Flash Back Friday 125

June 11, 1988

Weddings on my mind today - tomorrow I'm shooting one! Pray for me :)

Happy Birthday Shari!

We left the Sleeping Bear Dunes area July 5 and drove up to see my cousin Shari & family who were at their family cottage near Torch Lake. Today is Shari's birthday - she's now my age for a few months!

Our kids, all 3rd cousins, had a very lovely lunch together while the adults ate out on the deck overlooking the lake. We talked and talked.



We "facebooked" each other about the get together, and "texted" afterwards about how we wish we lived closer. We also had this good-bye portrait taken. What a fun time!

The Annual Dune Climb Challenge

This is the 3rd year that Edward has attempted his own dune challenge on the steep, 450-foot drop dune on the Pierce Stocking Drive of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore! His 2006 time was 9:07 and in 2008, he did it in 8:31. The average person does it in 45 minutes, it would take me a few weeks. Could he break his record? John & Brian were also up for the challenge.

One thing that is nice about the area is that while they are gone, there are pictures to be taken of the surrounding scenery.







The sun was about to set. Would he make it?

Here he comes. He touched the sign at the end at 7 minutes, 39 seconds for a new record! I should also add that he was up early for a 5k in which he received a medal for 2nd place in the 19-24 age group and he ran about 8 miles in the afternoon. I don't know how he does it. Brian & John also made it up a bit later...

Celebrating the Sunset

The sunset over Lake Michigan is one of the great things about this state we live in, and last weekend, we saw a couple of them. But first, we celebrated John's sister's July 3rd birthday..."Aunt Susan." We always think Maria looks the most like her Aunt Susan.

She received a couple of big puzzles as gifts...

The 4 girl cousins are always happy to see each other!



We went to see the sunset after supper. As we were waiting for it, I turned around and saw a sight just about as beautiful, maybe even moreso, at least to me...



The sun set again and another day was done...

And Bridget jumped for joy.

More Jumping Cousins!

The cousins on John's side of the family are jumping for the USA this past weekend in front of a Lake Michigan sunset

Happy Independence Day!

July 4, 2007 up north with John's side of the family waiting for the parade

Flash Back Friday 124

Edward, Maria & Bridget 1999

I flashed back to this before but today I wanted to show the same park where I am now photographing chairs. It was good practice for this:

Down by the River

I haven't posted much from last Saturday's photoshoot yet. I loved how Deirdre described the event. It truly was great fun! We ended up going to a river which I loved - it's such a great metaphor for life. I took a few shots which showed the movement of the river.

This shot shows the movement of the geese:



I wanted them to hold their heads still a minute but they wouldn't cooperate. Finally, I managed to get this one:



They did this with their heads for a split second too:



I did a zoom technique and got this photo which makes me think of the Garden of Eden, kind of dreamy:



I think this one shows a bit of a silky flatness:



And I couldn't get enough of the green reflections in the water:


I'm looking forward to our next outing!

Senioritis

I mentioned that I went out last week to do senior photos for Katie, the daughter of a former co-worker. I took hundreds and edited about 40-something - Katie was a great model/prop for me!! We're going to go out again later this summer for more.

Chair Assignment

Last Saturday, I went out with Deirdre in the morning at 6:30am with the assignment to photograph a chair in a creative environment from Digital Photography School. We had planned the chair outing before we knew of the assignment and it turned out to be way more than just the chair with photos of fields, early sun, a rushing river, geese, LUSH green and huge trees. We even stopped for brekkie at Arnies! Fun, fun times.

These are the details of this photo!

Life in the Fast Lane

Jewels in a 1953 MG

Last week one evening, I was downtown taking senior pictures for the daughter of a friend and we happened upon this car. The owner let us use it for a prop and I had to take a turn too.

Tunnel Vision

Deirdre shoots through some playground equipment

This morning I woke up before 6am to go out on a photoshoot with my friend Deirdre. We took hundreds of photos and I soon discovered that she, like me, does not tire of taking them! So tunnel vision is a most fitting title. We did stop for brekkie for awhile but we're meeting back up at 4pm for more. Fun times!

Flash Back Friday 123

Maria & Bridget, aka the Nellies, 2005

The Jumping Cousins

A friend of mine commented that she collected photos of people jumping, so here are a few more. I can't tell you how fun these are to take!