Tag: postaday

Up Close and Personal…looking back

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Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Up Close and Personal

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF CLOSE UPS (HUMAN OR NOT).

SixWordSaturday

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How could I NOT post photos for this challenge! Up close and personal – whether it be human or not – is my passion in photography.

I searched through my archives for these two shots. By archives I mean an extensive collection of photo albums (with negatives!) – which take up an entire bookshelf in the living room.

As I mentioned in my last post, I took pictures of my children “at every milestone”…however, I also tried to capture their “ordinary” days. Playing outside and taking a break for a drink or snack on the deck…as was the case for my 1½ year old son below. Or watching daddy play guitar and sing at a local apple harvest festival at the age of 4½…as my daughter was in the second photo below.

Catching my kids in a quiet moment was always a challenge, as they loved to grin or pose or make silly faces when I pulled out my camera. Often waiting patiently while I focused – no autofocus back then. As they got older, they would hold up 2 fingers in a peace sign pose to give me something to easily focus on…quicker.

I really love these two photographs because I can see a glimpse of who they are now. And it makes me smile. The eyes. The expressions. Children are so beautiful in their transparency.

  • 1989
  • 1986

Just a Few Words Wednesday

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(This was going to be a Wordless Wednesday post, but pairing it with Nancy Merrill’s vacation memories challenge made the wordless part too challenging…)

Photo a Week: Vacation Memories

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Covidcation 2020
Pocono Summit, Pennsylvania
Four Days of Quarantined Family Fun

From lakeside….

morning lake

To a nearby deserted baseball field one morning…

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Back to lakeside at day’s end…

firepit end of day

…three generations gathered.

sunset on the lake
Treasured memories…well documented.

Photo a Week: Tulip Tales

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Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Light and Dark

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO FEATURING THE CONTRAST OF DARK AND LIGHT.

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As we all know, cut flowers do not last very long. After about a week, the beautiful bouquet of tulips I received on Mother’s Day began drooping. The long goodbye to their short stay on my dining room table had begun.

They had done well…brightening my stay-at-home days.

However, aging flowers also have their beautiful side. With proper lighting of course. No shooting from below…the angle is crucial. I carefully moved the vase and set it gently on the record cabinet I use as my photo studio spot. It is right near the window which lets in the afternoon sun.

The petals sagged a bit, stretched out and relaxed after a week holding strong, but no matter. Their gentle lines of color perked up as the sun’s rays streamed in.

A flower barely hanging on, but still a force to photograph.

Lighting up the dark…

light and dark tulip
Tulip Goodbye

Sunshine’s Macro Monday: Changing Seasons

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Sunshine’s Macro Monday #35

Photo a Week Challenge: Changing Seasons

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Here in the northeastern USA, the comforting signs of spring are still hard to come by. And, believe me, I am looking for them. Those vibrant splashes of yellows and purples as hibernating bulbs push signs of life up through the cold ground. Surrounded by trees and bushes newly dressed with greenery.

However…as I discovered this past weekend…if you look closely…Mother Nature is making her presence known..little by little.

budding out

 

A welcome – and hopeful – sight.

Airborne

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Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Up In The Air

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF THINGS THAT ARE AIRBORNE OR UP IN THE AIR IN ANY WAY.

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These days “up in the air” could very easily apply to life in general. For me and most everyone else on the planet.

However…since I usually tend to take things quite literally, I am choosing “up in the air” to mean just that. Air travel. That’s about as up in the air as I ever get anyway. I can’t imagine hot air ballooning. Or tight rope walking. Or zip lining….

Between December 2019 and February 2020 I traveled by airplane three times to Washington DC. My seat always in row 14 – near the wing. I don’t know why, it just feels safer to sit near the middle of the plane. I will not, however, book a seat in row 13. No reason to tempt fate.

Whenever I fly, I am fascinated by the view from the window. If the weather cooperates and I can hold the camera (in this case my phone) steady, I document what passes by. Trying not to think too deeply about the fact that I am encased in a metal tube traveling at a very high speed – held up by the…um, air. Thousands of feet above good old terra firma.

A few up in the air moments…captured to distract myself.

On my way to DC.

in flight
On my way to DC

in flight 2
On my way to DC getting closer

And on my way home.

in flight 3
On my way home…taking off

It is, after all, beautiful country down there.

Did you bring me any strawberries?

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Inspired by Nancy Merrill’s Photo a Week Challenge: Red

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT HAS RED AS EITHER THE MAIN OR AN ACCENT COLOR.

SixWordSaturday

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IMG_9090
Six quarts of delicious red strawberries

My Oma loved strawberries in any way shape or form.

Strawberries and whipped cream. Strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry pie. Strawberry muffins. Strawberry cheesecake.

Strawberries sprinkled with sugar – just enough to draw out some of the sweet juices.
Not too much. Not too little.

Honey, did you bring me any strawberries? she’d often ask when she lived nearby during her last years.  Not always easy when it was off season, but I tried.

She owned a set of small juice glasses featuring strawberries in the design. A few faded – but survived over time – and I was able to save one.

It always makes me smile.

strawberry glass

 

On Your Mark…

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…Get Set…

Young children know when to take action.

They just know…

Even if it’s just the spark of fun ignited by a soccer ball and the chance to race dad up and down a court at the neighborhood park.

charlie soccer 12-26-19 2 copy

They don’t wait for instruction at the age of 3 ½.

They don’t second guess themselves.

Rarely do they wonder what to do next.

Or hesitate to debate all the possibilities.

Or weigh every risk.

soccer dec 26 2019 copy

Rarely is there self doubt…

Only a response to pure instinct…

Before fulfilling a simple wish…in a simple game…for the exhilaration of out-of-breath, heart pumping movement.

One kick at a time.
One step at a time.
One jump at a time.
One giggle at a time…

…GO!

Shrieking with confidence.
Under a sunny sky.

soccer kick copy
We have much to learn from such joyful spontaneity.


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Doubly inspired…

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #78: action

…think about where action is needed in your life, or in the world in general. The word itself does not need to appear in your post, but the movement should be obvious.

A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF PLAYING.

Photo a Week: Christmas Memories

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Nancy Merrill’s A Photo a Week Challenge: Christmas Memories

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE ONE OR TWO OR MORE PHOTOS OF YOUR CHRISTMAS AND/OR HOLIDAY MEMORIES.

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Christmas memories fill up my photo albums. All the best ones involve my family…when our children lived at home and we celebrated together.

Choosing just a few was indeed difficult…

One of my favorite memories was the year my son was a fast moving – very curious – toddler. At the tender age of 13 months, he was able to dash from one end of the living room to the other, quicker than we could catch him.

The Christmas tree presented a special challenge that year…as he was fascinated by those shiny things hanging from the branches. As well as the colored lightbulbs strung on green wire. Which he could unscrew, shouting HOT! HOT!

Barricades were in order…until we removed them on Christmas morning.

christmas barricades
1988

Which presented the perfect opportunity for ornament inspection and removal…while daddy and big sister were opening their stockings and getting their pictures taken.

christmas 1988
1988

However, nine years later….he was the expert at hanging the ornaments up ON the tree.

decorating 1997
1997

One more special memory.