Close Up Portraiture

Last year I joined group of photographers who chose a theme to photograph, and then share on our blogs each month.  Most of my group dropped out after the first few months, and there were some months that I was definitely not as into it as others, but I decided to do it again this year for one main reason:  It kept me blogging.  And not just on the themes from our group either. 

There were a lot of months when the time to post on our theme was coming up and I realized I hadn't posted anything since the last theme. I didn't want the theme posts to be the only thing on my blog, so I'd dig through the pictures I had taken over the month and choose something to blog about.

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I am at it again.  But I am excited.  This year's themes are more open ended.  Although, let's face it, that can be a good or bad thing.  Open ended means you have to think more doesn't it?  ;)  But regardless, I think it will be good for me.  (And if nothing more, it will keep me blogging).

So, this month's theme is Close Up Portraiture.  I confess I really struggled with this one.  I don't have a macro lens.  In fact, the longest focal length I have is a 50mm, and you can only get so close with that.

But for a long time I had wanted to photograph my kids eyes, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  Bart and I have nearly the exact same eye color, so it's no surprise that all of our kids have blue eyes too.  But, despite the nearly identical color, it's fascinating how different the eyes of each of my kids look. I only got pictures of Lilly and Hannah's eyes, but I'm going to work on getting Maya's and Addison's too.  Maybe I'll even share it in another post.  :)

Here's Lilly's:

And here's Hannah's

They were taken at different times of the day in different lighting conditions, so the color isn't as close as it is in real life, but compare the irises.  They are just so different!  It's awesome!  I love it!

Now go ahead and check out Catherine's take on this month's theme.

Friends

So I was reading Karen Russell's blog today and just felt totally inspired.  I've been working hard at taking pictures (mostly of my kids) every day.  And while some of them are not technically perfect, I just LOVE the emotion I've been capturing.  Unfortunately I haven't been sharing them as much as I should here on the blog, so after reading her post, I decided to post one photo in particular that I absolutely LOVE of the twins:

For some reason these two little rascals LOVE pulling the cushion off this chair and climbing into it to play.  On this particular day, I grabbed my camera and asked them to give each other hugs.  Instead of throwing their arms around each other, Maya turned to Lilly and smashed her nose into the side of her face, and Lilly started giggling.  It was just so them!  Yes, they fight and take away each other's toys a lot, but honestly,  the moments like this make all the mediating I have to do at those times 100% worth it.  That picture isn't quite in focus, but I couldn't care less.  It captured their playfulness and love for each other beautifully.  To me it is emotionally perfect.  So thank you Karen, for motivating me to post it in spite of it's technical flaws.  :)

And here are a few others I took that day too.

Seriously, sometimes having twins really is the best. 

Stow Away

Yesterday Hannah came into the room and informed me she was ready to go...do you notice anything a little odd about what she's wearing?

Let me give you a close up in case you didn't notice it.  

When I asked Hannah why Polly Pocket was in her boot she simply said, "She wanted a ride."  Of course she did.

Still Life

This morning, at breakfast, we were discussing what a still life was.   (I'm sure you all can relate, it's a pretty common table conversation here in America).  So later in the day I asked the kids if they wanted to draw a still life.  All four enthusiastically assured me they did, so I pulled out some citrus we got from the store the other day, put it in a bowl, gave them some paper and crayons and let them have at it.

I knew the babies would pretty much just scribble on a paper and call it a day, but Addison and Hannah really impressed me with what they did...especially Hannah.  I knew Addison was fully capable of drawing a recognizable bowl with fruit in it, but I could actually tell Hannah's drawing was.  Admittedly, it helped that I knew what she was drawing, but for a three year old I thought it was pretty good.  And so did Grandma, she asked if she could have it before she went home. 

Next up, cubism.  I bet even the babies could get into that.  ;)

(P.S. I know I promised some Christmas pictures, and they will come.  I just had to get these up today because I knew if I didn't, they might never make it onto the blog.)

The Way I View - The Holidays

This more or less sums it up.  :)

Check back later and I'll link to some other blogs.