Winter on the Plains

recently we spent a Sunday afternoon doing one of our favorite family activities.  Going shooting; which generally means that we go for a drive, look for prairie dogs and coyotes around some of our family's farmland, and just enjoy nature and being together.  The kids love the chance to get out and explore, and we love the chance to be together out of the house and, well, go shooting.  :)

I really enjoy the chance to get away from my usual haunts and snap some unusual pictures.  Isaac's Grandpa has a pasture where they have, for generations, 'parked' things.  We love to look around, and it is a great place for the kids to play.  

Old Wagons

Old fences.

Some people say the prairie is brown in the winter.  I think it is gold.  

The End.  

Family Pictures- Here We Are!

My beautiful family.  

I am so blessed.  :)

Wordless Wednesday- Roastin' ears!

Silly Kidism :)

"Pretend this house is a sink, and we are a spoon family.

...And I am a fork, come to visit." :)

Wordless Wednesday- Summertime!

Wordless Wednesday- I see the moon...

And the moon sees me!

God bless the moon, and God bless me. :D

Learning Happens Weekend # 4

I didn't get a lot of learning pictures this week, but I wanted to share these from our nature walk the other day.

See her grey eyes?

Kicking the dust

My handsome boy

Playing in the corn... he was a little lost creature looking for him mommy. :D

Mad because we told her to come back.

And a bunch of crazy, silly, wild moments!

Want to show us what YOU did this week? Post your "learning happens" moments here and add the button to your blog!

Wordless Wednesday- Sparkling

Spring Dew on the Iris Petal

Family-Friendly Picture Hosting!

If you have ever done much with any of the commen picture hosting site, you know that they are not places you would want your children to roam, even supervised. You never know what will pop up on the most innocent of searches. If you are like me, after seeing some of the profiles and 'favorites' on there, you also steer away from posting pictures of your children.

So the advent of a Family Friendly, highly moderated picture hosting site is a exciting thing!

Pix-O-Sphere is exactly what the online world needed, a safe picture hosting site, perfect for bloggers, families, and photographers. This site allows you to sell your pictures, buy pictures for your blog, magazine, or website, or just host your pictures for your friends and family.

Go on over and take a look! You may find it is just what you need!

Blast From the Past

Bop, almost two. Christmas 2006

She got this monkey in a set of animals. She was terrified of it, hollering "Mama mama! No, the mut-ee!! "

CJ's Christmas picture. About 7 months old, 2006.

Daddy and CJ cuddling. :)

Come add your link!!

Wordless Wednesday- Sprinkler Time

Wordless Wednesday- butterfly

Consider the Lilies of the Field

I enjoy taking close-ups of flowers that are frequently passed by; either because they are too small to notice, or, more often, because they are just 'weeds'. God made beauty everywhere, and it can be encouraging to notice the attention He has given to even the tiniest plant.

Cottonwood Tree Blossom

Bindweed a nasty, invasive weed with beautiful flowers. Wild morning glory.

Prickly Poppy

Sweet Clover

A yellow flower ;)

Prickly Pear Bloom one of the most beautiful wildflowers I have ever seen

Purple Thistle

Capturing Childhood

One of the challenges I have faced in my photography is capturing the unadulterated honesty of childhood. When the expectations of adults are out of the picture (pun intended. ) you will find surprisingly mature and thoughtful- yet innocent- people.

The first problem with seeing this side of our children is getting us out of the picture! Yes, it's a little hard to take a picture without being there. The best way to be there without being there, is to make full use of your zoom. You can sit on the porch, behind a tree, or even hang out an upstairs window, and your little subjects will probably not even notice that you're aiming at them. The more you practice, the more they will get used to seeing you with a camera in your hands.


We all know how children act when they think they are the subject of a picture. That behavior is fun for snapshots, but we are looking for something else. We are looking inside the child's life when they are alone or alone with other children they trust.


Another way to take sneak shots of the littlest subjects is by not holding your camera up to your face. You may shut your display off to save batteries, but now is when it really comes in handy. You can hold your camera down, away from your face, or even sit it in your lap, and people will have no idea you are clicking away.










One of my favorites- talking together :)

Bokeh

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Proverbs 1:7



Bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light." -Wikipedia



I have been experimenting with this, particularly as it applies to our bright, clear light in the West. I am not interested in photographing night-lights (one of the main uses of bokeh), but rather capturing the colors and light of nature. When you remove the detail of the picture, you are left with nothing but color and light, which gives you but a mere impression of what was there. Like impressionism, it is more concerned with the impression of a something then the actual true-to-life representation.



Most people use bokeh to set off the main subject of the picture, but blurring the background. Sometimes, it can be used to really add to the atmosphere and 'place' the subject in its surroundings, without distracting from it.

Like this-






I am experimenting with using bokeh as the main subject matter, portrayed as color, light and shapes, rather then detail and precision.





Lilacs....








Early spring leaves...






And this one is my favorite



I really like this one. It is more traditional; bokeh is not the subject, but rather the background. But I just had to include it anyway. :D