grand ledge

my wonderful boyfriend, bryan, gave me a tripod for my birthday this weekend. after he got out of work today, we drove to grand ledge to try it out. it's nice to finally have some nice pictures of ourselves together that aren't all from arm's reach.

the park we went to was absolutely beautiful. there were hiking paths all over and the scenery is great.

photoshop cs5

i recently got a new version of photoshop. this was my first time playing around with it.

the top image is the original and the bottom is edited.

emma's grandkids

my sister's mother-in-law wanted some pictures of her grandkids together. it was extremely difficult to get them all to smile and look at the camera at once, but in taking many, many pictures, i managed to get a couple good ones.

joe's leaving day

joe left for the army today. we won't know for a while where he's going, or for how long, it's just the first step into the unknown for a boy who's never been away from home.

good luck, joe!

busy bodies

yesterday, i went downtown with leslie and the kids. it was definitely a challenge taking a picture of four busy kids at once- getting them to smile, look at the camera, and sit still for a second. it would have been nice to have had more time to get some more good pictures, but here are the best ones we got in the time that we had.

layering

i've been experimenting with layering lately. this is my first try at something like this, so i hope it's not too bad. i've seen it done with senior pictures before, but did this one for tyler so he could use it on myspace. that's why his name is centered on the right side of the image.

downtown

tyler and i went downtown yesterday. there are so many great places to take pictures there. it would have been nice to have one of my nieces with me, because there are so many beautiful flowers and plants along the river, which i'm sure tyler would not have enjoyed being photographed next to.

painting

i snapped this shot of tyler while the boys were helping out with the house painting this evening.

joe's graduation

joe graduated on friday.

congratulations, joe!

after the rain

after a couple of rainy days, i really wanted to get outside to take some pictures. luckily, i've always got a few people on hand to model for me.