Family Camp 2008

We attended our church's annual Family Camp in Prescott, AZ over the weekend. Fun, fun! It was held at Friendly Pines Camp and as usual, it was a great time. Below are some photos I took from the weekend. I took close to 400 photos! Legacy & Heritage families, I plan to eventually put all my photos in an online (password protected) gallery. I'll keep you posted once it's up.

85% of my shots during this trip were taken with my telephoto lens (55mm-200mm). I am soooo loving this lens! I just love the bokeh it gives! The first 2 shots below are actually taken with my 18mm-55mm lens to get a wide angle shot. :)

The main "Legacy campsite" :)

Our cabin (the one on the right - bottom level)

Getting ready for tug-of-war (families against families)

Our guest speakers - Pastor & Mrs. Ovid Need
(What a precious Titus 2 couple!)

How cute -- sack races!

My favorite shot of the whole trip!
Pastor Young's baby boy - isn't he so adorable??

Assignment: Morning

"My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD;

in the morning will I direct [my prayer]
unto thee, and will look up."

(Psalm 5:3)

This week's DPS assignment is "Morning" - anything that deals with the early part of the day, sunrises, work commutes, breakfast, etc.

The above photo is my submission. The photos below were extra shots I took as I was taking photos for the assignment. Although, I must confess, these photos were staged for the assignment since everyone was up and dressed by the time I was ready to take pictures. LOL.

In The Yard, Hard At Work

::::singing::::

"Clean up, clean up....Everybody do your share.
Clean up, clean up....Everybody everywhere!"

Today was yard duty for my two men. Thought I would take some photos of them hard at work in the hot Arizona sun. What champs! :)

Standing

"Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem."

(Psalm 122:2)

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted! Time sure does fly. I've been consumed this week trying to redesign and update my HIP site/blog (this is my personal site). Well, here is a photo taken from last week's portrait photo session with my son. At first, I didn't think I could do anything with this shot. But I was pleasantly surprised at the result. :) It gives me the feel of standing in a rural field or meadow. But it's really our backyard -- with dying grass. LOL.

This shot really looks better viewing it at its original size. Click on the photo to view. :)

Assignment: X-tych

"Knights of the King"

This is my submission for this week's DPS assignment ~"X-tych" (diptych, triptych or anything up to 7 pictures formed into a single image with multiple panels -- think about the individual images and the overall story created by how they relate together).

This is another assignment I really enjoyed working on. It was a first for me to do! I am calling this "Knights of the King". :)

These photos were taken today at a baby shower we attended for our pastor and his wife, who are expecting their 6th child. The theme of the shower was "For King and Kingdom" -- totally fun. Lord willing, I'll be uploading several more photos from the shower tomorrow!

Photographer In The Making?

Since I got my D40, our son has been having fun with my old ultra zoom camera. He's so excited to learn photography and videography (since it can also take short videos). Of course, once the novelty wears off, we'll see just how interested he really is. :D But it is fun having him alongside me taking pictures. He's my cutie-pie!

Here's a shot I took of him taking a picture of me. :) As soon as we get his computer setup with the necessary Panasonic software for the camera, I'll feature him as a "guest photographer" to showcase some of his work.

Post processing: defog and "virtual photographer" filter (halo effect)

Watermarked Photo

Thought I'd test out "watermarking" my photos. This was a lot of fun to do in CS2 (creating a "brush" with my watermark logo). I realize watermarking doesn't guarantee anyone will not copy my photos, but I think it helps. I will start watermarking more. This photo is of our handsome soon-to-be 10yo son. I took it yesterday while he was resting on his bed. This is one of my favorite photos I've taken of our son.

Post processing: converted image to b&w using Stacy's "b&w conversion" tip and added a vignette. I also cropped it, just a tad, for better composition. I also used Stacy's tip on watermarking.

You can visit Stacy's photography tips page here. Her photos are amazing, especially with a Nikon D50 (which has been replaced with the D40). So you CAN get pro-like photos with an entry level DSLR! I'm so inspired!

My Mom

My beautiful mother, whom I love dearly! She is so amazing and full of joy! What a blessing to have such a mother in my life. I've been waiting to post this photo since we returned from our Legoland trip, but completely forgot about it until this evening. (Sorry, mom!) :D

I love my mommy!

Father's Day Tribute

Children's children [are] the crown of old men;

and the glory of children [are] their fathers.

(Proverbs 17:6)

What a precious picture of my beloved husband with our son - a vision of Biblical Fatherhood. Words cannot express how much I love, adore, appreciate, and respect this man that the Lord has given me as my perfect complement. As I look at him in his role as a father, I see a man who, as imperfect as he may be, strives with all his might to be the kind of godly father he has been called to be by our Heavenly Father.

His love for our son, our family, is sacrificial and unconditional. He is always there for him (us!) and is faithful to his commitments. Yet, he is also humble before us when he falls short. He has purposed in his heart to lead this family for the glory of Christ! He is a man of VISION. He is a great provider and protector. All in all....he is the BEST! God knew the perfect man for me to be married to and to be the father of our child(ren).

We are not a perfect family -- we are, of course, sinners saved by grace! But His miraculous and all powerful hand is most definitely upon us. And most especially, upon my husband as He continues to transform his life in ways he (or I) could not have ever imagined.

Our journey has been joyful, challenging at times, but above all, greatly blessed. All glory is to Christ Jesus, our one and only King, Savior, Redeemer, and Lord! Apart from Him, we are nothing and in Him is life everlasting.

Beyond measure, I love my husband and our son loves his father! Happy Father's Day, honey!

My Precious In-Laws

I love my in-laws! And today we were blessed to spend some time with them, as part of a belated Mother's Day celebration. We ended up going to Mimi's Cafe for lunch.....

...then we came back to our house so they could rest a bit before their hour-long drive home to Peoria. Our son also entertained his grandparents with a mini-concert with his brand new 1/2 size violin (more on that soon!). As usual, it was a lovely time with family!

A Stroll with Lola

I love shots like this! There is something about photos taken from this perspective that stirs up the heart. At least, for me it does. :) This is such a sweet photo of my mom with our son during our recent trip to CA. It is one last stroll with Lola ("grandma" for you non-filipinos, heh heh!) before heading back to AZ. This is multi-generational vision in action!

I couldn't decide which photo I liked best, so I uploaded both! The only difference is the first photo has a texture layer.

Just Plain Cute!

Okay, this is one of my favorite shots and post processing work thus far! Ain't he just the most darling little guy you've ever seen (next to my own son, of course!)? :) This shot of my cutie pie nephew was taken over the weekend during our trip in CA.

Post processing: The original photo had the focal image (nephew) slightly blurred with a very sharp background. I was able to sharpen the focus point and blur the background, which included adding several layers with varying blend modes such as overlay and multiply. I then added a texture layer and vignette to finish it off.