Team Celebration | Naperville, IL Event Photographer

I unofficially became the team photographer for Alpha Omega Math Club.  :)

Because of that, I got to take pictures of the awards ceremony held after the ICTM State Competition. The students had a great year, and really enjoyed the friendships, math, competitions, and celebrations.  Enjoy these images of awards and celebration! 

Regina, the leader of Alpha Omega.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Carthage and Bluegrass

This sign says it all:

Another Wednesday evening concert in the little village of Carthage.  This particular concert had me tapping my foot, clapping my hands, and bobbing my head for two hours.  It's hard to take pictures when you're doing that.  But I did okay.

Meet the Atkinson family bluegrass band.  And Nate--he's the mandolin player on the left.  He also plays fiddle, really well.  Here he is, below.  Too bad you can't hear how he played; it was awesome.

Below is the patriarch of the family, and the banjo player.  He played great.  In fact, the whole band played great.

Many who came to the steel drum concert the week before returned for this concert.  That gave me some opportunities to take some candid shots of the audience.

The bass player (below) married into the family; she played and sang beautifully.

The ladies sing a cappella

Pink must have been the clothing theme of the night; I spotted several girls wearing that color, and couldn't resist taking their pictures.

Love the below!  Talk about candid!

I saved two little pink-clad girls for last, because they were just so incredibly cute.  I couldn't decide which images to choose, so you get them all.  Enjoy the little-girly-girl show!

Okay, I think I just adore this last shot--their expressions, the twirling legs, the flying hair.  Just cute, cute, cute.  :)

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Sweet Summer's Eve

We recently invited our church family to our house for an end-of-summer get-together.  We had a beautiful time of fellowship, with children providing the evening's entertainment.  No TV needed here!  A dog-barking app on a friend's iPad was sufficient to amaze this little child.  The expressions on Miss E's face were priceless, and I caught only one of them.

I love the family interaction of this image, with mama and her two girls, and daddy looking on.

Cindy practiced being a grandmama, holding Joy's and Thomas' baby.

Little Mr. A is starting to look just like his older sister, and his personality is just starting to emerge.  He's such a cutie!

Little Miss J and Little Miss E sat themselves down in the doorway, and this was one time I didn't mind shooing someone away so we could shut the door.  :)

I took several shots of them, and fell in love with them all.  For the below image, I applied my own pre-set called Summer's Eve to the image.  I love the vintage look of this winsome photo.

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 33

Project 2012 -- Week 33

August 12-18

Welcome to my Project 2012 weekly post!  This is my time for looking back over the past week, choosing my seven favorites images, and sharing them here with you.  If you have a project you're working on, please leave a comment so I can visit your blog and see what you're up to!

My week started off with a get-together of family and friends, and a nice little stash of images on my memory card.  We had a great evening watching little girls, being entertained by their expressions and actions.

[225] Enjoyment

[226] Little friends

The rest of my week was filled with helping Jacob get ready for dorm life.  One of the nicer things we did was to go out for one last dessert night.

[227] Custard!

On Friday, we loaded the car and took off to WIU to get Jacob settled in his dorm.

[228] Loaded car

[229] Moving

[230] Higgins Hall

After helping Jacob get moved in, we took him and his roommate out for pizza, then took some pictures back at his dorm building.  I love the goofy shots that get captured while I'm getting all the camera settings straight.  Below is one of them.

[231] My five guys

Jacob is moved in and hopefully settled at school.  He has entered a new season of life, and so have we.  I miss him, though.  And I know it will get easier.  God is good.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Candid Images from Independence Day

I love celebrating Independence Day!  Our church hosts a wonderful get-together, and it feels like one humongous family.  Even though it was tortuously hot--104 degrees--we had a good time.  Here are some of my favorite candid images from our celebration together.

One of the dads created this really cool sprinkler, which they hooked up in the back yard.  Even the dads had a great time running through the spray!

The kids enjoyed it, too, of course.

This industrial-strength fan was a great help to those sitting around it!

Then there were those insane folks who played volleyball in the extreme heat.

This sweet girl was visiting with her parents.

We always share great conversation!

Kenton brought his vintage Jeep, too, which was pretty cool.

While the intrepid grillers grilled...

...we enjoyed games of corn toss (bags).

And some of the boys were enjoying watching Kenton fire off his mini cannon.

Food is always a feature of every gathering of Christians, and this day was no exception.

We even had musical accompaniment to our meal time.  The Sons of Liberty played patriotic music, creating a great atmosphere and reflecting the emphasis of the day's celebration.

Little ones are always fun to capture.  :)

We then had patriotic presentations.  Below, Jim read the Declaration of Independence to the audience.

The Fox River Five & Drum Corps played for us as well.  (They did not wear their wool uniforms due to the heat, but we didn't care.)

There are always distractions during any presentation, and this little boy was pointed out to me.  So of course I had to capture him.  :)

Girls' Choir

Way off in the back of the crowd, Miss J got ahold of a soccer ball.

Caleb and Andrew sang for us.

Mr. J was sweaty but happy.  Isn't he cute?

Thomas sang for us.  He has an amazing voice.

Of course, you know that my Ellie is attracted to babies and little ones.  So, here are a few of those images to round out our day together.  :)

Miss A took this opportunity to attempt to eat a candy bar while it was still in the wrapper.  Yum.

What a great day capturing lots of memories, both with my camera and treasured in my heart.


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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