Uncategorized – Page 8

May 6, 2017May 5, 2017

Share Six | Street Photography

This month’s theme is way out of my comfort zone. I suppose though, that is one of the reasons for Share Six…to stretch our creativity and improve our photography skills. For my first two photos, I went downtown to try to find some inspiration. It became a bit of an eventful evening with the employees of Jimmy Johns begging us to get dollar subs, then some guys trying to photobomb my pictures, and then a drunk man getting mad at me for taking pictures. He was worried I was taking pictures of him. And this is why I take my husband with me most of the time. You never know what you’ll run into. Haha

For my last 4 photos, I took some images at the Dutch Days Festival. It worked out really well that we had this field trip. It made for a great opportunity to get some pictures. I’ve only been to this festival one other time, but I knew I just had to see the klompen dancing. It is so fun to watch and would be great to capture. I even leaned over and told my daughter that she should go learn to klompen dance, but what I really meant is that our whole family should. Think of how much fun that would be, and how hilarious it would be. (My daughter and I aren’t that coordinated.)

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my take on this month’s theme!

Head on over to Aubrey’s blog to see her wonderful images!! Leave some love for our contributors’ as you make your way through the circle! And please come back to our Facebook page or Instagram page to post your images for this month’s theme for a chance to be featured!! We can’t wait to see all of your creativity!!

April 6, 2017April 6, 2017

Share Six | Connection

It’s hard to believe that it is already April and we’ve announced a new theme. Being at the end of the circle, you obviously know the theme is connection. In thinking about what direction to take, all I could think about was human connection. From the time we are born, we have this innate desire to connect with others. Quite honestly I would say that human connections – relationships with others – are what make life worth living. I can’t imagine life without them and quite frankly I don’t want to.

My first image is one of my son and the precious little boy we occasionally watch. These two boys adore each other. I just love watching the way they interact. They get so excited to see each other. Their giggles fill our house the entire day through. Mr. C was “helping” D build a LEGO set (another form of connection haha).

My next image is one I took a few years back of D and my dad. I grew up with both sets of my grandparents living just a few miles away and the memories I have will be near to my heart for my entire life. I’m so thankful my kids have the same opportunity to make lots of connections/memories with both of their grandparents. My dad and D are hunting for frogs here.

Another connection that we make is the one with our friends. L has been so blessed to have two girls at our church who she has grown up with since just a babe. This image is a precious moment I caught of her with her one friend while we were all enjoying an evening out on the farm with dear friends.

Then of course there is the connection of love between a husband and wife. This next image is of one of my dear childhood friends and her husband. While they were in town visiting us we did a session of the two of them. There is something so special about seeing your dear, beloved friend with the love of her life. I love seeing her so happy in love.

Speaking of the connection between a husband and a wife, this next image is of a couple I had the privilege of meeting at the nursing home while my grandpa was residing there. Every time I was there, this dear man was visiting his wife. He faithfully came to feed her and visit with her even though many days she didn’t even know who he was. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about all the things he told me about their life together…the connection they had and therefore the devotion to each other. I will be blogging the images I took of them sometime soon. What a truly precious couple!!!

My final image represents the connection of a mother and her child….a connection that is so intense it’s almost painful. Holding your dear child in your arms knowing that one day they will grow up and leave your home to spread their wings and fly. It’s so rewarding and yet so heartbreaking. This is another one of my dear childhood friends with her precious son.

Well, thanks so much for stopping by all of our blogs!! I hope you’ve enjoyed our images. Here is the link back to Aubrey’s blog (the beginning) in case you came into the circle somewhere in the middle.

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017

Share Six | Restore

As I do every month, I agonized over what route I wanted to go with my interpretation of the theme over at Share Six. After looking the word up in the dictionary, I chose to go with this particular definition of the word. It seems to hit home for us and what we are going through as a family.

Restore

v. to bring back to a state of health, soundness, or vigor

Those who know us personally know that our son was diagnosed with Lyme disease over the summer. It’s been an overwhelming couple of years trying to get to the bottom of the medical issues we’ve been dealing with. It’s great to have an answer now, but choosing a plan of action has proven to be pretty difficult. As with any treatment for an illness, everyone responds differently. The bottom line is though, we want to restore health and happiness to our family. I’ve decided to photograph some of the ways we’ve been trying to do this.

Rest/relaxation is one of things we’ve been trying to prioritize. Thankfully we homeschool, so we have tried to adjust our schedule so that we can get as much sleep and rest as possible. Hanging out in the hammock is one of our favorite ways to relax.

Another thing we love and that boosts our spirits is being out in nature. We took a trip to my childhood vacation spot. It is a little resort nestled in the Northwoods. There are no phones and no TVs…just nature and relaxation. Once it got dark we’d go out to the dock to view the stars and the Milky Way and listen to the call of the loon. Trying to not get bit by mosquitoes added a whole other element to the evenings, but made for great laughter and memories….definitely healing for the soul.

Most of our days at the little resort were spent jumping in the lake. You can’t get a whole lot more invigorating than that. The sound of our kids’ and their cousins’ laughter echoing over the lake and through the woods was music to our ears.

Back home, we still love to get outside as much as possible. It definitely has a healing/restoring effect. Hikes and walks along the river are a relaxing way to end our day.

Through all of the stress this illness (and the illnesses the rest of our weakened immune systems have endured) has brought our family, we have tried to cling tighter to God’s promises. Through Him there is restoration of body and soul. Even though our bodies have been failing us (we’ve been sick with one thing or another since the middle of December), our souls are finding healing in God’s word.

Our biggest change we have made in order to restore health and happiness to our family is our diet. We’ve never been very unhealthy, but we were eating things we did not realize our bodies were having a hard time breaking down. (We have some genetic mutations.) We are now dairy, gluten, msg, dyes, GMO, corn, wheat, soy, rice and refined sugar free. I won’t lie, we occasionally cheat at special occasions, but otherwise our normal daily diet is free of the things listed above. Our son is on quite a few supplements for the Lyme disease as well. We have also taken great strides to eliminate as many toxins from our everyday environment by switching to all natural products and using glass containers instead of plastic. It hasn’t been an easy task, but we’re hoping it will pay off in the long run and help us restore our son’s health as well as our own.

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation on this theme. If you want to learn more about Lyme disease click here. To learn about how it can present itself in children click here. Unfortunately it is often misdiagnosed as other diseases and disorders, so the more people know about it, the better chance people have of being properly diagnosed.

Head over to Claire’s blog to see her take! Continue through the circle and show our contributors your support by leaving a comment. Don’t forget to post your own images on the theme and tag them #sharesix and #sharesix_restore !!

Thanks for stopping by!!!

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017

Share Six | Music

It’s hard to believe it is 2017 already!! Happy New year!!

I chose this month’s theme of music. Music has been near and dear to my heart since I was little. It has been woven into the tapestry of my memories….from sitting in the pew as a little girl listening to my aunt sing harmony, to the weekly piano lessons my grandparents’ gifted me with, to the evenings spent listening to classical cds with my dad, to my very first job as an organist at my church at 15 years old. Music courses through my veins. It was my first love. I remember years ago, my sister’s friend getting annoyed with me because she said I was always humming. What can I say…there is always a song in my heart. My grandpa always told me to never stop playing the piano. He said, “You’ll make money playing the piano some day.” I vividly remember him repeating those words when I visited him at the nursing home and played some music for him on the piano. Well I don’t ever plan to stop and I AM making money playing the piano and organ. Music just brings me such comfort and joy.

Your voice is an instrument you can take with you anywhere. My family knows that well, as I love to live in a musical, singing about my daily activities while I’m doing them. My daughter is following in my footsteps with a love of singing. Over the summer she auditioned to sing the national anthem at our local baseball team’s game. She was chosen, so we picked up this pitch pipe for her to help calm her nerves. I just love how shiny and pretty it is.

Brass instruments are simply beautiful to look at, especially the french horn.

This is my grandfather’s tambourine. He played the drums in a jazz band. He was a big proponent of me getting into music. He and my grandma insisted I take piano lessons, and they paid for them. I am forever grateful for their influence and generosity.

As I mentioned back during our black and white theme, I LOVE the insides of pianos. They are simply gorgeous. Not to mention, they are my favorite instrument. I could sit and play the piano for hours. Here is a picture of some of the hammers.
Here is my daughter playing The Entertainer. I asked her to dress up to do her piano practice so I could get some shots of her. I have basically the same shot of her from a few years ago. It’s sad to see how much she has grown up. My how time flies!!

Here’s another one from a different angle and some more creative lighting.

Thank you so much for stopping by and seeing my take on this month’s theme. I had a hard time narrowing down my images to just six. As I said, I just love music.

Head on over to Sharleen’s blog and see her beautiful images!! Then continue through the circle to see the rest of the contributors’ takes!!

December 6, 2016December 6, 2016

Share Six | Bokeh

Well, we are at the end of the year. What a fun time it has been so far!! We’re so glad to have all of the guest bloggers join us on this last theme for the year. There are so many talented artists here!!

As you know, this month’s theme is “bokeh”.

bo·keh
/b?’k?/
noun (PHOTOGRAPHY)
the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, especially as rendered by a particular lens.
“a quick, visual survey of the foreground and background bokeh of a variety of lenses”

Every photographer seems to be obsessed with it. We love that creamy bokeh!! With it being December and Christmas right around the corner, it only seemed fitting to get those twinkling Christmas lights in the bokeh.

While I didn’t think too far outside the box, I did have fun creating these images, and I tried to use a little variety in my lighting techniques.

My first image is basically just white Christmas lights out of focus. It has turned out to be one of my favorite images though. It just elicits that warm and fuzzy feeling.

My second image is of my favorite winter necklace with Christmas lights draped in the background. I absolutely LOVE snowflakes!!

My third image is of my precious daughter. My kids were such troopers braving the cold so I could get some pictures.

My fourth image is just some colored Christmas lights out of focus.

My fifth image is of some of my grandma’s books and a mug. I saw this mug at the store a few weeks ago and it brought tears to my eyes. As I read the words, I heard my grandma speaking them to me. She’d always hold my hands and, because they were always cold, say “Oooh, your hands are so cold. You know….cold hands, warm heart.”

My last image is of my son. A while back my dad gave us his lanterns he had from Boy Scouts as a kid. I’ve been wanting to incorporate them into some pictures, so this seemed fitting.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my images. Head on over to Sarah’s blog next, then continue through to see everyone’s take. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

November 6, 2016November 6, 2016

Share Six | Texture

Wow!! How is it that it is November already?!?! I hope you have been enjoying our monthly themes. We’ve definitely enjoyed seeing all of your images! Everyone has so much talent!!

I’m sure you’ve seen Kim, Tori, Sharleen and Kathy’s takes on this month’s theme “Texture”!! Aren’t their images wonderful?

For my take on “Texture” I started out with an image of a fall leaf. Fall is in full swing here in Illinois. In fact, many of the trees have dropped their leaves.

I was going to continue with some more fall textured images, until our beloved Chicago Cubs won the World Series and I decided to get some images of the textures of some baseball items that I had been meaning to photograph anyway. So the rest of my images are in honor of the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series. Way to go Cubs!!!

This is an image of one of my husband’s old baseballs that he played with when he was a kid. I’ve never looked very closely at a used baseball to really see the texture. I was completely fascinated by the character it has.

Here’s a vintage glove from a collection of old gloves I gave him for a gift one year.

Here is a vintage catcher’s mask I picked up for my husband as another gift one year.

Here is an old baseball bat that was from my Grandpa.

Not sure who the bat actually belonged to….I’m guessing Bill. Who Bill is…I don’t know. LOL I loved the fact that on the bat, Bill had carved his name.

Thanks so much for checking out my take on this month’s theme! I hope you enjoyed it!! If you didn’t start at the beginning of the blog circle, click here to head over to Kim’s blog and see her wonderful images!!

October 6, 2016October 6, 2016

Share Six | Time

I’m the last blog on your way through the circle, and I assume that you know the theme is “Time”. So I won’t waste any more of your time and I’ll keep this short. 🙂

Here are a few photos that represent “Time” to me. I tried to capture the passing of time.

In case you missed it, head on over to Kathy’s blog and see her take!!

September 28, 2016September 28, 2016

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.

September 6, 2016September 5, 2016

Share Six | Black and White

This month I chose the theme and as I’m sure you’ve seen, it is “Black and White”. I LOVE color…the color of gorgeous spring flowers, the color of the sunset, the color of rows of paint sample cards at the store. There is something about black and white though. All of the distractions are stripped away and the focus becomes narrowed onto your subject. For some reason, black and white photos seem to evoke more feeling.

Yesterday I came across a quotation by Ted Grant that fits perfectly for this theme – “When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls.”

Here are my images for this month’s theme. I decided to photograph a variety of things, hoping to stretch myself to find emotion in each “subject” I photograph.

This first picture was taken at our local baseball team’s game that our daughter sang the national anthem for. Later in the game, we decided to walk the perimeter of the park and I decided to try to get a picture of the bridge even though I had no tripod. I was surprised to see that it turned out better than I expected.

Here is my son having fun running through a tunnel we found.

Music, specifically playing the piano, was my first passion. I would play for hours on end growing up. I think the insides of pianos are a work of art, so it only seemed fitting to capture the beauty that lies within this wonderful instrument.

Flowers. As I mentioned above, I love flowers. I hope to someday live on some land and have a big field of wildflowers. Not only are they gorgeous in color, but they are pretty stunning in black and white too.

Here is my daughter. We did an impromptu photo shoot by a gorgeous patch of flowers. The sunlight was bothering her poor eyes, but she was such a good sport!

And here is my son. He is my goofy, jokester boy, who is also so sweet and sensitive. I made him stand for a shot and he flashed me this look. I think he was trying to get a rise out of me and was waiting for me to ask him to smile, but I didn’t. I actually loved this expression and thought it was great.

Thanks so much for stopping by and seeing my take on this month’s theme. Head on over to Sarah’s blog and see her take on the theme. Don’t forget to click through to all of our contributor’s pages and leave them some love. We look forward to seeing all of your images on our Facebook page and Instagram page!

August 6, 2016August 6, 2016

Share Six | Minimalism

This month’s theme was very difficult for me. Portrait and macro photography are more of my thing. So, spur of the moment I decided to invite my photographer friends out for a photo walk, figuring that I could hopefully get some pictures that would fit the “minimalism” theme. Thankfully I was able to get one taker, despite the late notice. My friend Faith of Faith Rebekah Photography joined me, and it happened to be her birthday too. We walked around the district of Rock Island for about an hour and a half and enjoyed some coffee at Theo’s. It was a wonderful morning! I had so much fun!

Here are my six pictures for this month’s theme.

Head on over to Sharleen N Stuart Photography to check out her interpretation on the theme. And once again, don’t forget to stop back at our Facebook page and post your takes on the theme, or tag your photos using #sharesix_minimalism !