Up

Up The Slope

Coming up a ramp here - I love the concentration on his face.

See Things with New Eyes

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

I love the concentration in watching that ball to see just how many pins will actually be knocked down.  Now, if only we could get that amount of concentration to carry over to other areas. . .

So here is a good quote that not only makes me smile, but also makes me think, and feel very good inside.  Try today to look at things with "new eyes" you may learn something new, or have your heart softened to another way of thinking, or even notice the simple beauty in something you see (and pass by) every single day.  Always remember there will never be another moment just like the one you are living in right now.

The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.  ~ Marcel Proust

Release and Effort

Release

The only thing you can control is your own effort.  ~ Theodora van den Beld

Swing

Swing

And a near miss.  Oh well, you know what they say, practice makes perfect.  Just have fun while doing all that practice.

A person who never made a mistake never tried something new.  ~ Albert Einstein

I Really Had a Blast with This One

Blast

No object is mysterious.  The mystery is your eye.  ~ Elizabeth Bowen

And so looking at this image, I must say I had no idea how many sparks come out of one of these things. They do seem to go on for longer than you would expect, but wow, look at all those sparks.  And those are the ones that my camera was able to capture.  Pretty cool.  Maybe next year I will try to take some photos with the shutter open during the entire time and see what that looks like.  Too fun.

I do believe this is the end of my fireworks series for the moment.  On to new fun things in a few days.  Have a great weekend everyone.  This is our last weekend before my son starts school again.  And how does that impact you?  Well, that means we will be back on a schedule and my posting's will be a little more regular again.  That will be so nice.

Whirly & Twirly

Whirly & Twirly

I love how the camera captured this moment.  I mean, we can see those flashes of light and I think on some level we know that they are twirling around.  But to see it like this?  Pretty darn cool (in my humble opinion.)

I fell in love with photography long before I really even knew what it was.  I fell in love with photographs.  I can remember looking at old photographs of ancestors and such and just loving everything about them.  Loving the look and the feel, the image, the moment frozen in time.  I fell in love with the idea of capturing life, and all the things in it, as they happened. 

And so my journey, with a camera in hand, began.  I loved capturing things just as I saw them.  Almost documenting things as they were at that exact time.  Never once thinking about the possibility of capturing things in a new way, not exactly as I see them.  It's fun to see what "manipulating" can be done with your camera to create a new effect.  It certainly does not mean that this firework did not happen this way, it most certainly did.  It's just that my eyes could not see it that way.  Of course, there are many of you out there that would probably argue with me and tell me that I tend to show you images in a way that you had never seen it before - or had never looked at in that light or angle before.  Perspective - it's such a wonderful thing.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.  ~  Henry Miller

Double Fun

Double Fun

A fun evening light show.  My two boys had a great time playing around - and I had a great time behind the camera documenting it.

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.  ~ Victor Borge

Magic

Magic

Another from a night of celebrations.  I definitely had fun shooting these ones.  And, is it just me, or does this one look somewhat wand like?

Follow your dream.  Transform your life.  ~  Unknown

A Bit Delayed, Hopefully You Won't Mind

Sparks Flying

Well, can you tell when this might have been shot?  That's right 4th of July.  My not so busy summer has turned out to be rather busy.  I did have these photos processed pretty quick though.  I was super excited to see how they turned out this year.  I have shot, and shot, and shot fireworks but never with a tripod.  Usually I am out at an activity - one that is not conducive to lugging a tripod around - when I shoot the fireworks.  And let me tell you, shooting at night without a tripod is rather tricky.  I have gotten lucky over the years and had some pretty interesting shots.

This time, I was able to get everything setup and ready to go.  It was really fun shooting them too, well shooting them with my camera that is.  I'm not so big on the lighting and shooting of the actual fireworks myself.  But, I did enjoy watching my husband and my son light them so that I could "shoot" them in my own special way.

Dare to be remarkable.  ~ Unknown

Water and Words

Untitled

Water and words - easy to pour impossible to recover.  ~ Zen Proverb

Just Go For It

Just Go For It

And, finally, the end of the football pics.  At least from this season.  Sorry it took a bit to get to the last picture, but after enjoying the long holiday weekend for the 4th of July, I decided to take an "extended vacation" for the week.  We had a surprise visitor (well sort of surprise, we knew he was coming we just didn't know when for sure).  My son's longest friend - since kindergarten - was here to visit for the summer (he moved out of state last summer) and we were able to have him over for most of last week.

Okay, back to football.  When I first started sharing these pics I made reference to sharing with you things that I learned through watching this football team.  This team was made up of mostly new to tackle football players.  They were playing against some teams that have played for four seasons together.  Those other teams had the drill down.  I mean they would show up with their matching bags slung over their shoulders and chanting as they marched over to weigh in.  Even the moms had blinged out shirts with the team name on it.  It was crazy to watch how much some of those parents really got into it. 

Anyway, our boys were new and really wanted to learn how to play tackle.  One of the things I found so amazing, even though we didn't score hardly at all, the boys would leave that field with smiles on their faces.  Mostly because the coach made it fun for them.  He was super encouraging and always pointing out their improvements every chance he got.  It was great to see such positive reinforcement taking place. 

So, things that I was inspired by watching these boys - and in lieu of a quote, I will share some of my thoughts:

Everything is always more fun and more productive when you are encouraged.

Sometimes it really is not whether you win or lose, but whether you improved from one game to the next.

Never give up.  Always try harder and put in the effort to improve.

Approach obstacles with a smile.

Don't compare yourself to others, you are - or at least should be - your only measure of success.

The photo from tonight is from one of two touchdowns that our team scored all season long.  Both of them were in the last game and the boys really loved being able to make those two touchdowns.  If they had given up, they would have never known what that felt like. 

Look Closer, It's Not What You May Think It to Be

Good Play

Sometimes, and dare I say most times, things are not always as they seem.  I feel pretty confident in saying that all of us have had an experience or two with that.  You know, where you think you know something and find out later on it is not at all what you thought.  And usually, it is a simple misunderstanding.  And hopefully in your experiences it is just that, a misunderstanding, and not something that blows up into a major event.

Well, photography has the same problem.  And this photo, it cracks me up, is a prime example of that.  At first glance, it may look as though the one purple player is holding onto his teammate.  But, if you look a little closer, you will see there is an orange jersey and white pants hiding behind the one purple player, and that is who the player in the purple socks (aren't they the coolest things ever?) is holding onto.  And yes, that is my son in the coolest-ever purple socks, doing his job of protecting the quarterback in his first ever tackle football game.  I loved watching the boys play - even in crazy 100 degree days.  And I learned a lot from this experience, which I will share with you during these photos.  Bear in mind, each of these quotes are being chosen specifically for these sets of photos.

Happiness is the absence of the striving for happiness.  ~ Chuang-Tzu

The Start

The Start

It's always too early to quit.  ~ Norman Vincent Peale

The beginning of some football pictures.  I know that some of you have been wondering how much longer you were going to have to wait for these ones.  My son, after talking to me about it for a year, played on his first ever tackle football league.  It was a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.  The boys played hard and learned tons about playing tackle - which is very different than playing on a flag team.  It was an interesting experience for them and for the coaches and the parents.  But, then again, isn't everything an interesting experience?

Flip

Flip

If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of.  ~ Bruce Lee

Sky High

Sky High

Reach for the sky - or in this case try to bounce up to it.  Doesn't that look fun?  Or at least very exhilarating. 

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.  ~ Urusla K. Le Guin

Go Ahead, Just Jump Right In

Jumping In

You know, sometimes you just have to jump right in. Be it the ocean, a new job, moving, or just helping someone understand how their hurtful words just don't sit well. I heard this piece of advice at a seminar a long time ago. And, please forgive me, but I don't remember the exact words, just the basic principle. The speaker was talking about making decisions. She pointed out how each of us have times in our lives when we are faced with some really tough decisions. And, each of us knows how we want to handle the situation, if we would only dig down deep and listen to our inner soul. The answer is a part of us. Usually, we ignore it, and pay attention to all sorts of outside influence. You know, the well intended friend or sister or mother-in-law giving the advice that deep down you know to be completely wrong for you. The speaker says that in those cases, you are putting more stress on yourself by not making a decision. And when the time comes and the decision is made this great sense of relief comes to you. I don't know if you have experienced this or not - I do know that I have. And the best thing to do is learn from it and try to make those decisions earlier on - why put more stress in your life than is absolutely necessary? Just jump right in!

Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed. ~ Storm Jameson

Please Don't Hate Me, But . . .

Spray Part 2

. . . I'm sharing one more water photo.  I just couldn't resist.  Even though I told you all last night that I was ending the water series.  Really, I wasn't lying, I just could not get this idea out of my head all day long.  I kept thinking about the image that I shared last night - Spray.  I kept imagining doing a little bit of extra work on it - mostly in the area of cropping.  And so, tonight I present to you, Spray Part 2.  Hope you don't mind.  And now my mind can go back to all it's usual silly little thoughts and put to rest presenting this image a little differently.

The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights. ~ Giotto di Bondone

A good friend gently pointed out to me that I did not include a quote last night.  So, tonight I will give you two (thanks Lynn for always giving me such encouragement!).

Most people see what they want to, or at least what they expect to.  ~ Martha Grimes

Tonight, I leave you with these two thoughts.  May we all be sincere friends.  And may we learn to see the world in new and wonderful ways.

Thanks to each of you for all of your support and interest in visiting my sight here.  I have really had an enjoyable time sharing my images and my thoughts with you.  But, even more, love to hear your thoughts on those things that I have shared.

The End - of sorts

Spray

The end - at least of the water pics for now.  This is the last one I am sharing from my initial shooting.  Definitely a fun project, with more in the future.  Now that I have a better idea of what works and what doesn't.  But, always bringing an open spirit to see where the moment takes me. 

I hope you have enjoyed the water pics as much as I have enjoyed sharing them.

Another good Moment

Ring

Man, oh man.  I'm not sure how it happened but somewhere along the line I got on someones spam list.  I hadn't checked my filter for about a week and there were like 30 messages - all spam.  What on earth?  And the thing I do not get about spam - the messages were being left on posts from almost a year ago.  Really, who goes back and reads comments on posts from over a year ago?  Strange.  I don't get that at all.  But, I guess that's just the way my brain works.

Okay, so this pic was one that I was very excited to see when I downloaded to my computer.  How fun is that little ring of water splashing?  Such a moment.

Some More Water

Going Up

I hope everyone had an enjoyable long weekend.  Personally, I did not get the day off.  And even so, it was a nice and productive day.  Lots of cleaning accomplished - vacuuming, sorting out clothing for donation, handing down and just plain get rid ofs, and even sorted out my office mess.  I'm so not good at keeping that area clean.

Thought I would continue on with the water droplet pictures.  Just a few more left to share.  Hopefully the best are yet to come.  We will see what you think of them.  It's been fun and something that I definitely need to shoot again!

And, I also thought I would share this quote that I came across earlier today.  It put a smile on my face when I read it & hopefully will you too!

A psychiatrist asks a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing.  ~ Joey Adams