Photo Walk + Cousin Time

As I've mentioned, I am taking the Lens of Joy class with Ali Edwards.   Part of Week 2 was taking a photo walk and trying different design type elements.  This means we were looking for things like lines, texture, movement, where the focus is in the frame, etc. We were going to Texas for just about 24 hours and it seemed like a great time to get extra photos of our newest nephew, Jamie's family, and their new home.  So here are a few of my favorites.  Yes, I took WAY more than I usually do and this is a small percentage of them, but I'm oh so glad for these images and for using my "big" camera."  It was also really helpful that their house has great light for most of the day!

 Here is the new guy, Grayson.  Here we're also looking at lines and texture and getting him close to a good focus area in the frame.

 I like this more pulled back shot with almost everyone in it just doing their thing together.

 M loves Grayson and was with him a lot.  Here she is talking to him and Jamie.

 Brent "might" have gotten tired of having his picture taken from all angles, but glad I found some I like.  I want more pictures of my dad so I try to make sure our kids have lots of pictures of him.

 Believe it or not, this is not his Batman costume, but one he immediately found at their house.

One thing we're working on is "framing." Here the door is the frame. I took this picture quite a few times trying to get the frame, light and clarity right.  I'm not sure I got it, but close.

 I believe this may be one of only two pictures of me during the weekend.  Oops.

 They have a neat 2-story house that you can look over into the living room.  This is Carl, shot from above.

 I started taking this picture with only three kids in it, but suddenly there were five and it was awesome.

 These two spent a lot of time together and with ipads.

 Hmmm This one probably needs to be cropped in, but looking for movement.

 M loved borrowing my scarf, but wasn't as happy about how the sharing rotation was going.  Sharing is hard.  She is beautiful.

 Looking up at our happy girl.

 Look how close their hair color is now? (This is B, John, and Matthew).  Two of these three used to have very light blond hair, but soon they will match :)

One last one with this guy.  He had an awesome time and loved getting to spend the night in Matthew's room.  It was his first sleep over with just him and one cousin in a room.  They did great.


It was a really fun, relaxed day.  Because it was so cold and Brent had the car for part of the day we just stayed at home, played, ate, talked, watched a little football and enjoyed time together.