4/52 - Project 52

Apparently I just can't do it. I can't narrow it down to choosing a single picture to post each week for this project. I tried tonight, thought it would be simple, but as I went through the pictures of the week too many spoke to me so I had to include them all.

My beautiful sister and soon-to-be niece

Where I would love to live, where I grew up, overlooking rushing water and lush green hills (shot off my parent's deck)

Nothing like a new baby and those precious little feet to put a smile on your face

The sun finally peaked it's head out for us today, but these blades of grass have been slowly sprouting for months amidst our winter hibernation.  I love the droplets of water I was able to catch on the leftside picture.

My little beauty with her new hat

3/52 - Project 52

As you may be able to tell, I can't seem to stick to just one photo per week.  Decision making seems to be hard for me for some reason.  Here are a few pictures for this week and I played around with different conversions to them.   I'd love to hear which image and processing is your favorite.

Different photography forums I have been on have put out challenges to do self-portraits.  I am terrible with this and haven't shared any before, but I decided to use some down time in the car the other day to see what I could come up with.  My husband probably thought I was crazy, then again he knows me pretty well, so crazy is sometimes par for the course.

SOOC (straight-out-of-camera):

Converted to B/W:

On my family blog I shared that yesterday was the fifteen year anniversary of when my husband and I began dating.  Here is a picture he snapped of us to commemorate the day:

SOOC:

Conversion #1:

Conversion #2:

My poor Miss Em cried much of yesterday unless she was being held by me.  She had a 103.4 fever and so I enjoyed the day cuddling her as much as I could.  My husband snapped this one of us and I love that he captured our interaction.  There will come a day I know that she won't want these cuddles, but I will be yearning for them.

SOOC:

Converted to B/W:

The {E} Family

What do you do when you're asked to take some pictures of a family of eleven? Yes, eleven - nine kids! Well you wait until the Sunday before Christmas when the oldest ones have flown into town and then after church you gather the troops and head outside to the park and...

have fun!

Dana is a great friend of mine and all of her children are incredible.  Truly, incredible.  Kind, loving, friendly, respectful, responsible...the type of children our world needs more of and I can only pray my two children end up having as much character as these kids do.  It's always a joy to spend time with this family and taking pictures of them was no exception!

The kids decided to line up in birth order...little Mia was so close, just one number off from her special place as child #9.

Posing for a large family?  Why not get creative and let them have some fun?  This pyramid worked perfect and even the lovely Annika didn't mind getting a little dirty in her dress.

SISTERS

Dana and her precious beauties

Miss Linea is always so sweet, but she made me work very hard for the teensiest smile!

The {E} Men

It all began with a young couple who fell in love...

...little did they know how much God would bless them and allow them to bless others so abundantly!

2/52 Project Photography

As this second week of January is coming to a close, I have for you not one picture, but two stories.

First, I have the story of a girl who loves her dog (and I believe he loves her too):

Second, I have the story of a grandpa who loves his grandchildren so very much.  He loves to be with them, play with them, teach them and he'll let them do just about anything to him.  These children are blessed to have a Grandpa like him.

A grandson wanting to be JUST like his Papa!

1/52 - My New Photography Project

I participate in a few different online photography forums and lately all I've been reading about are 365 Blogs or Blogs that are created for the purpose of challenging you to take a photo and post it everyday.  It's so tempting to me to want to participate in one of these, but I also know my limits and committing to taking and posting a picture everyday for the next 359 days seems overwhelming.  In fact, I'm already 6 days behind so why start now? 

To compromise, I am committing to doing a 52 Week Photography Challenge instead.  For each week of 2010 I will post one photo.  This photo may be highlighting a particular photography technique I'm working on learning, testing out a new lens (if/when I happen to get one of these), exploring creative post processing and editing, or just a subject I love.  Rather than creating a separate blog for this challenge, as many 365 and 52 challenge takers do, I will post these pictures here on my photography blog along with continuing to post any other photos that seem most appropriate here rather than my family blog.  Feel free to comment and let me know what you like/dislike about my photos - I'm excited for this journey and can't wait to see what I have learned at the end of this year.

My photo(s) for this week are of my sweet first son, my Gentle Ben.  This boy has always showered us (me especially) with such love and affection and tonight he just doesn't seem right.  He's been shivering off and on, laying down the WHOLE day (definitely not like this playful guy) and seems to be having pain with his back legs/section.  I will admit I am worried and hope we haven't made a mistake not rushing him to the vet this evening.  He DID eat his dinner, he has gone to the bathroom and I even checked his temp and it was normal.  I know I must sound absurd for worrying so much over, ahem, a dog, but I love this dog and this is just so unlike him. 

Totally going against the purpose of this 52 Week Challenge - Project 52, these photos are from recent months and not taken this week.  If I were to have taken a picture of him today it would just be of him curled up in a quite spot (our back bedroom when the kids are awake) or lying on the floor at my feet (where he is now and anytime I'm on the computer).  I include these pictures today because it is what is on my heart at the moment - plus I haven't taken my camera out much yet in 2010 so I'll get working on that tomorrow so I'll have something fresh and current for next week!  Praying Ben is better in the morning and we don't have to take out a loan for vet bills.  Goodnight!