Posts Tagged ‘everyday pictures’

5 photos that inspire: MaryAnn Perry

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we feature 5 personal favorite photos from a Creative Team member or a friend. These 5 photos will remind of us why photography is so beautiful and why documenting the everyday is so important. The goal is to leave us all a little more inspired to cultivate a good life and record it.

Our inspiration this week comes from Creative Team member MaryAnn Perry. Here are some of her favorite tips – in her own words.

…..

Don’t stay in one spot when you take your pictures. Move around and get creative! Challenge yourself to take photos from different angles. By changing the angle in which you take the photo you can change the emotion and feel of the photograph.

When I took this photo I was actually sitting on the floor with my camera tilted upward to get the shot. I wanted to catch the girls looking at their daddy in awe as he told them about his job as a firefighter. The angle of the photo highlighted the emotion on the girl’s faces and emphasized the size contrast between my husband and girls.

 …..

This was a totally random photo I took. I love handwritten notes and letters. I love to write and receive them. I get excited EVERY DAY to go to the mailbox. I know you can email and I know you can email pictures, but there is just something so much more fun about getting them in the mail. I think it is important to include photos of things we do within our everyday lives. We can make it different or more interesting by changing the angle in which we take the photo. In this photo I used a wide-angle lens and got in close to take the picture.

 …..

Include pictures of your loved ones’ favorite hobbies. My husband plays the guitar and we love to hear him play. He is good for the short time that he has been playing and the girls and I recently surprised him with a new guitar. I wanted a photo of him playing… not something posed. For this photo I was on my knees, and had the lens focused on his front hand playing, so when I took the photo the rest of his body blurred slightly.

 …..

This photo is from a pit stop during a recent road trip. The photo was taken at an angle just above my chest… is that technical…. hmmm well I was on my tippy toes…. to get the shot… my husband is really tall. But my point with this photo… is it’s an everyday shot but it tells a lot about my husband and me… It’s our favorite splurge snacks… only the ones reserved for a vacation splurge… that’s important and needs to be documented!

 …..

Get down on their level. This photo was taken of my daughter early in the morning while she was playing with her train set. I was sitting on the ground on the same level that she was playing. This angle allowed me to let her play and still get the picture I wanted…. her playing trains. no cheesy posed shots… a simple reflection of our morning together…

…..

You can learn more about MaryAnn here + check out more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

…..

{ featured sponsors from our Ads for Jonathan campaign }

Tags: ,
Posted in photography | 2 Comments »

5 photos that inspire : jessica sprague

Wednesday, August 29th, 2012

Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we are featuring 5 personal favorite photos from a Creative Team member or a friend. These 5 photos will remind of us why photography is so beautiful and why documenting the everyday is so important. The goal is to leave us all a little more inspired to cultivate a good life and record it.

Our inspiration this weeks comes from – Creative Team member Jessica Sprague.

…..

{ a quick note from Jessica }

Whew! So much has happened this year, it makes my head spin a little! But my favorite parts of the year by FAR are the times I get to spend with my beautiful family. I chose 5 photos that represent events, big and small that are great memories we’ve made together this year.

One of my not-so-secret secrets is that except for really major events, I’ve stopped taking my big DSLR with me everywhere. Not only does it lighten my load physically, I feel like it takes the pressure off to capture a “perfect” moment. My replacement? My trusty iPhone, and most often, Instagram. This year I’ve found that I enjoy my experiences, (my life, really) more when I am snapping a quick pic or two with my phone, rather than participating in the event “second hand” on the flip side of my 20-70mm lens.

That’s why all of the photos I’ve chosen to share are Instagrams – most of my 2012 photos are! I’m a huge, huge fan of Gramfeed, which allows me to look at all my Instas in a gallery. I can share the link with my friends and family, and choose to include only my photos, or all the photos from the people I follow as well. It’s definitely Insta-gratification. *wink* In addition, I can pull the Instagrams directly in to Photoshop as I’m working on my digital Project Life this year, making finding and opening photos a snap! (Ha! See what I did there! Snap!)

I chose these five photos as representative of my family and our year so far. These memories are what inspire me to keep taking pics, to keep making an effort to record our lives, and to keep seeking adventures that bring us closer together.

…..

I took this first photo on February 4 of this year, just outside our church building. Rowen was baptized on her 8th birthday, and all of her grandparents and many of her cousins were able to come to our special occasion (a rare treat since they all live far away). Her grandma made the white dress she is wearing. She looks like a sweet angel, and this was a very special time for us. This reminds me that I need to record both the everyday events AND the big milestones in our lives. This combination is what really makes the fabric of life so beautiful and interesting.

…..

I love this photo for the movement it creates, as well as for the special time – this summer I’ve taken every Friday out from my regular working schedule to spend the day with my kids. On this trip we went to the Children’s museum , and this is Elliott playing with one of the giant hula hoops there. It reminds me of our summer Friday outings this summer, and how much fun we’ve had together, just us three.

…..

 This is Rowen in our neighborhood pool, which is down the block from our house. The kids are becoming avid swimmers (their mama is not), and we’ve spent plenty of time at the pool this summer beating the heat!

…..

This photo is of my awesome husband carrying Elliott as we walked through a craft fair in Cary, NC. We try to spend our Saturdays together as a family, and we LOVE to find new and different things to experience together. Collecting memories is what life is all about!

…..

My last photo is from a fun park in Durham, NC called Frankie’s – it has video games, laser tag, mini golf, go-karts, and lots of other stuff we love! Elliott and I both chose mustache mood rings as our ticket prizes, and HAD to pose with them. We have had some great times at Frankie’s (and I will say that I have gotten really good at some of the arcade games, hehe). It lets us all experience our inner geeks.

…..

You can learn more about Jessica here, and check out more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

Tags: ,
Posted in photography | No Comments »

5 photos that inspire : marcy penner

Wednesday, August 15th, 2012

Photographs are windows to our memory. Reflections of our life. Reminders of our blessings. Each Wednesday we will feature 5 personal favorite photos from a Creative Team member or a friend. These will be 5 photos that remind of us why photography is so beautiful and why documenting the everyday is so important. The goal is to leave us all a little more inspired to cultivate a good life and record it.

To jump-start this new weekly blog series, I give you – Creative Team member Marcy Penner.

…..

It’s hard keeping up with kids and trying to photograph them. On this day my boys ran into the house and told me that they found a wagon wheel at the creek.  So, I grabbed my camera, followed them out and snapped this shot of them pulling it out. They’re obsessed with anything western right now (hence their plaid shirts) so I’m glad I dropped what I was doing to follow them outside and capture their excitement in their treasure.

…..

I don’t take a lot of pictures of my house. It’s a work in progress for sure. But I want to document the progress we’re making. So instead of taking of photo of a room that is NOT pretty, I document our projects by taking closeup shots. They still tell me what we’re working on, but it’s a great photo all on its own.

…..

More projects. Ha ha. Our current outdoor project is building an outdoor kennel for the dogs. We’re taking that opportunity to teach our kids about building and tools. I snapped this photo with my camera phone to remember how independent and helpful my oldest son is becoming.

…..

The photos are not always great. This photo, for instance, is overexposed. But to me the actual story behind it is more important to me. It’s a simple thing. Documenting his chore that day. But the way he jumped right to it, with a “It’s my turn to shine” is something I always want to remember…. whether the photo is stellar or not.

…..

My boys are always wanting me to take pictures of their Legos or stealing my phone to take pictures themselves. It’s really neat to see their perspective or document the things that they are interested in.

…..

You can learn more about Marcy here, and check out more of her everyday photos and Project Life pages on her blog.

 

Tags: ,
Posted in family & children, photography | 5 Comments »