Collierville: always fun!

I've been kind of in a photo funk lately. Always humbled and honestly tired of being humbled when attempting photo shoots or just trying to get some quality shots. At any rate, my hubby and boys humored me this weekend as we headed to Collierville and I brought my camera along. It was blazing hot, but there's something about the town (the train tracks) that makes my boys giddy! I was quite thankful for the opportunity to just capture my boys being boys. Here are a few of the results. . .

nature called

I have definitely figured out at this point, that my main passion in photography is capturing faces, expressions, people and their lives. However, this little guy landed in our yard today and he was begging me to grab my camera. So, of course, I did! He was quite pretty and unfortunately hurt, as he stayed around for a while.

1/1000 sec., f/3.5, ISO 400, 24-70mm

1/1000 sec., f/3.5, ISO 400, 24-70mm

1/1600, f/2.8, ISO 400, 24-70mm

And since nature was giving me a chance today, I took a few other shots too!

1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 100, 24-70mm

1/1000, f/2.8, ISO 100, 24-70mm

1/1000, f/4.0, ISO 400, 24-70mm

1/100, f/4.0, ISO 100, 24-70mm

beautiful girls

We visited some friends recently who have 3 of the most unique, beautiful girls! Their eyes and lips and faces are such a combination of their mommy and daddy. "J", their oldest, was often playing with my oldest, so I didn't get many of her. However, I love this shot. . .

"Juju" their middle child was beyond amazing. Her eyes were piercing and sweet--there is so much going on in her head! I could NOT take my camera off of her!!!

I was also so excited to finally meet baby "M". She is such a happy baby--especially when Mommy was around, so I had to include Mommy in a photo too!

newborns--first attempts

A few months ago I was given the opportunity to photograph newborn babies thanks to a couple of friends of mine, who graciously gave birth to adorable little boys this past winter! Other than my own children, I had never taken photos of newborns, and that was well before the photography bug had bitten me! So, reminding my sweet friends, that I made NO guarantees on ANY good shots, they let me practice away! I learned different things from both "photo shoots" and can't wait to put them in to practice again---especially with our #3 on the way! Thank you Jennifers for letting me drool over photograph your precious boys! I want to eat them up!!!

Sweet baby H! So alert here and precious face!

I love that you can see the pores on his nose and the reflection in his eyes!

Getting tuckered out!

Ahhhhh newborn feet!! I love them!!

Precious baby C!! Mesmerized by his Mommy!

His eyes just grab me in this one!

Pure innocence!

Eyes, nose, mouth--adorable little face!

a beach update

Our trip to the beach was so much fun! I tried to balance enjoying all of the moments "in person" and capturing them with my camera, and I think I did a good job! There's nothing like the squeals of excitement when the boys experience new things, or at least things they don't experience everyday. Plus the beauty that God created. . .I am always in awe when I'm on the ocean!!

I went down to the beach one night to try to capture the sunset, but was a little late. This fellow was the only living thing on the beach (other than me). He wasn't phased by me at all!!

Reminds me of those Corona commercials on tv. Too bad I don't have the ocean playing in the background to give you the full effect! The beach=pure relaxation!

Hard at work! I wanted to capture just how hard at work our little guy was. He thought pouring sand in the bucket was a blast, but he was determined too!

All our big boy wanted to do was throw the frisbee with someone in the ocean. He was thrilled to run into the freezing cold water to retrieve it too!

Taking in the beauty!!

Brothers at play---little brother always following Big!

Just soaking it up!

ice land

Today was my first opportunity to use my camera to get some ice and snow shots! I was loving it! We definitely had more ice than snow, but that enticed me to capture the sparkles and icecicles that an ice storm brings! I chose to shoot both manually and with a focus on my aperture mode to get some shallow depth of field shots. My sweet husband allowed me plenty of time to practice while he played with the snow happy boys inside! Practice is what I need, and it's what I got! Thanks Sweets!

Jr. Photo Assistant Photowalk 2

For my next photowalk I planned to go downtown and shoot some of the river and Harbor Town. Turns out that my jr. photo assistant became the subject of many of my shots! He was intrigued by the tugboat and barge, the bridge, the rocks, etc. and I just had to capture him!

Finding the perfect rock!

 1/125 sec,  f/5.6, ISO 100,  55mm

My jr. photography assistant!

1/125 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100, 55mm

Sweet face!

1/125 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100, 55mm

Our bridge!

1/160 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100, 43mm

Charming Harbor Town!

1/80 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100, 55mm

My sister's downtown building!

1/60 sec, f/10.0, ISO 100, 55mm

First Photowalk of 2010!

I initally planned to go out and capture a sunrise, but the weather did not cooperate! After getting up and throwing on some clothes, it wasn't until I was pulling out of my garage before realizing that the sun wasn't out. But, I was determined to practice, practice, practice! So, I pushed forth into the gray, early Saturday morning hour and headed to Shelby Farms. I started with some ducks and the reflecting waters of the lake, but wasn't quite satisfied. I ventured around and finally discovered what I wanted my subject to be---very eager and friendly horses! The first picture is slightly overexposed, but I like it that way. It seems to give a softness to the horses. I was excited about how the horses were lining up in the second picture. It was fun to play with composition in this shot. And my last shot simply reminded me of two friends enjoying each other's company!