see you next year!

well, since i am leaving town on wednesday and won't return until december, i thought i would post my Christmas card for y'all, because i don't know if they will make it to the mail this year. it is a bit crazy over here. i will be home a whopping 16 more days this year. yep. 16. and i don't think that will be enough time for me to do everything i will need to do for what life is requiring at this time of year.

so, Happy Holidays y'all! and i'll be back next year! that always sounds so funny.

i went with simple this year. and bright. i always design my cards and realize after i print them all that i went with dark colors. so, this year i went with bright. and it happened that a photo i recently took of my kids in the cotton fields had bright colors.

yes, this is how they look most of the time. especially right after school. which is what we did. i picked them up and drove straight out to check out the fields. i did NOT want to miss the cotton our last fall here. so, here are my ragamuffins.

thank you to everyone who made this year wonderful. I had so much fun learning and spending time with all of you. It has really meant a lot to me to have the privilege of meeting so many amazing people that i might not have met or had the pleasure of spending time with otherwise. and it meant a lot to me to get to spend time with people i already knew, too.
so thank you all!

a couple more blue • family

here are just a couple more from that previous post. well, two posts ago.

cousins • family

these kids love each other so much.

blue

it is so hot here in the summer. and hot means red. orange. warm colors.



can you tell that lil' miss candy had been gathering salt and was drizzling it on the ground as if it were sand? that is what her hand is doing in that awkward position.


looking at these photos from last month makes me feel cooler. maybe it's all the blue.
i had planned on having them wear pink. bright pink. and then blue. but monkey spit black licorice out onto her pink shirt. ruined it for any sort of wear right then. so, we were left with only blue. and that's ok. maybe all blue looks ok. either way, the girls had lots of fun out there.

and here are some surprising photos. this was one of those rare occasions when i handed my camera over to the girls. and i am so happy i did.






i liked this place so much, i would love to go back and stay longer. let the kids run more. farther. and bring my boy along.

ok, one more... she came in close and i was falling over. so, i think it's funny.
(this was the photo that preceded the kissy cheek photo)

freckles

it's beginning to look a lot like summer!!!

 bring on the freckles!

i LOVE freckles, and i love it that all of my kids have them. even monkey has a few now. but my kids were doomed. maybe i should say "destined" instead. destined to have freckles. having two parents with copious amounts of freckles, they had no way around it. blue eyes and freckles. they'll learn to love them. i always did. (right mom?)

i figured that since i don't have any photos of myself up here, i might as well post one from rapunzel's school assignment today. why? i don't know. it's late/early and i don't think i am thinking straight. or thinking at all. i may regret this in the morning...

shelby farms

it was beautiful outside today! a wonderful day to go for a hike, play on the high school track and bleachers, and eat dinner at shelby farms and play in the fields.



and yes, those are the colors my camera picked up right before the sun set. i did not change or add them in.

old new old

this coat is 30+ years old. it was made by a loving grandmother from her own coat for her granddaughter who's mother has saved it for 30+ years for her own granddaughters. how generous, caring, and wonderful is that?







this next one is my absolute favorite from today, if i am allowed to say that.


and this next one is just because. because it is different. and she is fun.

color, or black and white

Well, because I give my clients the freedom to print their photos wherever and whenever they want, I tell them that if they want to develop any of the photos in black and white to let me know so I can convert them into b&w.

It is hard to explain to people why I want to convert a color photo to black & white instead of a photo lab, so let's look at why I like to convert them.

Here is the color photo I want to demonstrate with. This is the photo SOOC (straight out of camera).

It is a fine photo, but I like to edit it a bit to make her "pop" more.
Here it is with a few edits.

Now, if I want to make it black and white, here is what it would look like if I converted it at/through a photo lab.

And that looks fine. But I still want her to pop more, so, I make a few more edits, and this is how I like my b&w photos to look.

A little more contrast, a little brighter. (although it looks too bright here on blogspot. like she is glowing. oh well) And the b&w edits are definitely customizable. Brighter, Darker, Less Contrast, etc.

This isn't how everyone likes their photos, and that is ok. But I like it this way.
And if you do too, tell me to convert your photos.
Don't forget!

Ok, one more just because. Here is that same last photo with a "texture" added. Just some fun scrolls.