365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

It’s been a great week! I was determined to nip this photography funk in the bud by shooting a lot, every day. Shoot anything, shoot everything… aaand I’m sharing those results. They aren’t all good images, but they are all memories.

Day 106 ~ Serpent

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window to see a 3-foot long snake on my sidewalk! By the time I’d gotten outside with my camera and macro lens, he’d made his way into my garden.

106 Serpent 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 106 ~ Bemused

Playing outside after school, Dominic was telling me a funny story… I think about Minecraft (specifically SkyDoesMinecraft whom Dominic follows on YouTube).

106 Bemused 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 107 ~ Sidelines

With Curtis out of town, Dominic had to come to Special Olympics with us. He didn’t want to come help and run around, so I let him sit on the sidelines with my phone.

107 Sidelines 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 107 ~ Soccer

Eventually, I talked Dominic into joining us for practice. Dominic was an official volunteer and got to take part in the stations after the other kids had their turns. He was a happy boy.icon smile 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

107 Soccer 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 108 ~ Car Lane

Some days I walk to get Dominic after school, some days Curtis gets him. Every once in a while, I’ll have to pick him by car. Waiting in the car lane sucks. People are so rude, cutting in line and being unsafe. With nearly 1000 elementary kids here, it’s a miracle anyone can get their child in a timely manner. I liked the juxtaposition of Dominic’s pickup tag hanging from my rearview with the road sign and school bus.

108 Car Lane 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 108 ~ Award

Jenny is rocking her junior year at Texas State. She was honored by the College of Fine Arts with an award… Outstanding Member of Lambda Alpha Epsilon, the criminal justice fraternity to which she belongs. It was an incredible honor.

108 Award 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 109 ~ First Frog of the Season

Anna has always loved frogs and toads. Now that we’ve had a little rain, they are coming out to play. Anna was thrilled to find this little guy and was ever so gentle with him.

109 First Frog of the Season 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 109 ~ Hi Jenny

Jenny got to visit for the weekend. Since she worked all day, she was a bit tired and was happy to sit and watch Anna and I play frisbee. Her gorgeous blue eyes always have a sparkle!

109 Hi Jenny 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 109 ~ Paw Fuzz

I shared this on the Daily Project also… from the family Haemodoraceae, the Kangaroo Paw flower.

109 Paw Fuzz 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 109 ~ Trio

Also from my mom’s garden, I love finding clusters of three.

109 Trio 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 109 ~ Outgrown

Heading back into the house with the sun setting, I saw this snail shell abandoned on the tree trunk… outgrown.

109 Outgrown 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 110 ~ Doll Show

For two months, Anna has been anticipating this doll show coming to Austin. She was on extra good behavior the week before to be able to go and she really enjoyed seeing some of the reborn artists she had met in New Braunfels and San Antonio at previous shows. The place was really crowded and their were only two tables of reborns, so it was a quick trip. Even here, she has trouble with eye contact but she does love holding the babies!

110 Doll Show 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Day 112 ~ School Day

Dominic looked so cute this morning that I had to get a quick snap before school.icon smile 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

112 School Day 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Sixteen

Thanks for looking and I hope to have higher quality photos next week… sometimes you just have to push through the creative lulls to find your art again. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fifteen

This is the first week where I didn’t actually shoot… not just every day, but hardly at all. I had so much to catch up on after Dominic being sick that I was just drained. Then Anna got Dominic’s virus which has now turned into a sinus infection too. Sigh. She does not sleep when she’s sick and she’s been home since Thursday. So I have just a few to share…

Day 101 ~ Blue and Green

From the night before she got sick, I was playing outside with Anna… breathing the spring air and flinging my arms wide. It was a glorious day. I looked up and caught sight of the pure blue sky and bright green leaves, something made me want to capture it.

101 Blue and Green 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fifteen

Day 105 ~ Garden 1 and 2

Since Mom spent a lot of time with Anna yesterday, Curtis and I tackled some spring projects. While he cleaned out the garage, I got busy planting some new flowers in the garden. This is called Origami Mix Columbine and is the most unusually shaped flower I’ve ever seen.

105 Garden1 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fifteen

These are 3D African Daisies and they are the most beautiful hue of purple I’ve ever seen.

105 Garden2 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fifteen

Thanks for looking! I’m determined to shoot much more this week. Hopefully Anna will sleep tonight and be back to school by Wednesday. Three weeks of kids at home makes for a tired mommy. <3

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365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Tuesday morning, Dominic was sick again… it looked like another PFAPA Syndrome cycle but it was good news that he made it more than two months without a fever cycle. His infectious disease doc had him take a single dose of Prednisone Tuesday at lunch and the fever didn’t come back. Wednesday night, ready to return to school Thursday, his fever returned at nearly 103. Off to the pediatrician… he had a secondary sinus infection and the beginnings of bronchitits. This happened last time too… he got pneumonia. So he started antibiotics. He finally went back to school today. So we didn’t do a whole lot last week! He was feeling better with no fever over the weekend, so we met Jenny in San Marcos for lunch, but mostly we took it easy. I took a long walk this morning to decompress.

Day 94 ~ Ill Again

After his fever returned and before we’d gone to see his pediatrician on Thursday, Dominic was burning up and laying in the bed beside my office desk. I let him sleep for a while before going to the doctor.

94 Ill Again 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 95 ~ New Growth

I noticed that our rose bush out front was wildly out of control a few weeks ago, so I trimmed it back. I was so pleased to see new growth this week. What a beautiful specimen.

95 New Growth 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 95 ~ Refuge

As part of CMpro, one of our members suggested that we create a collaborative project for Friday’s Daily Project post using a yellow balloon. This was my vision… to have a yellow balloon floating under an umbrella that is also floating while it rains all around. It took ages to set up and I wasn’t happy with the outcome, so I didn’t post this one. You can’t even see the water in the background!

95 Refuge 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 95 ~ Yearning to Float

This was my entry for the yellow balloon collaborative project for the Daily Project.

95 Yearning to Float 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 96 ~ Urban Hug

A trip to San Marcos to meet Jenny for lunch yielded an unexpected lovely moment between siblings.

96 Urban Hug 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 98 ~ Quack

My power walk this morning was interrupted by this inquisitive duck.

98 Quack 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Day 98 ~ Shrooms

Working on a Creativity Challenge for Clickin Moms, I got an extra image that I liked… cool, textured mushrooms.

98 Shrooms 365 in 52 [2013] ~ Week Fourteen

Wishing you all a quiet, healthy week. Thanks for looking!

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Life in the Bluebonnets

This won’t be a portrait post of my children (or anyone else’s) in the Texas bluebonnets. As much as I have tried over the last 21 years, I have NEVER managed to get a good photo of my children in these beautiful wildflowers. Someone is always grumpy, no one looks at the camera, the grass itches, there are bees, it’s hot, I don’t want to take a picture, she’s pushing me!… it’s always a fail. So this year, I decided to forgo even trying. This year, I took my macro lens (love me some 105mm magic!) and stepped out into the field behind my house. And you know what? I discovered that there is an abundance of life in those bluebonnets. So much so, it make me cringe to think of how we had trampled plants all willy-nilly in the attempt of getting one good bluebonnet portrait. I ended up going out twice, both times during the Golden Hour; the first time, it was overcast… the second, it was sunny. Anna was with me the first time and was enchanted with the ladybugs. We caught them a couple of times and I tried to get an image of one on her hand, but they would rapidly crawl around and takeoff. There is an image below called “Takeoff” where the ladybug was just getting ready to fly, but I was disappointed that I didn’t get the entire bug in focus. So when I went out again by myself a couple of days later, I attempted the takeoff shot again which culminated in the image called “Taking Flight”… one of my new favorites. It wasn’t easy balancing the 105mm with one hand while holding out the other! I’ve shared a couple of these images on the CMpro Daily Project and I should probably insert them as a Lightbox to increase page load time… but I couldn’t bear to see them as anything but full size. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. <3

Day One

Abundance

1 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

In Bloom

2 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Blossom

3 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

The Lone Star

4 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Rapid Retreat

5 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Takeoff

6 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Gathering

7 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

From Above

8 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Unexpected

9 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Day Two

Surprise Spider

10 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Beetle War

11 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Bluebonnet Sunset

12 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Drunk on Pollen

13 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Made it to the Top

There are actually three insects in this image. Can you find them?

14 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Taking Flight

15 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

Big as a Blade

16 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

In Plain Sight

17 bluebonnets Life in the Bluebonnets

I think shooting non-portrait types of images can be an incredibly rewarding and soul-enriching study. Thanks for looking!

Nina - The titles to these added a special touch. <3

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2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

I’m participating in a blog circle with other Clickin Moms for 2013. March is about interesting perspectives. I decided to challenge myself to shoot from the ground this month. Getting down there is not easy with an artificial knee but it does allow for some interesting perspectives!

Sometimes Charlie just isn’t into posing.

1 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Playing at Nana’s house, Nana and Anna are oblivious to what Mystery is doing.

2 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Hey… what you are doing over here?

3 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Kitty McGee is unimpressed with everything. Sniff.

4 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Anna waiting patiently for someone to throw her the frisbee. I love that she’s wearing her monster shirt that she made at school for the 100th day.

5 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Dominic comes pedaling by on Anna’s trike.

6 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

My aunt was visiting and took Charlie for a walk. He was so happy.

7 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

The last vestiges of fall and winter.

8 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Dandelions growing by the Llano River.

9 perspectives 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

I had grown so accustomed to shooting from ground level that as the month passed, I found myself popping down there for my P365 in 52 images too. These I’ve already shared before but you can see how changing your perspective for a month can yield to permanent changes in perception.

Day 79 ~ Soccer Season

79 Soccer Season 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Day 80 ~ Fallen

80 Fallen1 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Thanks for looking! Now go see how Jenny interpreted Interesting Perspectives!

pixel 2013 CM Blog Circle: March ~ Interesting Perspectives

Judy - Love these Holly! The last one of the bird is amazing!

Lisa Rappa - Love that you shot these all from the ground- very interesting perspectives. Your pets are precious and I love that bird shot as well! Great work!

Michelle B - Awesome job, Holly! Love the view from below. The cat in the scratch lounge photo – love the expression. :)

Cary - Love these Holly :) .. I can’t decide which one is my favorite..kitty mcgee is in the lead, too cute!

Ali - Hi Holly! We met at the Clickin Walk last year. I recently moved to Wisconsin so you won’t see me at any of the meet ups anymore.

But more importantly, WOW! I LOVE this perspective. Your images are beautiful!

Holly - Thank you so much, Ali!!! I soooo wish we had more time to connect… I’ve just gotten lost in your blog this morning and I would LOVE to photograph E!

ashley - Wonderful job Holly!! It is so fun to see the world from a different vantage point. I love the kitty in the scratch lounge with the reflection on the floor and the vibrance and shallow depth of field in the soccer ball image!

adel - holly your work is just stunning. always. these are all so beautiful. i’ve been following your blog since joining our circle, and you ALWAYS have the most inspiring photos. thanks for everything you do to pull us together. including all your encouraging, positive comments. <3
-adel

debbie - Holly, these are incredible shots!! You have the cutest dog ever!!

Sarah - These are just so cool! Great idea getting low!

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