Katherine

August 6, 2019August 5, 2019

Share Six | Summer Days

This month’s theme is Summer Days. As a homeschooling mom, I very much look forward to summer. I LOVE teaching my kids, and we can have a lot of fun learning together, BUT it’s a lot of work and I look forward to a break.

As artists, we photographers often put so much effort into taking perfectly curated images, So as a photographer, of course I love to TRY to take awesome photos of my kids….pictures that could hopefully win photography contests. As the years have passed though, I’m finding that I want to be in the moment and not worry about lugging around my expensive camera. So the fancy pictures are few and far between. Quite honestly though, the best camera is the one you have with you. Almost everyone has a cell phone with a decent camera on it. So I’m finding that I tend to take most of my pictures with my cell phone. It’s kind of a bummer as a cell phone camera limits me, but I also don’t miss lugging my nice camera around and worrying about keeping it safe. Honestly, what’s most important is documenting the moments. They don’t have to be documented perfectly, or composed so fantastically that they could win a photography contest. They just need to capture the moment.

So for this month’s theme I’m doing all cell phone images. They may not be the most artistic or perfectly composed images, but those moments got documented quickly and I was able to return to being present in the moment with my kids.

For my first image, it’s from a special moment. My daughter had the honor of being accepted to a weeklong vocal intensive camp at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. We decided to take some extra time and go down a week early to visit family in Kentucky. My sweet aunts and uncles came and watched my daughter at her final concert. That was so sweet of them and meant the world to me. So this photo documented that special day.

On our way home from that trip, we stopped in St. Louis to visit my brother and sister-in-law. We also stopped at the Arch. I took a few extra seconds to try to creatively compose a cool shot of the Arch. Would my nice camera have been better? Yep, but once again, I enjoyed not lugging it around.

This third picture is from while my daughter was at another camp and we took my son camping. It was quite an evening with two dogs in tow, but we had fun.

This next one is from when my niece and nephews were in town and we took the kids to visit some local caves. We all got pretty muddy, but we had a blast.

We also took all of the kids kayaking. My daughter prefers her stand up paddle board though and gave the kids rides around the lake on it.

One of my favorite things to do during the summer is kayak. My good friend and I love to go out kayaking and just relax and chat. Motherhood can be exhausting, so we really enjoy commiserating and just enjoying nature out on the water.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you enjoyed my images, and I hope you remember that the best camera is the one you have with you, as well as it’s more important to just document the moment rather than figure out a way to make the image magazine worthy. I think we all enjoy the candid partially out-of-focus pictures our parents have their albums just as much (if not more) as the professional ones they had taken of us. So keep that in mind. Just document each moment quickly and then live in the moment with those you love.

Head on over to Michelle’s blog and see her lovely take on this month’s theme. Be sure to continue through the circle to see all of our contributors’ interpretations!

July 12, 2019July 11, 2019

Share Six | This is me

July’s theme is This is me. I chose the theme and my main reasoning behind it was because I thought it would be neat for everyone to get to know the Share Six contributors a little better….even ourselves. We may all do this blog circle together, but we live all over the world and lead very busy lives, so we don’t really get to know much about each other except through our blog posts.

So here is a little about me. I live in a medium sized metropolitan area in the midwest…about 3 hours west of Chicago. I was born and raised in this area, only spending two years away shortly after getting married. We lived in a suburb of Chicago for those two years, and moved back to be by family once my husband was given the opportunity to telecommute.

I’ve never taken the Myers-Briggs test, but from the sample tests I believe I am an INFJ or close to it. I’m kind of nerd and always have been. Good grades and good behavior were my main goals in school. So on several occasions I was called a goody two shoes. I suppose my strong-will drove me to be a rule follower.

The first one is an image of my husband and myself. Well, it’s of our feet. I love being the wife to my amazing husband. Marriage isn’t easy, but there is no one else I’d rather be married to.

The second image represents the fact that I am a mother. My kids (and husband) are my everything. As a child, the two things I wanted to be most were a wife and mother. So those two “jobs” are the ones I take the most seriously as well as the ones that I enjoy the most. This picture was totally “curated”. I realized I hadn’t done a picture of the kids and me, and realized my daughter was heading out of town the next day, so I told them they needed to cuddle with me so I could get a picture. My son, being the goofball he is, kept making funny faces. Then in all of the craziness I accidentally elbowed his face while trying to get my arm under him, and this was the resulting picture.

Musician…It seems weird to say that, but I do make money playing the piano and organ. I’ve played the piano since I was 5, and started playing the organ at our church at 15 years old. So I guess I can say I am a musician.

I know I’ve mentioned before that grew up looking at my grandparents’ National Geographic magazines and I dreamed of being a photographer for NG. I’ve always loved exploring and traveling, and so the idea of traveling the world taking photographs sounded like the perfect job. I may not work for National Geographic, but I did become a photographer. (The image in the camera is not photoshopped. I wish I would have had film in the camera so I could have taken that picture, but I have a picture of that picture, so that’s next best.)

Here’s another thing about me, I LOVE a few different forms of exercise. I love biking, swimming, kayaking, weight lifting and hiking. So I decided to do an image that represents that.

This last one is one from last year. It’s our family picture I took for our Christmas card I never sent out. So yep, that’s me. I almost always have good intentions, but life gets in the way and my good intentions don’t always pan out. This picture though is of my precious family…the ones I love so very much…the man who made me a wife and the kids who made me a mom.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you learned little more about me. Head on over to Elizabeth’s blog to see her talented take on this theme and to learn more about her.

June 10, 2019June 10, 2019

Share Six | Favorite Quote

So June’s theme is our favorite quotation. I absolutely love this theme and wish I would have had more time to be more creative with it. As usual, I had a game plan, but my life is quite crazy, so I once again failed at executing my original plan. Oh well, I may just try to do a follow up blog post for the theme.

Fun little fact (which all of you grammar nazis will already know), the word quote was originally a verb and the word quotation referred to the noun. Apparently enough people have used quote for the noun (quotation), so it is now in the dictionary as both the noun and verb. For my OCD’s sake I have to stick with the original meanings of the words in which case our theme would be our favorite quotation.

I couldn’t choose just one quotation so I chose 7 different ones. These are all quotations that I find very inspirational. (Yes, I did say 7. I have always been a strict rule follower, which is probably due to my OCD. This is Share Six and we share SIX images on the sixth of the month, but being that some of our other contributors have often posted more than 6 pictures, AND we aren’t posting on the 6th this month, I figured I’d step out of my comfort zone and go against our “guideline” of 6 photos.)

For my first quotation I chose one from the movie Superman. When we watched the movie, it immediately stood out to me. I just love children and I love their uniqueness. I wish we as a society would foster each child’s individuality, recognizing their unique strengths and talents, instead of trying to fit them into a box.

My next one is a pretty generic one that I think almost every person has heard, but I still love it none the less. Often times we aren’t exactly where we want to be in life, but we need to choose to rise above the circumstances and be joyful. As a Christian I see it as no matter where we are, the mission field is all around us. We can serve God by helping those around us…those right in front of us no matter whether we are located in some third world country or if we are in a wealthy neighborhood. Also, I’d like to give credit where credit is due. Apparently the Bishop of Geneva Saint Francis de Sales is credited for this quotation, but Mary Engelbreit made the phrase popular.

I am not able to find the person who said this next quotation, but it’s another great one. I think we all fall prey to feeling like we need to fit in. In this fast paced narcissistic age though, I think we need to not follow the crowd by filling our schedules with things that make ourselves happy, but instead go against the flow…slow down and notice our fellow men and women and build relationships so that we can make a change for the better.

This next one is one that has pretty much been the theme of my existence since having kids. Obviously I don’t always stay focused on it, but it is what has influenced all of my major decisions when parenting my kids. I think family is so important, more important than any career we may have. When we are on our death bed, will we think back on our career or on our family? What will our legacy be, the career we chose or the children we raised who have the potential to make a difference in this world. This is not about not having a career, that’s all well and good, what I’m saying is, the relationships we make with our family has far more potential to better this world, than any paycheck or promotion.

Here is another one along the same lines. It’s something we struggled with for a few years. As parents it’s so hard not to want to put your kids in every extracurricular activity imaginable, but at the expense of the family, or at the expense of our sanity? Is it really worth it? Is it bettering the family unit? A family that is united and strongly bonded together can do great things for their community. (I believe this quotation is by Lysa Terkeurst.)

This next one is one that I think is so important for us all to remember, especially in this age of social media. We often forget that people aren’t going to air their dirty laundry for all to see. Yet we live with our own piles of dirty laundry staring us straight in the face. We struggle with the stress of our daily lives. Then we log onto our social media accounts and see the perfectly curated images of people’s families and lives. The monologue in our head goes something like this, “Oh look at that picture of Suzie’s kids playing together so nicely. I wish my kids could get along.” *scroll* “And look at Jennifer’s kitchen, it’s so perfectly clean. Why can’t I get my act together and keep my kitchen that clean?!?” *scroll* “Really! Kathy is out on another date night with her husband.” *eyeroll* “I wish my husband would take me out on a date.” *scroll* “There’s Leah doing another post about her awesome workouts. Ugh! I’m such a failure. My life is so boring. What am I doing wrong?!?”

(I believe the credit for this quotation goes to Steven Furtick. Also, this is an actual picture of my living room at this very moment. So don’t be so hard on yourself. We can’t have it all together ALL of the time.)

Guys, let me just remind you, no one’s life is perfect. Just because their Facebook and Instagram feeds may be *perfectly* curated does not mean their lives are perfect. As I said before, no one wants to air their dirty laundry. Very few people post the nitty gritty hard stuff of life. No one posts the fighting kids, no one posts the sink full of dishes, no one posts the countless nights where the spouse has fallen asleep next to them complete with drool and snoring. No one posts about the workout they skipped along with the unhealthy meal they devoured because their day was just awful. No one posts about the extra 25 pounds they’ve gained because “they’re at that age”. (Don’t get me started on that one. That seems to be my doctor’s new excuse for any weird symptom I may have…”Well, you’re at that age.”) UGH! Guys, just take comfort in the fact that the hard days make the good ones that much better. Keep up the hard work and know that you are not alone, even if social media makes you feel like you are.

My last one is just a fun little one that I thought was fitting since this IS a photography blog circle. It also happens to be quite fitting as I have the most horrible memory. Maybe that’s why I like photography so much, because it helps me remember those moments that my brain doesn’t want to remember on its own.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Lynne’s blog to see her awesome interpretation on the theme!

May 6, 2019May 6, 2019

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.

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.

Here they are taking out his PICC line. This was his reaction to how long it was.

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!!

April 6, 2019April 5, 2019

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.

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

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019

Share Six | Food

In honor of March being National Nutrition Month, Share Six has decided to have the theme be food. I was quite excited about this theme for two reasons. Number one being that I’ve wanted to have a go at food photography. Number two being that nutrition is something we have delved into very heavily for the last few years.

A few years ago we found out our son had Lyme disease, as well as had some genetic issues that were inhibiting him from processing certain foods. His doctor advised that he only eat lean meats, fruits and vegetables. We needed to eliminate dairy, soy, rice, corn, msg, dyes, refined sugar, among several other things. We are in this together as a family, so we all participated in the overhaul of our diet.

Fast forward two and half years and he’s still receiving treatment as his body just won’t fight it off. He has a ton of inflammation, so the doctor advises getting a food sensitivity test done. Low and behold he has a lot of food sensitivities. When we had eliminated dairy, we replaced it with almond milk. It turns out, he is highly sensitive to almonds. So all of this time, we thought we were helping him, but instead we were still contributing to the problem. So we have now had to eliminate some nuts, as well as some fruits and vegetables. It’s fairly easy to eat such a strict diet when we are home, which we are very fortunate to be home most of the time. It’s a different story when we go to events and get togethers.

Through all of this, I have learned so much about gut health, nutrition, inflammation, brain inflammation, food sensitivities, and the list goes on. It’s been a long road, and I still don’t necessarily see an end in sight, but that’s ok. We are currently seeing improvement, so that is good.

Here are my food photos. This first one isn’t your typical food photography shot, but I had to include it. We vacationed in the Northwoods last summer. We stayed in a little cabin on a lake. We packed up our blender (for smoothies) as well as all of our healthy food. I did make an exception though. We had to have s’mores at the fire pit down by the lake. So this one is of the s’more my son ate.

The rest are typical food photography shots I took in my make shift studio (i.e. the dining room table). I had a blast with my daughter. She is the one who did all of the fruit carving. She is incredibly talented! I think she is hooked on making cool food displays now. I won’t complain. It’ll give me more food to photograph, and we’ll have fun together in the process.

Look at the incredible apple swan (or duck) she carved!! I am so impressed!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I hope you enjoyed my images. Be sure to continue your way around the blog circle. You won’t want to miss our other contributors’ interpretations. Up next is Elizabeth Wilson. Head over to her blog to see her amazing images!!

January 4, 2019January 6, 2019

Share Six | Wide

Happy New Year!!! Can you believe it’s 2019?!? Where did 2018 go??

Our first theme for this new year is Wide. You can interpret this theme in a number of ways, but I primarily chose to interpret it as wide angle.

Here are a few of my favorite wide angle shots. These were all taken with my Tokina 11-16mm.

These first two are of my boy just having fun.

The next two are of a covered bridge up in Wisconsin near where we vacation.

This fifth picture is of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Rock Island, IL. I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the sanctuary looked with the late afternoon sun shining in through the stained glass windows.

This last picture is of Maroon Bells from our trip to Colorado a few years ago.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Sharleen’s blog to see her lovely images!!

December 6, 2018December 5, 2018

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.

Here is another one I did for our bokeh theme two years ago.

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.

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.

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*

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!

November 24, 2018November 24, 2018

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.

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.

Well thanks so much for stopping by!!

November 18, 2018November 18, 2018

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.