A dog's life

Our Golden Retriever "Puppy" (I say that loosely because a 60 lbs dog is barley a puppy) about 8 months ago.  My husband is very close with the breeder (Gotta Be Golden) and many of the other dog owners.  Last weekend we got together with 2 of his brothers and went up to the lake for a swim.  It was awesome!  Here are a few of my favorites.

There are many things I love about photography.  I love learning about my camera and what it can do, I love capturing moments, framing them, trying new things, but I love editing.  I love taking a great catch and bringing it to the next level!  Here are just a few before and after's from the above pictures.  

Next up I will post a few of the Senior pictures I took - they turned out amazing!!!!

I Heart Faces - Water

The challenge over this week over at I Heart Faces is Water.

I could put up 100 images with my kids and water, with the way the weather is up here, and how much my kids love the pool, they are in it about as much as I have the camera in my hand.

Here is my entry - This is my little man doing his favorite thing in the world - being thrown sky high!  He would jump off the deck and do canon balls all day.  When his dad asks if he wants to be thrown in the air he get's crazy excited.  I have a picture also about 2 sec later where he is air born.....but - only one picture per entry :)

Can't wait to see all the other entries!

Go Check them out!

I Heart Faces - Props

I haven't done an I Heart Faces challenge in a month or so.  This weeks challenge is Props.  Here is my HayHay wearing a cute hat blowing bubbles on a bright summer day. 

Go check out the other great entries at I Heart Faces.

Days are long, Years are short

I saw a great article over at I Heart Faces, called "It's worthy of a click" by Irina Hubbar.  It was all about capturing the everyday moments.  


As I venture and build on my photography passion I am always trying to create that picture perfect image - the one that is on all those fabulous photographers websites.  So today Irina's words rang in my ears....I wanted to capture today - capture what my kids are like.  I have heard the saying lately "The days are long, but the years are fast", and that seems to be so true.  


So this is my documentation of today.  The pictures are SOOC (Straight out of camera), no edits, more than likely not technically correct.  But - I love these.


Lazy days of summers - long busy days - crash in front of tv.

Can't sleep too long - the pools calling our name.  Like bath water.

 Hay is so cute - she wanted to get her camera - just like mommy!

Reviewing her pictures.

Fun....free....full of life.

I have to say - these are some of my most favorite yet.  There is just something about the lighting, the moment, how it all rolls up into how I want to remember these days.

 I will probably be yelled at for this one day by my daughter, but it's real, it's raw, it's how our life unfolds at this moment in time.

 It's so Mikey!  Nothing like a little boy and his cars.

Love the curious look on his face - very quizzical.  The way he looks at everything.

My hayhay is such a little ballerina - I never want to forget her running around on her toes.

This one just makes me smile.  Looks like a real car :)

Real life - Mikeys room with nothing in it because he terrorizes it. Watching him play with cars, being a boy.

This is one of my favorites from tonight. You can see me in that dirty filthy mirror, Mikey playing with the cars, and my oldest all dressed up with a purse.  Life!

Nothing like a little boy and his cars.

Seek out those amazing photo opportunities - push yourself to become better - but don't forget to capture those everyday moments! It pushed me today - and I will have these memories forever.

Wine Tour

My cousin is getting married this weekend - so on Saturday we had her Bachelorette party.  I took a crazy amount of pictures - did I mention crazy amount.  I edited 140!  So - if you figure 140 made the cut - that goes to show how many I probably took.

I figure if I want to pursue photography - I need to practice - right!  I really like the photo journalism approach.  So - this is my capture from this weekend.  There were a ton of awesome ones - but I didn't know how the girls would feel with them on here - so I tried to keep it to the group shots and details.

This was our first stop - I like this shot - with the girls all in a line - and the wine country sign. Simple...Elegant... 

Nothing says wine like this shot!

Some award winning wines!

I would love this display in my basement.  Pretty!

This bottle didn't stand a chance - was downed before we made it back into the limo!

We did group shots in front of each winery, I love the shots before the posed ones, very candid. 

This makes me laugh!  Who needs to go to a liquor store on a wine tour.....these ladies!

Love this - very documentary like.

What soon to be bride doesn't need a "Voodoo Groom"

Love the wine pouring shots!

This is a haunted house - it was on Ghost Hunters!  We are hearing the story here.

The soon to be bride and her family.

I loved the details on the tour.  Since picking up photography I am seeing everything very differently.  I want to capture the everyday details.

I couldn't resist these - they just make me smile :)

Not perfect with the blur and a little over exposed - but fun none the less!

On to one of the last stops!

Yes - there were chickens.  This is the same spot that we went strawberry picking!

The girls getting some wine.

Tips???

Loved the last stop - didn't just have wine - they had beer too!!!!

Beer sampler.....yummy!

It took a lot to narrow these down to put in a post.  One thing I am challenging myself to do is to take note of the everyday details that I want to remember.  For example - on this tour - the bottles of wine, the pouring of the wine, the beauties is in the details.  Challenge yourself to not just look at the obvious photo opportunities - but the not so obvious.