Project 365 Days 114-120

Day 114 - April 24

It was Easter Sunday and I really wanted to get a good picture of the girls in their dresses because they were SO cute!  But for some reason, the girls were not into having pictures taken unless they were sticking their tongues out, goofing around, tickling each other, etc.  So I only got a few good ones (and none of those showed their dresses full length).  Oh well.  Here are a few more for good measure:

Day 115 - April 25

Well I had mentioned it was the time of year for strange/scary weather in North Texas, right?  These were some clouds that were swirling over the house.  The next few days worth of pictures were actually all taken on this evening (for some reason I didn't pick up my camera for several days so I'm filling with pictures from this storm and the intense clouds that formed.  

Day 116 - April 26

This was a sideways funnel cloud that formed over our backyard.  This might have been the funnel cloud that turned vertical, became a tornado, and was spotted over Lake Bridgeport but that never touched down.

Day 117 - April 27

Later on while the sun was setting, the storm started clearing from the west and it made such a dramatic contrast between the burning orange of the sun and the dark grey-blue of the skies.  Gorgeous.

Day 118 - April 28

And while this is highly texturized, this is an actual shot of the cardinal that is seen frequently out under our oak tree in the back yard.  He came in out after the rain stopped.   He has a cute little wife too I'll try to get a picture of soon ;-)

Day 119 - April 29

Taken with Instragram via my iPhone.  This is Nicky, one of our barn cats.  He likes to sit up on top of tack room ceiling and look down very condescendingly at me from his high perch ;-)

Day 120 - April 30

Ava and I ventured out to a nearby 4H schooling show.  So thankful the english classes are done in the morning - then we don't have to hang around in the heat all day while western finishes.  This girl had a horse that reminded me of Tommy when he was a bit younger - this horse just RACED over the jumps - really flying over them and was a bit hard to slow down when they were done.  ;-)  But she stayed on and I think he had the best form over the jumps compared to the other horses.  Ava really wants to compete so we might be back next year when she's 9 (and can officially start participating in 4H)!

Black & White Wednesdays - Enchanted

As I noted in an earlier post, Ava's ballet was last week and I set out to take some pictures in our woods that I've been wanting to take for some time. 


Ava has a beautiful costume this year.  They are always pretty, but this one this year is just spectacular!  So I knew I wanted to take a different set of photos than I usually do.  So, we got her dressed, put on her stage makeup (I NEVER allow Ava to wear makeup - only for her ballet performances - just so y'all know!) and set out into the woods.  In addition to the one in my previous post, I was really happy with how all the shots came out...

Here is the glamour shot.  Hello 8 going on 18!!  

But then we got a little more creative...This was her regal shot - I told her to pretend she was a royal queen...boy, that girl is a drama diva!!

I liked these close-ups; especially when I started playing with textures, colors and some photoshop actions.  It really helps to create an emotion, a feeling, an impression.

But this simple black & white is stunning too.  (Or maybe it's the subject - am I biased?)

So I just had Ava start walking around, pretending she was a fairy or a princess lost in the woods.  She loved it. 


I should note that the treatment and editing of the following pictures was really inspired by the Cottingley Fairies, a series of pictures published in the 1917's by two girls. Their story inspired the movie "FairyTale: A True Story" which is much loved by my daughter and really a cute, charming little movie.  If I had been thinking, I would have slapped a pair of wings on my daughter to complete the fairy "look" but even without wings, I think they turned out well.

Originally I had pictured all these shots in black and white so I started playing around in shades of sepia as well a black and white, applying textures and adding some 'grunge' to make it more interesting.

I would like this one below printed on a big, 16x20 canvas, propped up on the mantel above the fireplace.

But my favorite, and Ava's favorite, is the one I entered in the contest.  Ava loves it because it reminds her of the fairy pictures I mentioned above.  

For more fun with black & white photography, head on over to The Long Road to China for more Black & White Wednesday!