God's Mirror

Beautiful fall foliage from today

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully. 1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV

Irresistibly Adorable

Another Sunday, another photo shoot. :)

Some friends asked me to take their daughter's 1 year old pictures as well as a couple of family shots. I wasn't at all sure this one was going to happen though. It rained during the night and then poured while we were in church this morning. However, I wasn't scheduled to meet the family til 3:30. By then the weather had cleared. It wasn't sunny, but the lighting worked very well, and I was able to get some of the most adorable 1 year old shots!

What do you think?

















Don't you just want to kiss those adorable cheeks and eat her up?

Autumn Landscapes

When I was on my photo walk the other day, I took these photos of the autumn colors near our house, and I'm submitting them for the "Landscape" theme for this week's challenge at Perceptive Perspective.

Week 2 Photography Class Assignments

I'm so sorry for the extended absence. This past week has just been extremely busy, and I just haven't had time to blog. In fact, I finally submitted my photos for my photography class assignments tonight, too.

This week our photography class focused on shutter speed. I'm actually pretty proud of myself because I shot 2 of the 5 photos for the class using completely manual settings. They may not be spectacular, but I'm especially proud that I was able to adjust the shutter speed and ISO so that the lighting wasn't too bad.

Here are all my shots SOOC (with the exception of the "watermark").

Moving Water
f5, 1/320, ISO 3200 (Shot completely manually)


f5, 1/10, ISO 100 (Shot completely manually)


Daylight action taken at slow shutter speed to show motion
1/30


Low light action taken at slow shutter speed to show motion
I actually shot this at night on a tripod with a 15 second exposure for the shutter speed.


"Shoot Where You Are"
f4.5, 1/200, ISO 3200 (Shot completely manually)


I spent more time this week taking pictures in my bathrooms than ever before, trying to catch drops of water on "film" (How do you change that saying for digital cameras? "On memory card???" Doesn't have the same ring to it.) and adjusting my camera settings so that the lighting wasn't too dark. All in the name of photography!

Weekend of Water Fun

Some friends of ours have a lake cottage that has been in their family for 3 or 4 generations. (It was either our friend's grandfather or great-grandfather who built it.) They invited us to spend Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend there with them. We've been there with them before, and we jumped at the chance to go again!

Saturday was pretty cool, but some of the older kids were brave enough to do some tubing.





Meanwhile, some of the younger kids were just thrilled to ride along in the speedboat.

(Oldest Son was trying to warm up after tubing.)


When not tubing the kids spent much of the time in and out of the paddleboat, canoe, and docked pontoon boat. The cottage's lake frontage is wonderful for kids because you can walk out 100 ft, and the water is still only about 5 ft deep ... very shallow. However, we did have the kids wear life preservers when playing around by the shore, on the pier, and in the boats.

The Oldest and Oldest Son taking some of the younger kids for a canoe ride


Attack of the water gun soldiers!




The weather was warmer on Sunday, and all of the kids except for the Youngest took turns riding on the "hot dog." We adults and the kids who weren't riding the hot dog enjoyed cruising on the pontoon boat as it pulled the hot dog behind.




(This one is my entry into Paper Mama's "Excitement" photo challenge.)





Some of the kids even got to spend some time fishing off the pier and some of the docked boats.







What an awesome, fun weekend!

Summer Continues

Yes, it's still summer, although I'd be much happier if it was June or even July rather than August already. I am NOT ready for school to start again at the end of the month! At any rate, I'm going to enjoy the summer break while we have it.

The theme for the week at You Capture is "Summer." Last weekend we went camping with a group of people from our church. The campground had a pool, and we spent a LOT of time there, and I took a bunch of pictures that fit You Capture's theme.

Jumping in the pool quickly became the activity of choice for the boys.




When Hubby and I first tried to coax the Youngest to jump in the pool into Hubby's arms, Hubby practically had to pull him in. The second time the Youngest kept squatting down, and we kept telling him to stand up and jump. He squatted and stood about 5 times before jumping in. After that, jumping in was almost all he wanted to do!


Look at our big muscles!


Our water nymphs

Splash Pad

The other week I took the kids over to our town's new splash pad and was able to capture some fun memories.

(My submission for another "Blue" theme, this time over at the Thursday Challenge)

(My submission for "Pure Joy" at Perceptive Perspective)
***UPDATED to say that I won this photo challenge!

I'm also submitting both of these pictures for Simplicity's "Summer" theme.

Mountain Valley

Unique Exposure's theme this week is "Vertical Landscape."

And, guess what?! I just happen to have a pic I took in Glacier that fits the bill! :)



I really like the bowl shape formed by the glaciers with the stream running through the center.

Be sure to go to Unique Exposure to view more vertical landscapes.

Summer Fun

The new photo theme at Thematic Photographic is "Summer". (Click the link to see more summer photograph submissions.)

Nothing says "Summer" to me more than kids playing in the sprinkler and running around in their swimsuits having waterfights.

Waterfights are serious business


Garbage can lids make great shields


Last second decision to go around the sprinkler


Sprinkler hair washing
(our girls and the neighbor girls)

C is for ...

... cascading water.

I took these pictures while on one of our hikes near our hotel. Both of them are of the same waterfall. The first was taken with a faster shutter speed, the second with a slower shutter speed. Which do you like better?





I'm partial to the second one where the water has a silky look to it.

Go to Unique Exposure to find out what else C can be for.

Our Family on Vacation

Thanks for being so patient while I've been going through all the pictures I took while on our vacation to Glacier, cropping and editing them.

This week's photo theme at Thematic Photographic is "Family." (Click on the link to see more participants in the "Family" theme.)

I've chosen "family" as this week's Thematic Photographic theme because as time goes on, I realize little else matters beyond this. It's the one constant in most of our lives, the one foundation on which all the other good things - career, health, interests, etc. - are ultimately built. Many of us are lucky to be surrounded by strong families, while others, sadly, wish that could be the case.

Since I tend to wear the family thing on my sleeve, anyway, I thought it might be fun to explore it for the next week. As you both capture and choose which photos to share - and let's be clear, you're free to participate as often as you wish - please give some thought to the definition of family. Specifically, it doesn't always necessarily have to be someone directly related to you.

What better way to showcase some of my favorite pics of some of my favorite people from our trip?

We stayed at the Izaak Walton Inn. It had a pool table in the basement that got much use from us in the mornings, especially by our Oldest Son.

We stopped at many lakes and rivers while on our trip. The kids (and Hubby) had fun playing on their shores.

Something for everyone to do

Looking for treasures

I counted to three and all three boys were supposed to throw a rock in the water at the same time. This shot looks like an image progression of the a toss instead.

All tuckered out after a long day of hiking

The main reason we went to Glacier was to see the mountains.
(Hubby took this picture of our Middle Child at Logan Pass.)

We walked the Trail of the Cedars. Here the kids are resting like bumps on a log.

I like this pic because it shows their different personalities:Oldest=trepidacious
Younger Daughter=a bit of a diva/princess
Youngest=happy and willing to go along with whatever the big kids are doing
Oldest Son=does NOT like having his picture taken unless it's his idea
Middle Child=goofy personality and doesn't care what others think (Just look at the socks!)

Our family at Many Glacier

(We asked someone who was standing nearby to take this picture of all of us.)

Our bookend children taking a rest while on one of our many hikes