A Cheap Bribe

Late Sunday afternoon…Will, Weslea and I took off for an impromptu photo shoot at “our bridge.”  At the end of our almost deserted, middle-of-nowhere road there is an old vintage bridge that goes over the railroad tracks.  The railroad company might not approve, but we have kind of claimed it as “ours” in our minds.



Weslea is willing to be my model anytime, anywhere.  After tagging along on several of my Senior Photo shoots for the local high school girls, she has fallen in love with trying to be a model for my camera.



{Thank you Lord for small blessings!}




Will tolerates my camera for a short time…and then he’s pretty much done with the whole deal.



So, why did he decide to accompany us on our photo excursion?

I’m pretty sure it had absolutely nothing to do with my camera and much more to do with the lure of the old railroad bridge…and the countless number of rocks laying there just waiting for him to throw them.


Oh how I love cheap bribes!

Photo Challenge: Dramatic B&W

When Amy and I set the schedule for the upcoming themes for i heart faces, we never seem to take into consideration what kind of photos we actually have on our own computers (why do we do this to ourselves?!)

After going through my files today and finding nada…Will, Weslea and I jumped in the car and took off for “our bridge”…the old, vintage railroad bridge right down the road from us (we like to claim it as “ours.”)

I quickly skimmed through the images I took today and I think that this shot of my darling little gal was my favorite:

This image was almost fully edited in Lightroom where I tweaked the contrast and white balance and then added the Rebecca Lily Contempo Black & White preset (thank you Susan Keller for introducing her presets to me!)  If you’ve never tried Lightroom before, you’ve got to head over and download the free beta version RIGHT NOW!  I really and truly am astounded at how easy this program can make the sometimes huge chore of editing become.

{Lightroom is not a sponsor of i heart faces nor do they have any idea who I am.  I’m just giving them a shout-out because I think they have a truly amazing product for photographers to use!}

**As co-founder of i heart faces, I'm not eligible to win the photo challenge.  I sure love entering for the fun of it though!**

The Story of the Father Daughter Dance

A couple of weeks ago, after being rescheduled three (or maybe even more?) times due to our lovely Ohio weather…the Father Daughter Dance FINALLY arrived.



Weslea was literally almost overcome with excitement.  She waits for this event all year long and it is probably the highlight of her winter.  :)



I tagged along as the 5th wheel on their date so that I could photograph the girls while they were dancing with their daddies.

My hope was to get out of shooting the posed shots.  I hate, hate, hate shooting posed shots.  It’s not my gift and I am not good at it at all.  Plus, there was another photographer there that had a lot more experience with posing.  Unfortunately, when the line of couples began to rope around the building, I was called in to pitch in and help with the posed shots.  Ugh.

What I didn’t realize was that I’d end up being the one who had to edit all of the posed shots (the other photographer doesn’t own an editing program.)

With the sheer amount of photos that had to be edited, I decided to force myself to learn how to use Lightroom (which is supposed to be a lot easier to bulk edit with.)  And fortunately, it is!  As long as the files from your beautiful new amazing camera are compatible with your old version of LR. You guessed it. Mine weren’t.

After spending several days trying to figure out all of the issues between my computer, my new camera and LR, I finally had a chance to actually figure out the LR program…which I now love and adore thanks to Susan Keller’s patient guidance through the 300 panicked emails I sent her way.

Due to the time it took me to learn everything, I decided to edit the photos in B&W.  I personally prefer B&W photos for my home and then I knew that I wouldn’t have to worry about the color issues from the terrible indoor fluorescent lighting as much.  I bulk edited all of the photos and then tweaked each photo individually for some color issues that still popped up.  As you can imagine, this took a tremendous amount of time.



By the time they were finished I was filled with glee that the task was finally accomplished and was thrilled to pass them off to the lady in charge of the dance.

Until I received her phone call about an hour later telling me that “they would much prefer to have all of the photos edited in color instead of B&W.”


I think the person in charge of the dance is a really incredible person, I absolutely, truly do…but at that moment in time I could feel my blood pressure soaring and it was all I could do not to sit down and cry buckets of tears.  Which may (or may not) have been due to the three hours of sleep I had gotten each night for a week while I was trying to edit these photos.

But, since I never seem to be able to say no to anything…I ended up spending three more full days re-editing all of the photos in color.



And I am now happy to report that I can move on to the photos that I love and adore…



The awesome candid shots of the beautiful little girls…and the amazing dads that spent an evening dancing with them.



And of one excited girl who kept popping her face in front of my camera to yell “HI MOM!!!!” before she scampered back to dance some more with her daddy.



P.S.  Dads who dance with their daughters at the Father Daughter Dance totally ROCK.  Dads who sit on the bench and talk to other dads while their daughters are dancing….BOO!



I am now going to happily head off to edit more of these little beauties.

Photo Challenge: All About Angles

This week at i heart faces we are focusing on angles and the way that using your camera creatively can add interest and beauty to your photos.

I’m a huge fan of tilting my camera while I take a shot (I probably do that with 99% of my shots.)  I also love to take photos from above the person…
So, I’m not sure how “creative” this angle is for me since I use it all the time…but it is one that I love and adore.  :)

Enter your creative shot over at i heart faces today….

Photo Challenge: “Bundled Up”

Even though we live in Ohio where the winters are typically cold, frigid and snowy, I’ve found that I don’t have as many snowy photos as it seems like I should have.  I’m thinking this is because:

a) I hate the cold and don’t like to go out in the snow all that much...

and

b) Snow Masks (urgh!)


My kids are completely obsessed with wearing them every stinkin’ time they go out to play in the snow!

I really can’t blame them since the masks keeps them so much warmer while they are playing, but good grief!  How is a mom supposed to get good snow photos when the kids insist on wearing a mask?  Every single photo starts to look very much alike.

Enter your “Bundled Up” photo over at i heart faces today…

We Have A Jumper!

For Amy and myself, one of the highlights of attending Blissdom this year was that we got to meet one of the i heart faces contributors in person…Mr. B-Dad himself!

We hung out with B-Dad whenever we could, but things were busy the whole week so we really enjoyed the extra time we got to spend with him on the photo walk.



Except for the obnoxious hat he brought along with him, we liked him a bunch!


B-Dad loves Michael Howard’s photography style and photographic work.  So, when I happened to look over to see the two of them chatting I decided to catch a few quick shots.



Until something else in the background caught my attention instead.



Ladies and gentlemen…it looks like we’ve got a jumper!



Someone very quickly became the “Star of the Show!”



She followed directions, she turned to the different cameras, she modeled, she posed…and she jumped over and over and over and over again while laughing and having a grand time.

And, she even occasionally fell on her rump for the cameras as well.


And all of this was done while keeping a smile on her face.

Now that’s a woman!

Photo Challenge: “Jump For Joy!”

When Amy and I held the i heart faces photo walk in Nashville, I just happened to look over at the perfect moment to see this sight.

How fun is she?!



Be sure to come back here tomorrow for “the rest of the story…”  {hee!}

Enjoying The Game

Basketball has been a huge part of our lives over the past few months, and it’s been a lot of fun to see how all of the kids progressed with their skills this year.  And also to see their unique, individual take on how to play the sport.



Of them all, I’d have to say that our third child, Wyatt’s, approach is the most unique.



Because that boy takes the position of “Defense” very seriously.



And when I say “seriously” I mean that he is literally going to do everything he can possibly can do to make sure that the person he is defending will not have a chance to get anywhere near the ball.



Even if it means that he’ll not really be playing the game of basketball any longer…



No, I’d have to say that it quickly moves from basketball into a full-blown, old-fashioned wrestling match.



As you can see, both he and the boy he was defending think wrestling is much more fun than basketball.



So while I sit in the stands and alternate between extreme embarrassment, hysterical laughter and trying to keep myself from screaming “Wyatt STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”…



He has grand fun playing the game of basketball.



Errr….I mean he enjoys playing the game of wrestling…while not playing basketball.

You know what I mean.

Saving Mom’s Sanity

All four of our kids play basketball each winter.

Basketball season is loooooooooong.

Thankfully, basketball season for three of them is finished and we now only need to attend Will’s games.


Weslea loves to attend Will’s games for the social aspects (ie. she can hang out with her friends and run over to the snack bar 342 times.)

Wyatt and Weston hate to attend his games.  And I mean they hate it with a capital “H.”

Most Sundays find them begging me to stay home with them…and sometimes we’ll do just that.

On other Sundays, I pull out the “Save-Mom’s-Sanity” weapon.


Man alive, do I ever love the i-Touch!  Best device ever invented.

In my very humble (and relieved) opinion, of course.

Photo Challenge: “Hilarious Outtakes”

This week's theme is “Hilarious Outtakes” which I definitely seem to have an entire arsenal of photos to choose from:

Entry #1:
This photo is an oldie, but a goodie.  This was back in the very beginning months that I had decided I wanted to learn how to improve my photography.  We were in NJ visiting my brother and his wife and I had decided I wanted to take beautiful photos of our family on the beach.

This photo is just the perfect example that even though the setting might be beautiful and wonderful…it still might not be the best place to actually take your photo at.  Lighting is equally (and quite likely even more) important!

I used this photo as an example of Bad Lighting in the photography class I helped teach at Blissdom.  Needless to say, it brought a lot of laughs to the room.  ;)







Entry #2:
This is my friend Laurie who you might all know as the amazing Tip Junkie.  Amy, Laurie and I hung out all day Sunday after Blissdom while we were waiting for our flights that wouldn’t leave until that evening.  Does she look like fun to hang out with or what?!?






Entry #3:
My Man (who doesn’t know how NOT to be goofy) acting like a dork while sledding…the sled is actually completely still right there though.  I have about 50 photos I could share in this “series” with a different deliberate goofy look on his face in each one.

Ahhhh…. I'm so proud of my studmuffin!






Entry #4:
A highlight of Blissdom this year was that I finally got to meet my friend, Jen Johnson, in real life.  She is gorgeous, fun, outgoing and a blast to hang out with.

She will also go to any lengths to get the perfect shot.  That's my kind of girl!

(This photo was taken during the i heart faces Photo Walk in Nashville.)







Entry #5:
Have you ever ridden somewhere with a busload of excited 5th graders?  That whole experience could be labeled as a “Hilarious Outtake” in and of itself.

Add to that, my son is in an all-boys class.  And I was solely responsible for about 20 of them.
{insert big eyes here}

That said…I would take a group of twenty 5th grade boys any day over a small group of kindergartners.

Yes I would.




To Whom It May Concern:  I'd just like to send out a word of warning to a certain Amy from a blog called Living Locurto.  If anyone happens to see a horrible photo of a certain Angie Arthur on her blog this week, please be sure to let me know right away.  I just happen to have the perfect photo Miss Amy that I can share, but I'd like to save it as blackmail just in case she decides to "feature" me on her site. Bwahahaha!!


Head on over to i heart faces to see a whole slew of silly photos this week!