Ten years old!

Elora is now ten years old! To take her pictures, we planned on going to the same place we took Eli's pictures,but before that, we visited a grove of yellow trees just a block from our house. We were lucky we'd found it too, as when we went to Eli's photo location, much of the leaves were already gone!
We got some cool pictures in the grove of trees. The only issue was that the light was a little intense for my camera, which sometimes has issues with bright yellows and oranges. This spot was so pretty! But I'm not sure if I like this brighter version here, or the toned down one in the next group better.






















I like all of these pictures so much! I can't decide  which is the best. The top left is the same as the above picture (just faded colors). The top right was my favorite at first, but now I kind of like the bottom right too.
A.

B. These pictures are awesome because of the way Elora is framed by the light, especially in the two on the right.

We drove down the road about three miles to this spot where we took Eli's pics a few weeks earlier. The different light and weather made it look completely transformed! The reflections on the water were really cool in person, but in the photos I think they might be a little distracting. Plus, to expose for the water, it made the foliage and sky above really washed out. We had fun there though!

C.

D.

Before we left, we took a few photos out on the grass before we got to our car. The light was pretty, unfortunately I failed to notice the stupid plant right in front of Elora. It looks almost like she's holding it!

E.

We had a beautiful day, and Elora got some great pictures!

Down by the lake

In September, our family spent an hour at the nearby lake, taking in the sights. Granted, the lake isn't anything spectacular, in fact when we first moved to South Dakota we kind of snorted at people calling it a lake. You know, since we used to live an hour from huge Bear Lake.
Nevertheless, we had a lovely evening as the kids looked for snail shells (or "snake shells" as Eli called them), River ate a few flowers, and we all watched the sunset over the water. What a nice evening!

Eli the four-year-old

At the end of September..so only a month late.. we took Eli's four-year-old pictures. We found a cool fall tree by the side of the road and we had some fun! Of course, the light was weird and kind of dark, so they didn't turn out quite like I pictured.
For instance, in this first group of pictures, I thought I'd print the middle left picture, but his face is weird in color once I lightened it a bit. That bottom right one is perfectly framed, but he is standing a little silly. But that's Eli for you!

A.


































We took a few sitting ones, and it was hard to get Eli to look at the camera. But the top left picture is pretty cute!

B.























Then we walked down the road to see what we could see. Mostly because River was getting fussy and Eli was getting bored. We found a cool little area with trees and water! Eli was still having a hard time watching the camera, but he did better at holding still because we cold hear an animal. It turned out to be a rabbit in the underbrush, but Eli was sure it was a koala. He even stood really still in hopes that the koala might come out behind him and be in his picture. I wish I could've got a smiling one here.

 C. I like the bottom right and the top left. The bottom left just makes me laugh. Hehe.























 Finally we went a little further down the road to the local lake and took a few pictures there. Eli is such a ham. I love is silly smile (bottom left) and his "smoulder" on the bottom right. Cute boy.
D.

 




















E. these were also taken near the lake...we took a lot more, but he had the hardest time looking at me and/or smiling when he was supposed to. That's four years old I guess. I don't like this tree one as much just because the grass is trimmed, but he's smiling cute.

Feel free to click on the pictures to see them larger.  Which is your favorite?

Another birthday, another photo

We finally took this guy's photos about a month after his birthday. We found a beautiful friend's yard that had varous nice places to take photos, and we went when the lighting was beautiful! Unfortunately, this is a six year old boy, and they didn't exactly pose perfectly, and it was a little frustrating, but I think we got a few good ones!
One cool think I in this yard was the barrels for honey. I know it's become cliche, but I really wanted to try a few pictures with the barrel background. There are a few that might work here, though the light was a little harsh in some of them:

A
I love his serious face; I just wish the light wasn't reflecting right on his face.

B
I was playing around with textures in a couple of these.

In this last group, this is more the angle I was picturing, but the light is a little weird on his hair. I can't decide if I like it bright, or faded.
C



















This property also has an excellent white fence! Jonah smiled cute for several of these, though the best smiles have that dumb road in the background. Oh well.

D
The bottom right most looks like Jonah.

E
I think the top left has the best composition; I wish they were all like that. But his face is cute in all of them!
























F
I really love both of these. I just wish they were vertical to fit on my wall better, haha.




 We saw some nice places around our friend's young fruit trees. It was soooo pretty, and I was dying because Jonah just would not smile normal. Silly kid!

G
I like the angle of the bottom left, and the overall picture on the bottom right, but I just wish he was smiling more sincerely.

 H.
 In a couple of these he's smiling pretty cute. The light was getting dimmer at this point so I hope they will print well.




































In the end, Jonah was getting bored, so we tried to grab a couple more pictures before it got too dark. None were too great but it was still fun. If he was smiling in this top left one, I would love it! The rainbow in it is so fun.

I.

J
I wish I had noticed this fence earlier, but at this point the light was too yellow.



















And to top off the day, all the kids chased rabbits around the yard. Yep, the whole town is overrun wit them! In the evenings, you can see them in the street, andwe see them in our yard too! What a pretty day.