Week 17 - 27: Part III

My final share is a personal one. These aren't the pictures that show the best photographic skill, necessarily. In fact, I can quickly pick out settings that I would change on each picture. Instead, these are the pictures that touched my heart. Like the one above of my niece...to be that care free!!! I love her spirit and her ability to let go, and this picture, for me, captured the care free spirit that childhood is supposed to be about.

This one is of my daughter and I. The look of sweet innocence on her face is so special to me. It reminds me of the purity of childhood. And the joy on my face says it all...I love my babies. They bring a smile to my face and a song in my heart quicker than any other earthly person, event, etc that I can think of!

This one, well, it just kind of jumped out at me. Her look is a little mischievous, and that would describe her precisely at this moment. I was calling her to come to me, but she saw a toy she really wanted. Needless to say, the toy outweighed this mama's plea.

So, her daddy's going to hate this picture, but I love it! I was pushing her on the tire swing and playing around with different angles and shutter speeds, trying to freeze the motion in the picture. I love the way the frame draws your eye straight to that precious smile. This girl loves to be free, and her smile is plain ole infectious when she's flying through the air on a swing of any sort, not to mention a tire swing!!!

Do you see those two on that tire swing? The picture is a little blurry, they are a little out of frame, but I wouldn't trash it (or change it) for anything! He started with the funny faces, and then little sissy had to join in. My mother has her hands full with these two every single day while I'm at school. I know it's an exhausting (and sometimes daunting) task, but these pictures are proof that with the burden comes great, full-on joy!

 

And then, then there's my big boy. My oldest son. We're full swing into baseball right now, and his determination is amazing. Can I be real for just a moment? I was really worried about this summer. About being home with all of my children. About how I'd juggle the babies with the needs of my eldest, who can be a little intense from time to time. I have seen so much maturity in him this summer. He is amazing with his little sister, and does a great job of tolerating (and even helping) his little brother. His patience has surprised me, and his wisdom awed me. He's still a 7-year-old little boy, but I see such amazing traits of outstanding character in him...I'm just blessed and privileged to be his mom.

Weeks 17 - 27: Part II

I decided to pick my camera up and try my hand at some indoor shots. I learned some valuable lessons doing this. First of all, shooting on manual mode indoors is HARD. Period. I see lots of great indoor photography, so, I can only assume that my learning to use an off-camera flash could only improve what I do in these lower light situations. (And I am in NO way saying that will be an easy task in the least!!) A lot of my photos were less than desirable in full color, and, if I'm being honest with myself (and you), they were a bit out of focus. 

That's where I learned the huge value of black and white. That simple color change, my friend, covered a multitude of photography sins! I played with back lighting in a number of B&W photos to darken out a busy, distracting background, as well as to focus in on the aspect of the frame that I wanted to bring attention to.

 While I'm not yet a pro at indoor photography or black and white photography for that matter, I must say that I was pretty pleased at how these shots turned out. I've always been a B&W fan, but it was pretty cool to know that I accomplished this! Oh, and there are a few pics that I took outside in full and speckled (shhh! don't tell the photog masters!) light conditions. The quality and nature of B&W is different depending upon the lighting situations.

 At any rate, I captured some beautiful pictures of my children. My three favorites of the past few weeks came from this group. They included the one of my middle child at the top of the page (although this was a sepia image and not a true black and white image), the one of my eldest son in his baseball uniform (holding his sister's baby), and this one of our baby girl. She has the sweetest look on her sweet little face. I could just snuggle her to pieces!

Weeks 17 - 27: Part I

So the past several weeks have included a few snaps here and there. I played with lots of settings, and, for the most part, was simply trying to see how my skills at capturing the every day might have improved since this journey began in January.

These are from my 3-year-old son's last day of his first year of preschool. He LOVED this past year. Love, love, loved it! This day was a little bitter sweet, but I love the way I got to capture his little personality...although his personality is anything but little!

Week 26/52: Hiatus Explained

Wow....Those words have never rang so true for me as they do at this moment.

I see life in pictures. I stay behind a lens of some sort more often than not, and, for me, the hundreds of thousands of photos I take mark moments in time. Today is the first time in quite some time that I've downloaded my photo memory card...from my camera or my phone. Having to look through, edit, and catalog my pictures, for me, meant having to deal with and accept one of the greatest, most tragic losses our family has ever had to endure.

My pictures, they didn't foreshadow that. Those little still frames drew me back to the emotion of each day, and there was no warning that our lives would change so severely in the blink of an eye. Even the absence of pictures on that day bring back considerable emotion and acknowledgement that, for me, there was no joy to capture through my lens. The past six and half weeks have been excruciatingly difficult as our family has dealt with and continues to deal with the untimely loss of my brother-in-law, but tonight I chose to take  a step toward healing that may seem odd to others. Tonight I chose to catalog my photos.

I downloaded pictures. I edited them. I cried. I catalogued them, and then I shared them with others. It felt good to touch something that brings me such immense joy. I have a passion for catching those still, small moments that tell a story, and going through the images on my devices this evening was no exception. After posting for 18 weeks, I felt as though some explanation was due as to the lengthy hiatus. I've been away to grieve, to process, to deal. And, while that process is still raw and incomplete, I have traveled far enough to realize that I need the joy that the click of my shutter brings.

So, with that, my Project 52 is starting back up. My next post will be next week, and I plan to tackle some things that I was toying with back at the end of April. I have no great comments and no great insights this evening, so I leave you with the words of Dr. Seuss (one of the wisest I know), "You will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory".

Melissa