Favorite Photo Friday

I'm taking a photography class.  This week's subject/homework was "portraits."  FINALLY... something I like to photograph.    I've spent the last 7 weeks photographing "stuff", which is extremely difficult and uninteresting to me.  These photos have to be "untouched" or "straight out of the camera" so I couldn't do any editing to them, which is very difficult for me because I want colors to pop, edges to blur, etc.  But still, these are my fav photos of the week because they are of my fav people.

This is my neighbor's son.  Don't you love those soulful eyes?  That furrowed brow?  He looks so serious, which belies his goofy, daredevil nature.  I also really love the freckles, which you don't notice so much when you look at him in person. 

If you notice nothing else about this photo, please note how dirty his knees are.  That says it all.

And on the same day, my daughter was clean and looking for the tiny little purple flowers that are coming up in our clover.  This photo is just screaming to be monochrome, but I can't touch it until after class! :(

My precious!

This is the brother of the boy in the first photo.  Isn't he just the yummiest?  Oooh!  And he squeals with this high-pitched delighted squeal that drives his mama insane, but secretly I think it's cute!:)  The focus is way off in this photo.  I zeroed in on his hands instead of his nose and my aperture was too large to capture everything crisply.  See, I KNOW what I'm doing wrong, I just can't seem to correct it. 

I love this photo of Liam.  I think I love it because it so captures who he is.  One of our portrait assignments was to capture the essence of the person we were photographing in one shot.  I had planned to get a photo of my friend Melanie with her daughter, Hope, because I think above all else, Melanie is a defender of children the world would discard and Hope embodies that.  But this photo, which I was just goofing around with, "accidentally" captured the essence of my son.  He looks like this a great portion of the day.  Notice how you can't tell if he is smiling or growling.  Yep, that's him!  Plus, that little cleft in his chin is not at all obvious when you look at him.  I love it! 

This was a shot I took yesterday trying to work on my indoor lighting.  But I love the composition because Connor is so intently focused on his Lego ship, which is pretty much life around our house.

Does anyone else have trouble if they put their photos on "xtra large" in blogger?  Mine get cut off on the right.  Is that because of the format I am using on my blog?  

Sorry, I told you way more than you wanted to know about what was in my brain while looking through the lens, but photography class has been pretty introspective for me! :)

TGIF!

1 Corinthians 10:10

"And do not grumble, as some of them did-and were killed by the destroying angel."

A Favorite Photo Friday

We have had a short-term foster baby in our house this week.  Well, not actually a baby, but my dog is my baby too, so this qualifies in the life of a dog lover.  Anyway.... we have had our very first Labradoodle.  If he is any indication of the breed characteristic, I have fallen TOTALLY in love with him.  This is Jasper (didn't hurt that he was named after a Twilight character either.)

How can you not love a dog that comes into your home and in less than one week, he's sitting in for the bean bag chair?

Seriously, this is one of the most laid back puppies I've ever seen.  I was expecting the worst.  I'm not a huge fan of labs because they often seem totally neurotic and hyper (over breeding) and I figured that this one would be no exception.  Boy was I wrong.  He's a total couch potato.

The whole house has gone to the dogs!  Connor is not naked, by the way, he just has on shorts.  I couldn't make a post about how great Jasper is without a photo of Couch potato number 2.  He might get jealous.  :)

When I called Meg to dinner one night this week, she didn't come.  I went in to fuss at her about coming when I call, even when she is watching Mickey Mouse, and this is what I found! :()  SOOOOO precious!  By the way, I know that her blanket is ratty, and we can actually afford a new one, and she does have two new ones, in fact, but she won't use them.  She prefers the one we gave her the night she left the baby home! :)

Favorite Photo Friday

Okay, this photo really cracks me up, I may be chastised by my husband for posting a photo of my daughters tutu clad booty so if you come back later and it's gone, you'll know it was daddy worried about protecting his daughter's honor! :) I think what makes me laugh if that the "club hand" as we called it is so out of place in this photo.

If you would like to get a good photo of Liam, don't say, "Smile" because this is what you'll get! :) Is that a smile or a grimace? Hmmm, maybe he's doing that on purpose from one too many times of staring down the lens of my camera.

I'll be using this one for black-mail later on in life!

What a cutie pie!

Uncle Dave picked up the Jelly Fish... don't try this at home kids!

Favorite Photo Friday

This is a photo of Brian's sister and me kissing my father-in-law at the wedding last weekend. I love this photo because it captures his cute personality and what a charmer he is! :)

This photo is of me (obviously), Brian's cousin, Eilleen (from Ireland) and his other cousin, Catherine (also from Ireland), his baby sister Ashley, and his mom, Jean.

Brian's sisters (Wendi and Ashley), Me, and Brian's mom at the Bridesmaids Luncheon

Okay, for some reason, I had a spacey moment and could upload photos from last weekend. Duh! Seriously, when I went back and realized that it was because I hadn't checked an agreement box I wanted to smack myself! :)

Liam said the funniest thing this morning when he was leaving for school. Obama was on the cover our of news paper and he grabbed it and kissed the photo and said "Barack Obama!" (maybe a flashback from his soviet days, kissing the picture of our leader???) and then he smacked the picture, turned to us and said, "Can we move somewhere where he's not in charge of us?" What? Where did that come from? Uh, maybe Brian and I should stop romanticizing about moving to Ireland for the next four years in ear shot of the kids! :)

I really wish every single one of you had the book, Jesus Calling. Every morning when I read it, I am sure that it was really written just for me and I bet next year when I read through it again, the pages will be rearranged to fit my days exactly. It's amazing. I was having a conversation this morning with my MIL (because I thought today was her birthday, but it was really yesterday, oops) and she was saying that if we all laid our problems out in a big pile, we would look at what everyone else is dealing with and pick our own problems back up and go home with them again. Because each of us have lives designed specifically for us. I tell my sons all the time that God created them to do one very specific job. If they don't do it, no one will do it. It won't get done and God will have to figure out a way to work around that gap because he created them for one absolute purpose. I think this is what my MIL was saying this morning , that God had designed each of us to carry the specific load we have. Another persons load (though on the surface, maybe lighter) would not feel natural to us and we are not equipped to carry certain other loads.

So, imagine my surprise when I read Jesus Calling and this is what it says, "Each of my children has a unique blend of temperament, giftedness, and life experiences. Something that is a baby step for you may be a giant step for another person, and vice versa." It goes on to say alot more beautiful things about the way God has orchestrated each of our journeys for us personally, but it just surprises me that this could be so specific to the way I started my day. I know, why I am constantly surprised by God's provision and guidance is a bit ridiculous, but I'm dense! :)

Okay, I think maybe I better run on and eat my breakfast and try to be productive with my day. I hope you all have a really great Friday and a fantastic weekend!

Proverbs 29:25

"Fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that."