March 17 2016

Life Unfolding: Top 10 Moments of the Week

With my recent foray into photography, I’ve decided to start a new series called Life Unfolding: Top 10 Moments of the Week. I found this quote from Charles Bukowski that resonated with me in regards to photography: “My dear, Find what you love and let it kill you. Let it drain you of your all. Let it cling onto your back and weigh you down into eventual nothingness. Let it kill you and let it devour your remains. For all things will kill you, both slowly and fastly, but it’s much better to be killed by a lover.”

Now that I’ve found my true calling, I’ve been diving head first into it; watching Skillshare videos, practicing post-processing in Lightroom, shooting every evening, reading countless articles. I know it’s going to take a while before I feel confident enough to share my photos, let alone have actual clients (gasp!), I’m working hard at the craft and, to my surprise, enjoying every minute.

We’ve been visiting Santa Rosa Plateau often, it’s such a beautifully pristine area, a photographer’s dream. This past weekend, my sisters came over with their kids and we all went on a hike to the vernal pools. Kids and adults alike were blown away by such breathtaking scenery.

For practice, every day, I’ve been taking photos of my kids. Hope you enjoy these shots. In the photo above, Parker and Fozzie put their heads side by side. Don’t they look alike?

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This is Riverton, my sister Carol’s youngest son. This fearless tyke ran way ahead of his parents, which you can see as small figures in the distance. This photo reminds me of just how independent this kid is and how my sister and her husband give him so much trust and freedom.

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This is my niece Berry with my nephew Evan. They’re the two oldest kids in our family. Here they’re on the boardwalk of the vernal pools. As kids do, they’re dipping some leaves into the pools, causing ripples in the water. Since this was sunset, the sky was very dramatic.

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Parker has a special bond with my niece Berry. They adore each other. When Berry comes over she sleeps right next to Parker and they play fun games like telephone, as you can see here.

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Though Logan can usually be found hanging over Sam’s left shoulder, when Sam’s not around, Logan’s asking me to pick him up. (He’s not a fan of walking.) Here he is pleading with me to give him a ride.

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This is a rare shot of the two boys hugging. It was taken in front of our garage. I wish I could have taken this in front of a cleaner background. This is Parker’s fake smile, his eyes get super squinty, which is cute.

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A few years ago, Sammy bought me this rainbow umbrella from the MOMA store. Logan loves picking it up and twirling it around.

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Sam loves horsing around with the boys. Lately, Logan has been jumping on his daddy’s back, and this time, Charlie climbed onto the bed to see what all the commotion was about.

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Yesterday, at Santa Rosa Plateau, we hiked a different path. This one was more rocky and narrow. Here, I was playing around with negative space; I called upon my inner “Max Wanger.”

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On our hikes, Parker likes to stop every so often to play with the leaves and dirt. Here, he let me take a quick portrait. I like how he’s not fake smiling at me. Rather, he’s just naturally looking towards the camera. I wanted to capture that wide-eyed wonder only kids have.

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