I ♥ Faces: Best Face Photo

The i ♥ faces challenge this week is Best Face Photo taken during the month of May. I was blessed to have been able to shoot senior photos for a set of twins - friends of my daughter, and now friends of mine - and I immediately thought of this capture. I lightened it up in photoshop and gave it a gauzy, misty look. I love the expression on her face! So dreamy and thoughtful! To check out other Best Face Photos, head on over to i heart faces here.

Thanks To Our American Heroes!

It's Memorial Day again. Every year at this time, I take a few minutes to think about the sacrifices so many are making, and have made, so that I can live my life the way I want to. Free to make my own decisions. Free to come and go as I please. Free to follow my God. Free to follow His will. Free to have the lifestyle we have, to have the 'things' we have, free to have the liberties we have. Free to be. I think about my dad and his buddies, my father-in-law and his buddies, and the fellows and ladies we know today that serve so I, my husband, and children can be FREE. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

TOMS: One For One Campaign

I'm sure you've most likely heard of Toms. If not, let me enlighten you. Kali and I are currently in Orlando, enjoying festivities leading up to her high school graduation tomorrow. Last night, we went to Downtown Disney to walk around (and buy jelly bellies for me and yellow bananas for Mark.) At the surf shop, we noticed a rack of Toms shoes and went over to check them out. 

There was this really nice lady named Sasha hand-painting designs on some Toms at a side table. Kali found a pair of jade Toms that she wanted. They had a denim pair that I wanted but the only pair they had was a size 5. I don't remember ever wearing a size 5 shoe, although I probably did when I was like ten or something. Anyway, I started talking with Sasha, she complimented the feather shirt I was wearing, one thing led to another, and a short while later I left with the peacock feathered shoes on the right. 

I posted this same picture on my facebook page and left this comment with the question, which pair do you believe belong to the teenager. Got some great comments on that post! Such fun! I'm wearing my new shoes now, and they are sooooooo comfortable.

For those of you who don't know what Toms are, they are a company that donate one pair of shoes to a needy child for every pair you buy. They match it - one for one. I've been wanting a pair of Toms for a long time, so glad that I finally have a pair. A really cool pair! And the best part? Sasha sold another pair because a customer saw mine and loved them! You can check out Toms and sign up for their newsletter at www. toms.com.

i ♥ faces Yellow Challenge

The i ♥ faces' challenge this week is yellow. My first thought was that everyone will be sharing flower field shots, which I love!, but I wanted to post something different. I've started making scripture photos for the students - it's something I love to do and hopefully they are a meaningful addition to the family portraits. This is one of my favorites, because I love this young lady! If you'd like to see any of my other scripture photos, here is a link to my facebook album. Hopefully it will work for you.

To view all the other Yellow photos, or to post one of your own, head on over to I Heart Faces!

Dive Bombing. Who Knew?!

So, we spent a few days at Cedar Key last week. It had been miserably hot here at home, so we thought a few days in the water would be awesome! Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the weather man. The highs were in the low to mid 70's the entire time we were there. So we had to content ourselves with looking at the water.

There were a load of pelicans - down by the pier. Pelicans and seagulls.

The pelicans just kind of took on a life of their own.

They would swim around in the water.

Watching and waiting . . .

. . . then all of a sudden they would lift their wings . . .

. . . lift out of the water . . .

. . . take off like a shot . . .

. . . circle around and ...

. . . nose dive straight into the water. (It looks like the bird to the far left is laughing at the other one - haha!)

Over and over and over again.

We watched as bird after bird did this, then rose straight out of the water to circle around and do it again. Many times they had small fish in their bills.

Then they'd fly straight under the pier, and do it all over again. What a show they put on! And I love this last shot I got with the new lens Mark got me awhile back! Lots of fun, even though it wasn't spent swimming as we had planned. Kali and I did get in the pool a couple times, but after our lips turned blue we got back out again - haha!

Rise on Wings

Photo taken at Cedar Key, Florida, this past week on our cold-in-the-middle-of-May vacation.

Getting Married In Style

Awhile back I posted about the In His Wakes banquet and auction. At the silent auction, I won a day with local photographer Brenda Thornton. Part of my day with Brenda was to accompany her on an extended bridal shoot for an upcoming wedding. Mostly I watched and learned, but I was also able to take some shots of my own. The bride, and her family, own some pretty legit vehicles that Brenda incorporated into the shoot. This car was one of two cars - owned by the bride's parents - that were part of the shoot.

Pretty awesome car, immaculate condition! Hopefully before long you will see photos of the bride and groom in front of the church with this car, and also in front of the old county courthouse building - which required the city police shutting down traffic on one block for Brenda's photo shoot to happen.

Dad's tractor. Lots of good pictures with the bride, sitting in the driver's seat. We also used a bicycle, another car (not good with cars, I think it was a ford something, sorry,) and a motorcycle - that belongs to the bride! What a fun shoot! Thanks, Brenda, for letting me tag along, it was a great afternoon!

i ♥ faces Flowers

The i ♥ faces' challenge this week is flowers! Amy and Angie are on vacation, enjoying a little relaxation, so there is no competition this week. Just plenty of gorgeous flower shots for us to enjoy! This one above being my favorite flower shot to date!

Closely followed by this one because it is one of the very first ones I ever took. Successfully. With a little point and shoot camera that I eventually wore out.

This would be my next favorite. I shot this at a friend's house in Florida, during the summer, my first insect shot (or whatever a grasshopper is.)


Recently I visited a botanical garden in Florida where I took the above shots.


The above shots of roses were taken in Columbia, South Carolina, not long ago. Kali and I were at CIU for an NCFCA Qualifying Speech and Debate tournament - the story of our lives of late.

From Regent University near Virgina Beach, Virginia.

The flower field near our home. I love to go there in the spring and shoot pictures. There doesn't even need to be people in the shots for me to be happy - haha! That chair belonged to my grandparents, it came over on a ship from England, many years ago. The quilt top is one I made.

Back down to the swamps of Florida. Taken at sunset from the porch of a restaurant we loved. It has since closed to business, as have so many other wonderful places.

From a friend's wedding. The bride and groom are serious Florida Gator fans. The wedding colors? Orange and blue!

Not a great photo, but one I love a lot!



Random shots near home.

More flowers from Columbia, South Carolina.

Olney, Maryland, the location of Kali's national commissioning with the Institute For Cultural Communicators, this past year.

A very recent wedding :). . .

. . . and one of my favorite pictures ever! It's the wallpaper on my ipad and my laptop! Also from the botanical gardens.

To check out a load of other flower shots, or to post some of your favorites, head on over to I Heart Faces here!

Sneak Peek Senior Shoot

What fun! These beautiful ladies asked me, through my daughter, to shoot their senior pictures. Of course, I said yes! We headed out to the flower field, which didn't really yield all that many flowers this year, then we headed to the nearby barns where their horses live. Those were my favorite shots of the day. It's going to take awhile to edit everything and have it ready, but here is an excellent sneak peek of what's to come. Thanks for asking me to help document your senior year! I had a blast!

Senior Prom, 2011

A group of students asked me to come take pictures of them as they prepared to leave for prom. I took 294 pictures of this group of fifteen. I picked out the best ones and edited them in a variety of formats. Then I decided to pick the 5 that I liked best, and post those here. Trying out a new brush with my blog name. I think I like the way it looks. Anyway, here are my 5 top picks.




This last photo is one of my all-time favorite shots. They had no idea I was clicking this shot - so it was a truly natural, unposed shot. I can't believe I trimmed 294 pictures down to this five! And, yes, I did notice that three of the pictures are of the same young lady. What can I say - she's photogenic :). And beautiful!

Tara and Keith Get Married

What a beautiful bride! And what a happy groom!

Tara works with Kali. We were so excited when she asked us to shoot her wedding! This was the first wedding we've done where the bride wanted to do photos before the wedding. That worked out great!

Tara's father is affiliated with the fire department, so the wedding was held at the fire training facility.

She looks so much like her beautiful mom!

Tara and Keith have a very loving family - they all seem to really "like" each other, so the family shots were a piece of cake!


One of my favorite shots from the day.

Tara is blessed to have two incredible sisters! . . .

. . . and what a hoot they are when you get them together!

Only to be surpassed by this little lady asking Tara if it was time for "the birds and the bees" talk.

Then she burst out laughing at the look on Tara's face. What a great lady!

Did I mention Tara's great sense of humour? Keith better stay on his toes.

Just beautiful!



And Tara and Keith are married!

Mardi Gras celebration!


And as the celebration wound down, this is what was going on outside . . .


Have a wonderful marriage! And thanks for inviting us to share the day with you! Love you so much!