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!!
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!!
September’s theme is Intentional. I think it’s a great theme and very fitting for where I’m at in life right now. I’ve always tried to be very intentional in everything I do, however I’ve noticed that sometimes I get depressed and then get lazy, or I just lose my focus. Over the last few years I have been sinking into depression. Certain life circumstances have been beating me down. I’ve noticed that I’ve lost motivation in almost every area of my life. Nothing really brings me joy and so I’ve lost the motivation to be intentional. However I have finally decided that I need to pull myself up by the bootstraps and make myself do things, make myself live life. It may not pull me out of the depression, but it will have to help me in some way.
A few years ago when my son had Lyme disease, we overhauled our diet and our lifestyle. I felt so much better. So that is one thing I have decided to be intentional about again. I’ve started to neglect my health and I want to be intentional about getting back on track.
A few years ago, I started a Facebook group all about living a healthy lifestyle. I wanted to create a community where we could share recipes and share healthy tips. I have recently been heading up some health challenges through my group. For the events, I’ve wanted to have some nice header photos. So those images are my Intentional images.
As is the story of my life, I haven’t been feeling well for the last two weeks and my son just came down with Covid, so I was only able to take two images this month. I’m going to try to get at least one more image tomorrow and then I’ll add it to this post.
This first image is the image I took for my 100 mile walking challenge.
This second image is the image I created for my intermittent fasting challenge.
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Make your way through the blog circle and see everyone else’s awesome pictures. Next up is Elizabeth. Click HERE to see her amazing images.
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!
I feel like a broken record as I say it every month, but my goodness! Time flies! How is it that we are already in April?!? I’m not complaining though. I’m loving the fact that everything is turning from brown to green, and that the windows are open and we can breath in fresh air.
This month’s theme at Share Six is Growth. As usual, I had several ideas on how I could possibly interpret this theme….I could show the growth I have experienced in my photographic skills, I could somehow show the growth I’ve experienced personally (especially this last year), I could show my children’s growth (my 14 year old son is now taller than me!! How did that happen?!?!), but I ended up going with the more typical interpretation though and photographed some of the beautiful plants that are budding and growing.
Several years back, I was given a TON of hostas. It was a huge blessing as we were able to do some pretty landscaping around our deck and in the front of our house. Every spring they are one of the first plants to break through the ground. So seeing their little points sticking up out of the soil is very exciting for me. It means beautiful weather is on its way.
This year, in the flower bed in front of our house, a lone daffodil bloomed. I’m quite confused as I never planted one there, but it is a lovely surprise. I’m not sure if someone planted it there to surprise us, or what, but it’s absolutely beautiful.
We have a lilac bush out front that my husband gifted to me a few years back and it has buds all over it. I can’t help but get excited at the thought of the sweet lilac aroma that will soon fill the air!
What with all of the warm weather, the grass has started to grow and the distant hum of lawnmowers has begun.
Last but not least, these are my irises beginning to grow. I love how the light was illuminating the rims of the leaves!
Thanks so much for stopping by!! We greatly appreciate you checking out our blog circle. The amazingly talented Janet Douglas is up next. To check out her blog post, click HERE!!
Until the last few days it’s been a frozen tundra here in the Midwest. Almost every week we got dumped with snow, and with temperatures staying well under freezing, the snow had no chance to melt. This made for perfect conditions in which to do my favorite cold weather activity: hike to the ice falls. Last winter we didn’t really have a long enough cold stretch to completely freeze the creeks and falls, but this winter we did. It was so great to get outside and see the falls!!
One of my favorite things about the ice falls is the color of the ice when the sun is shining through them.
This next picture is from a series of pictures I took of my daughter. It was snowing the most beautiful big, fluffy flakes, so we hurried out to our backyard to grab some pictures.
My next image is of a beautiful snow covered tree that was illuminated by the street light. I spotted it as I was driving into my daughter’s school’s parking lot one evening on the way to pick her up from theater rehearsal. It stopped me in my tracks and I had to get out and get a picture of it.
This next image I took a few weeks ago when I decided to take a drive down to the river to enjoy the sunset.
We have woods behind our neighborhood, so after the most beautiful snowfall that left our neck of the woods looking like Narnia, my son and I had to go explore the winter wonderland. The snow didn’t last long as the temperatures were too high, but it was absolutely stunning while it lasted.
These last two images are a little throwback to previous Share Six challenges. They were two of my favorite images, and what with the theme, I couldn’t help sharing them again.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Next up is Janet Douglas. You won’t want to miss her amazing images!! Click HERE to see them, and then continue on through the blog circle to see all of our other talented contributors’ interpretations.
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!
Another month another theme. Here we are in October already. Share Six’s theme is Books. When brainstorming on what I wanted to do, I thought back to my take on this same theme for I Heart Faces years ago. That blog post is HERE.
This time I did a variety of shots. I know my style of photography is all over the place, but that is because I truly want to master lots of kinds of photography. Art is all about emotion, I truly feel that how an image is composed and how it is lit can truly affect the emotion of the image. I feel that different images call for different “styles”.
For the first two shots, I used some vintage books. I kind of have a thing for old books. It worked out perfectly because a week ago I was gifted two vintage music books. So I coupled them with my grandmother’s piano book as well as a few other musical items.
The second shot is of a vintage horticulture book I picked up for 25 cents at a library sale.
For these last 4 images I decided to go a completely different route. I played with some flash as well. I thought it would be fun to create some abstract images.
I hope you enjoyed my take on this month’s theme! I really enjoyed this one. I actually want to take some more images on the theme.
Continue on through the circle by heading over to Michele’s blog by clicking HERE to see her talented take on this month’s theme!!
When I first saw what this month’s theme was, I immediately wondered if I could do six pictures of myself. If you looked up the word imperfection in the dictionary, there would be a picture of me right there. Now don’t interpret this the wrong way, as if I’m saying some sort of self loathing statement. No, instead it’s more of a self realization type of statement.
You see, I’m an OCD, SPD, introverted, perfectionistic people pleaser. I always have been and probably always will be. Now, I was never diagnosed with OCD or SPD, but if I were growing up today, I most definitely would have been diagnosed with those disorders. I know I have them. I always knew I was different. I knew that I struggled with certain things. I needed rules, structure, order, schedules, etc. If something upset the order, or if people didn’t follow the rules, I felt unsettled. Clothing had to feel just right or I couldn’t wear it. Certain noises drove me absolutely insane.
Being a perfectionistic rule follower, I was often called a goody two shoes. I even had people tell me I was perfect. What’s funny is that they couldn’t see how terribly imperfect I actually was. They couldn’t see how much internal turmoil I was, and still am, going through.
You see, when you have OCD, SPD and are perfectionistic, you need to feel in control of your world. Try being in control of your world once you get married. Try being in control of your world once you have kids. Try having everything perfect when you are trying to be a wife and mother. It just doesn’t happen. I mean, my goodness, try being in control just in general. You can’t control other people. You are ALWAYS at the mercy of other people and just circumstances in general. The only thing you can honestly control is yourself…your attitude, how you respond to the circumstances around you. For so long, I have tried to control everything. Some things I have been decently successful with, others I have most definitely not.
The older you get and the longer you deal with the OCD, SPD and perfectionism, the more you realize how imperfect you really are. I mean, I never thought I was perfect, but I definitely tried to do everything right. I tried to follow the rules to a T. I tried to do everything to the absolute best of my ability. I tried to please everyone. You can only achieve those expectations of yourself for so long. At some point it all comes crumbling down, and it’s absolutely devastating. You see, while all along you knew you weren’t perfect and you honestly didn’t necessarily need to be absolutely perfect, the comments other people made just fed the OCD. People telling me I did something perfectly, only reinforced my internal struggle with feeling I needed to do things perfectly. The inner voice in my head said, “If you don’t do this perfectly, you’re a failure.”
You know what those expectations lead to though? They lead to complete paralyzation and utter insanity. I remember watching the first episode of Hoarders. I don’t quite remember why, but I decided to watch it. The narrator started out with saying that people would be shocked to know that the majority of hoarders are actually perfectionists. You see, at some point, they become paralyzed because if they can’t complete the tasks to their standard (which is perfect[ly]), they don’t even do them. Yikes!! That scared me, but I totally understood what they were saying. I could totally see myself getting to that point. It honestly made complete sense. I have so many unfinished projects because I get scared that I won’t be able to complete them to the standard of quality that I would like, so I just shut down.
So, now that I’ve pretty much written a novel, I’ll try to sum this up. Each month I agonize over what pictures I want to do for the theme. I agonize because I want to do them to the standard that I think I should do them, but I’m afraid I will fall short. So I put them off while I brainstorm. Then it gets to the point where I have just days or hours to complete my pictures and post and I’m completely overwhelmed. Well, wouldn’t you know, that’s what I did this month. I have no clue what to do for my pictures. I could take pictures of my imperfect self, but I’m not sure what variety I can show in 6 pictures. Maybe I should stretch myself and tap into the inner artist that should lie somewhere inside myself and figure out some creative way to photograph what I have just written a novel about, but alas, as I said, I procrastinated and my creative juices are quite low right now.
So I will leave you with some pictures I have taken in the past…pictures where things didn’t turn out quite like I planned, but they are imperfectly perfect. After all, our imperfections are what make us unique. Often times, when things don’t go perfectly like we planned, those imperfections are what make the memory that much more unique.
So I will continue to fight my perfectionistic tendencies and embrace the imperfection. I will definitely fail at times, but that’s ok.
This first image is of our imperfect house. While I crave order and perfection, my entryway has been laden with shoes, boots, skates, sticks, rocks, a skateboard and many other things for years now (also notice the dirt and scuff marks on the bottom of the screen door). It drives me nuts, but I try to remind myself that one day it will be perfectly clean and I’ll wish it wasn’t. Because that means my precious kids no longer live in this four walls.
My next image is of my son and me. We had taken a bike ride to the gas station to get a Reese’s to split. We wanted a picture to remember that moment. My phone case was scratched and dusty, so the image is hazy, but it’s imperfectly perfect. (Here’s another prime example of using the camera you have on you. Better to capture the moment than to be too worried about the quality of the image.)
My third image is of my kids lying under the Christmas tree. My son’s face is completely out of focus, but I still love this image and how it captured their precious little faces.
This fourth image is of my son. Let me tell you, underwater photography isn’t easy. I was trying to get a cute shot of him and he reached up to wave at me at that very moment. Once again though, it’s imperfectly perfect. I love his little pursed lips and puffed cheeks!
These last two are from a little Christmas session I did with the kids. I was trying to get some nice pictures of the two of them, both to frame and to give to the grandparents. The kids were being ridiculously silly. At first I was frustrated, but then I decided to roll with it. Quite frankly, these images captured my kids’ personalities better than any perfectly posed picture every would have.
So, to sum things up…don’t be like me. Don’t let your obsession with perfection, or your fear of failure paralyze you. Don’t let it keep you from enjoying the best things in life, which are the imperfect things.
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Head on over to Elizabeth’s blog, by clickingHERE, to see her take on this month’s theme. Be sure to make your entire way around the blog circle as you won’t want to miss all of our contributors’ images. Also, be sure to share your images to our social media pages!!
This month’s theme is morning. I’m not sure what I was thinking in choosing this theme as mornings have been pretty rough for me lately. My motivation in the morning is quite low these days. I used to be a morning person, and I do believe I still am, that is, if I could ever get a good night’s sleep.
For my pictures I tried to capture the things that are a part of my mornings. I love getting outside first thing in the morning, whether it be for a walk or for a bike ride. Winter gets tough though as snow and ice cover the side walks and things get slippery. With the weather finally warming up though, I have started to resume my morning walks.
I love being outside to enjoy the first golden rays of the sun setting the tree tops ablaze, and casting long shadows of anything that stands in their path. The birds have woken up and begun to chatter. The geese signal spring’s coming with their incessant honking. Their splash landings on our pond echo across the glassy water, while the sun’s rays peek through the trees.
We have a pond and woods behind our house. These things make for lots of wildlife. Many mornings I am blessed with seeing a deer or a family of raccoons while on my walk. The sights and sounds are incredibly serene. I can’t help but be thankful for life and invigorated for the day which has begun.
That is, until my goofy dogs see something they need to chase and they lunge forward yanking my arm. Thankfully that doesn’t happen too much though.
Here are my images for the theme, I tried to capture the things I have mentioned above.
I’ve always been told I have long legs, the morning light makes them look like stilts. LOL
These last two pictures were taken with my phone. As the saying goes, and as I’ve told my photography students – the best camera is the one you have with you. My morning walk is not only a workout/exercise (I speed walk and my average heart rate is 156BPM), it’s my time to just think and enjoy the quiet. These may not be the best quality pictures, but I love them and they will serve to remind me of a moment in time. They also show real life. The last one is especially blurry as I was trying to take a picture with the hand that was holding the leash. You can see in the shadow, that my other hand is holding a bag of dog poop. Nothing wakes you up in the morning quite like the smell of dog poop. LOL
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my interpretation! Click HERE to head on over to Sharleen’s blog to see her lovely images!
