Vintage...

Abigail is suddenly fascinated with our little antique rocking chair.  She was so cute..."wocka, wocka, wocka".  I bought the hat for Hannah when she was a baby, envisioning little naked portraits with the hat and a string of pearls.  Yeah.....Hannah screamed every time we put the hat on.  :/  Abigail LOVED it.  Go figure!  This was taken in very low light.  Abigail was signing "please" in ASL (hence the motion blur on her hand).  It's noisy and a little soft on the focus....but hey...make it a little vintage and it almost looks intentional, right?  :)

Rainbow girl...

This is from a few weeks ago.  I almost forgot I took it!  It's not the best quality...low light, high ISO...but I still think it's cute.  Hannah had so much fun with that umbrella...but it's awfully BIG for a 3 year old to manage!  This was her trying to twirl it.  lol

Spring is bursting out all over...

This was one of my absolute favorite shots!  First, the flower is so unique!  I have no idea what it is.   And the vibrant color....zing!  I just love how "in your face" it is!

In the woods (sorta)...

Shot at the arboretum, of course.  If I frame carefully, I can almost believe I was in the woods.  Ha ha.  I just had to try for a silky waterfall shot since I actually had my tripod with me.  It's a little overexposed.  Almost impossible not to with such a slow shutter speed on a sunny day.  Probably would have been better if I'd used a polarizing filter, but I don't own one for my macro and my ISO was as low as I could possibly get it.  Oh well...at least the water is silky.

The Redonkulous Ranunculus...

It's kind of funny how I learned the name of this flower.  I thought it was a peony, but I overheard an elderly man telling his wife it was "redonkulous".  At least I THOUGHT that was what he said.  I was thinking "Gee...that's kind of unusual for an older person to use that relatively modern slang.  Then I looked down and saw the identifying sign...."Ranunculus".  Ha ha!  Guess I need to get my ears checked!  

Daisy, daisy...

Plum tree blossoms...

And more tulips...

Still more gorgeous pastels.  Nothing compares to the softness of the bokeh you can get with that Nikon 105mm lens!

Tulips...

 So in love with these pastel colors.  I've been experimenting a bunch in PSE with lightening the midtones and highlights.

A little experimenting with focus.

And I had to try at least one angle...lol

Tulips...

I don't know that this is my favorite shot, but I absolutely love the colors!  I took this on my way out of the park, when my memory card was full.  I'd purposely only brought one card, thinking that when it was full I would be "forced" to leave and get some work done.  But I had to shoot these colors, so I deleted a shot and this is what I got.  lol

Grape hyacinth...

I walked ALL over the park looking for these, because I knew I had seen them last week during my portrait session.  I just love that green and blue combo!

Red robin, red robin...

I love bird pics...absolutely love 'em...but I seldom ever catch one.  I think I'm not patient enough to sit around and wait and I don't have a long enough zoom.  But at the Arboretum, as I was looking down shooting flowers, I overheard a young mother telling her son to look at the robin.  I looked up and there he was.  How about that!  Robins are supposed to be one of the first signs of spring.  Maybe that's why I love 'em so much!

Vintage girl...

Last one I will share from the session...there are many more, but enough already...right?  Curious what you might think of this processing.  This was one where there was nothing special about the color version...it was mostly a lot of brown and white.  So, I decided to play a little.  The subtle selective color was an afterthought, but I kinda like it.  Feel free to disagree...lol.  I really like the composition in this one too, with the repetition of those posts. 

Plenty of spring color comin' your way, starting tomorrow!

Still more...

More cuteness!  Still working my way through the processing.  Trying to give a balance of black and white and color.  I love how black and white makes the subject pop and also brings out the cool textures in the tree, stone, etc. 

BTW...I went back to the Arboretum yesterday just to shoot flowers.  Lots of good colorful pics to share.  Stay tuned!

Comfort...

We had such a great day Friday...beautiful weather, a walk to the playground, sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and Kara and Nathan's birthday celebration.  A full day of smiles and laughter...but it was not without its drama.  Hannah bumped her mouth on the swing....Big. Crocodile. Tears.  But G-Pa is great at comforting.  Snapped this as we were walking home.  I know I'm looking through "Grammy goggles", but I love it. 

He makes her light up...

So great to see Nathan feeling better!  And it's a real treat having the kids here during golden hour. It only happens 2 or 3 times a year.  LOVE that backlight on her wild and crazy hair.  It was super windy!

Bursting your bubble...

My challenge for today was "a cliched shot".  Cute child + bokeh + bubbles + golden hour?  Yep, it's a cliche!

She bleeds purple...

Seriously, how cute is this girl???

Decisions, decisions...

I tried to use as many different angles as I could, to give her some range.  These serious shots are not necessarily her personality.  :)  This is a bubbly girl...and I definitely took those shots too.  But, while I had a willing model, I was happy to experiment.  Love the light in this. 

A closer crop of the above photo. Do you have a fave?  I'm on the fence.  Experimented with a layer of blended soft light in this again.  Love how it tends to help further separate the subject from the background. 

Framed....

 

The park is big and I didn't feel like lugging a lot of equipment with me, so I only brought my 2 favorite prime lenses.  I was feeling kind of proud of myself that most of the shots are already framed well and require no cropping.  I TRIED to really think about it as I was shooting.  And just as I was patting myself on the back, I remembered that I won't be that fortunate with Hannah and Abigail.  With little children, you grab what you can when the moment presents itself and it's not always ready straight out of the camera.  Ha ha....at least not until I get a better zoom lens.  Love love the background and framing in this....and those beautiful eyes!!

Ready, set, go...

Her sisters are quite a bit older than her, so she's been dreaming about college for a long time.  And now, it is almost here.  She's a horned frog, through and through!  Hard to believe she has been coming for piano lessons for 11 years...and before that, I had 11 years with her oldest sister!  How cool is it that I've been able to watch them both grow up?

I have only begun processing, but so far...this is my fave!  I just love the light in it and how relaxed and at ease she looks.  It is such a treat to have a willing model who is old enough to follow directions.  Ha ha! 

Soft...

Decided to try some new things, along with the "tried and true" for this shoot.  Was not too sure about this one when I was shooting, but I love how she softened her eyes here.  Also...I found it a little challenging to deal with the light as we were there in full sun.  Looked for as much open shade as I could and her dad helped a lot by holding up my reflector as a diffuser.  I do find that sometimes, those shade shots can feel a little "flat" even tho' the exposure is nice and even.  Have been experimenting with some different processing, adding a duplicate layer and blending in "soft light"...It's subtle, but I really like what it adds.  You just have to play with the opacity.  Definitely going to continue experimenting. 

Ahhh...spring!

Getting behind on the blog again, so prepare to be inundated with the only thing I have shot recently...senior portraits for my student.  lol.  Several more comin' up!  SO thankful for an afternoon to walk around in beautiful weather at the Arboretum.  Ironically, did not take a single flower shot, because I was focused on this sweet girl.  :)  Will need to go back soon.  Hopefully with the "littles". 

Tut, tut, it looks like rain...

Week 10 of the 52 Week Project.  Theme was "Sunshine".  Well...let me tell you about the little trick the weather has been playing on me for the last 4-6 weeks.  Every Grammy Day has been cloudy or rainy (or both).  Thursdays?....Abundant sunshine...usually warm too.  Then on Fridays....Cloudy. Cooler. Drizzling. Rain.  Oh well.  Give a 3 year old an umbrella and she can still have a good time!

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain." 

Living dangerously...

Maybe not so dangerous for the average kid...but for the cautious one, definitely!

Remember when...

Remember how much fun it was to play behind the curtains when you were a kid?  We'll have to make a fort one of these days when Abigail is a little older and can join in too.  :)

The princess and Frankenbaby...

Not the best shot, but classic Hannah and Abigail...Hannah so prim and proper and Abigail the WILD thing (with leaves in both hands AGAIN).  They crack me up!  My new nickname for Abigail is Frankenbaby...because she walks like Frankenstein...slowly with arms stretched out.  Ha ha!  One of these days maybe I can capture a walking pic.  So far, every time she sees the camera, she drops to her knees and crawls so she can come get it.  :)

Blowin' in the wind...

I've been busy (and sick) for a few weeks and haven't had much time for shooting except on Grammy Days, but I snagged about 5 minutes today to head outside with my macro lens.  NOTHING is blooming yet...so there's not a lot of pretty out there yet...at least not at our house.  But if I open my eyes and really try to SEE...sometimes I catch a glimpse of something out of the ordinary.  This is nothing special...just a bit of fluff blowing in the wind (and it was WINDY), caught on my Japanese Maple.  I just loved that moment when the sunlight hit it and it sparkled.

I'm heading to the Arboretum next week.  So ready for some spring COLOR!!!!

Yippee...

The fiddleheads are unfurling and you know what that means...Spring is on its way! 

Start your engines....

She LOVES this little car!  It makes quite a bit of noise and used to scare Hannah...but not this one.  From the time she could sit up, she has loved playing with it.  I love to watch her push it and crawl after it.  Speedy....both of them!

Hilarity...

Abigail is always laughing at her own little joke...and clearly, she thinks it's hilarious!  I wish you could have heard her "read" this story book.  And I wish I could understand more than a few words of her jabber. 

Just have to say how much I love our floor.  Doesn't it just transform pictures like this? With the light and reflections...very different from the shots I used to get with carpet. 

And, I am officially caught up on the blog for the first time since Christmas.  Of course, I'll be behind again by tomorrow.  :/