I ♥ Faces Week #29: Over My Head

click on photo to view larger, he's cute

The theme over at I ♥ Faces this week is "Over My Head." And while I was finding a picture for a friend I had the chance to revisit our photos from our recent outing at the splash fountains of a local mall.. I have so many awesome shots of water frozen in the air in really cool shapes above the kids heads, but in most of them the kids, you know, are being kids, and you can't see their faces. And they are kind of sticklers about that at a website called I ♥ Faces.

That's when I found this one of my little man Josh, who particularly loved that the water shot so tall, it went over his head, and would then shut off and splash down.

On top of being fair complected my boy is coming off of chemotherapy and has little resistance to the sun, hence the hat and long sleeves. So I am the crazy woman sending her kid into a fountain almost fully clothed in swimwear, but I have a really cool reason. You should also know I looked even crazier since his sister only had on her swimsuit, no rash guard shirt or hat.

I also love that the goofy frog on his shirt is showing off his face for this shot, but I know he doesn't count, it's all about the humans, luckily Josh is even cuter.

I ♥ Faces Week #26: Pets

Don't mess with Shirley.

See more Pets photos in competition this week at I ♥ Faces.



it's been a long while since I entered over at i heart faces, I am just so behind on many things, but my kids and I were looking at this particular photo in my personal/family blog archive, the day before the post popped up in my feed about this week's theme. As I am so far behind on my blog, I'm not entirely sure anyone has even seen this photo. This is my 11 year old cat Shirley, taken November 2009, Josh was feeling nasty from being in the hospital, Penny had H1N1, I was bored, so I went and pestered the cat. Don't mess with Shirley.








actually she was yawning, and I got lucky, but the first story is funnier.

I ♥ Faces Week #13: Dramatic B&W

This week's theme is Dramatic Black and Whites and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce some thing to my blog readers, all 2 of you. This year I want to not only share my sessions with you but some of my personal photographs both recent and from the past. This one was taken after summiting Mt. Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo in September 2003. Can't wait to share more photos that inspire me with all of you.



see more black and whites with drama over at I heart faces.

I ♥ Faces Week #12: Focusing On Angles

Ok I don't know how often I'll enter the weekly challenges over at I Heart Faces in the future, but I have to admit I am having fun re-visiting pictures I have already taken. This week's theme is "Focusing on Angles" either in the angle you are in for photographing or by tilting the camera or cropping. I'm a huge fan of angles, sometimes I angle too much. I do encourage all of you mom-tographers out there, experiment with angles, get up high, get down low, lean the camera, don't allow yourself to be confined to straight on head and shoulders shots. Angles can provide so much depth and character to an image. Go forth and experiment!

Anyway, when I read about getting a new angle on a pose, I immediately thought of this photo. You have to understand this is a boardwalk at the top of a rather small hill in a local metropark, but there is still a painful drop to the left of this photo.

My gorgeously pregnant friend joined me with her 4 year old on a blistering 90 degree day (for central Ohio, that's uncomfortable, stagnant and muggy). Before I got in position for this photo we both looked at her 4 year old and said a few things to the effect of, "You are never to do this." And then I climbed on the railing, which as you can see is about 4 feet high and only a few inches wide. I am 5'10" and with a 50mm lens I still was on my tiptoes trying to get as far above her as possible.

I actually came closest to falling off trying to hold the camera up and get more in the frame with some blind aiming. So I stuck to what I could fit in, and I love how it turned out, both my perspective angle and the angle the railing and walkway planks takes through the photo. Need to find a higher wall next time, or buy some of those lenses on my wish list! Baby girl was born about 6 weeks later.

See more angles here at I ♥ Faces.

I ♥ Faces Week #11: Bundled Up

Oh I debated a number of adorable in the snow pictures of my own kids (Josh's were all dominated by the eyes on his favorite lightning mcqueen hat), but they just couldn't beat out this all time favorite photo of niece during her 18 Month Photo Session. It may have been blistering cold in the wind that day, but that doesn't stop snack time! As my brother says, "We have personally kept graham cracker makers everywhere in business."

and no I did not boost the color on this photo, her coat is that fuschia.

Check out more Bundled Up pictures over here at I ♥ Faces, and say goodbye winter, hello spring!

I ♥ Faces Week #10: Jump for Joy!

(click on photo to view larger)

Things are crazy busy right now with my son Josh this week, and I wasn't going to enter a photo this week, then I remembered about the most joy-filled jumping photos there are out there, the Fisher Five Puddle Jump Session. We were trying to squeeze a family session but the threat of rain loomed, and then mom decided to embrace it and have a rainy wet and wild session.

In the this shot, sister had gotten huge air on this jump and is almost back on her feet as she makes the most amazing splash. You can see how impressed her little brother's expression is in the background. There were so many jumping shots from this session to choose from, but this has always been in my top 2 of the whole gallery even if you can only see the aftershock of her jump for splashing joy. You can see more of the session here.



head on over to i ♥ faces to find some more jumping joy.

I ♥ Faces Week 8: Hands On Fun

The family that surfs their crackberries together, stays together.


This is my first time entering over at I ♥ Faces. A little about when and where this photo was taken. Taken 10/30/2009 at 8:52 PM on 3 Tower of Nationwide Children's Hospital. Camera Mumbo Jumbo: Nikon D90 with a 50mm f/1.4 lens; SS: 1/30 sec, A: f/1.4, ISO: 1000. I was using Aperture Priority mode at the time so the camera set SS and ISO.

This photo is of my husband and my 3 year old son, Joshua, who has metastatic kidney cancer. I took this photo from the couch next to his bed, about 4 feet from their hands. On Josh's forefinger is a pulse oximeter, his heart had been racing all day. On this day he had been unexpectedly admitted to the hospital after maxing out the hem/onc clinic thermometers with a fever from a lovely combo of H1N1 and an intestinal infection C. diff.

I love this photo for many reasons, but first and foremost because it really was the one sweet moment of a day he had mostly spent blankly staring as the fever raged on. Daddy came for a visit after putting big sister to bed and had some pictures on his phone to show Josh from her. So there they were, cuddled sideways in the bed, and of course Josh wanted to hold his phone too, and by his, I mean mine.

This photo also appeared on our family blog, in this entry about his surprise return to the hospital 6 days after his previous admission for radiation and chemotherapy.