Color (Sunday Snapshot & 3/52 Project)

Blessed are the happiness makers.

Blessed are they who know how to shine.

~ Henry Ward Beecher

 

Just a little color.

Well, because it's Winter and I live in Wisconsin 

and though the snow is beautiful 

we all need to see some color every day.

These fresh little flowers are called Acacia.

I love blue and yellow together, maybe it's my

Swedish heritage?

(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!!

Purple Love

Her favorite color is purple, all forms of it.
 Lavender
 Orchid
Plum
Violet
Fuschia
though a deep Purple (as in her coat) is her preferred hue.

 She loves to wear purple clothing

and accessories.

Her current favorites are a black and purple striped zebra

top with  matching earrings.

Have to get a photo of her in that one soon. ;)
And I will, I want to remember this age forever.

Her newest idea is to have a purple bedroom,
we will have to see if we can make that happen.
Maybe this Spring?
I love this girl.

Happy Hearts Day!

My kids are ready for Valentine's day...decorated boxes are made and are
at school. Valentine's were carefully chosen and our first grader Will
signed and addressed most of them for his classmates.
 (He was getting a little tired towards the end, so I took over).
They're both quite excited about their Valentine parties tomorrow at school.

I get inspiration from all kinds of places for photos.
Sometimes it's a cute prop, a location, flickr, pinterest or a piece of clothing.
This time it was Grace's striped socks that got me thinking
about a Valentine card I had in mind.

Mr. Will easily thought of ways to improvise with the mustache.
He's a 'ham' through and through!

Happy Valentine's Day!
 

Sunday Snapshot - my youngest son

He has a big name for such a little boy, our 

"William Michael Yousheng."

At age 6 years - 4 months, he is 42 lbs.

of fun, feisty and activity.

Pretty much from the moment we met Will in China, it was obvious he was a gifted child.

He's very intelligent but he's also a deep thinker. Will understands the concept of time travel, 

comprehends death and the implications of it, knows directions (North, South, East and West), 

and grasps the days of the week and time passing. 

Many of these things have become apparent when he asks us questions
about specific topics

and we had no idea he even knew about them.

(I love his strong hands).

He's gifted physically as well...he loves anything that's physically challenging.
(Dance and gymnastics for him...so far. He'd like to try karate next).
He reads (far above his grade level) and writes (more legibly than Dan).
I don't have any idea what he'll become when he grows up but his
outgoing, friendly and compassionate nature could lead him into
many careers.
I would love it if he became a doctor or a person who helps people.
Mostly I just want him to be happy.

Four years ago we found Will on our adoption agency's special need's list.
His special need was a repaired cleft lip and palate.
This superficial physical anomaly has been beautifully repaired and by the time
he's an adult it will only be a vague memory.
However, Will's real special need wasn't his cleft. His real special need
is related to an emotional disability and chemical imbalance in his brain.

And now as we hear words like "low levels of norepinephrine and dopamine " and "neurotransmitters".
They're words that have meaning to me because of my nursing background, but
now those words have additional meaning because they explain some things.
For the entire time we've had Will we've been learning more about him and
learning from him - attempting to understand and help this complex child.
He has sensory issues, problems with anger and defiance, and difficulty
attending and focusing in school.
We have a long road ahead, with no easy answers or a quick fix to any of this.
But we'll do whatever it takes to help Will cope with life and school a bit better.
Will has such a dear sweet heart and caring nature;
we want the world to see who he really is and not label him.

I am a photographer but that's just a part of who I am.
My most important role is that as a mom and right now my son needs me.
I couldn't possibly love this child anymore than I do right now.

The black and white of Will was taken about 30 minutes before sunset

and composed in camera using

the rule of thirds. 

Nikon d700

85mm 1.4 lens

f- 2.2

1/250 sec.

ISO 320

Favorite Photo Friday - time is flying by

(Grace is wearing Sophia Jane Boutique's shabby flower clip

that matches perfectly with the Matilda Jane Serendipity line)

In a little over 2 short months she'll be 10 years old.

Double digits.

My baby girl is growing up so fast.

And at almost 10 we're seeing a few glimpses of 'tween-dom'.
 (My made up word)
With some attitude changes now and then...perhaps it's a bit of those hormones kicking in...

And though I'd love for time to stop for quite a while,
I'm embracing it all.

Sweet Grace...my artistic, compassionate, caring, and kind daughter.
She is a dream come true!

Sunday Snapshot - Almost to the Finish Line

{Playing hopscotch}

 Grace and Will recently asked me how many days

 were left until Summer vacation.
We're doing a little countdown on the calendar until the last day of school.

As of today we have 13 and 1/2 days of school until it's here.

This is the first Summer we have nothing scheduled...no dance, no Summer school,
just Grace's birthday and a vacation to Door County in August.

I may be more excited about school getting out than they are...
We're hoping to have a couple of trips to the Chicago area to see friends.
Other than that they'll be spending some lazy days of sleeping late (wishful thinking on my part), running through the sprinkler, swimming,
playing with friends, and going to the library to check out new books to read.

It's hard to believe how fast this school year as flown by!

Though the first one is my favorite image,
it was a little mistake (as far as not what I was planning to shoot) that I found when I uploaded the pics.
I loved how as Grace was jumping, her legs framed Will in the bokeh and the
word 'finish' framed the bottom.
It's kind of funny because I'm finding as I continue on my journey
with photography some of those happy accidents with me and my camera
are becoming my very favorites.

Taken a few evenings ago with my Nikon d700.

50 mm lens

f/1.8 (the first image)

1/1600 sec.

ISO 640

Edited with Florabella's Classic Workflow actions

using Classic Color, 1968, and a tiny bit of Cross Process.
Please go on over and see some photographers that do amazing and inspiring
work at Stefanie's Sunday Snapshot.

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.

18/52 and Favorite Photo Friday - recital week

{Sunday at the dance school, waiting to get photos taken}

It's taken 9 months
of learning and practice
for Grace and William to get here, and recital time is nearly upon us.

I'd forgotten to bring my big camera (twice) to the dance school, so

 used my iphone to quickly get a few from this week and the above one was my favorite.

We've had a lot going on, add to that Grace has strep throat

and missed 4 days of school.
The antibiotic she's on has finally kicked in.

Right now I'm thinking she will perform Friday night and Saturday if she's up to it,
but we'll see.

Thankfully Mr. Will has stayed healthy,
keeping my fingers crossed with that one.


Below is Will at his dress rehearsal...unfortunately the end of the video
isn't there. He did a series of cartwheels and a round - off.
That's my boy! ;)

Have a great Friday!

17/52 and Favorite Photo Friday - looking out my front door

{Beauty}

Early Tuesday morning after coming back from walking

our pup Zoe, I grabbed my camera and went out
the door again...to take some photos.

It didn't take long for me to find beauty in the ordinary, the mundane, and the things

I sometimes take for granted that I see and look at every day.

These photos remind me to appreciate and celebrate what is around me
each and every day.

(I imagine I looked kind of funny laying on my belly in the grass, 
capturing the dandelions gone to seed. Ah...what we'll do for a photo).


Happy Friday!

Favorite Photo Friday and 15/52 - Spring picnic

{Grace and Lydia}

I've written about Grace and Lydia before,

but to refresh your memory these girls first met at age 3 and 4 and
hit it off immediately.

Over 5 years later their friendship is going strong.

This week I had some thoughts about doing a little themed session with them,
so brought a few props along to an orchard that isn't far away.

Lydia will be turning 9 soon and every year as her birthday approaches,
I take photos of the two girls together.
It's a beautiful keepsake for them and their mommas.
They girls enjoy each other's company so much
 but haven't had the good fortune to be in the same class in school.
That doesn't seem to matter as we live only 2 houses apart and they get to spend lots of time together.
They're best friends, confidants, supreme gigglers, lovers
of sleepovers, American Girl dolls, cupcakes and sweet tea!
Oh...to be 9 again.

It was so fun to photograph these 2 on this beautiful Spring afternoon.

The apple blossoms were starting to open on the trees.

I can see where the term 'Spring green' came from, the grass and new leaves are such a vibrant shade 

this time of the year.

Oh, and as far as shooting my first 'themed' session, I was very happy with the results!

(The props weren't purchased for this, I already had the items in my home and thought they fit well with the theme).

Lisa hosts Favorite Photo Friday, so please be sure and see what she's up to...

and all of her beautiful photos.

Have a great weekend!