Photography 101, A Legacy Worth Living

Besides looking at great pictures (and hopefully taking them myself, soon!), I have discovered I love pictures from my family's history. I want to know what the story behind each picture is. What was she doing? Why did she choose that outfit? That hair style? Did she love this picture? Did he think he was 'Mr. Man'? Did they realize they would be part of history as they posed for that picture? Pinned on that medal? What was that medal won for? Do they still have it? What is the love story, the fun, behind that gaze-into-your-eyes picture?


These are just a few of the questions that go through my mind as I look at my family's pictures....hopefully I can get some of the stories that go with the pictures. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites:

Photography 101, Kiddos

So I'm new at this...very new. But my new passion is photography. I love the different look each picture has - the variance between colors, edge, brightness, texture, contrast...it's endless! So I'm going to do a mini-series on Photography. This first one is on my favorite subjects - children. They simply communicate volumes with a smile that makes their eyes squint, a furrowed brow, a serious face, a pout...or any face even! There's something pure and unrestrained in the joy or love of a child that is so much fun to see captured. And there's something innocent about them - baby hands, pudgy feet, crinkled eyes, wind-blown hair...why not capture everything you can?

Here are some of my favorite pics of some of the kids in my life. I think you'll see what I mean.

Hallye and Katelyn

Katelyn

Claire, Katelyn and Sam

Hallye

Katelyn

Hallye

Samuel

Katelyn

Brianna

McKenzie and Katelyn

A little boy from my trip this summer

Jacob

Brianna

Hallye and Katelyn

Unfortunately, I seriously cannot take credit for the rest of these photos, but I wanted to share them anyway since they're just amazing . :o)

Reagan

Another little boy from my trip this summer

Kayla

Hallye

Brianna

Happy Birthday to McKenzie!!

We celebrated McKenzie and Brooklyn's first birthday a few weeks ago (yeah, I'm a little behind!). It was so much fun and absolutely hysterical! There were 10 kids six and under and about twice as many adults! Even more fun - five of the 10 kids were under 1 1/2!! Oh yeah! Pretty hilarious! If you don't believe me, check out the pictures...

Turkey Trot, Turkey Trot...

(ok, if you have no idea what 'Turkey Trot' is, it's a dance that Lisa Chin does that makes us laugh ALL the time. next time you see her - ask her to do it for you. :o)

We just got back from a week in North Carolina with our family - what a wonderful week it was! We ate non-stop and talked about memories from past years, looked at pictures and had a great time. Kathy went with us which was so much fun - I think we made her laugh all week long!!

Monday we visited the Billy Graham Training Center where my grandparents work. It is incredible - about 2500 acres in all and a huge chapel, conference center, camp, etc. Steph and I thought it wasn't nice of our grandparents to not let us know in advance about the military cadets who were there on Thanksgiving - we sure would have included a service opportunity in our plans if we had known! ;o) Later we went and had lunch on the bank of the French Broad River. Then Kathy and I headed out later on that day for a fun 'photo shoot'...and two trips to the post office - hahaha!

Tuesday the girls went shopping and had lunch at Chelsea's - that was so much fun! Then we went home and chilled and watched a movie.

Wednesday was our 'Thanksgiving, Part 1' with my mom's parents...Thursday was 'Thanksgiving, Part 2' with my dad's parents. We had soooooo much food and, of course, tons of leftovers!

Friday we met up with all our family (about 30 something of us!) and saw the movie 'Enchanted'. Then we headed to the Hendersonville Tree Lighting...except there was no stinkin' tree. Because it was about 65 below 0 (alright, 34 degrees), we finished the night up with hot chocolate at this great little coffee shop.

Then we headed out on Saturday, arriving home around 6:30 pm. Here are a few of my favorite pictures I took...videos coming soon!

And some other great ones...

Thanksgiving dinner, part 1.

Thanksgiving dinner, part 2 (adults).

Thanksgiving dinner, part 2 (kids).The death of Beth from Little Women (don't ask :o).
Singing worship songs around the piano.
Coffee shop in Hendersonville. Girl cousins!! Addy, Danielle, me, Steph and Bekah! Playin' spoons...I won't bore you with the details of who won. Kathy finally went on the zip line!
I had to do it, too! :)

Steph posin' before she goes on the zipline.

Typical Kathy face! ;o)Fun, fun!

Kathy took this one on our little photo shoot.

Oh, and this one...
Lunch at Chelsea's - mmmm!!!!
Sittin' on the porch of Troyer's (Kathy's got a GREAT story about this one!).
Heehee! All the girls!Steph said to jump on three...but she jumped on two.

Yay! We got it!

I LOVE THIS ONE!

AND THIS ONE!!!

AND THIS ONE! :O)