Category: Kids

A Photo a Week Challenge: Playtime

I had the opportunity to do an extended family photo shoot, and these adorable cousins were having so much fun together. Even though they see each other often, they were so excited when they got together, and their enthusiasm made the whole shoot go off splendidly, even with the chilly weather. Big kudos to their parents and grandparents, who let them be kids and have moments like this, even if some might think they are wasting time (they weren’t, because I loved taking this photo).

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF KIDS (OF ANY AGE) BEING KIDS.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Injuries (none serious, please)

This is my nephew. He played baseball for his high school baseball team for four years. Yes, he’s very good at it. Just before his senior year started during summer practice, he was hit in the face by a line drive ball that caught him just below his left eye. At first, everyone thought it wasn’t too bad, but it turned out that he had a serious concussion and was out of school for almost a month. This picture was taken about a year ago when he was almost over the concussion and, as you can see, the black eye was almost healed. He’s doing fine now and shows no lingering facial damage or effects of the concussion. Hey, but he has a great story to tell.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO THAT SHOW NON LIFE-THREATENING INJURIES.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Really Big Toys

We were out of town for the US Independence Day holiday, so I’m combining the challenges for this week and next week today. Hurrah!

While visiting our daughter and her guy in Spokane, Washington this weekend, my husband got to check off one of his bucket list items: drive a vintage tractor. Our kids have an amazing property in the area above Spokane of twenty acres of forest. They’ve been clearing some of it for animals (chickens and soon sheep and pigs) and a huge garden (about an acre). We had a blast, and Tyler showed Russell the 1951 tractor and how to run it. He had so much fun.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) FEATURING LARGE TOYS OF ANY KIND.

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Weathered

A recent trend in photo editing is an edgy, black and white feeling. I’ve been doing a lot of trial and error to see if I could duplicate it. While this photo doesn’t show it off completely, I really like how this old, weathered log looks using my current experiment. Living close to the mountains and rural areas, I come across weathered items to photograph frequently. There are also a lot of different treatments that you can use to make an image look weathered. With this week’s challenge, try lots of different techniques.

And just for kicks and giggles, here’s one of my great niece with the treatment, so you can see how it looks on people.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR THREE…) THAT SHOW EITHER WEATHERED ITEMS OR WITH WEATHERED TREATMENTS.

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Laughter

Last week, the challenge was joy. This week, it’s laughter. As this year is heading to a close, I plan on keeping with uplighting themes for the challenges. I think considering how this year has gone, we could all use it. This is my niece and her youngest child. We had so much fun with their family photo shoot, and at the end, my niece asked me to get some intimate shots with just her and her baby. You can feel the love and happiness.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT FEATURE LAUGHTER.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Joy

I know this photo isn’t in focus. This awesome dad of identical twin girls was having fun running around with them, and as you can see from their faces, the girls were having even more fun. These little sweeties were so much fun to photograph. And even though I have some great portrait-quality photos, this is the one that makes me smile the most. They love their dad, and he loves them to the moon and back. Not only are they showing so much joy, but I had a lot joy sharing this time with them.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT FEATURE JOY.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Feet

At the photo shoot for this adorable family, the mom asked me to take a photo of the bare feet of her three boys. This is how they spend the majority of their days, running around inside and out with no shoes on. The oldest boy even wore flip-flops for the shoot because he doesn’t like shoes.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) THAT FEATURE FEET.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: Up Close and Personal

Close ups are fun and challenging, whether you’re shooting a person or a flower. It’s important to make sure you are focusing on what you want to have in focus (sometimes a challenge when you are used to using auto-focus). It’s also important to pay attention to lighting. The little sweetie has such light skin that the camera doesn’t always like to focus on her face, but the close up catches all of the great details, down to her adorable freckles.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO OF CLOSE UPS (HUMAN OR NOT).

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.

A Photo a Week Challenge: At Play

Action shots. Action shots can be so tricky. Indoor action shots can be a nightmare. These sweet girls are cousins and bestest buddies. When they are together, they are together. It’s almost impossible to separate them. And they play together so well. You can see it in their faces. I took a few of them playing in the teepee, but finally asked them to pose for me. It was still hard for them to be still for the time it took for me to focus and click. And yes, I adore them.

IN A NEW POST CREATED FOR THIS CHALLENGE, SHARE A PHOTO OR TWO (OR MORE) OF PLAYING.

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

Here’s how it works:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Come back here and post a link to your image in the comments for this challenge.
  4. Follow nancy merrill photography so that you don’t miss out on weekly challenge announcements.