Little Red

This beautiful cardinal sat still even when I got within 8 inches of him....through the window, of course.  Love cardinals!

52 Week Project - Weeks 15 & 16

Week 15: SOFT

What could be softer than a brand new puppy? 

Our dog Blue is new mom to five, born a week ago.

Week 16: Perspective 

Power lines going through one of the cow pastures on the ranch.

The Easter Egg Hunt

The Saturday before Easter is the Campbell's Annual Easter Egg Hunt and Pot Luck Lunch - always lots of fun!  Having come off a rather discouraging photo shoot that didn't turn out the way I had hoped, I decided to try a different approach at the Easter Egg Hunt - have a more casual plan, focus on the youngest kids, get some family interactions and be relaxed about the whole thing.

  Cody and Ruby loved their wagon ride.

 Tried some "blown-out" highlights.

 Paisley in her mama's arms.

 It looks likes Evelyn is playing peek-a-boo!

 Kathy Borchard's daughter and granddaughter

 Natalie

Natalie edited

 Ben - checking out his first egg

 Just want to pinch Adam's cute cheeks!

 Ruby and her egg basket

 Emma had the coolest hair style!

 Aspen - flushed from the hunt

 Mariam

 RJ still loves his mom!

 Aidan looks like he enjoyed what he found in his eggs.

 Taylor

 Melanie

 All that was left

Grandpa with a sweet granddaughter

52 Week Project - Week 14

ENVY

ISO 200 - f1.8 - 1/2000 sec. 35 mm focal length

I planned this one to be a "one take" shot, thinking, "If I use my 35mm 1.8 lens then I can put one guy flexing in the background and he'll be blurred. Then I'll put the other guy in the foreground and have him look over his shoulder with an envious look on his face." The guys didn't think the look worked very well, "He doesn't look envious," they said. Oh well...

This is the DESERET RANCH SWIMMING HOLE!!

The guys: Jerrick, Chris, Christian & Jason obliged me and let me take 

some shots of their antics at the swimming hole.  

It's the most popular spot with the kids on the ranch as soon as 

it opens in early April each year.

These guys have made some awesome videos of themselves 

doing double back flips off the rope swings.

Christian explained that a single back flip is simple, "It's easy, you just lean back and flip over..."

Jerrick followed suit, "Like this..."

The floating dock was an addition to the swimming hole 

a couple of years ago and makes a great place to relax or...

 play "King of the Dock"

10,000 Hours

I got to tend some really cute kids this week while their mom had an appointment and gladly grabbed the chance to practice shooting with my lovely camera.  I learned via my mentor, Brooke Snow, who referenced an article by another photographer on her blog this week, that in order to be a world-class expert in any field, one must log 10,000 hours of practice.  O.K., so even though I'll be somewhere close to the grave by the time I log 10,000 hours with my camera,  I WILL persevere, I want it that badly.

This is Christian who has such a great, spunky personality. He is full of wonder and wiggles.

This is Holley, the girl with the beautiful eyes.
She is delicate, delightful, and sometimes a goof-ball.

Christian knows his monster trucks by name like a father knows his children. This is "Grave Digger"...

Loved Aidan's expression when he saw a semi whiz past us! OooooooooH!
He is simply adorable!

I have A LOT to learn, so I welcome those required hours to hone my skills! I'll just have to keep borrowing other people's grandchildren for my practice sessions. :)

52 Week Project - Week 13

~ ~ ~ SHINE ~ ~ ~

When my mother passed away she left me her diamond ring and her mother's diamond ring. Eventually I took the two rings, along with my own wedding ring, to a jeweler to have made into one ring.  Unfortunately...I don't like the new ring! It reminds me of the popular post-war era graffiti, "Kilroy was Here" because it looks like two eyes sitting atop a long, bulbous nose!

The problem came about because I did not have a clear vision of what I wanted and when I consulted with the jeweler and told him about my idea of having the diamonds set side by side in a row, he poo-pooed it saying that it wouldn't look good that way, told me that three diamonds of varying sizes would look best set in a free-form style, and proceeded to show me some options.  It turned into a case of allowing the professional who doesn't even know me, to tell me what I like. It was nothing short of dumb on my part. The happy end of the story will come when I take the ring back to the jeweler and have him make a ring that I will really like and will therefore wear! In the meantime I decided I should at least have a photo of the "Kilroy Ring" - which I'm sure many other people would wear with pleasure - so I set up my shot outside in the morning sun where I tried to capture that beautiful light shining on the facets of each diamond. Oh, for a MACRO LENS!

From Boys to Men

I was flattered that RJ asked me to take some shots of him for his senior year. Wait! Weren't he and Jerrick just 12 years old the other day?? And now they are on the brink of manhood, although they think they have already attained that high station. Sorry guys, to those who have raised you, you are still boys, or at best YOUNG men. Soon you'll be thrust into the work force, off to college and/or missions and through those challenging experiences, peppered with a few trials along the way, you'll morph into MEN. 

Love these old Live Oak trees with the low hanging branches.

Stylized color on this one.

My life is very interesting...