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 - 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.

Texture Tuesday - (Red)

I had to participate in today's Texture Tuesday because red is my favorite color.

Taken recently of 2 sisters wearing red and plum colored pettiskirts,
I used one of Kim Klassen's textures called 'Thursday' on overlay and removed it off their skin.
This image has a lot of contrast and I thought the texture added a nice finishing touch.

black and white Wednesday - best friends forever

"If you're alone, I'll be your shadow. If you want to cry, I'll be your shoulder.

If you want a hug, I'll be your pillow. If you need to be happy, I'll be your smile.

 But anytime you need a friend, I'll just be me."

~ Author Unknown

"I like her because she smiles at me and means it."

 ~Anonymous

(Local coffee shop that's within walking distance of our home. I loved the pink wrought iron tables and chairs.)

"A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be."

 ~Douglas Pagels

Lydia and Grace first met 5 years ago.
Grace was nearly 4 and Lydia was 3. The two hit it off from the start.
And they only live 2 houses away from each other!

Their friendship has been easy and it's been a joy for Lydia's mom
 and I to see their friendship blossom
and flourish.
We are fortunate to live in a neighborhood with many children
and there are several other girls in the same age range.
They all get along extremely well.
It's no surprise that their mommas do too!

Lydia recently had a birthday and I took portraits of her, like I do every year.
These are some of the candids of the 2 best friends.
I brought them to our favorite local coffee shop to get ice cream for the girls,
and then to an old Mill (that's now a quilt store)
for more pics.
The girls had a blast (and so did I!)
The pictures show the fun they had together.

It's Wednesday again, hop on over to Lisa's "The Long Road to China"
to see what's going on, and lot's more photography.