Weekly Header Challenge -- Fun Fun Fun

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Fishing Guy 

Kathy 

Imac 

Lew

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 ~ Fun Fun Fun

Chosen by Tom.

This week's theme gave me an excuse to go back through all my photos from the year and reminisce about the fun times.  I admit there weren't too many, since this was--and continues to be--a rough year for us.  There were, however, wonderful moments of levity which I share with you today.

For my header, even though it was hard to crop, I chose this photo of me having fun for my 50th birthday.

I'm totally claiming credit for this image, because even though Fernando snapped the shutter, I set everything up for him!

Here are some other "fun, fun, fun" times from my year...

Fun with a can of whipped topping.

Ice cream at the lake is always fun!

Below was my first experience with a handgun (a revolver).  I loved it, and loved that I was actually good at it.  Look at that grouping!  And, I did it in a summer dress!  It was so much fun that we shoot fairly regularly now.

After helping a friend move, Fernando and Thomas had fun with the dolly at the storage facility (taken with my phone).

When we get together with Allie's family (Jake's girlfriend), we always have fun.  This is another one taken with my phone.  It seems that fun is generally spontaneous and my phone is more readily available than my camera.  :)

Fun is when a friend's adult daughter invites you over to teach you how to make bubble tea (a Taiwanese beverage).  It was interesting!

 Bubble tea.

Finally, it is fun--and heart-melting--to watch your adult son charm two little girls into hanging out with him while at a friend's house for a sing-along event.

 Coloring time together!

Aren't they simply adorable?


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Weekly Header Challenge -- Unexpected Photo Result

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew

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 ~ Unexpected Photo Result

Chosen by Tom.

I really struggled with this week's theme, but I finally decided to go through my football images and see if there were any I could use.  I was the team photographer for the Crossroads Crusaders, a traveling homeschool football team, and I figured I could find some unexpected results in the gobs of pictures I took.  I decided on my header by way of this story:

We were down near St. Louis for a game against another homeschool team, the Panthers, a few weeks ago.  We were really beating them, too, so the guys were in high spirits.  At halftime, they grouped in the end zone to rest (it was in the 80s, so very hot for them wearing all their gear) before the second half began.  I started snapping candids of the players, who were laughing, smiling, and generally having a good time together.  Here are some shots I got...

Then I came across Marcello, whom the kids call Bus--because when you run into him, it's like running into a bus:  you just fall down.  And you don't want him falling on you, either.  He knew I was aiming the lens at him (he told me later), so he made a face.  This is what I found when I downloaded all the images from the game:

My full header image.

I edited it with the words, "But Coach, this IS my game face!" and put it on Facebook, where it became an instant hit with all his teammates and friends.  Glad I could help him out!  When I processed all the images, I found that Marcello had made a face every single time I aimed the camera at him!  Here are the rest of his faces.

To be fair, Marcello is a super nice guy, so in his honor, here he is leading his team out of the locker room at their homecoming game.

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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Weekly Header Challenge - Thinking

It's time for the Weekly Header Challenge!

"Headbanger" Participants

Craver VII 

Fishing Guy 

Katney 

Imac 

Lew 

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 ~ Thinking

In addition to having to think about this week's theme, I also had to think about how I was going to upload photos, write, and publish today's blog post without internet access.  Fortunately, our internet is back up today, and I had just enough time this morning to upload a few images to portray this week's theme.

Here is my header image, in full:

It is a picture of me--I set up my pose, and used my tripod and remote shutter release.  I had taken it for a blogger group's photography challenge a few years back, and I think it best portrays the theme of Thinking.  Just sitting in front of a warm, cozy winter fireplace, thinking about spring.  Besides being a great thinking image, I think it's a great image for today since we're once again facing one of the coldest days of winter.  :)

Here are just a few more that I could find in the few minutes I had once our internet was working again.  This first one was taken at a mother/daughter event, using my 70-300mm lens.  She didn't know I was taking this, so I think I got a sweet thinking pose without even trying.

My only other "thinking" image is from another event, a Columbus Day cook-off.  I was the photographer for the day, which was a lot of fun since I knew over half the people there.  This guy below is my cousin, Al, and he posed for me with pen in hand, thinking about which dish would get his vote for first place.

I can't take selfie credit for the below; Danny had grabbed my camera and snagged this shot of me.  On Christmas night, after everyone left, someone realized we had never looked in our stockings.  Some sweet angel had put several gift cards in mine!  We were goofing off, and I grabbed my stocking stuffers and held them like a deck of cards.  I'm thinking, "Now--which place will I go first, and what will I get?"

I hope y'all had more time to think about your thinking post today!  Can't wait to see what my fellow "headbangers" have thought up!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 -- Week 27

Project 2012 -- Week 27

July 1-7

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!

I took so, so, so many images last week!  Independence Day is a very special holiday; I am passionately excited about the birth of our nation, and about the ideals upon which it was founded.  With get-togethers, fireworks, friends, and other activities, it sure made for a busy week.  Here are my seven favorites from last week:

Danny brought my camera to church to document the sound system, since we'll be on vacation and we trained some new "recruits" to work the sound board during the service.  Danny very thoughtfully created a how-to manual for the sound system.  Since I had my camera at church, I took it outside and wandered the grounds at Naper Settlement, took a few shots, and then the girls came around.  Miss S (below) loved hamming it up for me.  :)

[183] Silly girl

Below is my friend's clematis; it's beautiful, don't you think?

[184] Purple clematis

Independence Day dawned bright and cloudless and hot.  Hot.  Did I mention hot?  It had hit 100+ on July 3, and on the 4th our car thermometer registered 104 degrees at 1:40pm when we reached our destination:  a back yard church Independence Day picnic.  One of the dads has a genuine Jeep; I took the opportunity to experiment with lens flare and sun stars.  I'm kinda proud of how the below image turned out.  :)

 [185] American

My friend's little boy seemed to enjoy the day, and especially the watermelon.  Isn't he just darling?  I think so, too.

[186] A day for watermelon

I'll have a whole separate post for the fireworks, which we actually went to on July 3.  We're so glad we did, too--I was feeling rather sick at the end of our Independence Day celebration, what with being out in the heat all afternoon and all.  We had gone to the fireworks with a bunch of friends the evening before in Naperville, and felt totally fine with skipping a second night of fireworks in Warrenville.  Below is from the fireworks finale.

[187] Fireworks finale

Aaand, even though it hit 104 degrees again on Friday, Frisbee was on the schedule and so we bravely drove to the designated Frisbee field.  The guys and girls decided to play on the smaller field so they wouldn't have to run as much, but they were still super sweaty and thirsty at the end of the evening.  Below, Thomas impeded Adam's chase of the Frisbee.  Adam is pretty hart to block, and we're all proud of Thomas "taking one" for his team.  ;)

[188] Blocking Adam

I brought my camera to the Frisbee game to practice taking action shots.  Not being a sports photographer, I think it's fun to try a different aspect of photography.  But, a baby came along and I kept switching between action shots (of Frisbee) and action shots (of little Keaton and his adoring family and fans).  Here he is below with his auntie.

[189] Adorable, adoring

I love babies.  I'm glad I have a camera to capture all the sweetness they give.  I hope you had a super week filled with memories!  Can't wait to see what you've been up to!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Project 2012 Week 24 -- June 10-16

Project 2012 -- Week 24

June 10 - June 16

How to Link Up With Us

1.  Click here to read the Project 2012 Guidelines, and to get the code to place in your blog.
2.  Fill out the little form below (insert the URL of your blog post, not the main URL of your blog).
3.  Please visit others' links and leave comments; you will receive visits and comments in return!

My Week 24 Photos

Last week was a relaaaaaaaxing week.  :)  I didn't do much at all, except for capturing some images from my back yard vegetable garden.  We had a garage sale this past weekend, and endured 90+ degree heat.  I'm still tired from being out there all day!  Without further ado, here's what I found in my harvest garden.

[162] Lettuce harvest

Oh, this (below) is not from my garden!  This is Danny being silly with a cornucopia basket my mom was planning on selling in our garage sale.  :)

 [163] Cornucopia Kid

Okay, back to the garden.  Danny hollered at me to put my macro lens on Ellie and run outside, which I did only to discover the below little guy.  And little he was--he's a praying mantis nymph, and was maybe half an inch long, really tiny.  I caught two or three great images of him.  Isn't he cool?

 [164] Praying mantis nymph

 [165] Marigold

[166] Garlic scape

[167] Tomato blossoms

More insects!  This guy was flitting around the garden, landing for only a few seconds each time before taking off.  But I managed to capture him sunning himself on the wire of one of the tomato cages.

[168] Dragonfly on tomato cage

I look ahead to one more sort-of lazy week, then I need to get my act together and get some things done!  Hope you had (and will have another) lovely week of summer!!


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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Newborn Portrait Session -- Not!

I was all set to do a newborn portrait session in my clients' home.  I had all my props, my gear, and the car for the afternoon.  I was ready for anything.

Little A was just finishing his feeding when I arrived, and he seemed content.  I happily shot a few shots of his darling sister once I set things up.

Isn't she an angel?  I don't think you can take a bad shot of Miss J.  She loves the camera; and of course, the camera loves her.  Her whole face lights up when she smiles.

Once her little brother was settled, we set him in my basket and I snapped a few preliminary shots.

Isn't he precious?  It may look like he was sleeping, but alas, no.  Mama had eaten some raw veggies the day before, and I think his little tummy didn't like it.  No, not one bit.  He gave me a yawn...

...Miss J sweetly kissed him...

...and in another several seconds, this is what met our eyes (and ears):

He proceeded to fuss, cry, holler, and fuss some more for three hours.  Alas, there was to be no newborn portrait session that particular day.  It was a great learning time for me, though, and I captured some sweet little girl portraits.

Miss J had to climb into the basket I set up for Mr. A, so I captured her silliness.

I was blessed.  I learned a lot, got some sweet girly portrait images, fed a family, and had great fellowship.  I even got to rock the baby.  All in all, a very good afternoon.  :)


Treasuring life's moments,
Christine

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