured over the course of several years has made him very sensitive. He doesn’t really like people knowing about all that he has gone through.

In a nut shell, a few years back he was constantly getting sick. He kept coming down with mycoplasma pneumonia. He started getting horrible migraines. He also said his brain felt like it was on fire.  He had one migraine that lasted for more than 4 days.  The doctors were getting ready to schedule a spinal tap for the following day.  Thankfully he woke up that following day and the migraine was gone.  He started having short term memory loss, as well as some sensory issues and debilitating OCD. We had no clue what was going on. The recurrent mycoplasma continued as well.  We stopped going to our homeschool functions and even went to church sparingly during the winter months because he caught every bug that was going around.  We took him to doctor after doctor trying to get answers.  Since I’m his teacher, I noticed all of the changes in his academic abilities. He lost some motor function, which was evident by his regression with his handwriting.  He started to not be able to remember his math facts anymore.  This went on for years.  Thankfully one day my aunt suggested we have him tested for Lyme.  So we did. We figured we didn’t have anything to lose.  A few weeks later we got a call from the county health department needing to document his case.  He had tested glaringly CDC positive for Lyme.  You know what the kicker is? I heard nothing from his pediatrician.  I called their office and asked if the doctor needed to see him so he could be treated and they said no.  So we were on our own.  I had to now research doctors who knew about Lyme and how to treat it.  Meanwhile I was dealing with my own achy joints, legs and fingers that would randomly go numb.  My legs would feel like they had dozens of bugs crawling on them at random times throughout the day as well.  I developed an irregular heartbeat. My thyroid went all crazy and I’ve developed severe fatigue.  I briefly got treatment along with my son, but our insurance plan is awful and things add up quickly.  So for now I’m putting my treatment on hold to focus on getting our son to a good place.  He recently had four weeks of IV antibiotics.  With our infectious disease doctor, IV antibiotics are standard treatment for Lyme that is attacking the nervous system. Being that our son was young, he started him off with oral antibiotics, but they weren’t cutting it. He has finished his round and now we wait.  We were told it can take 18 months before we see full recovery and know if the IV antibiotics worked.  So now we wait. Quite frankly though, I’m sick of waiting. I’m sick of this being strung out for all these years.  It’s so hard to watch your child be sick and go through what he has gone through.  I’m just ready to be past it all.

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Thankfully we were able to do his daily infusions at home (especially since his doctor is almost 2-1/2 hours away).  So every day around 11, he’d get comfortable and we’d hook up his antibiotics.  They took about a half hour to infuse.

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Here they are taking out his PICC line.  This was his reaction to how long it was.
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I know I have not even remotely covered everything I should have, and even planned to cover.  Honestly, I’m not even sure if you all would even read it, or if you’ve even read what I did write. I know this post isn’t my best writing.  I’m extremely exhausted at the moment and can’t even think straight.  It’s been a long several weeks. No, it’s been a long several years.

Please learn from us.  Learn the symptoms of Lyme, learn how to prevent tick bites, learn about proper treatment (a 10 day course of antibiotics is not going to cut it).  We’ve been doing our best to spread the word and have even helped two people find the answer to their illness – Lyme.  We have a friend whose son suddenly started losing his hearing after a camping trip. I thought it could be a long shot, but asked them if he had been tested for Lyme.  He hadn’t.  She took him to get tested and sure enough, he tested glaringly CDC positive as well.  He’s been receiving treatment and has most of his hearing restored.  I’m telling you, this disease is ruthless.  The reason the symptoms are so different for people is because the bacteria is a spirochete with no cell wall and infiltrates wherever it feels like going.  For some people it’s the joints, for some it’s the heart and for others it’s the nervous system.  If you know someone who is dealing with any of these symptoms and isn’t getting answers, you may want to encourage them to get tested for Lyme.  I will say though, EVERY doctor has told us, if you’ve had Lyme for a decent amount of time, your immune system can become taxed and stop producing enough antibodies to yield a positive test result.  So just because you test negative, that doesn’t mean you don’t have it.  Try treatment, see if that helps. You might be amazed.

On another note related to Lyme disease…if you find a tick attached, don’t pour anything on it, or light a match to get it to back its head out.  Doing those things can agitate the tick and cause it to regurgitate whatever diseases it may be carrying, and those diseases will get regurgitated right into you.  The best way to remove a tick is with needle nosed tweezers.  Grab as close to your skin as possible and pull straight up firmly.  You want to be sure to get the head out. You also don’t want to squeeze the body of the tick as that will cause it to regurgitate as well.

Well, thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have learned something about Lyme disease.  If you have any questions, please feel free to comment here. I’m more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Head on over to Ceri Herd’s blog by clicking here.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy her images.  She is incredibly talented!!

 

Share Six | Orange/Purple

This month’s theme is in honor of Psoriatic Arthritis awareness month, which is actually in May, but we are bringing awareness to it a little early.

Sharleen chose this theme as her daughter has psoriatic arthritis. Until not too long ago, I wasn’t very familiar with this autoimmune disease, that is, until my mom was diagnosed with it.  I’m still not incredibly familiar with the intricacies of it, but I know that it can be very unpleasant.  I have seen the visible marks this disease can inflict on a person.  I have also seen the physical pain that can wreak havoc on a person because of this disease.  Joint inflammation is no joke.  Watching my mother having a hard time walking and being in so much pain is so difficult to watch.  I’ve heard patients say they often deal with people’s stares, some even having people walk away from them as they assume it is some contagious disease because of the patches on their skin.  Not everyone has the skin lesions though.  Some only have the arthritis symptoms.  If you haven’t experienced inflammation in your joints, you really have no idea what these individuals deal with on a daily basis.  Many say it’s an invisible disease.  If you know someone well with this disease though, I’m sure you are familiar with how severely it affects their life.  You can see the ups and downs…one day they may not be stiff and may be able to walk with no problems, but the next day they can have a flare and can barely get up at all.  We all need to take more time to listen to those around us and have more understanding for what each person is dealing with.  We, here at Share Six, are hoping to shed some light on some diseases/conditions that we or our loved ones are dealing with.  Our images for this month are orange and purple in recognition of psoriatic arthritis awareness.

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Thanks so much for stopping by!!  Continue on through the circle by heading over to Ceri Herd’s blog to see her amazing images!!

Share Six | Bokeh

Hello there!! Can you believe it’s already December?!?! Where has the year gone? It’s that time again where we announce our new theme over at Share Six.  We are doing Bokeh again, and I was pretty excited to get out and try some different shots and techniques that I haven’t tried before. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get 6 images though, so I’m using two old images, and then the other four are ones I specifically went out and shot for this month’s theme.

For those of you who are not photographers and do not know what bokeh is….According to Wikipedia, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.  Bokeh has also been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.  Being that we are so close to Christmas, I chose to go with the latter definition and use Christmas lights in my images.

Here is an image I took of my son two years ago. It’s one of my absolute favorites.

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Here is another one I did for our bokeh theme two years ago.
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For these next two, I decided to experiment some more with multiple exposures as well as using some off camera flash. These also happen to fit last month’s theme as well. This first one is a combination of 5 images exposed together in camera.  You would not believe how long the last image (the silhouette of my husband and I) took.  The flash behind us would not fire. I tried just about everything and even turned everything off and then back on. I don’t even remember what finally ended up working to get it to fire. I was so frustrated that I just gave up despite the fact that the image wasn’t exactly how I wanted it.

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This next one is of an awesome client of mine who was more than happy to help out with only 45 minutes notice.  I was envisioning this shot and really wanted to make it happen.  This one is also 5 exposures, 4 of which were done in camera and the 5th I ended up having to join with the other 4 in photoshop.  The in camera multiple exposure had one aspect that was bothering me, so by doing it in photoshop, I could remove that distraction.

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The last two are of my husband and myself.  I have to say a huge thanks to my daughter for standing guard by my camera, as my tripod has recently started to give me some problems as well.  Apparently all of my gear is giving out on me…and just in time for Christmas. *sad and frustrated sigh*

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Thanks so much for stopping by!  Continue on in the blog circle by heading over to Janet’s blog by clicking here.  You must see her lovely images!

 

Our Family Photos | 2018

Over the past few years I’ve really slowed down with the amount of pictures I take of our family.  Years ago, I took SO many and I am grateful for those pictures, but I found that I was living life through the lens of a camera instead of seeing it with my own eyes.  I wanted to be more present and not always have a camera in front of my face.  Besides, my kids started getting sick of me always having my camera.  They still have that frustration with my camera, so I really had to force them to go out and get these family pictures.  All of our attitudes weren’t the greatest, and the dogs were being a bit ornery, but despite all of that, I’d say we got fairly decent pictures.

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For the family picture I used my trusty tripod and the self timer.  I loved my remote that I broke, but it’s actually more funny using the self timer because I have to run back and forth.  It makes for some laughs and smiles. Although, all of the running made my scarf go awry. Oh well, I took what I could get. The fact that we even got both dogs looking is a miracle in itself, and the kids’ smiles are actually good.  I’m going to call it a win.

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Well thanks so much for stopping by!!

I Still Do | A Legacy of Love | The Weavers

I’m finally getting around to blogging these pictures almost 4-1/2 years after the fact.  These pictures came about after visiting my grandpa in the Alzheimer’s unit of the nursing home.  Several times out there I noticed this sweet couple.  The husband would come to visit and feed his wife lunch.  One afternoon while feeding my grandpa, I witnessed this intimate little moment, and quietly snapped a photo with my phone, tears running down my cheeks.

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I couldn’t get my mind off of this couple and the deep love they shared.  I asked my mom if she knew anything about them since she went out there almost every day.  She knew exactly who I was talking about, so I asked her if she thought they’d mind if I came and took a few photos of them.  I really thought it would be nice for them and their family to have some pictures of their deep connection.  My mom thought they would and encouraged me to talk to Mr. Weaver.  So I did.  He happily agreed, and so I met up with him out there one day over the lunch hour.  I quietly watched them as they went about their routine and just took pictures of them, hoping to capture the beautiful love I saw.

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Those of you with friends or family members dealing with Alzheimer’s disease know how horrible it can be.  You watch helplessly as the person you once knew becomes someone completely different.  Sometimes you are blessed with a few moments in which the fog has cleared, but more often than not, you’re interacting with the shell of the person who was once there.  Years ago, I remember visiting my Grandpa Schumaker.  Sometimes he would remember us, and sometimes he wouldn’t.  Even within one visit, within minutes, he’d go from knowing us, to living back in the past.  It’s heart wrenching.  Then we went through the whole thing again with my Grandpa Starofsky.

So as I watched Mr. Weaver, I was in awe of his patience and kindness while feeding his wife.  She struggled at times and even got frustrated, but there was nothing but love and admiration for her in his eyes.  He spoke to her softly and tenderly.

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And then there are the hands.  I love photographing hands.  Think of all of the things your hands do over the course of your life time.  Looking at their hands, I imagined years of hard work and yet years of lovingly holding each others hands, facing the world together.

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Years after the vows have been said, the honeymoon only a distant memory, and yet look at the way Mr. Weaver still looks at his wife.  He absolutely adores her.  I could see it in the way he looked at her, the way he tenderly touched her, the way he patiently fed her, the way he lovingly embraced her, and how he faithfully came to feed her lunch whether she knew who he was or not.  Guys, that’s what “I do” means.  For better, for worse, in sickness and in health….these two didn’t let the trials and troubles of life destroy their marriage.  As I watched Mr. Weaver choose to love his wife when she would possibly give nothing in return, I was in awe.  I can’t even imagine losing your spouse to Alzheimer’s.  What a legacy of love though that he faithfully loved his wife, giving her all of his love and admiration, expecting nothing in return.  I’m sitting here crying as I write this because my grandparents, parents and in-laws have all lived the example of a self sacrificing love in their marriages.  I hope that I can do the same in mine.

In these last photos, just look at Mr. Weaver’s love for his wife.  I chatted with him about her, and he talked about her like a giddy young man madly in love.  All he could say were good things about her.  Being that it’s been 4 years since that conversation, I don’t remember a whole lot of details from it, but there is one thing I do.  He said (not verbatim, but to the best of my recollection), “She was a singer…I mean, not a professional singer, but she had a lovely voice and would sing while she worked around the house.  I would stand at the bottom of the stairs and just listen to her singing upstairs.”  His eyes just gleamed as he talked about her and their life together.

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Once Mr. Weaver finished feeding her lunch and just sitting enjoying each other’s company, he wheeled her back to her room as he did each day, and then proceeded to climb in bed with her and hold her. I didn’t take any pictures of those precious moments, and maybe he didn’t even mind and I should have, but I didn’t want to intrude on such an intimate and special time.

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As a photographer, I feel incredibly honored to be chosen to document the special moments in my clients’ lives.  I hope the images I capture will be passed down to generation after generation, allowing future generations to see through a window into the lives of those who left the legacy of love to them.  Thank you for stopping by and reading my post!  I hope you enjoyed these images as much as I did capturing them.

Share Six | Urban

This month’s theme is urban. I live in the Midwest in a community of a few cities which are surrounded ultimately by miles and miles of farms. We don’t necessarily have what I would call a big city feeling to our communities, but urban ultimately means “of or relating to city”. So I guess it doesn’t matter the size of the city.

My first picture is of my boy on the sky bridge here in the Quad Cities.  For those of you not familiar with the Quad Cities, the sky bridge is one of our iconic landmarks.

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My second image is a double exposure of my son and part of the Davenport skyline (mainly the skybridge).

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My third and fourth images are of my girl during a session we did downtown.  She wanted more of an urban feel for her pictures.

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I had to include a picture I recently took while we were downtown Chicago.  Most people will recognize this iconic location.

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And last, and quite possibly least, LOL, is an image that I think accurately depicts urban areas, or at least our urban area here in the QC.  You wouldn’t be in the urban areas without being surrounded by construction.  I thought I’d end with a bit of humor.  This is obviously not a very artistic image, but it depicts our urban area we live in.

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Continue though our blog circle by heading over to Janet’s blog to see her amazing images!!  You won’t be disappointed!

Aspiring to Something Greater | Superman Session

My family is the light of my life and my boy definitely does a great job of lighting it up.  From a young age, he has shown much wisdom and also much humor.  He delights in making people laugh and making them happy.  He is incredibly chivalrous, and is sensitive and sweet.  He is super courageous and full of energy.  He dreams big and has always loved dressing up and being a hero.  I know that God has BIG plans for this boy.  Being a mother isn’t easy, and I have made so many mistakes. I just pray that in spite of my mistakes, God will use this boy for His glory.

So back in 2013, I decided to take advantage of my son’s love of dressing up and go do a fun photoshoot with him.  We headed down to downtown Moline and I just told him to do whatever he wanted within reason.  Here is what we got.

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