(Sunday Snapshot) a Red, White and Blue long weekend

 

It was one of those gloriously long holiday weekends.

 

(iphone collage)

 

 Fun with friends...with swimming and relaxing at Devil's Lake.

 We celebrated with a parade, sparklers, fireworks and playing outside until it was dark.

 

And a neighborhood get together with yummy food,
 playing games and a lot of mosquito bites thrown in there
for good measure
(and they were worth it).

Hope yours was a fun one!!

July 4th

 

'I love my freedom. I love my America.'

 

~ Jessi Lane Adams

'In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed;
it must be achieved.'

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
 

 

 Every country celebrates "their day."
Many call it Independence Day.
The USA was
founded by people looking for religious freedom.
They were followed by people trying to find all types of freedom...
freedom from oppression, famine, poverty, you name it.
Our forefathers fought to get freedom, to keep it and let others have it -
at home and abroad.
This is a great country and I'm proud to be an American.
I'm happy that my children will grow up here.
Happy 4th!

Taken about 10 days ago in the beautiful fields not far from where we live in Wisconsin.

(Sunday Snapshot) - my greatest gifts

There is no way to be a perfect mother... but a million ways to be a good one.

~ unknown

 

 

 

God could not be everywhere, so He created mothers. ~ Jewish Proverb

 

 

 

Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.
~ Oprah Winfrey

 

 

My greatest gifts have been the days I became a mother.

I still have moments where it's hard to believe that I got be a mom

 a second and third time after many years.

Personally I've never felt a love so profound

and it doesn't matter if your child comes from your body or through adoption.

I know of no stronger bond than between a mother and her child.

 

My Mother's Days have never been about expensive gifts

or big meals. I usually receive the most perfect handmade

cards and drawings or pictures and we all spend time together as a family.

 

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms and Grandmas, and the mothers who wait for their

children.

We remember the mothers who are now in heaven.

And as always on Mother's Day I honor and say a prayer for the two birth mothers in China who

gave me my two youngest, and say thank you.
However motherhood comes, it's always a miracle!

 

 

 

 

 

Captured of Grace in her ballet costume this week,

her Spring dance recital is coming up soon.

It's our little tradition to photograph her.
(In past years indoors and this time outside with some beautiful light).

 

 

Keepin' cool - Sunday Snapshot

{What you do on a blazing hot Summer day} 

(Lots of giggling going on here).

A month ago when I bought the Summer pool membership,

I had no idea that this would be the hottest Summer on record in over 100 years.

It's been as handy as a snow blower in the Wisconsin Winter.

Both Grace and Will were initially afraid to try the water slides, tube slides

and lazy river but we can't say that now.

This pool has been a blast for all of us and a welcome relief from the heat.

The first snapshot of the girls under the wall of water was

taken with my Nikon d700.

50mm 1.4 lens

F/2.5

ISO 200

1/4000 sec.

Spot metered.

Edited in levels and curves in photoshop to my taste.

Please stop by Stefanie's Sunday Snapshot for many more images.

July - Sunday Snapshot

{Summer sky}

"Like painted kites, those days and nights
They went flying by
The world was new beneath the blue
umbrella sky..."

 Excerpt from "The Summer Wind", lyrics by Johnny Mercer

I have quite a few photographers that I admire and one of my favorites
is Audrey Woulard.
I just finished re-reading her book,
Natural Enlightenment Photography.

I consider Audrey a master of light and color.
And secretly I like that she shoots with the same camera as me. ;)
I don't claim to be any Audrey Woulard and it was fun to put my own spin on some of the things she uses
with her photography style.

For these photos I did what Ms. Woulard does with her clients as far as I styled Grace minimally
with clothing and props.
Less was definitely more here as the setting of the blue- green water, the weathered pier
and endless blue sky spoke volumes.

These were taken in pretty much full sun at 11am a few days ago.
The pier and water worked as natural reflectors.
With the first image, I was facing West...hence the brilliant blue sky.
 I deliberately wanted to capture that color.
It was one of those perfectly clear days
without a cloud.


In the first image Grace was looking back at a family of ducks
swimming toward the pier.

Nikon d700
35mm 1.4 lens
f/2.5
ISO 250
1/5000 sec.

Edited in Lightroom and  then Photoshop with Florabella's
Classic Bright action on a low opacity.


See many more images at Ni Hao Y'all's Sunday Snapshot!





(Grace's dress and hair clips are from JCrew).