Days 13 and 14

Sorry it's been so long since I put any of my 30 day challenge photos up.  The truth is that I've been so busy doing shoots, editing, blogging and tons of other stuff for the business that I haven't done much personal shooting.  Here are days 13 and 14, though.  Hey, at least it's something.

Day 13:  Yourself with 13 Things

The 13th of this month was my birthday!  And, well, "Happy Birthday" is spelled with 13 letters.  Here I am with 13 Happy Birthday candles.  :)  Given that I just took this picture tonight, I'm enjoying a birthday cake about 2-3 weeks late and the family will be devouring it tomorrow at our weekly Sunday lunch.  While I'm not thrilled with the outcome of this photo, I did practice quite a few new skills.  I shot this using manual mode, a tripod, a flash bracket with external flash, and a remote.  I intentionally set the focus low so that I would be slightly out of focus and the candles would be in focus.  

Day 14:  Eyes

Obviously, edited beyond recognition...and that's the point.  I wanted this to look hand-drawn.  

Beth and Drew Plus Two

This weekend, we were able to spend some time with friends, Beth and Drew, and their son Jacob.  They are expecting a new addition, Charleigh, in just a few weeks and asked us to do a maternity session with them.  We traveled around Marietta, SC and got these shots.

Jacob will make an amazing big brother!

 Drew and Beth actually got married at the exact spot.

 

Congrats, guys!

Hunter

When my husband and I started dating, I was introduced to an itty bitty little baby boy!  Today, I took his 4 year old portraits!  WHOA...this little guy is extremely special to me and I had so much fun hanging out with him today!

I told Hunter to lay down on his tummy and look up at me and he said, I'm flying like super man!  :)  Such a cutie!

Hunter had a blast climbing trees and hanging from them on Furman's campus.  Here he told me he was strong like Batman!  

Happy 4th Birthday, Hunter!

We love you!

- Chubs and Amy 

Alicia and Ramon

Monday, I was able to go spend some time with my 2nd family and take some portraits for Alicia and her beau, Ramon.  Here's a little preview:

Ramon and Alicia requested portraits at this wall in downtown Greenville...we had to talk to the owner of the building first, but he was super nice about it and the pictures turned out amazing!  Here are several more of the pics we took at the wall put together as a collage in black and white.

While we were in downtown, it only made sense to go down to Reedy Falls Park for some shots.

Alicia braved walking out onto some of the rocks at the falls in those rocking heels...she's braver than me for sure!  

Ramon and Alicia were perfect models and made doing my job so easy!  They took direction so well that I rarely had to do more than say, "smile!"

Thanks, guys!  I hope you enjoy the pictures and I can't wait to get to spend more time with both of you!

Day 12: Sunset

All day long, I moped around and did basically nothing.  I was so irritated by the weather and my boredom.  Today's challenge was "sunset."  Ha!  How was I supposed to get that picture???  But, then, something crazy happened!  The sun came out (though it kept raining)...and as the sun was setting and those rays of light were refracted in all those rain drops, a rainbow (nay, a double rainbow) appeared in the sky.  It was really quite amazing and reminded me of just "how big I'm blessed!"  Here is the winner for today followed by a handful of shots of the rainbow!

The view of the rainbow from our front yard.

Beautiful Double Arches!

The view from the back yard of the house across the street. 

Day 11: Something Blue

Today's challenge was "something blue."  I got one better than that...how about "Blue."

Blue

Today, I had the wonderful pleasure of doing Blue's last portraits.  As a dog lover and owner, this was especially tough for me.  Blue was a precious dog and a beauty at that.  Be in special prayer for this sweet puppy and her family tonight and for the days to come.

Deb and Brad clearly have a lot of love for their baby girl and it's evident that Blue has always felt loved and cared for.

 

Brad and Deb, we will be praying for you in the days to come and we are very thankful to have been able to spend just a few moments of Blue's life with her!

Day 10: A Childhood Memory

Ahh, childhood.  There is such a sweet innocence and simplicity to childhood.  At least on the surface...behind the scenes, though, God is beginning an amazing work within.  Each little milestone a puzzle piece.  As adults we look at the puzzle pieces and question, "What's the big picture here, God?"  We often misinterpret the seemingly odd and uncomfortable shaped pieces of our lives as something they aren't.  We often take advantage and forget to enjoy what God is doing within us.  Childhood, though, afforded us the opportunities and WISDOM to enjoy each individual puzzle piece without over thinking and contemplating the big picture.  This image is a "piece" of a much larger picture.  This image is a small glimpse at my most prized possession.  The big picture here isn't important (scroll down, though, if your curiosity has the best of you).  What's important is that our childhoods (and adulthoods) are best viewed for what they are...God at work within us -- his gift to us.  We only take away from the beauty when we waste our time searching for the unknown.

My dad has always been a jack of all trades, but one of his biggest passions is wood.  I've had this jigsaw turtle since I was very young.  It's simple in design and rather plain, but it was my daddy's gift to me.  My dad would do this very differently now because he's learned so much about the art.  But, in the end, I don't care about the technique he used or the type of wood he used...I care that he cared.  That when he could have been making a piece of furniture or elaborate object for someone else, he made this for me.  I've kept it all these years (among a few other pieces he made).  I'll never do away with it and for some reason I value it above all the other gifts he's ever given me.  Thanks, Daddy!

Days 7, 8, & 9

Day 7:  Fruit!  Let's face it...I'm not "nut and berry" and I don't have tons of health food laying around.  I wouldn't classify fruit as health food necessarily and we do sometimes have the occasional apple or banana laying around, but this week was not that week.  There was absolutely no fruit laying around our kitchen.  For that matter there hasn't been much fruit laying around my heart either lately and it was just a few days ago when I felt led to the "fruit of the spirit" scripture.  So, it was kind of ironic that Fruit was the photo topic of the day.  I set my camera to manual focus and played around with the lighting in the room until I got this.  Galatians 5:22 from my perspective.

Day 8:  A Bad Habit!  There are lots of things I considered taking pictures of for this one.  Quite frankly, though...most bad habits make bad pictures.  I mean, who wants to see an over-flowing trashcan or a pile of dirty clothes on the floor.  As a Clemson Fan with a Gamecock neighbor, though, there is one bad habit that stands above the rest!  That bad habit is supporting the Gamecocks.  Yuck!

Day 9:  Someone I love!  This one was easy (at least in theory).  The hard part was getting him to cooperate!  As the husband of a photographer, my sweetie isn't very sweet on the idea of being in front of the camera.  So, this was the best shot I could get and, even then, it required some convincing and making sure he was good and distracted by his favorite video game system!

Days 5 and 6

So, I got a little behind on the 30 day photo challenge.  I missed the last two days.  Whoops!  Anywho...here ya go.

Day 5:  From a High Perspective -- Ahh, my sweet little Lucy!  This picture was actually taken with my IPhone -- I was pretty impressed by the quality!  

Day 6:  From a Low Perspective -- I toyed around with the hue saturation of the shadows and highlights for this one.  Gives it a slightly different black and white feel.

Today is technically day 7, but I'm not sure that I'll get today's pic up.  I may still be playing catchup tomorrow!  Sorry guys!

Day 4: Something Green

Today's topic was "green."  I don't own much green, but I remembered this little beauty that my mom gave us when we moved to our new house.  Its a succulent called Burro's Tail and it sits right atop my piano in our living room.

I toyed with the saturations of each hue and eliminated all pigments except green to exaggerate the "something green."

Day 3: Cloud

Day 3 was "Cloud."  This was a tough concept for me as I thought "how on earth do I take a CREATIVE picture of a cloud?"  I took SO MANY pictures of clouds today that I could truly be happy if I never take another!  Anyway, here is my Day 3 shot!

Sunday Afternoon Ride

We went out for an afternoon ride today.  The purpose of the ride was three fold:  we wanted to spend some QT together, we wanted to scout out places to do photo shoots, and I need a picture of a cloud for Day 3.  The following are some of the shots I got.

We started our day at Fort Hill (Thomas Green Clemson's home on the campus of Clemson University -- GO TIGERS!).

Then we walk around parts of the Clemson campus.

This beauty is my favorite shot from the day!  As I took it, I couldn't help but think of the fabulous Magnolia Blossom, who is like a mother to me.

These last two were 2nd runners up for my Day 3 pic...I'll post the winner later!

Photo Challenge: Day 2

Today's topic was "what I wore today."  I thought long and hard on this one.  I thought about tons of creative ways that could be interpreted.  I thought about laying each of my articles of clothing in a strategically placed and intentionally messy pile all the way down the hallway and taking the picture from a low perspective.  I thought about simply taking one article of clothing and shooting it in a multitude of creative manners.  For instance a hat on my dogs head.  I even thought about drawing a heart on the sleeve of an old shirt and captioning the picture, "I wore my heart on my sleeve today."  (I might have been having a pity party earlier today.)  But, instead, after a very long and incredibly eventful day, just before going to bed I set out to take a pic of the outfit I wore today.  As I was laying the clothes across an old arm chair and setting up the tripod, I remembered a technique that I had read about involving the dark and a flashlight...It's called light-painting and this is my first attempt.

What I Wore Today:  Blue Jeans, Solid Black T-shirt, flip flops, and a pair of original Cathryn Rice Earrings

Photo Challenge Day 1

I was recently challenged to take the time to complete one of those 30 days of pictures deals.  So...here's to a month of daily photos.  

Day 1:  Self Portrait

Feet propped up...students gone...start of summer break?  Why, yes, please!