Favorite Photo Friday - a little talk therapy

{Penny for her thoughts}

 

I have learned after 27 years experience of being a mom 

that sometimes important conversations pop up out of nowhere. 

And many times when you least expect one.

When my oldest son was a teen, it was usually as I was driving and he was in the back seat.

I can't say that I can remember word for word what those car conversations were

but they were meaningful to both of us and important to him.

Nick is now an adult, on his own and he and I are still very close.

A few days ago I took Grace out for some photos and noticed

she seemed preoccupied with something,

and when she smiled she was tensing up the muscles around her mouth.

Something wasn't quite right.

 I put down my camera and we just talked...about school, friends, Summer, etc.

Eventually I found out about a little 3rd grade drama going on with a friend at school.
Thankfully Grace wasn't being bullied.

We talked about some solutions and what she could do.

Hopefully we'll continue these conversations.

 Edited with Florabella's Classic Film and Honey Haze actions at low opacities,

from her Classic Workflow collection. 

Sunday Snapshot - exquisite

{Grace - age 9 and 1/2}

The inspiration for these images
was my daughter Grace's
beautiful ballet dress.

My mother is a talented sewer, and it's from her that
I've gained a true appreciation for fabric, and love of color and design.
The pattern of the tiny beads on the top of this dress is exquisite
and I loved capturing the detail.

I originally thought I'd keep these images all in color 

but felt black/white suited them just as well.

You can see so much

 of this gentle, sweet soul (who is Grace)

in them.

These were taken early last week
when we had some time one late afternoon.
I used the beautiful north window light from different perspectives,
using light facing Grace, from the side and behind her.

Taken with my Nikon D700,
the portraits were taken with my 85mm 1.4 lens
with settings of:

 f/1.4
ISO - 320
 1/200 sec.

For the other images I used my 35mm 1.4 at:

 f/2
ISO - 1000
1/250-1/500 sec.

Edited with Florabella's bl/white 'Vanilla' action (one of my favorites for bl/whites).
I opened up the action and tweaked it a bit with the contrast and light, leaving the tones the same.
In the very first image I also added a little bit of 'White Haze' from her 'Hazy Skies Collection.'
I liked the effect.

For the color versions, I used Florabella's 'Classic Color' action with a touch of  'Soft Warmth'
on a couple of them.

For the last one of her profile,
 I did very little other than crop the image (it didn't need much)
and increase the contrast a bit. I love the simplicity of it.



As for personal favorites, I have two... they're the first one and second to last images.

Grace and her brother Will performed this weekend in their dance school's recital.

I'll blog about it later this week.

Changes - Sunday Snapshot

There's been a couple of pretty big changes happening this week for Grace.
She had her ears pierced (completely her idea)
and she got glasses.
I think she looks quite grown up and studious in these pics.

I didn't need glasses until ~ 4 years ago and I'm still adjusting to them.
My husband has worn them since he was 5 years old.
Grace is starting at 9.

I still remember when I got my ears pierced
at 13...it was very exciting.

She's embraced both changes and is acting very responsible about taking
care of her ears and brand new glasses.

We found out Grace is nearsighted,
she was having difficulty seeing the clock's numbers
in the classroom.
We think she's beautiful!