Weekly Header Challenge -- Why Did I Take That Shot?

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

I'm joining the group above for this weekly challenge.

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Why Did I Take That Shot?

Chosen by Tom.

Here is the image I used for this week’s theme:

So...why did I take that shot?  Well, we were visiting friends in South Carolina a few weeks ago, and I did a mini "portrait session" with each of the kids for them (I had done a family session with them several years earlier and they needed updated photos).

As I was getting my camera ready, six-year-old Emma came up to the screen door and pressed her face into it--so naturally I took a picture.  :D

Here's a much sweeter photo of Miss Emma...

Another one I decided to take of the three youngest girls being goofy (except for Miss Charlotte on the right; she just looks sweet).

Ahh, Miss Lily!  The two-year-old who wouldn't sit still.  So I decided to take a few photos of her "in action."  Thus, the below...

And one super cute one of super cute Lily!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Looking Up

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

I'm joining the group above for this weekly challenge.

Visit the other participants' blogs to see their entries!

Theme ~ Looking Up

Chosen by Tom.

For this week's theme, I traveled back in time to our silver anniversary trip to Paris.  Although pictures don't do justice to the view, it's pretty amazing standing at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower and looking up.  Here is the uncropped image I used for this week's header:

Closer to home is another tower--the Moser Tower which houses the Millenium Carillon in Naperville.  At the bottom, looking up, you can see a series of bells, from the largest bell, "Big Joe," to the smaller and smaller ones, until you have to climb the stairs to see the smallest bells of the carillon.

At the very top of the Moser Tower, you can look up and see the sky.  I took a picture, then turned 90 degrees and took a second picture for a different look.  I do like the second one better, though both are visually interesting.

In Chicago, you can find many old churches, one of which is Notre Dame de Chicago, which boasts this beautiful dome in its sanctuary.

Lots of signs can be seen if you look up; here is one of my favorite ice cream shops, in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.

Finally, here's one old image I took at a springtime church picnic.  Daddy sure had to look up so he could catch his little son!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Strings

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew
Tom W 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Strings

Chosen by Kathy.

Below is the full image of my header--look at all those strings!

Detail of harp strings.

I almost went for the literal interpretation, which would be the below image.

But, I went with the musical connotation of strings.  Here are two harpists playing their strings.

The violin is also a beautiful stringed instrument.

When you combine certain strings, you get a bluegrass band!

This is the Atkinson family bluegrass band.  I blogged about them after a summer trip to my beloved Lake Bonaparte.

You have to dance to this music, or at least tap your toe.  If you're not moving while this music plays, you're pretty much dead.  ;)

Dancin' to bluegrass.

From the Atkinson's in New York I take you to the Winton family from California!  This family came to a church near us, and we went at a friend's invitation.

The above is one of the two brothers; when he was 16, he was the champion banjo picker for the whole state of California.  Needless to say, their music was phenomenal.

He also plays the dobro, below.

On to the guitar!  This young man is Andy Kenway, and you can listen to many of his own songs at this link.  He has a great passion for music, learning the guitar in a mere three weeks.

He also plays the mandolin, one of my favorite bluegrass instruments.

His brother Dan is no slacker when it comes to music.  Below, Dan plays his hand-made fiddle.

When Andy and Dan and a few of their musical friends get together, children tend to get up and dance.  See?

Dancin' in my living room!

These young men are very personable, too!  Below, Dan's and Andy's friend Dale helps Elijah play his violin.  They're all pretty special.

I hope you've "strung" together some great images of strings!  Can't wait to visit you all to see!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge - Smile

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew
Tom W 

I'm joining in the group above for this weekly challenge.

Click on the other participants' blogs to see

what they've come up with!

Theme ~ Smile

A big welcome to Tom W, a new (to me) participant in the Weekly Header Challenge!

What a great theme this week!  Many of us need a nice, big smile after our long, cold, snowy winter.  In choosing my images, I went for the cuteness factor.  And what can be cuter than kids?  Not much.  :)

I also stuck with my current images, choosing from ones I've taken just this year.  The main reason for that is I don't have to change catalogs in my editing software (Lightroom), which adds an extra headache or two onto the process.  Someday I'll be able to dedicate a whole day--which is what it'll take--to getting some help debugging the software; for now, I stuck with my current year's catalog.

Here's my full header below, taken at a wedding just last weekend.  I didn't cut too much off the image, since everything from top to bottom is vital to its composition.  I love all their expressions, these cute little flower girls and ring bearers!  I love the two ladies peeking around the door to make sure the kids start down the aisle at just the right moment.  I love that they're all sweetly holding hands.  And I love those cute silver shoes, too.

And, I love how, as they walked down the aisle, they made everyone smile.

In my cache of images, I went back a few weeks to another wedding, in mid-February in Texas.  We were blessed with 70-degree weather and no rain for this particular wedding--just one week later they were in the 30s with rain, freezing rain, and sleet!

Below, the little flower girl (daughter of the groom) was twirling through the barn in her pretty dress.  I saw her twirling and immediately started shooting.  Only afterwards did I realize my settings were all off, since she was twirling in the light and my camera settings had been set for the dark interior of the barn.  With a lot of tweaking (I don't think it's called tweaking at that point!) I was able to save the series of images.

These two young men are brothers.  The little guy has Down Syndrome, and I have a special place in my heart for special kids like him.  He was a sweetheart, and when I asked the pair if I could take their picture, they immediately snuggled in together, arm in arm, and smiled for me.

That cute twirling flower girl gained a mama that afternoon, and here they are hugging after the ceremony, the new mama wearing her beautiful wedding dress and daddy's suit jacket to ward off the wind.

That's all the smiles I could find this week; I can't wait to smile some more as I visit your blogs!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Little Cutie | Chicago Portrait Photographer Children

Life has overtaken our family.  I haven't posted in a while, but that simply means I have been busy.  In fact, busy doesn't even describe our recent life.  So "catch-up" is the name of the game for me.

Here is a cutie I was privileged to photograph recently.  Her image is plastered all over my website, too.  Now you know how much I love this little sweetheart!

Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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