Week 28: Happy 4th!!!

My goal this week was to learn to capture motion...I wanted to see the beauty of the streaming fireworks, not just have the specs frozen. I also wanted to do this totally on manual. Honest disclosure...this was terrifying for me!! Of course, I couldn't post without sharing a few of my babies and our celebratory festivities this weekend. We showed our full U.S.A spirit, as we celebrated the men and women that assure our American freedoms!

Will you just look at those eyes, and that smile??? This one was taken in a fleeting moment as Joseph stopped by the watering trough (a.k.a my stroller) to catch a quick drink of water. We were at the bounce houses while we were waiting for the fire works to begin!


These are my two other babies...well, my oldest isn't really a baby any more (as he will quickly tell you), but he'll always be this mama's first baby! You'd of though it was his first time at the fire works the way he sat and stared with wonder and amazement in his eyes. At one point he even said (without taking his eyes off the flashes of colorful light), "mama, this is absolutely beautiful". Love that boy right there!! And, his little sister was dressed for the occasion in her red, white, and blue. Wish you could see those colors popping on her outfit, but I decided to go with black and white for every picture in this post that was a fire work!

And, here they are, the pictures of the fireworks. I played around with my settings a good bit. I've taken pictures of FW before, but I've never caught such amazing images of the continuous movement. I love the way this first one reminds me of a flower in full bloom, and how the second one captures so many different types of movement and variety of colors. I wish I had more time to keep playing with my settings to see the different types of images I captured. I'm just hopeful there are more fireworks to capture before the summer ends! The third image is my favorite in terms of the shape of the image. I love the full-bodied nature of the explosion, the different shapes of the light...it's just beautiful to me. 

And, just to finish it out, a quick shot of my cutie patootie swimming at Papa William's house yesterday. That girl is a fish, no doubt about it. She loves the water, loves splashing around, and ""wimmin'".  I wish I could say that huge smile on her face was just for me, but it wasn't.

That smile was for this awesome guy, her Papa William. I love the way turning this pic to black and white made him stand out in the image. Before the edits, he really blended into the background. That just didn't do him justice, so I was thrilled with the way the way the b&w looked!

So, that's it! We had a fabulous week celebrating with friends, family, festivals, and fun! This week I'll be posting pictures of my Wednesday session, and then I'm out of town for a week on vacation. I'll be sure to catch up when we get back. Until then, I hope your days are long and full of the things you love!

Happy Snapping,

~ Melissa ~