friends – nancy merrill photography

A Photo a Week Challenge: Animals

Final challenge of 2021! What a year. As we look back on this year, I hope we can all find things to be grateful and joyful about. We welcomed a new grandson in November and had a wonderful Holiday Season with friends and family. I am grateful to all of you who participate in these challenges. I love seeing your creativity and a little bit of your lives in the photos you share.

I took this photo of a friend’s horse in June 2020. They have two horses, and this one was very friendly came up to the fence to greet me. I have always loved horses, even though I have never owned one myself. I grew up near several horse pastures where some of my friends’ parents pastured their animals. It was always fun to ride them up and down our short street.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF ANIMALS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Props

We have a good friend who is a fantastic magician. His extremely cute daughter works with him frequently as his assistant. As she’s headed back up north to continue college, they wanted to grab some shots of them together. It was a lot of fun to help them capture these great moments together. I’m very happy to report that no one was hurt by the swords.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE ONE OR TWO OR MORE PHOTOS FEATURING PEOPLE WITH PROPS.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: From the Side

This is my very good friend, Emily, who is an amazing runner. She and her husband (who ran for the University of Utah) have a tendency to win most if not all of the local 5K races. Emily ran for Brigham Young University and the USA team, training for the Olympics until she became pregnant with their oldest child. That oldest child has recently placed in the top 10 nationally for his age group.

So now that I’ve done all the bragging about my friend that I should, on to the challenge topic: from the side. I love how shooting Emily from the side gave me the opportunity to capture the focused look on her face as she’s waiting for the race to start.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT CAPTURES YOUR SUBJECT FROM THE SIDE.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Celebration Covid-style

Last year, when Covid-19 first struck the United States, my friend’s daughter got married. It wasn’t the wedding she had started planning when she got engaged in November, but it was a beautiful celebration of love and joy. I was one of twenty-five people who were able to attend the sweet backyard ceremony. It was fun to not only take photos but to help with the decorations and food and just overall doing what we could to make the bride and groom happy.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) OF HOW YOU HAVE CELEBRATED DURING THE PANDEMIC.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography. Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: She’s Got The Look

My sister’s son asked me to take some professional photos for him. He has to put together a business website for his careers advancement class. It was a lot of fun. My sister’s home is a wonderful place to take photos. This great shot of her was taken in their living room (yes, they really do have some stone walls like this inside their home). My sister’s a blast to hang out with and to photograph. We were waiting for my nephew to change his shirt for the more formal headshots when I grabbed this one of my sister. I was testing lighting and focus, and she gave me this look. It really does say almost everything about her personality: fun, sarcastic, open. I love her dearly (though growing up, my parents might not have thought that was possible). I’m so glad that we have become such good friends as adults.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT REALLY CAPTURES SOMEONE’S PERSONALITY.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Half-Circles, Arches, & Domes

It’s been a while since I’ve participated, but I’m so glad to be back!

For more from this challenge, visit Cee’s Black & White Challenge: Half-Circles, Arches, & Domes.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Water

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. The recent weather in Utah has been a display of the bizarre. We have gone from record highs to snow. The snow pack has started its annual decent to the valley streams, rivers, and lakes. I had the opportunity to take this young man’s photos last weekend, and we went to Sugarhouse Park. I’m not sure which creek this is; it feeds into a large pond (almost lake) in the middle of the park. His mom told me that this is his favorite city park because of the creek and lake, so it seemed the best place to take photos in his first-ever, official grown-up suit. We had a great time taking fun photos, and he had a great time watching twigs and small branches float along the creek and observing the ducks in the water. A great time was had by all.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT FEATURES WATER OF ANY KIND.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ and “Photo a Week” tags.
Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Red

In images, color (or the lack of it) is as important as what is in the image. Sometimes, the color is the reason for the image. Red roses are iconic in our society for many things: love, wealth, success. The red of blood can mean life or death. At the funeral of a friend, the family provided several vases of red roses for anyone who wished to place one on the casket.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT HAS RED AS EITHER THE MAIN OR AN ACCENT COLOR.

Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

Each week, I’ll come up with a theme and post a photo that I think fits. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Thursday, when the next photo theme will be announced.
To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “A Photo a Week Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.
Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

Thankful November 26th: Love

There are many things that we can live without: extra money, going to movies, a house as big as the Jones. There are some things we can’t live without: food, water, air, and love. Studies have shown that without love, newborn babies stop thriving. There are so many different ways to show love: spouses and partners, friends, family, even complete strangers. The Beatles said all we need is love, and to some extent, they were right.

Thankful November 9th: Music

There has never been a time in my life that hasn’t included music. I grew up in a family of seven (including parents), and all of us played at least two instruments (including parents). My dad’s mother was a piano teacher. She taught me for 11 years, and she was my biggest supporter when I chose to study music in college. I play the piano, and violin. In college, I studied singing and choral conducting. I started teaching piano when I was 18, and I currently have 15 students who do two to three recitals a year. I met my husband because I was the music director for a show at a local community theater. The show we were doing was written by a friend who asked my younger sister and me to arrange the music. I have written a little original music, but I mostly do choir arrangements (makes sense, see previously mentioned college path). I love music. I don’t know what life would be like without music infusing pretty much every aspect of it.