Light

Ok - get ready for picture overload on a Tuesday morning.  I had a weekend filled with photo editing and even some time to edit recent pictures I took of Hailey.  I am always blown away by her in photographs.  Looking at her pictures reminds me of one of my favorite excerpts by Robert Fulghum.


"I know some people who give off a lot of light. Because they have absorbed a lot of light themselves. They shine. This is not the kind of light you can actually see with your eyes, of course. But there are lots of parts of the spectrum of light we can't see. WE experience the results of its existence. It takes a different kind of looking.



To look this way is to see.

To see is to have vision.

To have vision is to understand.

To understand is to know.

To know is to become.

To become is to live fully.

To live fully is to matter.

And to matter is to become light.

And to become light is to be loved.

And to be loved is to burn.

And to burn is to exist.

Off and on.



Maybe the fireflies are on to something."

Hailey gives off a lot of light.  She always has.  It is amazing to me how in photographs of her the light always seems to come through.

We had such a fun time when we did a little mini photo session of her.  She was totally into posing - happy, serious, surprised - she was having a great time.

I just can't get enough of this girl.

In the city

On Monday we spent the day in the city.

Not the big city, but a bigger city than our own. I had an ulterior motive to spend a little time downtown and we couldn't let the summer of 2011 end without our annual summer visit to the Meijer gardens.

I didn't take a lot of pictures. Not for lack of subject matter or anything. It is just that we have been there often enough that the pictures look like the same thing except the subject has on a different outfit and is maybe a little taller. It didn't have anything to do with the fact that I had a senior photo shoot later that night and I needed to have space on my memory card.

Or maybe it had a little to do with that.

This Doovy of ours is getting so grown up looking.

Baby girl splashing in the fountain. As I sat and watched her doing this I remembered back to what seems like yesterday but was in fact three years ago when we were at the gardens and she wouldn't stop crying. It turned out that one of her poor little toes was mashed in her shoe. Once we got her bare foot she was ecstatic to play in this fountain.

We went on a kids tram tour of the sculptures for the first time. It was fun for the kids and gave them a chance to interact with the art. Evan really got into it. He was answering questions and working out ideas. Some girl next to him kept hearing what he was saying then would scream it out and get the credit for the thought. She was really irritating me.

Evan and Justin Beaver. I'm here all week folks.

My three kids cannot get enough of this old fashioned water pump. I think we should install one in our yard. It would keep them constantly occupied.

Evan loves the cacti room. He wanted to pretend he was going to sit on it. Hailey almost really knocked him into it after I got this shot. Luckily quick foot shifting and disaster was averted.

My motive for being in downtown Grand Rapids was to take some picture to submit to the Grand Rapids Photo Project. It is a project (obviously) that two women are working on for Art Prize. Basically there are six venues in the city that you need to photograph while standing on these bright orange footprints. I had heard about a couple other families that walked around downtown with their kids looking for footprints like it was a treasure hunt and having a fabulous time.

My kids were into it only until the first set of footprints was discovered. At that point they were over it. They wanted to go back to the car. Their legs were tired. Their toes were hurting. But Trent and I were on a quest. A quest to see a moose. Vacation reference.

Second shot. Grand Rapids Art Museum. Kids sitting pretending they are eating dinner.

Evan wanted to be the one to find the footprints, but would drag along behind with his tired legs. Then he would be furious when someone else found them.

Don't they look so happy to be walking around the city on a beautiful day? I mean what would they be doing at home besides watching TV or playing games on the computer. Mean parents trying to give them a little exercise and culture.

Fifth shot. Calder sculpture. Almost done kids. One more to go!

Little sister decided she would emulate the homeless and take up residence in Calder Plaza.

A painted wall as we walked toward the final shot. Big cities are so awesome.

My three footprint hunters after they found the final. It was a long and whiny road back to our vehicle.

And when we got to our vehicle - look what we found! It took us a bit longer than we anticipated. I hope that when we go back for Art Prize the kids are a little more excited about walking around. Maybe if we get them out of school for the afternoon like we did last year. Even tired feet are better than sitting in class! In hindsight, we could have planned it out much better. We ended up back tracking a lot and could have streamlined our route. It was an adventure in the city - someday we will look back and have a good laugh.

Her eyes...

Sometimes when I see her eyes all I can hear is Bruno Mars' song in my head. I still have no idea where those eyes came from.

The theme this week at i heart faces is beautiful eyes. Head on over there and check out some stunning photos by some amazing photographers.

Trick of the trade

I was editing pictures today from a recent photo gig and was very excited to learn a new photo trick. I have noticed that when I look at the pictures that I put on my blog, they don't look as crisp on the blog as they do in the pictures folder. I found out today that there is a little trick known as sharpening for web.

I decided to try it on two of my favorite photos from our vacation. I know I will have many more favorites. I haven't even begun to sort through the over seven hundred pictures I took on our eight days away from home. Gulp! How many rolls of film would that have been back in the day? I used to shoot mainly rolls of twenty four - so we are talking about around twenty nine rolls of film. A little excessive? Maybe.

Anyway here they are. SOOC shot:

Sharpened for web shot. I don't see a lot of difference here. I am wondering if it was because I had such a long exposure to catch the waterfall. I still love this shot.

I loved this picture the instant I took it. It is so hard to catch moments like this between these two. SOOC shot:

Sharpened for web shot. Holy smokes what a difference! I almost think it is too sharp. Hailey's hair looks a little "solid" or something.

Another thing to add to my pile of stuff to do. It is always fun to learn something new!

Yellow

The theme at i heart faces this week is yellow.

I knew I had just the right shot.

Shadow

This is one of my favorite photos. Of my favorite people. Taken at one of our favorite places. When I saw that i heart faces was featuring shadow photos this week, I knew I had to enter.


Head over to i heart faces to see more amazing shadow images.

Energy in my soul

"They know me in a way no one else ever has. They open me to things I never knew existed. They drive me to insanity and push me to my depths. They are the beat of my heart, the pulse of my veins, and the energy in my soul - they are my kids."

-Author unknown-

So typical. Spencer and Hailey are so much alike and Evan is always just doing his own Evan thing.

Photographing my own kids is so hard. I managed to get a few good shots. You don't want to know how many images I took. One of these may end up being my Christmas card - so if you see it on your card, pretend you didn't see it here first!