....Be Six Again

It was a beautiful fall day on Sunday.  After a very very hectic and photography filled October, I had major need to catch up inside the house.  I hate it when I can't find anything and unfortunately have no one but myself to blame.  Run here.  Run there. Throw this here.  Don't put this where it belongs.  Do it later. Shove that in the drawer.  I'll remember where I put it...when I can't even remember what I had for breakfast that same day. (Sure Trisha...keep believing.)

So I woke early and started in the back family room...or should I say...throw all room.  Boxes of photos packed up after the craft show.  Lenses here.  Lenses there. paperwork piled on the table waiting to be tackled.  Dresser drawers filled with 'let's hide it here items'.   But I tackled it and made really good progress....until...

Lexi needed to go outside.  I grabbed a cup of my addiction and walked outside to let her relieve herself and throw her Kong for her for a bit....

and picked up some pears that are now saying they need to be picked and canned...

and couldn't find my way back inside.....

Oh, yeah, mom needed help taking her gazebo cover down and I knew she needed help raking leaves....

Off we go.  Temps in the 5os.  Sun shining.  Little to no wind.  Birds calling my name.

My mental prison bars went up and locked me out of the house......oh no.  (Smiling.  Smiling. Smiling.)

Thank you Dear Lord for a beautiful day and leaves that needed to be raked.

As I went to rake the last of them into the last of the pile...something hit me.

Oh yes...camera in car.
Camera out of car.

It didn't even take much urging to get her to sit in the leaves...and not so much help to get her out either...

....and we were both Six again.  Throwing leaves in the air.  Taking in the fall fragrance.  Lexi got excited and started running circles.  Mom...laughing hard.  My heart...happy to see her laugh.

Where are the kids that should be enjoying these simple moments.

Inside...on a computer...texting their friends...

Thank you Dear Lord for giving me the memories of childhood.

Thank You.

In Memory of

She would be 55 years old today.  My sister, Loretta.  I know she is heaven driving faster than 55 in the slow lane, in her convertible Forest Green Mustang along the beaches of  'Heaven', enjoying the sun, with a vase of sunflowers by her side, a good bottle of wine and surrounded by the Pelicans we so love. When she isn't driving the Mustang...she's riding one bareback.   She knew how to tame 'em.  She was a natural born rider.

Oh, how I miss her and still...wish I had been there for her.

Forever, in my heart.  Forever in my mind.

Forever, my Sister.

Floral Dreams - 2B Day 18

Our challenge this week is with adding and adjusting presets and textures to photos.    I started with this picture, which I love in its original format and had already added it to my contest/card file to include in my upcoming photography contest as well as turning into a gift card.

In it's original fomat

Are. They. Not. Sweet?

So I played.  I added a preset in its original format of KK tea and honey and then I took it into PSE and added another layer of it and played with the blend modes.  Then i added a layer of KK May 2bsafe in a soft light blend mode.  I added another layer of the original photo in a color dodge blend and layered that again with another layer of 2Bsafe in screen mode at 17%.  I merged all of those layers down and then duplicated it and put it in a multiply blend mode at 100%.  I then took it back to LR and increased contrast a bit and then reduced clarity to give it a soft dreamy look.

My dear, Kim.  These are for you.  To dream upon through these tough times.  In hopes..they will bring a smile to your life.

2B - Beyond Portraits

In an attempt to try to catch up on my Beyond lessons...well..one of the recent ones had to do with editing portraits utilizing LR.  In my search to find a portrait recently taken that I could work on, I found one of my son and his, at that point in time, fiancé (now wife).  Well...I have to admit, I don't think I quite did what the lesson wanted me to do...but I had fun 'editing outside the box' per se.

I love TEXTURES.  Love love love!!!

And actually I had messed with this one

just the night before which I did something different with and that is where I kind of got the idea for the one above.

Just remember to play around with the blending modes and utilzing the brush to erase areas of texture to highlight some of the more interesting areas to make them pop.

LR and PSE...what a wonderful world it is!!

Inspiration through Weekend Walks/Rides

In an attempt to get myself up and going again...and trying to utilize my time in a more creative way, as well as cramming as much as possible into the little bit of pleasant weather there might be before the challenges of winter photography sets in, I've joined the inspiration of Weekend Walk Challenges.

These walks will be posted here on my Breathless Rambling Page.  Click on this link or the 'Rambling' tab on the home page of this blog.

If I don't get a weekend walk in, it is normally replaced by a weekend road trip...which may be only a couple hours of enjoying the countryside...but I normally always find something that makes my camera shout out.....STOP!!!

Enjoy.

Follow me........

A few wedding memories

I promised the wedding photographer I would stay out of his way.  I kind of regretted it.  I didn't even take my camera out to the ceremony itself...but I snuck in a few shots during preparation!!

Sister/Maid of Honor watching out the window at the out door photography session.

A Bride in waiting.  A beautiful bride.

Her grandma by her side.

A little review of the vows after a minor change.

Getting the veil put on .....

with Proud mom watching over her shoulder.  My best shot ever!!

Ready to go....and patiently waiting.

A Family Well Worth Meeting

I was asked by a friend to do a family reunion shoot for someone.  A family reunion consisting of approximately sixty people.  They basically just wanted to be able to get a good group photo of everyone there.  So I accepted.  It was a great group of people and in the end they all wanted separate family group photos also.

They were so fun and so easy to be around. They even invited me to stay for brats and burgers afterwards.  I truly felt like part of the family.

Thank you, Nadine!!