Dramatic B&W

Another week, another challenge.  This week, it's "Dramatic B&W."  This one is part of a collage of photos of our daughter as a baby.  She has the greatest eyelashes :) 

There are lots of great black-and-white photos to see at iheartfaces.com. 

Angles

"Angles"

A quiet moment, after muching running and dancing. I love capturing them on those rare occasions when they occur. 

There are a lot of beautiful images taken from interesting perspectives this week at iheartfaces.com.

Bundled Up

Bundled Up

This week at iheartfaces.com, the theme is "Bundled Up." Here's one of my little sweeties.  We had a lot of snow that winter, and she and her brother had a ball playing in it.

This winter, on the other hand, has been more like spring.  Lots of sun, no snow at all.  I don't mean to complain, but I do miss it.  A couple of days with some good snowman-building type snow would be enough to satisfy. 

Check out iheartfaces.com to see lots more "Bundled Up" photos.

Jump for Joy

Are they jumping for joy?  They were definitely having a great time.  This is an image I shot when I was working at my first job out of college, for a little black-and-white weekly newspaper.  Besides covering assignments, I was always on the lookout for anyone out doing anything that might make a cool picture.  This was both exciting and stressful.  Some days I just couldn't find anything.  So when I saw these kids on their trampoline, I was thrilled.  After asking their mom if it was okay to take their picture, I hung out while the kids did their thing.  It's one of my favorite images from my 'newspaper years.'    

There are many great photos on this theme at iheartfaces.com - check them out!

Hilarious Outtakes

This week the challenge is "Hilarious Outtakes."  Kids often have great facial expressions that can change moment to moment.  These two kids were good friends and (despite the look on his face) had a great time together during the session. 

And then there are my own two little hams.  Sometimes they make funny faces without even trying.  Sometimes they like to 'perform' for the camera.  I find that if they have a designated time to be goofy in front of the camera, that can help get more natural smiles when 'goofy time' is over. 

There are lots of fun photos to check out this week at iheartfaces.com.

"Hands-On Fun" Photo Challenge

"Hands-On"

This is my entry for the iheartfaces.com photo challenge this week.  This is one of my favorite images from a family portrait session.  He looks just a little worried, but he's in good, loving hands.   

When I first heard the theme for this week's challenge, I didn't think I'd come up with much.  It was surprising how many worthy images I did find - some nearly forgotten about.  I'll be posting some of my other choices soon.  Check out the other great images at iheartfaces.com

Favorite Places

Places I Love

A photo challenge at iheartfaces.com has me thinking about my favorite places. I thought of some of the amazing places we've travelled to - Italy, and Peru - and some of the beautiful places we've seen while hiking and camping. But really, my favorite place is here, this community where we live in the Pacific Northwest.

We are blessed to live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country. There is also a commitment to public spaces that you don't always find. There are some wonderful parks all around the region.

One of our favorites is about a mile away from home. It is on Lake Sammamish, and has lots of open space to run around in, as well as a playground and a beach. One beautiful day in May, I persuaded my husband to leave work early and we headed to the park. In the summer it is a really busy place. But on this gorgeous spring day, it wasn't very crowded. The kids enjoyed the playground for a while, but they seemed to have the most fun picking dandelions and buttercups.

This was a couple of years ago now.  I'm really thankful to have these photos to help remember that day - just an ordinary day, really, sharing a few hours together as a family.