Friday's Inspirational Finds

Back again with a few more lovelies that inspire me.

1. This next image was found here - and really... there is nothing not to love about this photo... the little girl, the ethereal lighting, the bokeh, the meadow of dandelions... *swoon*... Damn, I want to find a meadow of dandelions like that!



2. This Google Chrome ad made me tear up the first time I watched it... I think it's brilliantly done...

3. I came across these awesome gals at Sassyfras Studio and you have just got to check out the vintage circus themed shoot they did... OMG... just so much gorgeousness!

My Top 5 Photos From April-June

So I stumbled across a little contest over at Click It Up A Notch today to post your top 5 photos of your kids/pets from the last quarter. The winner is chosen randomly, so it's really just a show off your favourite photos from the last 3 months and I thought why not join in... :)

This has been really hard for me to choose, because I think I have improved and grown in my photography ability in the last 3 months more than I have in the last 3 years... I have so many favourites... but after much deliberation I decided to pick photos that while they may not be the most creative or spectacular, they are the ones that mean the most to my heart... Here's my final 5.

1. Hands On Your Head
I adore this shot of Catherine demonstrating her newly found "hands-on-your-head" party trick... It just truly captures how much she enjoys showing off her new abilities and makes me smile everytime I see that cute face -

2. Perfection
Really, I don't need to say anymore... she is just divine in this photo...





3. Ring A Ring A Rosie
I wrote about this photo the first time I posted it up... I just adore the interaction between my girls in this photo...





4. Muddy Puddles
I look at this photo fondly and remember a hilarious afternoon with Elizabeth stomping and sploshing in muddy puddles... the boots were all her idea and actually looked great with her outfit... and this pose was her idea too... she was looking at her legs getting splattered with mud!





5. I Am Zen
This photo is in my top 10 all time favourites, so I couldn't not include it... perfect light, gorgeous location and my beautiful big girl.

Friday's Inspirational Finds

So I already do the "Scrapbooking Sunday" segment on my blog and I thought I might add a new segment to share some of the inspirational things I find on my travels on the web. There are some really amazing things, inspiring music and talented people out there...

1. As much as I'm obsessed with and adore beautiful light inspired imagery... When it comes down to it, photography for me is about capturing the moments... the pure emotion... and sharing a story with those images. I'm going to share this blog post from Jaime Hough Photography... it shows some images of a military family's journey over 6 months while the husband is deployed... I really won't do it any justice if I try and describe it, so just click on this link and see for yourself - Welcome Home Keith!

2. I came across this awesome blog concept in Dear Photograph the other day... the premise is that you take a photo of an older photo in the exact same location and they are accompanied with nostalgic comments... Really cool idea...

Here are a couple of my favourites -
Dinosaur Shorts

First Bike

Dad Never Took A Picture Of Me

3. One of my all time favourite movies is Sister Act 2. I know this probably puts me in the corny and sad basket but I'm not afraid to admit it that I love it... it's the musician in me that draws me to this movie everytime. One of my favourite songs from the movie is "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" sung by Lauryn Hill and Tanya Blount... I was recently reminded how much I love this song when a friend posted up a link to Hymn A Day facebook page, so I went searching for the Sister Act 2 version of the song... I really adore this arrangement ... -

Photo A Day - June - Week 4

I've made it to the halfway point! 6 months down... 6 months to go...

June 22 - The Grasshopper Like Thing
I think it's a grasshopper... but I'm not really sure... Found this fellow sitting on our clothesline...

June 23 - The Only Flower I Seem To Be Able To Grow
I'm not much of a green thumb... but begonias are the one flower that I seem to be able to consistently grow well... I don't know why... They are thriving in their pot in the shade at the moment.





June 24 - Illumination II
Another illuminated leaf photo... this one is SOOC, except for resize for web.





June 25 - Bun Heo Quay
Tonight's dinner... homemade heo quay (vietnamese style roast pork) with bun (rice vermicelli noodles) served with salad, cucumber and pickled carrots... It's one of my favourite meals...





June 26 - Mount Washmore
A tedious, but necessary part of my everyday... I do a load almost everyday... It's amazing how much laundry small children produce...





June 27 - Kindy Withdrawals
Only the first day of school holidays and Elizabeth was already suffering from kindy withdrawals... she got out the watercolours, stamps pads, textas, scissors and we had an arts and craft kind of day.





June 28 - Morning Tea Pretties
I am always going on about how bad the food is in Brisbane... (and I still stand by that on the whole...) The exception to the rule is this fabulous cafe "French and Mor"... they have the best almond croissants and little desserts (supplied by Le Bon Choix), great coffee, and I just love the little styling touches around the cafe (think paris influence meets vintage... *sigh*)... Don't try and tell me these pretty little morsels don't make you drool... ?





June 29 - I Needed This Today
Phan's away for a few days for work, so I'm holding the fort up at home... and I had a pretty terrible night with both girls waking a few times... eeek! Combine that organising a kindy catchup at the park in patchy weather and Catherine having a very early nap it was quite a long day... so I needed some of my second favourite chocolate of all time (Haigh's is number one)... Lindt Roasted Almond... Divine... And it cheered me up immediately.. :)





June 30 - Abandoned
So it's been intermittently rainy, cloud, windy and sunny here the last couple of days... but today the sun decided to stay out for a bit this afternoon and Elizabeth wanted to go out on a photoshoot, so I obliged... :) On our walk back, we came across this abandoned wheelbarrow... It seemed like there was a story waiting to be told with it, so I took a shot of it...

I Heart Faces: A Touch of Whimsy

I've been checking out I Heart Faces quite a bit recently... it's a great resource for photographers with awesome tutorials, challenges and a huge forum which caters for all levels of photographers.

I've decided to enter a photo challenge over there this week... the theme this week is "A Touch of Whimsy" which is so totally my style and this is the photo I decided to enter for it... Elizabeth being fascinated with a dandelion the other day... she loves those things!

I'm sure there will be some amazing entries this week...

Beautiful Imagery vs Real Imagery

I'm always striving to take that perfect shot... you know the one... Perfect exposure, pinpoint focus... that natural expression on your child's face in that gorgeous location with that divine light...

Here's some beautiful imagery I took yesterday when Elizabeth and I went out to a field of long grass I had found on one of my scouting expeditions last week... I seriously had to muster up all my courage to go walking amongst the unknown in the long grass ... I had no idea what kind of animals or creatures might be living in there (can anybody say *snakes*?!) I just hoped Elizabeth and I were making enough noise to scare anything living in there away...

But you know... sometimes all of that doesn't matter in the least... Photos don't need to be perfect... It's about capturing moments and finding the essence of who your child is...

Like the childhood joyousness...




Or clumsiness...




Crazy faces...




And silly laughter...




And all this finished with "lady-like"-ness...




While I love the picture perfect moments... I equally adore the photos that illustrate who she really is and why I love her... xo

Scrapbooking Sunday

Two new releases from Fei Fei's Stuff this week...

Random - Elements is a cute little element pack which is comes in just perfect colour combinations.

And a gorgeous brand new kit Simple Joys is out now too... I love all the cute word art in this kit!





And a little toot for me, I got a GSO for this LO too - check me out here - Gallery Standout... :)

I also did this LO using the Mscraps Barefoot in Spring Collab and Infinity from Wild Blueberry Ink -





Please click on the layouts if you want to see the specific full list of credits.

Thanks for reading along and having a look!