I’ve got a lot of catching up to do, but I decided to start with my last session of 2011 which happened to be Justin and Hannah’s wedding.

When we first starting talking about this wedding, we had the possibility of several dates because Justin wasn’t sure when he would return from his tour of duty. THEN the phone call came with a date – followed by all the details of planning.

I love this family. Hannah has been a special part of our family since her Junior year of High School.

So it was with much joy and love that we were able to capture and participate in the specialness of this day. I LOVE those moments when you see love, hear love, and know that God has put two people together.

Here are a few blog shots. Below this post will be a link to the full gallery from their wedding.

Loved this beautiful dress!

It was pouring down rain when we got to the Aiken home to start pre-wedding photos. I learned a valuable lesson: 1). reflector disk do NOT make good umbrellas, 2). it is almost (maybe completely) impossible to fold up a large reflector disk in a small car! It does make for some great memories and lots of laughter with my wonderful daughter and second shooter!

While most folks wouldn’t want rain on their wedding day, and it did make it challenging to get the pictures we wanted, when Esther and Eddie (the bride’s parents) told us that it rained on their wedding day – somehow it made the rainy day special.

Justin and Hannah, my prayer for you is that you will be richly blessed as you begin this journey together. Justin, I also want to say thank you to you and those with whom you serve with. When we heard the words, “Welcome to the Calvary, Mrs. Readett”, it took me a heart-beat to take the picture because of the thoughts going through my mind. Know that you both will be in our hearts and prayers.

The link to the full gallery is: http://beyondbeautyphotography.smugmug.com/Weddings/Readet-Wedding/20922485_9pkn2T

Many, many blessings,

Sheila

**All photographs are copyrighted by Beyond Beauty Photography. Please do not print or copy to other media. Thank you.

Then came Senior pictures.

And now the fun of spending a hot South Carolina morning capturing Bart and Elise’s engagement session. 

It is so special to meet with couples and be apart of their  journey from the beginning. What is even more wonderful is to see the love and affection  shared between them as they interact throughout our time together.  It’s very obvious that these two are in love with each other and “for” each other.

Bart and Elise, I pray that as you continue this journey towards marriage, that your love will continue to deepen, that you will find joy in the small moments, and that you will be intentional in preparing for an amazing future!

Thanks guys for a great session! You make my heart smile. Love you both!!

I started out writing  a very philosophical blog about control and focus. But I have to tell you friends, I’m not up to finishing it. I’m going to tell you the story behind the pictures and let you walk with me for a little while today.

A while back one of Matt’s friends from High School encouraged me to write about my journey with Mom and Alzheimer’s. I’ve done that a along the way as time and thoughts come.

This past week has been one of those weeks. You know the times – when it’s so easy to focus on the tough. Days when you DECIDE to focus on the good.

So here is the good.

     *Kissing mom on the top of her head while she is resting peacefully on the couch and having her smile up at me and say, “Hi sweetheart.”

     *Cooking with my daughters. Making salmon cakes – a recipe that mom taught them. Listening to Christmas music – because it soothes Mom.

     *Eating together as a family.

     *Sharing laughter in the van over silly things.

     *Trying to convince Mom that we DID NOT own McDonald’s restaurant or that it wasn’t our home – we were only enjoying an ice cream cone.

     *Spending time on the playground with some of my family. Mom loves the playground. She loves smiles from her grandchildren more.

     *Hugs – ones that warm you through and through.

When Hannah girl jumped off the swing, Mom walked over to her and said in her scratchy little voice, “Give me a hug, Hannah”. You would have had to have been there to enjoy this moment. Mom was completely taken with watching Hannah swing – worrying like she always does about her feet being cold, then Hannah smiled at her, assured her everything was okay and jumped off. Mom needed a hug. I love the sweet smile on her face.

     *Contentment and peace on the face of my mom.

     *Hands that hold tight, that communicate love, that lend security, that guide & protect.

     *Family!

Mom Nutter, a dear friend of mine, recommended reading One Thousand Gifts. I took her up on that recommendation. There are so many gifts that we often overlook.   There is good in the trials – because through them we learn of His deeper love, His greater sufficiency, His greater grace.

Today, I chose to focus.

Okay – onto a calmer post. Actually, pictures today were quite taxing.

I thought about buying flowers to photograph for today since our yard, and flowers are severely parched. Good sense prevailed in the end and I decided to work with the few survivors in our gardens. If they can endure this heat, they deserve to be photographed!

I have tons of little yellow daisies – but those have already made their debut. So after much sweat and many insect bites later I found a couple of flowers with color.

This little guy is a tiny flower but paired with the beautiful greens and light it is sitting pretty!

Do you ever start out with something in mind? I wanted a soothing flower picture…enter stage right, the sweet petunia. I knew in the great outdoors of green I might have trouble finding neutrals. However,take a little white flower,  mix in beautiful light and you see from a bug’s view what it is to glory in reaching for the sky…to view the beauty of our Creator’s creation.

This fit the bill for neutral, with just the right amount of contrast. For me, it is a keeper.

Tomorrow’s challenge is black and white, which prompted me to edit this picture just a bit more…I wanted to see it in black and white. Actually, it’s more of a study of greys.

We have mixed opinions in our home as to which one is liked best. As for me, I am staying with my vision. I like the antique white. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

See you back here tomorrow .

Aperture

   Bokeh

      Certain

         Delight!

Okay, I’m going to get a little goofy posting every day. Bokeh is so much fun to play around with – really! Just search Pinterst for the number of Bokeh DIY filter tutorials and you’ll see that there are many folks having fun with Bokeh.

While I like the filters, and stayed up way to late last Christmas trying to get those hearts just right, I prefer the lovely lights found in nature or that are natural to a scene.

 Elena from EW Couture Collection inspired me to try it last year. Here is my Christmas attempt.

Bokeh takes place when you are using a shallow depth of field, resulting in a blurred background – whatever the background may be.

In trying to  capture a water drop earlier this year I also captured really pretty bokeh from a metallic gift bag I used as my backdrop.

As I said before, I love to see light in trees turned into “special light” through the use of a shallow DOF.  Which brings us to the photography challenge for today!

You can tell by the angle of the above photos that I was on the grass with the bugs trying to get some light. I got more than my share of bites…nasty little creatures. But I digress, I shot these pictures at different aperture settings so that you would get a feel for the difference in DOF. The first picture was set at f/2.8. The second picture setting was f/5. Below, is a not so pretty picture, but it was taken at f/10.

You see more detail all the way around – the picture is too busy and distracting. A little blurr is good! You know the saying…if it’s not bokeh…okay I’ll stop. I need to clip a few coupons, wash a few dishes, and find another flower. Where there is a flower picture waiting to be taken, there is also BOKEH!!

Enjoy the Light today.

When I made out the list for the APC I looked at several different list, thought of some pictures I wanted, and started typing. Then Monday night I started to panic – honestly, remembering the last time I tried to get a sunset picture in the mountains. We see beautiful sunsets here – on the road, where the trees have been cleared. Not exactly a safe place to take a picture.

Several years ago when we hosted sunsets as one of our month-long projects, we made lasting memories as a family chasing the elusive sunset. It wasn’t much better last night.

We darted out of Wal-Mart at 8:17 p.m. knowing sunset was at 8:33 p.m. I had planned to catch it in Easley over the train tracks…like I did last FALL.  Think again Sheila – it’s a different season – different location of sunset.

Here is my first attempt in Easley – with a train blaring its horn as I stood on the other side of the tracks.

While I like the sunflare, I’ve learned that with sunsets the color comes long after the sun has set. So with a car full of girls and groceries, we headed toward the color.

Driving down Hwy. 8, trying to find a good view and an available place to pull off, driving behind folks who don’t know what it is to chase a sunset (they’re actually enjoying the beautiful colors in front of them), and trying to be patient at stop lights – oh the joys of photography!

We found a spot!!

I should have been content – right? I had two decent pictures of the sunset. But there was still so much color in the sky – and we were driving toward it. This can really become addictive!

I would tell you the girls were concerned – but they’ve seen this kind of behavior before (sorry to say, it won’t be the last) so they knew to hold on for the ride. Thankfully, our next stop was the road leading to our home! We all enjoyed the fading color as night-time crept over South Carolina’s beautiful mountains.

Love my Creator’s artwork. I’ve said it before, but it’s worth repeating, photography has made me so much more aware of light, colors, and beauty.

Tomorrow is bokeh – blurred light. Sometimes my mind feels like that. Anyone else?

Enjoy your sunsets with people you love!