Around the corner...

Shot for the challenge of "bricks". Seriously? Bricks???? Took me a long time to get inspired about this one, but was happy when I finally found my shot!

The gift goes on...

Shot for the challenge of "white on white". This one really was challenging as it poses tricky exposure issues and it's challenging to find something interesting with so little contrast. I thought my mom might like to see that I finally had those broken pearls restrung. We found these in my grandmother's jewelry box with a hand written note shortly after my grandmother's death. She had intended to give them to me for my high school graduation. They were given to my mother at her graduation and they now belong to Kara...given to her when she graduated from high school. :)

New eyes...

I love that photography has given me new eyes to appreciate things like a bug on a leaf or the sun shining through the trees.

The question...

Shot for the challenge of "abandoned". Have to say I really love this image, tho' it's very different for me. Wish we could do something about the "hurry up to grow up" in America.

A-maize-ing grain...

I know.....REALLY bad pun, but I couldn't resist. Shot for the challenge of "ears". I found it really interesting that at least 50% of my flickr contacts had never seen this type of corn before. Guess they don't sell it in Europe or Australia.

Snuggle...

Some photos just scream for black and white.

Garden friend...

"Hi snail....How you DOIN'?" :)

Salvia...

Sweet alyssum...

Shot this at my friend Karen's garden. Love these teeny tiny flowers. They're very low growing, so I was flat on my belly to get the shot...and they smelled SO good!

BTW, this is SOOC (straight out of the camera). I love the color so much!

Big sister in training...

When I told my mom how Hannah is enjoying her baby doll, she asked for a picture. That was more than a month ago...and I'm finally getting around to it. Sorry Mom! Enjoy! (Love this baby bottle that looks full when it's upright and empty when you tilt it to feed baby.

Fearfully and wonderfully made...

A kiss and a touch for baby sister...

I know there's still a lot she doesn't understand, but how precious. Last week, when Jenny told her they were going to the doctor, Hannah asked "Hear baby sister heartBEEP?" (smile)

Outtake...

Yep, it's time to try shooting those pics for Christmas cards again. Always an adventure! Quite a difference in Hannah from last year. I won't post the real pics till later, but will post an outtake or two before. I just love candids, so this is one of my faves. I may just love it more than the one they'll probably use on their card. ;) Besides, she's wearing my favorite shirt. It says "Gramma makes me happy!" :) And she can tell you that's what it says too. She loves to say "Mimi make me happy!" and she claps her hands on "happy". :)

Beautiful light...

More than anything, photography is about the light. I can shoot the same subject with the same composition, but in different light and it's a whole new image. I really want to learn more about that. In the meantime, I love how my eyes have been opened to things I never noticed before...like the shadow of leaves coming through the window to my dining room wall...or the backlight on the tree outside by kitchen window.

The gift...

I love it when Bob brings home flowers and it's not even my birthday!

I ♥ color!

An alternate shot for the challenge "zig zag". I just love the color!

The common thread...

Shot for the challenge of "connections". That topic made me think of the love we share as families and this quote.

The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together. ~Erma Bombeck

I seem to be on a kick of creating these cliche images with the word "love". :)

Revisit the pumpkin patch...

I've been behind on my processing. Just finally got around to finishing from our day at the pumpkin patch. I love how quickly Hannah's expressions change.

Soft light...

Hard light...

A few days ago our challenge was "hard light". I'm typically looking for soft light, so it was an interesting opportunity to learn. Hard light is direct light that leaves strong shadows and falls off quickly across the subject as opposed to soft light that wraps subtly around the subject. I SO wish I'd had a live model that day, but had to resort to this little porcelain figure instead. It was a gift from my family the year I started teaching. I think it turned out pretty well, tho' it took me a while to figure out how to do it effectively. A few days later, our challenge was "soft light". I SHOULD have used the same set up with different light, just to compare. That would have been interesting. So...maybe I'll do that one of these days. BTW....my lighting here was a flashlight that I waved over the subject from the side during a fairly long exposure. (high tech! lol)

Why I love shallow dof...

Because you can even make weeds growing by the curb look good! lol. I love a good silky, soft background. There can be a mess hiding back there, and you might never know it. Why do you think I shoot that way so often at home? lol

Shot for the challenge of "weeds". I found these tiny yellow pretties near the curb by a field. I think they're especially pretty in b/w.

Fall flowers...

Bob was so great to plant my fall flowers when I was busy monitoring the theory test. It's nice to have some fresh color in the yards again.

How can you mend a broken heart?

Shot for the challenge of "tape". Seriously...."tape"??? It took me a while to come up with an idea, but I really liked it in the end. :)


I'm grateful every day for how Jesus healed my broken heart with His love.

Trunk or Treat...

They had cars decorated in the parking lot with candy in the trunks. Hannah enjoyed walking around and getting candy from everyone. She was a pro by the end!

Love the monkey tail....

Pony ride...

We met Jenny, Nathan and Hannah at First Baptist of Richardson on Sunday for their Fall Festival. Hannah had been to her own fall festival the Wed. before and, typical Hannah...she was too busy observing to want to try too many new things. :) She did ride the little train tho' and enjoyed putting candy in her bag. She has no idea what candy is, but hey...it's still fun to put stuff in your bag, right? On Sunday, she surprised us by saying "yeah" when we asked her if she wanted to ride the horsey. See how she gradually warms up to new things?

By the end, she was holding the saddle horn and saying "Hannah hold"....so cute!

When your world turns upside down...

Just relax and focus...Shot for my "through the hole" challenge. I've seen pics like this on Flickr before and wanted to try one for a while. I shot this with my 105mm macro looking through my 50mm.

Watercolor solo...

Spotted this egret at the park that day. He was completely unfazed by my presence. I didn't have my zoom lens...only my 35mm, but he let me get pretty close. And I added a texture...just for fun.

First fall color...

I'm starting to wonder if our trees are going to get any color this fall. It feels late to me this year. Our maple tree out front is usually brilliant by this time. Hmmm....I think rainfall has something to do with it, so I hope that doesn't mean we won't get any autumn color. At any rate, I was out at Bob Woodruff Park in Plano the other day and shot this. A prettier sky than we usually get here and a few trees starting to turn.

Purple...

I don't think I'll ever get tired of flower shots.

Shot in a mason jar over a backdrop of gravel.

Refractions...

The morning of the fog, everything was quite wet. I had a great time playing with water droplets. I still want to play with this again...didn't get quite what I wanted, but was still proud of myself for getting those reflections in the droplets.

It was a strange and foggy morning...

Our weather has been SO strange lately. We had a huge hail storm recently that absolutely shredded the trees in our neighborhood. EVERY surface was covered in debris. Poor Bob spent hours cleaning it up. The next morning, we woke up to this.