I really love getting to take pictures of seniors! It’s such an exciting time in life. It’s a time that marks accomplishment, independence and new beginnings.
This particular session was extra special because for this session, I was photographing my niece. I still can’t believe that my “little” niece will be graduating in June 2013! She’s definitely not “little” anymore!
Love you M!
Until next time…
At least once a year, I get to visit another place I call home…San Diego! I grew up there and since most of my family still live there…it’s home away from home. My family & I got to visit for a little over a week early in July. While I was there, I had some time for a few photo sessions.
This session was with family friends that I first met in Atlanta. They now have a beautiful home in San Diego and it’s always such a treat to get to spend time with them. I have to say that getting to capture families in their own home is so much fun. To me, there’s always a more personal feel to photos and I LOVE the opportunity of capturing the beauty of home, family and everyday life. Here’s just a sneak peek…
More to come soon!
Until next time…
Last week, we headed outside. We headed outside just as the rain was beginning to pour! Usually, I’m not a big fan of rain! Rainy days make we want to stay in, curl up on the couch and just “veg”! Did I just use the word “veg”! Anyway, that’s what I would have wanted to do but some days you’ve just got to step out of the usual and do what you typically wouldn’t do.
So I’m not sure why my husband and I felt like it…but we did…we decided to go out and just enjoy the rain!
The kids geared up with their rain gear and mom & dad with their umbrellas. There was stomping and splashing! It was so much fun!
I was laughing inside as I smiled and waived as neighbors pulled out of their driveways!
We must have been a hilarious sight as we were all marching along the side of the road…in the rain! Fortunately our street dead ends so we don’t have a lot of cars driving through our immediate neighborhood.
I don’t know why we don’t do this more often! It was such a blast! And we had a great time together as a family…even if for just a little while.
It made me think…I’ve got to find more times of letting go of my usual schedule (or should I say agenda) and just enjoy the life that’s happening around me…even if it’s raining!
Do you make efforts to step out of your usual? How do you make sure you’re enjoying life as it’s happening around you?
Well, I hope we make more time to step out & enjoy the life that happens all around us! And when you can, remember to capture some of those moments of life and love!
Until next time…
I’ve been MIA…missing in action! Seriously folks…I’ve been in constant movement for months now and I can’t seem to find the time to get writing and sharing on this blog! Life was and still IS quite busy! Fortunately…my two older ones started summer break! Woohoo! Kind of nice to have a breather with schoolwork…and I’m looking forward to some slower days with summer!
So here I am…finally taking some time to getting back on track with this blog!
For starters, I thought I’d just share a few photos that just make me smile!
Here’s my daughter’s expression as she was listening to friends and family sing her “Happy Birthday” for the first time on her 1st birthday!
She literally devoured her cupcake in seconds!
I think she wasn’t quite sure what happened to all that delicious, fluffy sweet stuff!
Hmmm…where did it go?
The same month my JellyBean turned one…my little buddy also turned 6!
Here’s me and my little buddy who’s growing up so fast! I had him take a picture with me the day after his birthday! I’m trying to be better at being in the photos with my kids.
Love you Buddy!
And thanks to my littler helper, M&M, who is behind the camera taking our picture!
Both my older kids love getting a chance to hold the camera and become the photographer for a change.
How about you? Life been busy? I hope the summer is the beginning of slower days so you can enjoy the life and love that everyday brings!
Until next time…
Yes…my youngest ( JellyBean) turned ONE recently!
With her birthday came a flood of emotions as I remembered the day she was born! My husband and I rushed to the hospital! Our family had been waiting for her to finally arrive!
It was an amazing time. It was beautiful! Being there for when she was born was a gift from God and a kindness given to our family by my daughter’s mom (birthmom).
My husband sat in the waiting room. I brought my camera along knowing I wanted to take pictures. Of course, if her mom allowed it.
I’m so grateful I was able to capture this time in our lives for my daughter, her mom, and our family.
My hope is that she will treasure these photos and be able to see how much she was loved from the very beginning.
Dear JellyBean,
I can’t believe you’re ONE! You are so much my heart!
Daddy loves you! Your big sister and brother love you! And I…we… can’t imagine life…our family…without you!
My hope is that you will see, learn, and know what an extraordinary blessing you are in life!
That you were perfectly and wonderfully made!
And that from the very beginning…you were loved!
I wanted to share this song “A Mother’s Prayer” with you. I truly believe that this song encompasses what you’re mother’s hope and prayer was and will always be for you!
I love you SO much my little princess!
~your mommy
.
“A Mother’s Prayer”
I pray you’ll be my eyes
And watch her where she goes
And help her to be wise
Help me to let go
Every mother’s prayer
Every child knows
Lead her to a place
Guide her with your grace
To a place where she’ll be safe
I pray she finds your light
And holds it in her heart
As darkness falls each night
Remind her where you are
Every mother’s prayer
Every child knows
Need to find a place
Guide her to a place
Give her faith so she’ll be safe
Lead her to a place
Guide her with your grace
To a place where she’ll be safe
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.
~Phyllis Theroux
How about creating something that will make not only your kiddos happy but someone else get a big great smile too!
I thought I’d share with you a photoletter that I came up with as I was preparing for a long road trip ( needing to find things for my kids to do while in the car) and it was my mom’s birthday.
It’s really a simple activity to do but I love that this activity is meant to be passed along and will hopefully bring joy to someone else.
And of course with me being a photographer, my activity includes photos. I love how photos personalize things and make things that much more special.
So here’s what i did…
Needed supplies:
Some of your favorite pictures printed on regular 8 1/2x 11 paper using your colored printer.
One sheet of construction paper
glue stick
pen/marker or crayon (for a message)
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I basically picked some of my favorite pictures with the kids and their mama (that’s what my kids call my mom) and made wallet size prints using my colored printer and the 8 1/2 x 11 printer paper.
I like using Picasa because it makes printing really easy. I simply select/pin/hold the photos I want to print and then click on the printer icon on the bottom of the page and you come to the page where you’re given the options to make wallets, 4×6, 5x7s, 8x10s and full page prints. So I click on the wallets layout and you’ll see something like this…
…6 photos (wallet size) on one page.
Depending on what your kids are able or not able to do, you can either pre-cut your photos or have your kids do it themselves. Since we were going on a roadtrip and I didn’t want to have lots of little pieces of scrap paper all about the car, I went ahead and pre-cut the photos and placed them inside an envelope with a sheet of construction paper, glue stick and pen/marker or crayon (optional).
The kids were basically instructed to glue as many of the photos they wanted onto the construction paper to make a card for their mama’s birthday.
Of course, some kids may end up gluing only one photo on the entire page or every single photo you give them; no matter what they do, I think it turns out awesome just because it’s made by their little hands and with love!
For the younger kids who have difficulty writing or don’t write at all, you can write a message either before or after they glue the pictures on.
So these photos are taken during our road trip when the kids opened their enveloped and started on their activity…
These next photos are from after our road trip just to show you how they turned out and what they’ll be doing with them.
This is my daughter’s photoletter…
My son’s…
I loved this part of my son’s letter where he drew a picture of himself having a conversation with someone…maybe his mama…not sure but anyway… I laughed out loud!
So with these photoletters you can fold them into 3rds, insert into an envelope…
stamp it and then put in your mailbox or drop off at your local post office (an additional extension to your activity)! =)
I know it’s seems rather simple but my kids loved looking at the pictures I printed for them and I loved that at the end of this activity, they had something to give as a gift of encouragement.
Hope you enjoyed our little activity!
For more wonderful activities to do with your kids or if you’d like to link up with a wonderful group of bloggers sharing their ideas, check out the Kids Co-op by clicking below (yes…the blue froggy)…
Until next time…
When FB first came out with the timeline feature in the beginning of this year, I immediately made the switch when it was made an option to FB users and quickly began working on a custom designed cover photo or banner.
It’s really simple if you already know how to use GIMP or photoshop or any photoediting software or site (i.e., picnik, photoshop.com, etc) . If you have access to these tools, you can create your own custom cover photo and other than knowing how to use some kind of photoediting software, all you really need to know is that the dimensions must be 850 pixels by 320 pixels.
Here’s a tutorial by Vintage Wanna Bee on how to create your FB TImeline cover using picnik here.
What I’m sharing with you below is a basic summary of what I did using photoshop.
I created a new photoshop canvas by setting my width to 850 pixels, height to 320 pixels and resolution to 300 dpi. I first tried 72 as suggested by MADBLOG but found that when I uploaded my photo, it didn’t look as sharp as I would like.
By boosting up the resolution to 300, the uploaded photo looked as close to my created cover on photoshop as on my FB page.
So once you have you’re blank canvas…now you can just be creative.
Cover photos can be as simple or creative as you’d like it to be.
I started by adding a background color…
Then used some creative brushes to add to my background. If you google photoshop brushes you should find a number of wonderful brushes that are either free to use ( so long as you aren’t using them for commercial purposes) or brushes that you can purchase for commercial use.
I then added photos I wanted,
some text…and voila!
I had my FB Timeline cover all done!
One other important note on your cover photo design, you will need to leave a little space on the bottom left of your cover photo where your FB profile image is located on your page.
Now if you can’t or don’t want to make your own timeline cover, there are designers that are creating FB cover templates for you to just plop in your photo and upload to your FB page.
You can find a few of those here, here and here.
Now I’m not sure if anyone would be interested in this but I thought I’d go ahead and give it a shot.
I’ll be giving away a custom designed FB TImeline Cover! I hope you’re jumping up and down with excitement! 
Now if you’re asking what it would look like…well, I can’t really say because it depends on who the winner is. As in my photography, I love customizing my sessions to specifically fit the person/family I’m working for. So whether or not you have some ideas as to what you’d like to see, just not sure how to get it done or don’t have the time to do it…well go ahead and like my FB page and enter to win!
Here’s the Custom Cover Giveaway Rules…
All you have to do is “LIKE” ayphotodesign’s FB page (you can find the link to the right of the blog).
Then come back to this post and leave a comment that you’ve liked my page or have been a “liker”!
The giveaway ends April 1st at 9 p.m. EST.
After 9 p.m., I will close the comments section of the post and verify that everyone who has left a comment has “liked” my FB page.
Then I will randomly choose a winner using random.org, update the blog post and contact the winner of the giveaway by Monday, April 2nd.
I’m sorry that I didn’t think of this sooner and had the giveaway before the complete FB changeover on the 31st but c’est la vie! You can always just put up a photo temporarily and be ready to put up an awesome cover photo after you win my giveaway! =)
Good luck!
Until next time…
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UPDATE: (4/2/2012)
I know I said I would choose one (1) Winner but…
Lisa Higgins & Marina Eddings…
You are BOTH winners of my FB TImeline GIVEAWAY!
I will contact you via email!
Thank you for participating!
Until next time… =)
